Calm your mind—or at least your tongue We should try to keep from getting angry, says St. Ambrose. But if anger sneaks up on us, we should try to calm ourselves. And if we can’t do that, we should at least keep ourselves from saying something we’ll regret. Guard against anger. But if it cannot be averted, let it be kept within bounds. For indignation is a terrible incentive to sin. It disorders the mind to such an extent as... Read more
Make the right use of your passions God gave you your emotions for good reasons, says St. John Cassian. The key is to keep them under control, rather than letting them lead you into sin. For these carnal impulses, of which we spoke above, were implanted in our bodies with a useful purpose by the providence of the Creator: for perpetuating the race, and raising up children for posterity—and not for committing adulteries and debaucheries, which the authority of the... Read more
Manage your passions, manage your life St. Gregory of Nyssa gives us a complete course in soul management. All the feelings and passions that lead us into sin were really made to serve righteousness. I advise that love’s passion be placed in the soul’s purest shrine, chosen as the first fruits of all our gifts, and devoted completely to God. And once this is done, I should be kept untouched and unstained by any secular impurity. Then indignation and anger... Read more
This week publisher Our Sunday Visitor sponsors the giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a copy of each of the following five titles by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle: Catholic Mom’s Cafe, Catholic Prayer Book for Mothers, A Catholic Woman’s Book of Prayers, Catholic Saints Prayer Book and Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship (you can read my review of the book here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts... Read more
Don’t let passion outrun reason Reason should dictate everything we do, says St. Ambrose. If reason loses control of our passions, then the passions, like runaway horses, drag the mind away to disaster. We ought to be careful never to do anything rashly or carelessly, or anything at all for which we cannot give a reasonable ground. For though a reason for our action is not given to everyone, yet everybody looks into it. Nor, indeed, have we anything to... Read more
There are a number of books out that detail the life of Mother Teresa. Many of these take a distant look at her life and works but a few offer a more intimate portrait of this saint from our own times. Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle knew Mother Teresa for ten years. She relays that time in her book Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship. The book opens with Donna-Marie describing her chance encounter. “Never in my wildest dreams could... Read more
Beware your passions The devil loves it when we get all emotional, says St. Ambrose. That means we’re not thinking clearly. Then he can set his little traps for us, and we jump right in. When he sees passions stirred up in us, that’s when the Enemy especially lays his plans. Then he brings tinder; then he sets traps. The Enemy’s trap is our speech—but that itself is also just as much our enemy. Too often we say something that... Read more
Use God’s gifts in moderation Fasting is good, as St. Gregory the Great told a congregation getting ready for Lent. But we abstain from good things for the sake of better things. We must not insult the Creator by supposing, like the Manichean heretics, that the food he created is evil in itself. Let us beware of the Adversary’s wiles, not only in the enticements of the palate, but also when we decide to abstain. For he who knew how... Read more
Be reasonably moderate Some people swear off wine altogether—for reasons of pride, says Palladius of Galatia. That’s far worse than drinking wine moderately. If you make reason rather than pride your rule, you will never fall into sin. Palladius, by the way, had spent years with the desert fathers surviving on water and a few ounces of bread a day, so he earned the right to talk about moderation. Play the man then, I implore you, and do not increase... Read more
PETE: In A Guide to Christian Meditation you focus on a fundamental basic of faith and that is prayer. Why is prayer so important for the practicing Catholic? FATHER JOHN BARTUNEK: To put it simply, a healthy prayer life assures ongoing spiritual growth. Spiritual growth depends primarily on a real, personal, faith-based relationship with God. That relationship is prayer. Don’t just take my word for it, take Pope Benedict XVI’s: “What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship... Read more
The Catholic Book Blogger
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In