The Inward Conversation of Christ with the Faithful Soul (1)

[Rich]

The Inward Conversation of Christ with the Faithful Soul (1)

I WILL hear what the Lord God will speak in me.” Ps. 84:9.
Blessed is the soul who hears the Lord speaking within her, who
receives the word of consolation from His lips. Blessed are the ears
that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the
murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not
to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches
within. Blessed are the eyes which are closed to exterior things and
are fixed upon those which are interior. Blessed are they who
penetrate inwardly, who try daily to prepare themselves more and more
to understand mysteries. Blessed are they who long to give their
time to God, and who cut themselves off from the hindrances of the
world.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 1

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• October 17th - Saint Ignatius the Bishop
by Saint Jerome

Ignatius, third bishop of the church of Antioch after Peter the
apostle, condemned to the wild beasts during the persecution of
Trajan, was sent bound to Rome, and when he had come on his voyage as
far as Smyrna, where Polycarp the pupil of John was bishop, he wrote
one epistle To the Ephesians, another To the Magnesians, a third To
the Trallians, a fourth To the Romans, and going thence, he wrote To
the Philadelphians and To the Smyrneans, and especially To Polycarp,
commending to him the church at Antioch. In this last he bore witness
to the Gospel which I have recently translated, in respect of the
person of Christ saying, “I indeed saw him in the flesh after the
resurrection and I believe that he is,” and when he came to Peter and
those who were with Peter, he said to them, “Behold! touch me and see
me bow that I am not an incorporeal spirit” and straightway they
touched him and believed. Moreover it seems worth while inasmuch as we
have made mention of such a man and of the Epistle which he wrote to
the Romans, to give a few “quotations”:

“From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild beasts, by land and by
sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, that is to
say soldiers who guard me and who only become worse when they are well
treated. Their wrong doing, however is my schoolmaster, but I am not
thereby justified. May I have joy of the beasts that are prepared for
me; and I pray that I may find them ready; I will even coax them to
devour me quickly that they may not treat me as they have some whom
they have refused to touch through fear. And if they are unwilling, I
will compel them to devour me. Forgive me my children, I know what is
expedient for me. Now do I begin to be a disciple, and desire none of
the things visible that I may attain unto Jesus Christ. Let fire and
cross and attacks of wild beasts, let wrenching of bones, cutting
apart of limbs, crushing of the whole body, tortures of the devil, let
all these come upon me if only I may attain unto the joy which is in
Christ.”

When he had been condemned to the wild beasts and with zeal for
martyrdom heard the lions roaring, he said “I am the grain of Christ.
I am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may be found the
bread of the world.” He was put to death the eleventh year of Trajan
and the remains of his body lie in Antioch outside the Daphnitic gate
in the cemetery.


Saint Quote:
Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of
our labors.
--St. Therese of Lisieux

Bible Quote:
And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom,
under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of
the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings
shall serve him, and shall obey him. [Dan 7:27]


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ACT OF LOVE TO THE SACRED HEART

How great, O my Jesus, is the extent of Thine excessive charity! Thou
hast prepared for me, of Thy most precious Body and Blood, a divine
banquet, where Thou givest me Thyself without reserve. What hath urged
Thee to this excess of love? Nothing but Thine own most loving Heart.

O adorable Heart of my Jesus, furnace of Divine Love, receive my soul
into the wound of Thy most Sacred Passion, that in this school of
charity I may learn to make a return of love to that God Who hast
given me such wonderful proofs of His love.