Gospel for November 1, Solemnity, All Saints

From: Matthew 5:1-12a

The Beatitudes
[1] Seeing the crowds, He (Jesus) went up on the mountain, and when He sat down His disciples came to Him. [2] And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: [3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. [4] Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. [5] Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. [6] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. [7] Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. [8] Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. [9] Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. [10] Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. [11] Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. [12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven."
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Commentary:
1. The Discourse, or Sermon, on the Mount takes up three full chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel--Chapters 5-7. It is the first of the five great discourses of Jesus which appear in this Gospel and it contains a considerable amount of our Lord's teaching.

It is difficult to reduce this discourse to one single theme, but the various teachings it contains could be said to deal with these five points: 1) the attitude a person must have for entering the Kingdom of Heaven (the Beatitudes, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, Jesus and His teaching, the fullness of the Law); 2) uprightness of intention in religious practice (here the "Our Father" would be included); 3) trust in God's fatherly providence; 4) how God's children should behave towards one another (not judging one's neighbor, respect for holy things, the effectiveness of prayer, and the golden rule of charity); 5) the conditions for entering the Kingdom (the narrow gate, false prophets and building on rock).

"He taught them": this refers both to the disciples and to the multitude, as can be seen at the end of the Sermon (Matthew 7:28).

2. The Beatitudes (5:3-12) form, as it were, the gateway to the Sermon on the Mount. In order to understand the Beatitudes properly, we should bear in mind that they do not promise salvation only to the particular kinds of people listed here: they cover everyone whose religious dispositions and moral conduct meet the demands which Jesus lays down. In other words, the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who suffer persecution in their search for holiness--these are not different people or kinds of people but different demands made on everyone who wants to be a disciple of Christ.

Similarly, salvation is not being promised to different groups in society but to everyone, no matter what his or her position in life, who strives to follow the spirit and to meet the demands contained in the Beatitudes.

All the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us definitive salvation not in this world, but in the next. But the spirit of the Beatitudes does give us, in this life, peace in the midst of tribulation. The Beatitudes imply a completely new approach, quite at odds with the usual way man evaluates things: they rule out any kind of pharisaical religiosity, which regards earthly happiness as a blessing from God and a reward for good behavior, and unhappiness and misfortune as a form of punishment. In all ages the Beatitudes put spiritual goods on a much higher plane than material possessions. The healthy and the sick, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor--all are called, independently of their circumstances, to the deep happiness that is experienced by those who live up to the Beatitudes which Jesus teaches.

The Beatitudes do not, of course, contain the entire teaching of the Gospel, but they do contain, in embryo, the whole program of Christian perfection.

3. This text outlines the connection between poverty and the soul. This religious concept of poverty was deeply rooted in the Old Testament (cf., e.g., Zephaniah 2:3ff). It was more to do with a religious attitude of neediness and of humility towards God than with material poverty: that person is poor who has recourse to God without relying on his own merits and who trusts in God's mercy to be saved. This religious attitude of poverty is closely related to what is called "spiritual childhood". A Christian sees himself as a little child in the presence of God, a child who owns nothing: everything he has comes from God and belongs to God. Certainly, spiritual poverty, that is, Christian poverty, means one must be detached from material things and practice austerity in using them. God asks certain people--religious--to be legally detached from ownership and thereby bear witness to others of the transitoriness of earthly things.

4. "Those who mourn": here our Lord is saying that those are blessed who suffer from any kind of affliction--particularly those who are genuinely sorry for they sins, or are pained by the offenses which others offer God, and who bear their suffering with love and in a spirit of atonement.

"You are crying? Don't be ashamed of it. Yes, cry: men also cry like you, when they are alone and before God. Each night, says King David, I soak my bed with tears. With those tears, those burning manly tears, you can purify your past and supernaturalize your present life" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 216).

The Spirit of God will console with peace and joy, even in this life, those who weep for their sins, and later will give them a share in the fullness of happiness and glory in Heaven: these are the blessed.

5. "The meek": those who patiently suffer unjust persecution; those who remain serene, humble and steadfast in adversity, and do not give way to resentment or discouragement. The virtue of meekness is very necessary in the Christian life. Usually irritableness, which is very common, stems from a lack of humility and interior peace.

"The earth": this is usually understood as meaning our Heavenly Fatherland.

6. The notion of righteousness (or justice) in Holy Scripture is an essentially religious one (cf. notes on Matthew 1:19 and 3:15; Romans 1:17; 1:18-32; 3:21-22 and 24). A righteous person is one who sincerely strives to do the Will of God, which is discovered in the commandments, in one's duties of state in life (social, professional and family responsibilities) and through one's life of prayer. Thus, righteousness, in the language of the Bible, is the same as what nowadays is usually called "holiness" (1 John 2:29; 3:7-10; Revelation 22:11; Genesis 15:6; Deuteronomy 9:4).

As St. Jerome comments ("Comm. on Matthew", 5, 6), in the fourth Beatitude our Lord is asking us not simply to have a vague desire for righteousness: we should hunger and thirst for it, that is, we should love and strive earnestly to seek what makes a man righteous in God's eyes. A person who genuinely wants to attain Christian holiness should love the means which the Church, the universal vehicle of salvation, offers all men and teaches them to use--frequent use of the Sacraments, an intimate relationship with God in prayer, a valiant effort to meet one's social, professional and family responsibilities.

7. Mercy is not a just a matter of giving alms to the poor but also of being understanding towards other people's defects, overlooking them, helping them cope with them and loving them despite whatever defects they may have. Being merciful also means rejoicing and suffering with other people.

8. Christ teaches us that the source of the quality of human acts lies in the heart, that is, in a man's soul, in the depths of his spirit. "When we speak of a person's heart, we refer not just to his sentiments, but to the whole person in his loving dealings with others. In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture uses the _expression `heart' in its full human meaning, as the summary and source, _expression and ultimate basis, of one's thoughts, words and actions. A man is worth what his heart is worth" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 164).

Cleanness of heart is a gift of God, which expresses itself in a capacity to love, in having an upright and pure attitude to everything noble. As St. Paul says, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8). Helped by God's grace, a Christian should constantly strive to cleanse his heart and acquire this purity, whose reward is the vision of God.

9. The translation "peacemakers" well convey the active meaning of the original text--those who foster peace, in themselves and in others and, as a basis for that, try to be reconciled and to reconcile others with God. Being at peace with God is the cause and effect of every kind of peace. Any peace on earth not based on this divine peace would be vain and misleading.

"They shall be called sons of God": this is an Hebraicism often found in Sacred Scripture; it is the same as saying "they will be sons of God". St. John's first letter (3:1) provides a correct exegesis of this Beatitude: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are".

10. What this Beatitude means, then, is: blessed are those who are persecuted because they are holy, or because they are striving to be holy, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thus, blessed is he who suffers persecution for being true to Jesus Christ and who does so not only patiently but joyfully. Circumstances arise in a Christian's life that call for heroism--where no compromise is admissible: either one stays true to Jesus Christ whatever the cost in terms of reputation, life or possessions, or one denies Him. St. Bernard ("Sermon on the Feast of All Saints") says that the eighth Beatitude is as it were the prerogative of Christian martyrs. Every Christian who is faithful to Jesus' teaching is in fact a "martyr" (a witness) who reflects or acts according with this Beatitude, even if he does not undergo physical death.

11-12. The Beatitudes are the conditions Jesus lays down for entering the Kingdom of Heaven. This verse, in a way summing up the preceding ones, is an invitation to everyone to put this teaching into practice. The Christian life, then, is no easy matter, but it is worthwhile, given the reward that Jesus promises.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 11

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

After Confession

After Confession, we must thank God for the wonderful graces He has given us; we must say our penance with all our heart.

He has pardoned our sins, no matter how grave and horrible they were.

It is simply incredible how few Catholics thank God as they ought to do for the wonderful graces received in Confession.

It is the story of the ten lepers over again.

[This is the end of the booklet.]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 10

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

In Confession

In Confession we ask the priest's blessing and confess our sins clearly, briefly and frankly.

Then we listen carefully to any advice which the priest gives us and resolve to do exactly what he tells us.

We may ask any questions we think fit, or explain any difficulty we may have.

Lastly, when the priest is giving us absolution, we must say our act of contrition fervently, just as if we were at the feet of Jesus Christ Himself...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 9

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

How can we have this real sorrow for sin?

By clearly understanding the horrible malice of sin.

Sin is a deliberate offense against God. No man will do wrong if he sees a policeman looking at him. But we know clearly that God is looking at us, and still we deliberately offend Him; we offend Him to His very face.

The fire of Purgatory is the same terrible fire as the fire of Hell. We may be kept in this awful fire for many years for a deliberate venial sin. God could never punish us too severely. He does not send us to Purgatory because He is angry with us, but because the malice of a deliberate venial sin is simply awful - mortal sin much more so.

The saints say there is nothing so terrible on this earth as a deliberate sin. Were we to see a dead body in horrible corruption, it would be nothing in comparison with even a venial sin.

Were a soul to enter Heaven with one venial sin, it would willingly give up Heaven's happiness and plunge itself into the awful fires of Purgatory to wash out that filthy stain.

St. Paul says that by our sins we crucify again and make a mockery of God.

By absolution we are pardoned, delivered from all the filth and corruption of sin.

Therefore, we must make sure to be really sorry for our sins, for not even the Precious Blood of Jesus applied to our souls will purify us unless we are sorry and firmly resolved to sin no more....

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 8

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

What must we do to get all these graces?

Confession is very easy, but it is, as we saw, very holy, very wonderful, a Divine Sacrament. Therefore, we must make a short but feroent preparation. The reason why so many confessions do so little good is that Catholics do not make this fervent preparation.

To go to Confession without a serious preparation is to tempt God and profane this most holy Sacrament. Confession is easy, but we must treat it with respect. God tells us that He does not cast His pearls before swine. These words are very strong, but very true.

We must pray fervently, by saying, for instance, the first three Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, or we may say the prayers we find in our prayerbook.

Then we make a careful examination of conscience, that we may see and be able to confess our faults clearly and briefly.

The most important part of our preparation is to excite ourselves to sorrow, real sorrow, for our sins and make a firm resolution to avoid all mortal sins, and as far as we can, venial sins, especially any notable venial sin.

If we are not sincerely sorry for our sins, and if we are not firmly resolved to avoid sins, we are insulting God when we go to Confession....

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 7

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

The graces of Confession

...We are weak. It gives us a new strength and life, so that a person who falls constantly into great sins and cannot avoid them, will be certainly able to avoid them if he goes to Confession frequently.

Priests are seeing this every day.

All men long for a good friend, whose friendship and love they enjoy, to whom they can go in their troubles and difficulties and ask for advice. A good friend is one of the greatest blessings God can give us.

Confession gives us this friend, for in Confession we meet a man who is there expressly to help and console us. He has been prepared especially for this work by long years of training. He is kind and helpful.

We may open our hearts to him, sure that he will understand us and sure that he is competent to give us the best possible advice.

We are equally certain that he will keep absolutely secret all that we say to him. A priest never breaks faith with his penitents...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 6

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

The graces of Confession

Confession, like the other Sacraments, is a river of Divine grace, which flows from the heart of God into the heart of the sinner.

What is Grace? Few understand and appreciate this Divine gift, and yet it is the most wonderful reality in our lives. St. Peter tells us that it is a real participation in the Divine nature, raising us up, ennobling us, strengthening, purifying and beautifying our souls, making us like the Angels, likening us to God Himself. It gives us a completely new life, a new vigor, a new power. It gives a Divine light to our understanding, by which we grasp the Divine truths which God has revealed to us, which otherwise we could never understand.

It gives a new and mighty energy to our wills so that we can perform all our duties well and easily.

But confession has its own special graces. Dear Reader, weigh them well:

First of all, it pardons our sins.

Secondly, it gives us light to see the enormity of sin.

Thirdly, it gives us strength to avoid sin.

Fourthly, it is the easiest and best penance we can perform because it washes our souls in the Precious Blood of Jesus. It thus lessens our time in Purgatory, or possibly delivers us altogether from Purgatory.

Fifthly, it comforts and consoles us, most effectively.

Sixthly, it makes us love God and hate sin.

Seventhly, it helps us potently to correct our defects, which make us so disagreeable to others, make us so unhappy ourselves and make us offend God...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 5

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

The power of forgiving sins

No one but God can pardon sin. Even the highest Angel in Heaven cannot absolve from a single sin. God, by an act of infinite power and mercy, has given priests this Divine power.

St. Alphonsus says that if Our Lord Jesus Christ were to sit in one confessional and a simple priest in another, the sinners who went to the priest would be as fully pardoned as those who had confessed to Christ.

St. Augustine declares that when a priest absolves from sin he uses a power greater than the power used by God in creating the world! In proportion to this Divine Power are the benefits we receive in Confession...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 4

Continued from yesterday...

...Confession

Every day we see the wonders of confession

A poor boy who is tempted to steal confesses his fault, and the priest at once shows him not only the meanness and malice of stealing, but shows him how dangerous it is to him. If he is discovered, his character is ruined for life. He is branded as a thief. That boy never steals again.

A young girl is tempted to go astray, attracted by some foolish young man. A word from the priest opens her eyes and her honor is saved.

A husband or a wife begins to be unfaithful; they confess it, and once more the confessor, with a timely warning, saves the poor family from ruin.

A servant confesses that he or she has taken the master's money. Again, a few kind words make them honest and loyal forever after.

Doctors, lawyers, judges confess negligence in their duties; the wise counsel of the priest makes them serious and upright.

How many Protestants have been surprised on receiving money from a priest - sometimes large sums - which had been stolen from them and which the priest was asked to restore.

Many Protestant families choose Catholic servants, but servants who go to Confession!

For any right-minded man, Confession represents not only a personal benefit, but a safeguard for society.

In the last Great Wars, the power of Confession was shown in a wonderful way on the battlefields. One of the great English Protestant newspapers used these words: "The Catholic soldiers, when they have their chaplains, fear neither man nor the devil."

The number of Catholic chaplains in the English army in the beginning of the First World War was 36. It was increased to 600, and this by a Protestant government!...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 3

Continued from yesterday...

Confession

...We see that very many Protestants in late years go to confession to their Protestant divines!

But why confess to a priest, to a man like ourselves?

Because God in His infinite sweetness saw how much our human hearts seek comfort, and therefore, by an act of infinite power and wisdom, He has given men this Divine, omnipotent power of pardoning sin and comforting, consoling and helping sinners to become good.

He not only gives them His own Divine Power to forgive sin, but He also gives them the light and wisdom necessary to console and counsel poor sinners...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 2

Continued from yesterday...

Confession

Confession is one of the greatest and easiest of all means that God has given us to become saints.

Why did Our Lord come on earth? Why did He live with us for 33 years? Why did He suffer and die?

To save us from sin, to help us to sin no more.

Surely then, He left us some especial and all. powerful means to overcome sin and temptation. That means is Confession.

Yet many Catholics have a most erroneous idea of Confession. They look on it as something hard and distasteful; whereas, God meant it to be a Divine help to overcome our weakness, our inclinations to evil. He meant it to be an immense consolation in all our troubles and trials.

This is most certainly true for all those who take the trouble to understand it.

The writer has met many Protestants who seem to understand Confession much better than Catholics. Many Protestant men asked him to hear their confessions and were sorely disappointed when he told them that he could not do so. Several began at once to prepare to enter the Catholic Church, simply to be able to go to Confession!

One gentleman asked to be received into the Church, and when asked why, he replied: "Because I want to be able to go to Confession. We have nothing in our church that helps and consoles us as Confession consoles Catholics." And he became a staunch Catholic....

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - October 1

Continued from yesterday...

Thoughts on patience

...Our Lord tells us, "Learn of Me to be meek and humble of heart; and you shall find peace to your souls."

Each day let us try anew to be patient, and still more patient. If we live with disagreeable people, who offend and even insult us, we must take no notice of them. Let us only think of ourselves.

Three rules. Never speak when you are angry. Never lift your voice. Never say a disagreeable word.

In the home an impatient person is a devil. He is unhappy himself; he makes others unhappy; he commits countless sins.

A patient person is an angel, is loved by everyone, is happy himself and is loved by God....

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 30

Continued from yesterday...

Thoughts on patience

Everyone can be patient, no matter how excitable he may be by temperament. Some of the Saints who were most notable for their sweetness were naturally excitable, nervous and bad-tempered, as for instance, St. Francis de Sales.

How to be patient

Let us see how patient people are happy. One goes to purchase things in a shop where the owner is patient and affable, but we avoid a shop where the clerks are irascible. Among those whom we know, the best loved are those who are kind and patient.

When visiting the sick, we notice how those who are patient suffer relatively little. The impatient ones intensify their pains a thousand times.

Walking in a crowded street, if we observe the passersby, we see some that are hasty, disagreeable, rude; whereas others are calm and dignified.

This should serve as a daily lesson for us, a daily reminder.

Doctors tell us that impatient and excitable people suffer very much from heart troubles and brain troubles and shorten their lives considerably, even by many years.

Everyone who wishes to be happy, to be loved, to have a long life, should make every effort to be calm and patient and should ask God fervently in all his prayers to make him patient...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 29

Continued from yesterday...

Thoughts on the Love of God

...What more could God do for us, what more could He give us?

He is our best, our dearest, our most loving Father, and He commands us to call Him by this loving name, "Our Father, Who art in Heaven."

All the mothers and fathers of the whole Earth do not love us so tenderly, so really, as our sweet Lord does.

If we only meditate on all this, we must love God.

But also, in all our prayers, our first, most important, our principal intention should be to ask God for His love, more love, more love.

There is nothing He gives us more readily, more abundantly, than His blessed love.

We all desire to have a good friend, a friend who really loves us and is always ready to help us.

A man loves his wife and she him, and this is their greatest happiness.

A mother loves her children. There is no love on Earth so wonderful as the love of a mother.

But God's love for us is more real, more true and gives us more happiness than all the love of wives and husbands and friends and mothers.

To think that the great God of Heaven loves me with infinite love, tender, personal love!

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 28

Continued from yesterday...

Thoughts on the Love of God

That is what good Christians do when they get up in the morning. They kneel down and make their morning offering: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I offer Thee, through the pure hands of Mary, all the prayers, the works, the sufferings of this day, in union with the Masses being offered up all over the world, for the love of the Sacred Heart and for the Apostleship of Prayer."

This simple prayer makes every act of the day an act of the love of God. All the better if dt:tring the day we sometimes confirm it by saying, "All for You, Jesus."

The morning offering takes only one minute, but we must say it deliberately, slowly, meaning what we say.

To love God is very easy, if we only remember how infinitely good He is. He has given us everything we have, He has made us like Himself, to His own image and likeness. He has made us not as servants but as His own children, who will be with Him forever in Heaven, seated on thrones like the Angels, enjoying His own immense happiness.

With immense love He suffered and died to save us.

Then He mystically dies for us every day in the Mass and offers up His sufferings and death for us. Every Mass has exactly the same value as the death of Our Lord on Calvary! - Can it be possible?

He is in the Blessed Sacrament in every Catholic church in the world. He is there as really and truly as He is in Heaven.

He is waiting for our visits. We can get oceans of grace if we only visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. And yet how few visit Him!

What more could God do for us - what more could He give us?...

[Continued tomorrow]
_________________________
From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 27

Continued from yesterday...

Thoughts on the Love of God

There is nothing that makes us so happy as to love God.

To love God is the greatest work of our lives.

We are made expressly to love God. Every act of the love of God is of priceless value and will have an eternal reward.

One act of love is worth a thousand acts of any other virtue, just as one little diamond is worth a thousand gold pounds. On the other hand, everything else we do, even if we were to do mighty things, if we were to spend fifty years in some great work, all is worth nothing, nothing, if we do not do it for the love of God.

Does that mean that all the work, all the occupations of every day during all our lives are worth nothing?

By no means. Everything we do, every occupation, every employment, resting, sleeping, eating, enjoying ourselves, all will have merit, if we only do them for love of God, because God wishes it.

God made us to work, God commands us to sleep and to eat. Therefore, we can and should do everything for love of God.

Surely there is nothing more easy.

That is just what St. Paul tells us: "Whatever you do, in word or work, whether you eat or whether you drink, do all in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ."...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 26

Continued from yesterday...

Chapter 10. Thoughts on Prayer

Three conditions of prayer

We must persevere in prayer; we must storm Heaven as the Apostle tells us.

We must pray with the fullest confidence, for the greater our confidence, the greater will be the graces we receive.

We must pray with humility. God loves the humble and gives them what they ask in rich abundance.....

[Continued tomorrow]
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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 25

Continued from yesterday...

Chapter 10. Thoughts on Prayer

God hears every prayer

Still another most consoling thing about prayer is that God hears every prayer. Every prayer well said, as any ordinary Christian can say it, brings us back a great grace, a favor, though we may not see it.

True, God does not always give us exactly what we ask, because He sees that it would not be good for us, but then He gives us something better, which He knows is good for us.

Good business men, wise statesmen, great generals, place all their trust in prayer....

[Continued tomorrow]
_________________________
From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 24

Continued from yesterday...

Chapter 10. Thoughts on Prayer

Prayer is a pleasure

Few enjoy prayer for the same reason - that they have never learned to pray.

The first thing we must understand clearly is that when praying we are talking to God personally, intimately, really. God is looking at us, giving us all His attention, ready to give us all we need.

What an immense joy and consolation it is to realize that we are talking to God Himself. But so many pray as if they were gramophones, talking machines, not even thinking of the words they are saying.

Many say their prayers in haste! That surely is not speaking to God.

St. Augustine says that God prefers the barking of dogs to prayers said hastily.

We must pray intelligently, slowly, thinking of what we are saying. Then our prayer is a pleasure, for we know that it is pleasing to God and that it is bringing us great graces.

The writer had once a long private audience with Pope [St.] Pius X. He was all alone with the Pope in his private room. The Holy Father was most gracious and kind and gave him all he asked for and even more.

Yet we have a private audience with God whenever we pray. We are all alone with Him, and He is infinitely sweet and merciful. But how few enjoy this intimate, personal converse with God.

If they understood that they were actually speaking to God, they would not think it a penance to pray; they would not be so easily distracted.

The Arabs give us a lesson in prayer. When they pray to Allah, they are so wrapt up in their prayer that they think of nothing else. In fact, frequently their enemies, knowing this, choose the moment they are praying to rush on them and kill them....

[Continued tomorrow]
_________________________
From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949

An Easy Way to Become a Saint - September 23

Continued from yesterday...

Chapter 10. Thoughts on Prayer

Prayer is the greatest power in the World, even the prayer of the ordinary Christian.

Few, very few know how to pray, and yet it is so easy. Because they do not know how to pray, they are losing immense graces, immense blessings every day.

Thousands are going to Hell every day because they do not pray. Thousands and thousands are sad and unfortunate because they do not know how to pray.

Our morning and evening prayers, if well said, save us from countless evils and obtain for us countless blessings. Many Catholics have not the faintest idea of the immense importance of these prayers.

They have many pressing occupations, but the gravest of all their duties, the most important and urgent work of the day is morning and evening prayer. As a result of these prayers, God Himself and His Blessed Mother bless and protect us....

[Continued tomorrow]
_________________________
From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949