JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. “He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at His feet.” – St. Therese of Lisieux Fear of striving towards holiness because of the past we have lived – being discouraged by the thoughts and judgment of others as we grow in holiness. These are feelings all too commonly expressed to me by other souls God has called to join His Church later in life. In fact, these are concerns your humble author struggles with daily in her perpetual striving to grow in holiness and develop a closer relationship with Our Lord. In a fashion different than many previous letters I have written for this website I am going to speak rather plainly and frankly. God has not filled my soul with any poetics this week, and I believe this is because He wills for this message to be concise and straightforward. However, it is through simplicity of writing that a topic such as this ought to be addressed as it seeks to reach out to those perhaps unfamiliar with the flowery and poetic style all too common in spiritual writings. May God let my words reach those who are struggling the most in their efforts to grow closer to Him. Indeed, may ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen My Lord how often we selfishly waste the precious little time we ungrateful and faithless creatures allocate to prayer – time which we miserable beings often in our daily lives so longingly wish to have more of to give; that time which we all too often claim to be unable to find; and yet, my God, how readily we can find time to devote to ourselves. How quick we are to spend the hours with which You have so lovingly blessed us selfishly bustling about concerned with wordly affairs and busying ourselves with tedious tasks so we can afford to indulge our lowest and most depraved of passions fruitlessly. We spend our time as if it were our own and not, instead, the truly precious gift rightly belonging to You alone and merely bestowed to us so we may come to love You more, our most precious and Adorable Jesus. In prayer, a sacred time when we are to set aside our worthless endeavors to be with You – time when we ought to be listening intently for the faintest whisperings of the Holy Spirit – we insignificant yet prideful and sniveling creatures find ourselves speaking so loudly about those concerns we ought to have set aside that we would be unable to hear even the most deafening of cries calling us to You. We, Your faithful and loyal subjects, who desire so ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Oh, my sweet Jesus please help me as I compose this letter today writing about the small temptations and venial sins that are the ruin of little souls. Those deplorable sins that in their seeming insignificance slip past our minds. Those venial sins which we have, in our wretchedness, fallen into the habit of committing which such frequency that they have become no longer only temptation but routine to our weak and foolish minds. Those sins which cause You, Our Blessed Lord, so much pain on our behalf due to the ease and willingness by which we commit them. We who so often consider not that every sin which we commit pains Your most Sacred and Blessed Heart. How quickly, my God, we offend you. How much we too hurt our souls when we hurt You. When a member of the body aches, it is the head which genuinely experiences the pain. My God if we could be freed, I beg You my Lord through the intercession of Your Blessed Mother Mary ever Virgin – the Immaculate Conception – if we could – by Your Grace – be but freed from all these small temptations how easily would avoidance of more grievous temptations and sins be for we little slaves of Yours. It is these seemingly insignificant sins – actions which in our having committed them so often no longer seem to us ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. My Lord, allow me please I beg you, to say a few little words, even if only of the smallest value, on this most beneficial and holy of topics. A soul as small and wretched as mine will most certainly struggle to say anything of use on such an important topic and therefore, my Lord I pray, You inspire anyone who reads this to seek out priests, bishops, and religious who are far more learned than I am regarding such a profound and divine subject. I am but a humble faithless soul who struggles herself daily against the temptations of this world, and therefore it is with a nervous hand that I seek to write on such a lofty topic. Guide my pen, I beg You my Heavenly Spouse, for without Your inspiration there is but nothing of value which a soul as wretched and vile as mine could ever hope to say upon this subject of spiritual poverty. For we Your servants sojourning here upon this earth the blessing of the love of holy poverty is of extreme benefit. May we gain, by Your grace, a true spirit of poverty – a poverty which is not one which oppresses your servants, although that poverty as well has its value to those who You have chosen to suffer material poverty for their spiritual benefit, but one which liberates we little souls from the ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen Oh God, please assist me in writing this letter so that it may be beneficial to others and prevent me, my Lord I pray, from appearing to say that one method of prayer is superior and acceptable alone by You, our Lord, who accepts any petition offered with devotion, faithfulness, and humility. Keep what I write in conformity with the teachings of the church, and when I speak about the beauty of the Latin language, the language of Your Holy and Catholic Church, the language which I have been inspired by Your Mercy, my God, to approach you each day in my daily prayers allow me, please I beg You, to do so with an attitude of profound humility. Allow those who read this letter to understand that I do not write this for any sort of self aggrandizement or in order to esteem myself to them for praying in the language of Your Church but that I do so only that my devotion to You, my Lord, may grow more and more each time that I pray in the Latin language. It is an act of humility, my Lord, and an acknowledgement of my unlearned nature that I am unable to think of you so naturally and fluently in my daily language with any level of devotion. If only I knew You more perhaps I would be able express my love for ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. O My Lord, how much you desire the consolation of those whom you have called to Your Church; however, it seems that it is from those of us You have personally called into your embrace that the most significant pain is caused to your Most Blessed and Sacred Heart. Yet we foul and lowly creatures who You in Your endless Mercy have, through your incarnation, sorrowful passion, and glorious resurrection raised to higher glory than even Your angels – a reward to which, without your profound love, we wretched and faithless sinners could not have even aspired – offend you most of all. Why is it that we forget our profound debt to you and fall away from Your never-ending Love only to seek after worldly gain and carnal pleasures? Forgive us, Lord, for we are but the weakest of your creatures and most incapable of producing any good whatsoever. In our feebleness against the worldly temptations and snares of the Devil we are quite unable to resist. His vile and depraved inclinations, which he gives us against the holy and sanctifying uses for which You have deemed all to be good for us, leads us instead to the ruin of our souls. How much our turning from you to the world must pain your Most Adorable and Blessed Heart. Yet still, these of your servants whose offenses you endure cause yet even ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen O, my most Precious and Adorable Jesus, how deeply You suffered to redeem us from ourselves yet how little we wretched and ungrateful sinners are willing to endure in order to keep ourselves from succumbing to even the littlest of temptations. Indeed, without Your willing it to be we terrible souls cannot but help falling into sin, yet we – who are powerless to save ourselves – seem so often to refuse the great Grace of Salvation You have died to give we unworthy servants of Yours. Why do we turn away from Your infinite Mercy to gain some fleeting worldly fancy? Why do we, the most miserable of Your creatures, run not into your loving embrace but towards the cold snares of the devil with such unceasing frequency? Why do we foul and sinful souls choose so often to cause You greater suffering through our endless and ever-increasing depravity? O Lord, if You would keep us from falling into the greatest of sins, we would still reject You and Your promise of salvation for nothing more than a morsel of material gain or carnal pleasure. Therefore, I beg You my Lord, my God, through the intercession and prayers of Your Most Holy and Blessed Mother who never fails to come to the aid of Your servants when we earnestly cry out to Her, take from us, Your pitiful, weak, and most undeserving ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. My God, I pray that you bestow upon me as I, a most unworthy and faithless servant, write this letter the inspiration to convey appropriately and with adequate emphasis the importance of prudence when stepping into the castle that is the interior life of prayer and recollection. Allow the wisdom of Your Saints whom You chose to inspire with the knowledge to compose, and through whose hands You decided to write, the priceless manuals of prayer and meditation which are the treasure of Your Church and by which I have learned all that You have taught me concerning the prayerful life. Allow their words, O Lord I pray, to overshadow mine and shine gloriously so others may come to know the most beneficial teachings which Your Saints have left as guides for Your faithful as we struggle in this Valley of Tears. Protect us little and humble souls, I pray my God, who, although trembling from knowing our own inability to accomplish any good whatsoever by our own actions, step forward and grasp Your outstretched hand with the loving trust of a child as we follow Your call to a life of prayer and fasting beyond that which we little souls could ever hope to endure if left to ourselves, and which, through Your grace, will guide us towards and strengthen us to live a life far higher than we writhing and most ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, frequently referred to only as Confession, is probably one of my favorite Sacraments; however, I often hear people mention that it is an intimidating experience. I can, of course, understand why one may feel a sense of anxiety when standing in line or waiting in a pew before entering the confessional. However, I am firmly convinced that the hesitancy to participate in this extremely worthwhile Sacrament stems from a misconception of the Sacrament itself. I hope to share in this entry a few things that with the Grace of God helped me make a drastic shift in my perspective of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and has allowed me to embrace what was once an intimidating and uncomfortable obligation into the foundation of my life. What an excellent opportunity you have given to us, my God, to meet you personally and intimately in this Sacrament. It pains me to see so many of your children lose such a beautiful encounter with You, our Lord, out of wordly fear. To protect our mortal egos, we endanger our immortal souls. How willing we are to gamble Your gift of Salvation for a few moments of worldly comfort. If only we would shed our fear, O God, how much more profound our understanding of and devotion to your perfect Divine Mercy would be within our hearts. Let us not turn away from You ...

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JMJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. My God, I pray that as I write this, You inspire me. Any good whatsoever that may be found in the following is from You alone. All errors stem from my lack of understanding and wretchedness. May You guide my hand as I write this, and may You bless those who read this with the intelligence to turn away from this writing should it offend You in any way. May I not shine, but Your Glory shows through my writings if it be Your Will. May I, a wretched and faithless sinner, ever decrease except that my vileness may be known so that Your Glory and Honor and Might may increase. May I be merely Your instrument, my Lord. I lay myself at Your feet as a most unworthy servant. Use me as You please, my God. Amen. I have been reading through “The Way of Perfection” by St. Teresa of Avila once again – I recently purchased the study edition from the Institute of Carmelite Studies, and have been enjoying working through the questions for discussion in my journal as I read. One question struck me following the first chapter: “After Teresa’s example what ‘little that is in our power’ can we do to become good friends of the Lord?” This question came at a very opportune time for me as I am also participating in a small group at our parish ...

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