When Storms Have Passed....

"The Lord... reached out from on high and grasped me; He drew me out of the deep waters... You, indeed, O Lord, give light to my lamp; O my God, You brighten the darkness about me."  
                                                                                                                                       Psalm 18:17, 29

Painting:  Ivan Shishkin, Rain in an Oak Forest

Amid These Difficulties

"Even if you do not feel much confidence, you must still not fail to make acts of it, saying to Our Lord:

'Although, dear Lord, I have no feeling of confidence in You, I know all the same that You are my God, that I am wholly Yours, and that I have no hope but in Your goodness; therefore I abandon myself, with all that I have and am, into Your hands.'

"It is always in our power to make these acts.  Though there may be difficulty, there is never impossibility.  It is on these occasions and amid these difficulties that we ought to show fidelity to Our Lord, for though we make these acts without fervor and without satisfaction to ourselves, we must not distress ourselves about that.... if the heart did not will it, the lips would not will it; the lips would not utter a word.  Having done this, be at peace...'"

                                                                               St. Francis de Sales, Conferences

Painting: Karl Julius von Leypold, Wanderer im Sturm 

No Matter What it Costs

We must 

love Him

with all

our might

and strength,

no matter

what it costs.

    

 St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

             






Painting: Stilke Hermann Anton 
Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake


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Sunday Snippets, A Catholic Carnival

We seem to be having Arts Week here at The Breadbox Letters.

This week, we discovered:

A color-filled autumn PAINTING

A seasonal PHOTO

A POEM that's one of my all time favorites (is it everyone's favorite....?) read by the author himself  (I'll admit it:  I am in awe).

A SONG that I would love to be able to leave as my own personal legacy.  (I'm working on it...).

I am sharing these uncovered treasures with the fine bloggers at This, That and the Other Thing. Click here to see what others have been writing about this week.  And thank you, RAnn, for hosting!

When it's all Been Said and Done

Painting:  "David" by Frederick Leighton

The Road Less Traveled

I was a bit beside myself today to find this video.  To hear one of my favorite poets reading his own work, with the emphases he had in mind as he composed it, is a rare treat for me.

Is this everyone's favorite poem?  It certainly is one of mine. 

I found this at Our Journey.  There are several poetry "readings" over there!





"He guides me in right paths for His Name's sake."  (Psalm 23:3)

"Since the blood of Jesus assures our entrance into the sanctuary by the new and living path He has opened up for us through (the veil meaning His flesh), and since we have a great Priest Who is over the house of God, let us draw near with utter sincerity and absolute confidence..." (Hebrews 10:19-21)

"I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life..."  (Jesus in John 14:6)

(William Bliss Baker painting in US public domain)

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So Many Signs

If there is anyone who is not enlightened by this sublime magnificence of created things,  he is blind.... if there is anyone who, seeing all these works of God, does not praise Him, he is dumb; if there is anyone who, from so many signs, cannot perceive God, that man is foolish.

                                                                                                             St. Bonaventure 

Public domain photo

BY THE WAY:  I have been finding so many good quotes and pictures to "put in the breadbox" that I count it a great  privilege to share them!  Meanwhile, many of my "original" thoughts are being shared over at The Cloistered Heart, where we've been looking at Lectio Divina.  

In His Handiwork

If things created are so full of loveliness, how resplendent with beauty must be the One Who made them!  The wisdom of the Worker is apparent in His handiwork.  St Anthony of Padua

Painting, Albert Bierstadt, On the Saco
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A Moment of Grace

Thank You, Lord, for a blush of autumn beauty

photo © 2012 Nancy Shuman

In Fadeless Splendor

Sometimes when autumn's mellow sunlight spills

On painted pomp of wooded heights the while,

My heart grows homesick for the Eternal Hills

Bathed in the fadeless splendor of His Smile.

                                                    Sister M. Angelita, "Nostalgia"

Walter Moras painting in US public domain 

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Sufficient

We must abandon ourselves
to the loving providence
of the Sacred and lovable
Heart of Jesus
and let Him guide 
and rule us as He wishes.
He will be sure to furnish us
with all that is necessary
for our sanctification
if only
we are careful to receive it
according to His designs.
That is sufficient.

             St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Great Favors, Too

'His Majesty 
will give you 
great help 
proportionate 
to your trials;
and so, as you are
suffering great trials,
you will enjoy
great favors too.
Blessed be His Name
forever and ever,'

from a letter of St. Teresa of Avila












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One Golden Burst

I thank God today that, 

just as trees are on the verge of bare,

we are treated to one last golden burst of bright.

God's Homeschool

The trees and the stones will teach you

what you will never learn from the schoolmasters.

                                                  St. Bernard of Clairvaux 

Painting Cole Thomas The Clove Catskills; US public domain

One Golden Apple

Why should we refuse to give Him

 the apple which we hold in our hands,

 and which He asks from us so often;

that is to say, our heart, 

the one golden apple

that our Divine Savior requires of us?

                                                                                            St. Francis de Sales

Karl Vikas painting US public domain

My Food in Exile

"My heart, longing for God, feels the whole misery of exile.  I keep going forward bravely - though my feet become wounded - to my homeland and, on the way, I nourish myself on the will of God.  It is my food.  Help me, happy inhabitants of the heavenly homeland, so that your sister may not falter on the way.  Although the desert is fearful, I walk with lifted head and eyes fixed on the sun, that is to say, on the merciful heart of Jesus."  (St. Faustina, Diary #886)

Caspar David Friedrich painting public domain

Fear Not

"Fear not,
for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name,
you are Mine.
When you pass through the water,
I will be with you;
in the rivers you shall not drown.

When you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned;
the flames shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord,
your God."
                                        Isaiah 43:1-3






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