gift, grace

“We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life.
We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace;
and though we are so weak of ourselves,
this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.”
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

(a gift from 2014 / Julie Cook)

“‘As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one,
so let him walk.’
No one can do better with his life than that; no one can put it to a better use.
Any life must be perfect in proportion as it does what it was made to do.
There are many lives that are brilliant failures; they strive after many things
that they were never intended to do and fail in that one thing.
It seems strange that a reasonable being should never ask himself
why he was put upon earth, or that it should not occur to him that
the reason must be found in the will of his Creator…
At the end of the day of our earthly life,
we have to answer to our Maker whether we have been employed about our own work
or about His, whether we have even made an effort to find out what He would have us do.
A life that is inspired by such a motive is sure to be a success,
for of this we may be absolutely certain: that each of us can fulfill in our life
that for which we were created.
We cannot be sure that we have the gifts needed for any other purpose…
For God, in creating us, equipped us for the work for which He created us.
We have every gift of nature and of grace, of mind and body that is needed for this work.”
Fr. Basil Maturin, p. 35
An Excerpt From
Spiritual Guidelines for Souls Seeking God

The noblest of acts

“Cheerfulness prepares a glorious mind for all the noblest acts.”
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

(the only sign of color this fall / Julie Cook / 2019)

“The true reason for which God bestows so many graces upon the humble is this,
that the humble are faithful to these graces and make good use of them.
They receive them from God and use them in a manner pleasing to God,
giving all the glory to Him, without reserving any for themselves…
It is certainly true that he who is humble is also faithful to God,
because the humble man is also just in giving to all their due, and above all,
in rendering to God the things that are God’s; that is,
in giving Him the glory for all the good that he is,
all the good that he has and for all the good that he does;
as the Venerable Bede says: ‘Whatever good we see in ourselves,
let us ascribe it to God and not to ourselves.’
To give thanks to God for all the blessings we have received and are
continually receiving is an excellent means of exercising humility,
because by thanksgiving we learn to acknowledge the Supreme Giver of
every good.
And for this reason it is necessary for us always to be humble before God.
St. Paul exhorts us to render thanks for all things and at all times:
‘In all things give thanks.’ (1 Thess. 5:18).
‘Giving thanks always for all things.’ (Eph. 5:20).
But that our thanksgiving may be an act of humility it must not only come
from the lips but from the heart, with a firm conviction that all good comes
to us through the infinite mercy of God.”
Rev. Cajetan da Bergamo, p. 87-8
An Excerpt From
Humility Of Heart