YOU HAVE SEARCHED ME AND KNOWN ME!
"O LORD, thou hast searched me and known me!
Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;
thou discernest my thoughts from afar.
Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou dost beset me behind and before ....
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, "Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,"
even the darkness is not dark to thee,
the night is bright as the day;
for darkness is as light with thee.
For thou didst form my inward parts,
thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb.
... Thou knowest me right well;
my frame was not hidden from thee,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;
in thy book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any wicked* way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"
(Ps 139:1-5,7-12,13-16,23-24)
RECALLING THE GOOD WROUGHT BY GOD'S GRACE
"How delighted we will be
to review those many acts of faith
we have made to Jesus Christ present in the Tabernacle.
We will take comfort
in the countless genuflections we have made with love,
in the many hours of work we have offered to God,
in the smile and good cheer
we have brought to our workplace,
in the efforts we have made
to bring a friend to the sacrament of Confession.
We will also contemplate with joy
our participation in works of mercy,
our prompt recourse to the Sacrament of Confession
when we have sinned....
(Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God V, 73.3)
RECALLING THE EVIL WROUGHT BY PRIDE
"And yet, how much sorrow we will have
at the sight of those occasions when we have offended God,
those hours of work or study which we failed to sanctify,
those lost opportunities for apostolate with friends....
What a shame to behold so little generosity
and attention to God's grace!
How grieved we will be by so much neglect!"
(Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God V, 73.3)
THE BOOK WE HAVE WRITTEN
"Friend, take up the book of your life
and turn its pages everyday,
so that you won't be surprised
when it is read on the day of your particular judgment,
and won't be ashamed when it is published
on the day of the universal judgment."
(Salvador Canals, Jesus as Friend, p 76)
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
"There are many souls stretched on psychoanalytic couches today
who would be far better off if they brought their consciences
to the confessional box.
There are thousands of patients on their backs
who would be made better today
if they were on their knees instead."
(Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul, p 89)
THE REVENGE OF SILENCED CONSCIENCE
"Any denial of conscience as the voice of God
may be momentarily effective,
but a day will come
when the abused conscience
will turn with fury
and harrass its victim,
tormenting his waking life
and making his dreams a poison,
his darkness a nightmare."
(Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul, p 94)
BEHOLD THE PIERCED ONE!
"Once a soul has gone there [to Calvary],
he can no longer say that sin does not matter."
(Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul, p 75)
SURPRISES IN HEAVEN
"Because our Blessed Lord preferred the nasty people to the nice people,
it is very likely that if we could look up into Heaven
we should see some sights that would scandalize us. ...
There will be many in Heaevn whom we never expected to see there.
The surprises will be numerous.
But the greatest surprise of all
will be to find that we are there ourselves."
(Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul, p 77)
NASTY PEOPLE, PEOPLE READY FOR CONVERSION
Nice people must see themselves as nasty people
before they can find peace. ...
The nasty people are the convertible people."
(Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul, p 76)
[T]he greater the frustration,
the more complex the anxiety of the godless heart,
the more capable it is
of being metamorphosed to a saint."
(Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul, p 26)
SHORTNESS OF MEMORY
"There are things we fail to remember,
not because we have short memories
but because we are short of love."
(St Josemaria, quoted by Federico Suarez, The Afterlife, p 89)
THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE
"Lord, you were condemned to death
because fear of what other people may think
suppressed the voice of conscience. ...
Strengthen the quiet voice of our conscience, your own voice, in our lives.
Look at me
as you looked at Peter after his denial.
Let your gaze penetrate our hearts
and indicate the direction our lives must take.
On the day of Pentecost
you stirred the hearts of those who, on Good Friday,
clamoured for your death,
and you brought them to conversion.
In this way you gave hope to all.
Grant us, ever anew, the grace of conversion."
(Card Joseph Ratzinger, Way of the Cross, 1st Station, Colosseum 2005)
THE MOST WELCOME WORD
"My Mother has spoken well about you."
(Fulton Sheen)