Imitation Of Christ - On Compunction of Heart

The Imitation Of Christ

Book 1: Admissions For A Spiritual Life

Chapter 21
On Compunction Of Heart

If You want to make progress, keep your soul in the fear of God and never wish to be completely free. Discipline your senses and never indulge in hilarity.
Have sorrow for your sins and you will find interior peace. Repentance opens the way to many blessings, which dissipation soon destroys. It is a wonder that any of us can be wholly contented in this life when we think of our exile from God and of the daily dangers our soul faces. But because of frivolity and the negligence of our defects we are unaware of the misery of our own soul. Often we laugh when we ought to weep, for there is no perfect freedom nor real joy except in the fear of God and in a good conscience.

Those are truly happy who have the grace to rid themselves of temptation to distractions and turn to God by sincere contrition. Those, too, are happy who avoid the things that only give them a troubled conscience. Fight hard against your sins; bad habits are overcome by good habits. Do not make excuses that others hinder you; for if you let them alone, they will let you alone to do what you must.k Do not mind other people's business and do not become involved in the affairs of great persons. keep an eye on your own self and reprove yourself rather than your friends. Do not be upset if you are not in the favour of the worldly-minded; but rather be sorry that your behaviour is not that of a devout servant of God.

It is far better for a person to lack consolations in this life, particularly those of the flesh. If we receive little or no spiritual consolations it is our own fault (though sometimes the lack of them is a test of our faith); for we do not have true compunction of heart, nor do we refrain altogether from seeking consolations from without.

Realize that you are unworthy of supernatural consolations, but instead deserve tribulation. The comforts of the world are distasteful to those who have perfect contrition for their sins. Good people always find enough reason to have sorrow and to weep; for whether they look at themselves or think about their neighbour, they realize that no one lives in the world free from affliction; and the more thoroughly they look into thier own hearts, the deeper will be their sorrow. But the cause for real grief and contrition is the remembrance of our sins, in which we are so enmeshed that we can hardly think about spiritual matters.

If you would think more often about death than of a long life, you would be more eager to amend your life. If you thought seriously about the pains of hell or purgatory, you would gladly endure pain and labour, and no hardship would seem too much for you. But since these things do not penetrate the heart and wee still love the false pleasures of this world, we tend to be cold and indifferent.

It is the weakness of the spirit that often makes our wretched bodies complain for the slightest reason. Therefore, humbly pray to God, that in His merciful goodness He will give you the spirit of penance, and in hte words of the Prophet say to Him: Feed me, O Lord, "with the bread of tears" and give me "tears to drink beyoud measure" (Ps 80:6).

Missionaries

"Missionaries plant seeds of love that help countless hearts to grow."

- Now doesn't this remind us of the WHOLE life of Blessed Mother Theresa?

Christ has no hands but yours

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which he looks,

Compassion on this world.

Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good.

yours are the hands whith which He blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands

Yours are the feet

Yours are the eyes

you are His body.

Christ has no body

now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours.

Yours are the eyes

through which He looks,

Compassion on this world.

Yours are the feet whith which

He walks to do good.

Christ has no body

now on earth but yours.

- Saint Theresa of Avila

What a Funny thing! I didn't realize that Saint Theresa wrote this and I was Firstly reminded of Another Theresa, Mother Theresa.

Allah's Wicked, Warlike and Pretensive Children

This is an article i found on Agnus daily and would like to get some feedback. Is this true? If it is, then the pope was right to quote the Byzantine emperor -

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”


"Muslims train special forces ninjas in response to Catholic aggression

In response to Catholic aggression and proselytizing, Muslim countries have begun to train ninja-like special forces units that are designed to inhibit the spread of Christianity. The units are to be strategically placed throughout Europe, and will be used to secretly collect information on local Churches and Church officials that seek to promote Christian moral values, and theology. Muslim leaders admit that there are only a handful of Churches in Europe that these units will be assigned to, but it is seen as a necessary pre-emptive measure in order to maintain the stable growth of Islam.

Posted March 25, 2007@12:01 by Dean Soto"

What is this Catholic Aggression and Proselytizing they are talking about. All the Church has done is respect their religion and show truth through Faith and Reasoning. not through violence.

If this is True then the Emperor of Old and the Modern Pope was Accurate in their Observations and Judgements!

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Protestant Joke

This post I like. It is from another blog 'Veritatis Visio' and it made me chuckle alittle. I like the point which it was making.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"

"Religious."

"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"

"Christian."

"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant." "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

The Immaculate Conception

Ok. this link is very very long but i promise you it is worthwhile to read. it is about the extreme holiness of the blessed virgin mary, and the thoughts and the will of god when making her. It is all recorded in the book which i am reading right now, and which i am totally absorbed in its writings. the book - The Mystical City of God. by Venerable Mary of Agreda Spain. It was written in the early 17th century. It is an account of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Chapter VI.
The Immaculate Conception

But If you choose not to read it i would just like to share this from that chapter :-

As the opportune and preordained time had arrived, the three divine Persons conferred with each other saying: "Now is the time to begin the work of our pleasure and to call into existence that pure Creature and that soul, which is to find grace in our eyes above all the rest. Let Us furnish Her with richest gifts and let Us deposit in Her the great treasures of our grace. Since all others, whom We called into existence, have turned out ungrateful and rebellious to our wishes, frustrating our intention and impeding by their own fault our purpose, namely, that they conserve themselves in the happy state of their first parents, and since it is not proper, that our will should be entirely frustrated, let Us therefore create this being in entire sanctity and perfection, so that the disorder of the first sin shall have no part in Her.

Let Us create a soul according to our pleasure, a fruit of our attributes, a marvel of our infinite power, without touch or blemish of the sin of Adam. Let Us perfect a work which is the object of our Omnipotence and a pattern of the perfection intended for our children, and the finishing crown of creation. All have sinned in the free will and resolve of the first man (Rom. 5, 12); let Her be the sole creature in whom We restore and execute that which they in their aberration have lost. Let Her be a most special image and likeness of our Divinity and let Her be in our presence for all eternity the culmination of our goodwill and pleasure. In Her We deposit all the prerogatives and graces which in our first and conditional resolve We had destined for the angels and men, if they had remained in their first estate. What they have lost We renew in that Creature and We will add to these gifts many others. Thus our first decree shall not be frustrated, but it shall be fulfilled in a higher manner through this our first and chosen One (Cant. 6, 8). And since We assigned and prepared the most perfect and estimable of our gifts for the creatures who have lost them, We will divert the stream of our bounty to our Well-beloved. We will set Her apart from the ordinary law, by which the rest of the mortals are brought into existence, for in Her the seed of the serpent shall have no part. I will descend from heaven into her womb and in it vest Myself from her substance with human nature."

"It is befitting and due to the infinite goodness of our Divinity, that It be founded and enclosed in the most pure matter, untouched and unstained by fault. Nor is it proper that our equity and providence overlook what is most apt, perfect and holy, and choose that which is inferior, since nothing can resist our will (Esther 13, 9). The Word, which is to become man, being the Redeemer and Teacher of men, must lay the foundation of the most perfect law of grace, and must teach through it, that the father and mother are to be obeyed and honored as the secondary causes of the natural existence of man. The law is first to be fulfilled by the divine Word by honoring Her as his chosen Mother, by exalting Her with a powerful arm, and lavishing upon Her the most admirable, most holy and most excellent of all graces and gifts. Among these shall be that most singular honor and blessing of not subjecting Her to our enemy, nor to his malice; and therefore She shall be free from the death of sin."

"Now the time has arrived," added his Majesty, "which was resolved upon by our Providence for bringing to light the Creature most pleasing and acceptable to our eyes. That Creature, in whom the human nature is freed from its first sin, who is to crush the head of the dragon, who was typified by that singular sign, the Woman that appeared in the heavens in our presence, and who is to clothe the eternal Word with human flesh. The hour is at hand, so blessed for mortals, in which the treasures of our Divinity are to be opened and the gates of heaven to be unlocked. Let the rigor of our justice be softened by the chastisements, which we have until now executed upon the mortals; let the attribute of our mercy become manifest; let the creatures be enriched, and let the divine Word merit for them the treasures of grace and of eternal glory."

The other virtues which adorn and perfect the rational part of the creature, She possessed in a proportion corresponding to the theological virtues. The moral and natural virtues were hers in a miraculous and supernatural measure, and in a still more exalted manner was She possessed of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost in the order of grace. She had an infused knowledge and habit of all these virtues and of all the natural arts, so that She knew and was conversant with the whole natural and supernatural order of things, in accordance with the grandeur of God. Hence from her first instant in the womb of her mother, She was wiser, more prudent, more enlightened, and more capable of comprehending God and all his works, than all the creatures have been or ever will be in eternity, excepting of course her most holy Son.

Words of The Queen

It is an act of justice due to the eternal God that the creature coming to the use of reason, direct its very first movement toward God. By knowing, it should begin to love Him, reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and only true Lord. The parents are naturally bound to instruct their children from their infancy in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end and seek it in their first acts of the intellect and will. They should with great watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile trickishness to which depraved nature will incline them if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children and would instruct them from their infancy in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know and adore Him. My holy mother, who knew not of my wisdom and real condition, was most solicitously beforehand in this matter, for when She bore me in her womb, she adored in my name the Creator and offered worship and thanks for his having created me, beseeching Him to defend me and bring me forth to the light of day from the condition in which I then was. So also parents should pray with fervor to God, that the souls of their children, through his Providence, may obtain Baptism and be freed from the servitude of original sin.

And if the rational creature has not known and adored the Creator from the first dawn of reason, it should do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God by the light of faith. From that very moment the soul must exert itself never to lose Him from her sight, always fearing Him, loving Him, and reverencing Him.