7 Catholic Things that Caught My Eye Today (Love Does Win)

1.

Man longs for love more than for freedom—freedom is the means, whereas love is the end. Man, however, longs for true love, because the authentic commitment of freedom is possible only when it is based on truth.

– Love and Responsibility, Karol Wojtyla, new translation by Grzegorz Ignatik

2.

Remember your mercy, O Lord; according to the promise you made to our fathers. #vespers

— Fr. Patrick Brennan (@Pathound) June 26, 2015

3. From my friend Jennifer Manning.

4.

"Do everything for Love. Thus there will be no little things: everything will be big." St Josemaria Escriva pic.twitter.com/icOZ2hQLuP

— Fr Brad Sweet (@BradBradsweet) June 26, 2015

5. From a homily of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in the Liturgy of the Hours:

The happiness God promises certainly knows no limits. When one has gained such a blessing, what is left to desire? In seeing God one possesses all things. In the language of Scripture, to see is to have. May you see the good things of Jerusalem is the same as May you possess the good things of Jerusalem. When the prophet says: May the wicked man be carried off and not see the glory of the Lord, he means: May he not share in the glory of the Lord.

One who has seen God has, in the act of seeing, gained all that is counted good: life without end, everlasting freedom from decay, undying happiness, a kingdom that has no end, lasting joy, true light, a voice to sing pleasingly in the spirit, unapproachable glory, perpetual rejoicing, in a word, the totality of blessing.

Such is the wonderful hope held out by the beatitudes. As we have seen, the condition for seeing God is purity of heart, and now once more my mind is in confusion, as from an attack of giddiness, wondering if purity of heart is something impossible, something beyond the capacity of human nature. If the vision of God is dependent on purity of heart, and if Moses and Paul did not attain this vision—they state that neither they nor anyone else can see God—then the promise of the beatitude spoken by the Word seems to be something impossible of realization.

What do we gain from knowing the means by which God may be seen if we have not the power to see him? It is like saying that one is blessed if one is in heaven because in heaven things are seen that are not seen on earth. If we were told beforehand how to get to heaven, it would be helpful to know that one is blessed if one is in heaven. But as long as the way to heaven is impossible what do we gain by knowing about the happiness of heaven? This only saddens and annoys us when we realize the good things we are deprived of, because it is impossible to get there.

Surely the Lord does not encourage us to do something impossible to human nature because the magnitude of what he commands is beyond the reach of our human strength? The truth is different. He does not command those creatures to whom he has not given wings to become birds, nor those to whom he has assigned a life on land to live in water. If then in the case of all other creatures the command is according to the capacity of those who receive it, and does not oblige them to anything beyond their nature, we shall come to the conclusion that we are not to give up hope of gaining what is promised by the beatitude. John and Paul and Moses, then, and any others like them, did not fail to achieve that sublime happiness that comes from the vision of God: not Paul, who said: There is stored up for me a crown of righteousness, which the judge who judges justly will give me, nor John, who leaned on the breast of Jesus, nor Moses, who heard God saying to him, I know you above all others.

If it is clear that those who taught that the contemplation of God was beyond their powers are themselves blessed, and if blessedness consists in the vision of God and is granted to the pure in heart, then purity of heart, leading to blessedness, is certainly not among the things that are impossible.

Hence it can be said that those who with Paul teach that the vision of God is beyond our powers are right in what they say, and that the voice of the Lord does not contradict them when he promises that the pure in heart will see God.

6. It’s a good time to read Dawn Eden’s revised The Thrill of the Chaste.

7.

"Jesus came on earth to be my model. I want to follow Him and walk generously in His footsteps." ~ Saint Bernadette Soubirous

— Sr. Veronica Young (@sistervpaul_) June 26, 2015

ALSO:

And Pope Francis called him the saint of the family: “from his place in heaven, he guides and sustains.” St. John Paul II, please do pray for us.

Our Lady of Good Counsel, pray for us.