From All for Jesus
I. Further the interests of Jesus
A. Help release souls from Purgatory
B. Pray for the final perseverance of the dying.
C. 4 classes of interests:
1. Glorify the Father
a. We should pray for the grace to see what's truly for God's
glory & what isn't.
2. Increase devotion to Christ's Passion.
a. We should ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to offer the Precious
Blood to obtain the grace of preventing of at least 1 mortal
sin, day and night.
b. We should also promote contrition for sin, pray for people
to obtain it; promote some additional strictness (within
reason) or small penance where possible; advance frequent
Holy Communion.
c. We should promote devotion to Christ's Passion by getting
people to read about it, meditate upon it, and perform acts
of devotion to it.
3. Honor His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
a. We do this when we make an act of love in reparation for
blasphemy against her, or offer thanksgiving for her Immaculate
Conception and Perpetual Virginity.
b. We further honor her by spreading devotion to her, and helping
Catholics feel more tender towards her, and love her more.
c. To receive Holy Communion in her honor and on her feasts.
To join her confraternaties.
To have a picture of her.
To gain indulgences for the Souls in purgatory who were most
devoted to her.
To pray the Rosary every day.
To have great confidence in her powerful intercession
d. Prayer:
Jesus, animate our confidence in Mary, not only so that we may
work more for thy sweet interests, but also that we may work
in the way Thou wouldst have us work, letting no creature be
dearer to us than the one who was dearer to Thee than all
other creatures put together.
4. See the value of grace
a. Pray that we all may (above) , and how it works.
D. Be an apostle of prayer.
1. We must serve the souls of others, even while we have so much
for our own. The gospel is a law of Love, and the Christian life
is a life of prayer. As the Apostle tells us, we must make int-
ercession for all sorts of men (Eph. 6:18). Indeed, we shall
never prosper with the work in our own souls if we do not strive
to advance the interests of Jesus in the souls of others. Many
persons complain that they make no headway in religion, and that
they do not get on with the mortification of their evil passions
, their sinful infirmities, and their tiresome self-love. They
are just where they were a year ago, and that is disheartening.
This often comes to pass because they are selfish, because they
care ony to stand by themselves. They do not they have anything
to do with the souls of others, or with the interests of Jesus,
or with intercessory prayer; and so they keep on a low level,
because they do nothing to merit higher graces.
2. We must remember that prayer is not always answered visibly. We
may not know the result of our prayer till we die.
II. Serve Jesus joyfully out of Love.
A. Recognize what makes a saint
1. The saints had 3 things in common:
a. Eagerness for the glory of God. - When a man comes to love God
devoutly, this is his viewpoint: "How can I use this for the
glory of God?"
b. Touchiness about the interests of Jesus.
c. Anxiety for the salvation of souls.
III. Be sorry for sin.
A. Love God as Father.
B. Love God for His Goodness.
C. Cultivate a compassionate love for our suffering Lord.
D. Be sorry for the sins of others.
1. We sorrow for the sins of others because:
a. God's glory is injured by them,
b. the fruit of our dear Lord's Passion is spoiled or wasted,
c. souls are damaged and lost thereby.
E. Strive to see how God should be served and glorified.
We should put before ourselves His infinite perfections and
attributes. His Beauty and Loveliness in Himself. We should
picture to ourselves the perfect obedience with which His will
is done in Heaven, and try to unite ourselves with the interior
dispositions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, and all the saints and angels.
We should count up the benefits and blessings that in His in-
finite love He has bestowed upon His creatures, and especially
in the 4 great wonders of mercy: Creation, the Incarnation,
the Holy Eucharist, the Beatific Vision.
When we really realize this, we shall see what sin really is,
how terrible it is to offend so great a majesty, and how base
beyond words to wound so unutterable a Love.
F. Sorrow over those who do not love Christ.
Offer the merits of Jesus, the heroic virtues of the BVM, the
merits of all the angels & saints in praise of God for them.
G. Make spiritual visits to the world's tabernacles.
H. Sorrow over your own sins.
But consider our sins generally, and focus more on Divine
Mercy.
IV. Pray for others.
A. Those in mortal sin.
B. Lukewarm souls.
C. For the multiplication of saints.
D. For those in need or tribulation, spiritual or temporal.
E. For the necessities of your benefactors.
F. For those in pursuit of Christian perfection.
G. For an increase of the accidental glory of the blessed & for the
increase of devotion to various saints.
H. For the rich.
V. Make use of the many riches God gives you.
A. Offer to God the Sacred Humanity of Jesus.
B. Offer to God Christ's Passion.
C. Honor God through Mary.
1. The 7 Heavenly Joys of Mary (acc. to a priv. rev. to St. Thomas
Becket:
a. the Most Holy Trinity honors Her above all creatures.
b. that Her Virginity has set her above the saints and angels.
c. that the graet light of Her glory illuminates the Heavens.
d. that all the blessed honor Her as the Mother of God.
e. that Her Son grants her whatever She asks.
f. for the grace given her on earth and the glory prepared in
Heaven for those devoted to Her.
g. that her accidental glory goes on increasing to the day of
doom.
D. Offer God the worship of the angels.
E. Offer God all the works and worship of creation on earth.
F. Offer the infinite perfections of the Trinity.
1. Offer God His own Infinite Perfections and the glory He recei-
ves from those attributes which are Himself. Offer the eternal
generation of the Son, or the double procession of the Holy
Ghost.
2. Offer to God the knowledge and love whereby He knows and loves
Himself, and the incommunicable complacency of the 3 Divine
Persons in each other.
VI. Learn to grow holier in every moment and instance.
A. Recognize how God enables you to love Him.
B. Develop a spirit of oblation.
C. Follow the saint's examples.
1. Offer the particular circumstances of our actions, as well as
the actions themselves.
2. We should offer our actions for several supernatural ends.
D. Recognize Jesus as a gentle Master.
E. Sanctify your recreation and free time.
1. Idea - before recreation, pray for these fruits of the Holy
Ghost: charity, peace joy, patience.
2. Offer all to God - the blinking of our eyes, each motion of
our limbs, etc.
F. Look for opportunities for holiness during illness.
G. Grow holy even through play.
H. Use your time to gain merit.
1. Early morning to noon - Offer Jesus praises and thanks on be-
half of the whole Church, with the warmest affection, for all
the benefits conferred on men since creation, and specially
for the adorable compassion of Jesus by which He allows Him-
self to be sacrificed on the altar in the Holy Mass to the
Eternal Father for men's salvation.
2. Noon to evening - be zealous to perform good workd, in union
with the most holy intention which Jesus performed in His
Sacred Humanity to make up for the negligences of the world.
3. Evening to dawn - protest against man's impiety, for their
refusal of gratitude to Jesus, and for provoking Jesus to ang-
er by all their sins. Offer for their repentance the pain and
bitterness of His most innocent Passion and Death.
I. Offer up your solitude for a holy death.
When alone, or awake at night, offer up your solitude in union
with the solitude of Jesus in the sepulcher and in the taber-
nacle, and do this to obtain for your self and your loved ones
the grace of a good death, that you may die with no necessity
of going to Purgatory, and leaving behind a great treasure of
satisfactions, and that you may glorify God on earth even after
death, by the memory of your good works, by salutary advices
given, or devout books written, or the abiding fruit of your
prayers.
J. Let all things remind you of God. For instance, you see people
talking, pray they may say no idle words for which they will
have to give account. You hear the howling of the wind, pray
for those at sea. You pass a tavern, pray no one offends God,
or that those who have may go to confession. When you hear the
pattering of the rain, thank God for it, and desire to offer
Him as many good acts of faith, hope, charity, contrition,
thanksgiving, humility, adoration and petition as there are
drops in that shower. Ask for the continual influx of the helps
of grace in good measure, heaped up, shaken together, and
running over, by which you & others may always act in the most
perfect manner, & glorify God in the greatest possible degree.
When you pass any village or town, or the house of some great
man, ask God, by the merits of those who dwell there, to have
mercy upon you; give Him thanks for all His blessings, past,
present & future, on the inhabitants; commend to Him all their
necessities, and beg Him to hear their prayers; grieve for all
the sins committed there, and ask for the remission of them;
commend to God the souls of those departed there.
K. Do not overburden yourself with devotions.
L. Make use of brief spontaneous prayers.
Seek our Lord's presence in all things, for It is in all things
in at least 3 ways: essence, presence & power.
M. See how God longs for your love.
VII. Offer thanks to God.
A. Do not neglect to thank God.
B. Prepare for heaven by offering thanks.
C. Let thanksgiving lead you closer to God.
D. See the many ways God reveals Himself to you.
E. Let thanksgiving prepare your soul to receive blessings.
F. Give thanks for the blessings common to all
1. Including all the graces of the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, the
glorious privileges of the Mother of God, and all the splendor
of the Angels and Saints.
2. (Basis for prayer) Blessed be the Most Holy Trinity for every
gift and grace, etc., and for all the treasues of grace that
God has given to His Saints....
G. Give thanks for the graces God has given you.
H. Give thanks even for the "trifling" blessings.
1. We should give thanks for future blessings not yet received.
I. Thank God for graces you have impeded.
1. We should be thankful for graces which we have abused or made
light of.
2. We should also give thanks to God for preventing innumerable
words & deeds of ours from giving scandal, when in themselves
they were calculated to do so.
J. Thank God for His blessings on your enemies & lost souls.
1. Also give thanks for the graces bestowed on heretics, schismat-
ics, & all non-Christians; also for Catholics who live in mor-
tal sin.
K. Give thanks for the angels & saints.
L. Thank God for the gift of Faith.
M. Give thanks for Christ's presence in the Mass and in His Church
VIII. Praise God for His Goodness.
A. Praise God through holy desires, & with a childlike spirit.
B. Desire that God be loved better and by all.
C. Practice interior acts of worship.
D. Love God by striving to know him better.
E. Reveal God's perfections to others.
F. Renew your good purposes & holy desires.
1. Acts of humiliation & our own nothingness.
2. Desires & purposes to avoid all deliberate sin and even
imperfection.
3. Des. & purp. to endure all sorts of things for the sake
of our dear Lord.
4. Des. & purp. about the love of our enemies.
5. Des. & purp. to give up all our will and liberty to God.
G. Develop liberty of spirit.
H. Let your love manifest itself in action.
I. Grieve that God is not loved more.
J. Determine to make God better loved.
K. Offer God praise for Mary.
L. Offer God the praise of Christ.
IX. Assist the souls in Purgatory.
A. Gain indulgences for the souls in purgatory.
1. Some of the fruits of this devotion:
a. Increase in merit - the good works of the just include: merit,
impetration & satisfaction.
b. Gratitude of released souls toward their benefactors.
c. Souls to worship God on our behalf.
d. Joy in the Church.
e. Immediate use of indulgences.
f. Blessings for us.
B. Perform the works of mercy through devotion to the Holy Souls.
1. It feeds the hungry souls with Jesus, the Bread of Angels.
2. It gives them His Precious Blood to drink in their imcomparable
thirst.
3. It clothes them with the robe of glory.
4. It visits the sick with mighty power to heal.
5. It frees the captives, with a heavenly and eternal freedom, from
a bondage dreader than death.
6. It takes in the strangers, and Heaven is the hospice into which
it receives them.
7. It buries the dead in the bosom of Jesus in everlasting rest.
How to Live Nobly and Well
I. Recognize daily opportunities for success.
II. Strive for lasting success.
What does success mean, and what does it consist in? A successful
life is a life that achieves its purpose. Such a life is a happy one
even though it may pass through suffering & difficulty, because happi-
ness is one thing and pleasure another, and a person may have great
pleasure and still be very unhappy, just as he may lack pleasure alm-
ost entirely and still be very happy. True success is in doing one's
duty to God amd man, making the most of one's opportunities of serv-
ice, living virtuously, and thus enjoying happiness here and hereafter
that comes from such performance of duty.
III. Choose what will improve your character.
A. 3 elements of character
1. natural tendencies, inherited characteristics
2. habits acquired by repeated actions, which form a 2nd nature &
can change, round out, or tone down inherited characteristics.
3. Your environment.
IV. Persevere in noble pursuits.
Perseverance is chiefly rooted in an unwavering will. It is a determ-
ination to keep up the fight, to go on with the struggle, to pay the
price fully and courageously.
V. Develop your mind through study
The ideal person is one who is equally balanced in heart, intelli-
gence & will, so that he is able at the same time to will strongly, to
feel tenderly, and to decide vigorously and carefully.
VI. Learn from your mistakes & failures
A good thing to remember for real success in life is not to keep your
self-love unwounded and preserve an excessive good opinion of your
self, but rather to see yourself as you really are, so that you may
profit by your errors to improve your character.
VII. See & imitate the good in others.
VIII. Develop good habits - especially the 4 great fundamental habits,
or cardinal virtues - prudence, justice, temperance, & fortitude.
IX. Let prudence guide your decisions.
Prudence is the habit of judging correctly on all occasions what is
the right way of acting, so as to fulfill one's duty and attain the
rightful end of life.
X. Practice justice in all its forms.
Here, justice is the habit of the will which inclines us to give
everyone his due, that is, live up to our obligations to others.
A. Aspects of justice:
1. Truthfulness
2. Fidelity & faithfulness to one's promises
3. Firmness & strength in resisting evil
4. Obey the law
5. Kindness, generosity & friendliness
6. gratitude
XI. Be temperate
Temperance means the habit of self-control and moderation in yielding
to bodily appetites.
XII. Develop fortitude
Fortitude is the good habit by which a person courageously undertakes
labors and faces danger when duty calls, or conscience speaks, or when
their is some worthy end to be atained.
XIII. Choose happiness over pleasure.
Pleasure means enjoyment. It means the gratifying of some sense or
faculty in which we take delight. Happiness is the inward contentment,
the peace & satisfaction, the moral well-being that comes to a person
of the previously mentioned virtues, who does his duty to God and his
fellowman with patience, fidelity, uprightness, and kindness.
XIV. Learn to without non-essentials
XV. Be pleasant in your demeanor & your actions
16. Develop your power of observation
17. Be yourself
18. Discipline your imagination
19. Strengthen your will
20. Let reason guide you.
21. Choose worthwhile amusements
22. Take care of your body
23. Maintain a healthy mind
24. Think kindly of others
25. Resist temptations.
26. Gain mastery over yourself
27. Distinguish between true & false good
28. Don't fear what others think
29. Use criticism prudently
30. Rely on your will, not on your feelings
31. Have confidence in yourself
32. Build a noble character