The Wisdom of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: Ways We Can Practice Humility

"It is our emptiness and lowliness that God needs and not our plenitude.

These are a few of the ways we can practice humility:

Speak as little as possible of oneself.

Mind one's own business.

Avoid curiosity.

Do not want to manage other people's affairs.

Accept contradiction and correction cheerfully.

Pass over mistakes of others.

Accept blame when innocent.

Yield to the will of others.

Accept insults and injuries.

Accept being slighted, forgotten, and disliked.

Be kind and gentle even under provocation.

Do not seek to be specially loved and admired.

 Never stand on one's dignity.

Yield in discussion even though one is right.

Choose always the hardest."

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta ~
Excerpt from The Love of Christ by Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Angelica: "You can't go to Heaven hating somebody...Forgive now..."

"If we knew that one truth--I shall never die.  I shall be somewhere forever."

"You can't go to Heaven hating somebody...

Forgive now. 

Love now. 

Be Compassionate now. 

Be patient now. 

Be understanding now. 

Be grateful now. 

Love Jesus and Mary now. 

Accept God's will now."

~ Mother Angelica ~

(Mother Angelica's talk on Purgatory begins at about 15 minutes.)

Mother Angelica's List of Scripture Verses Relating to Purgatory:
Mark 9:48, Sirach 7:37, 1st Corinthians 3:14, Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 12:32

Boasting

Marino Restrepo: Testimony on Purgatory and His Conversion Experience

"...we are just dust and we are going to be buried...the only thing that is going to be left of us is the love that we give--not the love that we receive--the love that we give.  That's all that's going to be left of us.  It is the only money that is going to be deposited in Heaven--love.  So let's put money in Heaven's bank.  Let's deposit love."

~ Marino Restrepo ~

Marino's life took a drastic turn during his visit to his hometown in Colombia at midnight on Christmas Eve in 1997. While he was driving into the ranch of one of his uncles where he was to spend the night, he was kidnapped by the Colombian rebels of the FARC (Revolutionary Arm Forces of Colombia) and taken to the jungle as a hostage for six months. During the first fifteen days of his kidnapping, he was kept in a cave with bats and different kinds of bugs while the captors were waiting for the rebels to pick him up. In that very cave, and after finding out that he was sentenced to death by his captors, he went through a mystical experience with God that changed his life forever. Five and a half months later, Marino was miraculously released from captivity after a miracle of God, and after his release he went back to his Catholic faith. Eighteen months later he became a full time missionary for the Catholic Church leaving all of his past, and his worldly possessions behind. constantly on the road of the mission around the world. Marino's testimony has been put into a book that he wrote and he is currently developing other teachings in writing, video and audio formats. All materials are available via this web page. Marino travels giving conferences and he can also be booked through this page as well.

Marino Restrepo on Purgatory:

Marino Restrepo Conversion Testimony:

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: Conquering Impatience Helps Poor Souls

"My guide warned me to guard carefully against impatience and to offer every vexation for the poor souls.  The other morning I almost forgot his admonition and was on the point of yielding to impatience, but I repressed it.  I am very glad I did so, and I thank my good angel for helping me.  No words can say what immense consolation souls receive from a little sacrifice, a trifling self-victory."

~ Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich,

excerpt from The life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Volume 2

By the Very Reverend Carl E. Schmoger, C.SS.R. 

Our Lady of Akita, Japan: Prayer, Penance and Courageous Sacrifices Needed

"Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates."

~ Our Lady of Akita to Sr. Agnes ~

The angel told Sr. Agnes after Communion:

"Many men in this world afflict the Lord. Our Lady awaits souls to console Him. Remain in poverty. Sanctify yourself and pray in reparation for the ingratitudes and the outrages of so many men. The Rosary is your weapon. Say it with care and more often for the intention of the Pope, of bishops and priests. You must not forget these words (of Mary). The Blessed Virgin prays continually for the conversion of the greatest possible number and weeps, hoping to lead to Jesus and to the Father souls offered to Them by Her intercession. For this intention, and to overcome exterior obstacles, achieve interior unity, form a single heart. Let believers lead a life more worthy of believers! Pray with a new heart. Attach great importance to this day for the glory of God and His Holy Mother. With courage spread this devotion among the greatest number. Inform your superior and him who directs you of what I have told you."

FATIMA DECADE PRAYER

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins,

save us from the fires of hell.

Lead all souls to Heaven,

especially those in most need of Thy mercy.

~ Fatima prayer to be said after each decade of the Rosary,
taught to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta by Our Lady of Fatima
and taught to Sr. Agnes by her guardian angel ~

Fr. Larry Richards: How to Know and to Live God's Will

"God does not want you to go to Purgatory.

God does not want you to go to Hell.

God wants you, when you die, to go right to Heaven,

and the way that happens

is when your will and God's will become one."

~ Fr. Larry Richards ~

Saint Faustina's Testimony About the Tortures of Hell Shown to Her

"I am writing this at the command of God,

so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell,

or that nobody has ever been there,

and so no one can say what it is like."

"Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one's condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it--a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.

"I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend You by the least sin."

~  Saint Faustina; excerpt 741  from The  Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska  ~

Lenten Penance, Humility, Gratitude

"Mortification is good, but only when it is done out of love of God."

~ Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, from Peace of Soul ~

The Positives and Negatives of Lenten Sacrifice: Advice from Good Shepherds

By something negative, I mean that each person should commit themselves to giving up something or a number of things. This sacrifice should be serious and demanding. The self-control that we exercise in giving up a legitimate pleasure strengthens our will and curbs the inclinations of our passions.

By something positive, I mean that each one should also do some kind of act that we would not normally do on a regular basis. Attending daily Mass, visiting the sick, volunteering time at the parish or praying a Sunday evening Rosary with the entire family are positive acts of virtue that have helped many people progress in their relationship with God.

~ Fr. James Farfaglia; excerpt from here. ~

More: "At this season let us increase in some way the normal standard of our service, as for example, by special prayers, or by a diminution in food and drink." He insists on our doing something. More prayer. Thinking about doing more prayer is not more prayer. Get up five minutes early to make more time for prayer and you are doing something. Give up five minutes of looking at the newspaper and give it to God in prayer. That is doing something.

Less: less food, less drink, less sleep, less talkativeness, less looseness in speech (cf. RB 49:7). Many folks are put off by Saint Benedict's proposals, but that may be because they read them without taking them in reflectively. He says "less"; he doesn't say how much less. This is where Holy Father Benedict meets Saint Thérèse, the Doctor of the "Little Way." The "less" of Saint Benedict is the very little thing of Thérèse: the word saved for recreation, the second or third cup of coffee, the unkind judgment nipped in the bud.

~ Fr. Mark Kirby; excerpts from here. ~

Lent has as its words, "I repent and I am sorry." Knowing that our sacrifices are made in light of Our Lord's sacrifice on the Holy Cross, we may find it helpful to measure and evaluate our sacrifices against these words.

Lord, I repent of my sins and I am sorry. I am so sorry that I will give up television entirely...I will give up eating between meals...I will give up warm showers...I will sleep on the floor. Don't these seem a bit more serious?

Fr. S; excerpts from here. ~

Fr. Anthony Brankin: Accepting and Offering Forgiveness

"The media are so involved in our lives — they tell us what to think and believe. They teach us that there is no God, and thus no sin, and therefore no forgiveness. Yet the media is made up of seriously flawed people. The day may come when we need forgiveness, and we find ourselves neither asking for it, nor accepting it. Christ tells us that we must offer forgiveness from our hearts, as often as others ask for it."

~ Fr. Anthony Brankin ~

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

"May we never risk the life of our souls by being resentful or by bearing grudges."

~ St. Gregory of Nyssa ~

Purity of Intention

August 1880. There are numbers of useless actions, many days entirely futile, without any love for Jesus or purity of intention. They are all lost since they have no value for Heaven.

You do not direct your intention with the purity that God wills. For instance, instead of offering up your actions vaguely, you could do so with much more fruit, if you only made your intention more definite. When you take your meals for example, say, "O my Jesus nourish my soul with your Divine Grace while I nourish my body." When you wash your face and hands say, "My Jesus, purify my soul as I am purifying my body," and so on, for each of your actions. Accustom yourself to be always speaking heart to heart with Jesus, and let Him be the mainspring of all you do or say. Do you understand me?...

...It is only those actions done with great love and under the eye of God, wishing to do His Holy Will, that will receive their reward immediately, without the soul passing through Purgatory. What great blindness there is in the world about all this.

~ Sr. M.G., a nun soul from Purgatory to Sr. M. de L.C;

excerpt from An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory ~

The Final Judgement: Separation of the Sheep and the Goats

"As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence, we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come."

~ Pope St. Gregory the Great ~

A Common Mistake in Correcting Others--Calling Attention to Former Faults

November 1880. When you have to reprove anyone who has committed a small or even a grave fault, do so with great gentleness. Be firm when the fault demands it, say few words, and never speak when in a passion, for then the reproof will harm the soul of both the one receiving it and the one giving it. Avoid calling attention to former faults, especially when correcting children. This is a common mistake and very displeasing to God, and those who do it are wrong. How do they know that it has not already been pardoned? Then why refer to it again? God has not set us such an example. Our own sins should constantly humble us and we should weep over them in the bitterness of our hearts before the Lord, but we should never refer to the past sins of another.

A Christian soul, and above all a religious soul, to be pleasing in the sight of our Lord, will treat her neighbor as she expects our Lord to treat her. Remember this well and when the opportunity comes, practice it faithfully.

~ Sr. M.G., a nun soul from Purgatory to Sr. M. de L.C.: 

excerpt from An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory ~