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"The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of malice shall not touch them: in the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, but they are at peace." (Communion Antiphon, Vigil of All Souls)

"Pour forth abundantly upon us of Thy mercy, O Lord our God, and grant us grace to follow in the joy of their holy testifying, all they blessed servants the ever of whose glorious and solemn Commemoration we are keeping. ( Collect)

Pope Pius Sixtus IV in 1484 established November 1, the feast of all Saints, as a holy day of obligation and gave it both a Vigil (known today as "All Hallows' Eve" or "Hallowe'en") and an eight-day period or octave to celebrate the feast.  By 1955, however, the octave of All Saints was removed, and the current missal does not have a vigil Mass for the feast." Father Vierling

"The great feasts of All Saints and All Souls, preceded by vigil and fast, bring their annual blessings to us, and make the month of November the most unearthly, unworldly month of all the year to those who dwell, during its too brief thirty days, with the radiant inhabitants of heaven and with purgatory's blessed dead.  It is a time for quiet thought, for many memories, for many hopes, and God alone knows many fervent prayers; a time when hearts "through all the faithful past go sorrowing," and, through all the lonely future, look forward to a day when the reapers shall come with rejoicing, bring their sheaves with them, and when God, the loving Father, shall gather His dear children, reunited forever, into an eternal home.

Look upwards and behold them, they who stand there now already, a multitude whom no man can number,assembled triumphant before the great white throne. What do those radiant faces tell you, as they gaze in ecstasy upon the face of Him Who bears continually the glorious scars that proclaim Him King of kings and Lord of lords forever? Over and over again, they say that these saints whose day we celebrate came, like
their Leader, out of a sore conflict, and that they were possessed by a passionate love of the unseen.

"Salt of nations! Twelve foundations!
Twelve apostles - see them all!
Trumps of thunder, and the wonder
Of the Gentiles, holy Paul -
Loving Peter, and still sweeter,
Friend of Jesus, blessed John.
Full of gladness - no more sadness
Clouds the face Christ shines upon!

High procession! great confession!
Hear the loud triumphal tones!
Martyrs bleeding - Stephen leading
With this crown of precious stones.
Warriors glorious and victorious,
Tried companions of the Lord,
Fall before Him and adore Him.
He, the Lamb, is their reward.

It is the old lesson which Venerable Bede teaches, that lesson steeped in the life-blood of the Kind of Martyrs, and which deserves repeating every year, as these festivals return: "Dearly beloved brethren! This day we keep with one great cry of joy, a feast in memory of all God's holy children; His children, Whose presence is a gladness in heaven; His children,  prayers are a blessing to earth; His children, whose victories are the crown of Holy Church; His chose, whose testifying is the more glorious in honor, as the agony in which it was given was the sterner in intensity. For, as the dreader grew the battle, so the grander grew the fighters; and the triumph of martyrdom waxed the more incisive by the multiplicity of suffering; and the heavier the torment, the heavier the prize."

What cowards we are, we lesser men who nevertheless have the saints' seven sacraments, the saints' Mother Church, the saints' hope set before us, yet who shiver and shrink at the sound of suffering, and run away from pain!  I know not what stuff we are made of, in these mean, pleasure-loving days. Is it not better to suffer now than to suffer hereafter? Pere de Ravignan says that God in His goodness mingles purgatory with every day of our lives, and so we should accept and clasp to our breasts the crosses He offers us. Fenelon declares that it is a blessing to have our purgatory in this world, but that we by our cowardice endure two instead of one. "Our resistance," he says, :"makes earthly trials so ineffectual, that all has to be begun again after death. We should be in this life like souls in purgatory, supple and at peace in God's hand, yielding ourselves up to destruction in the avenging fire of love. Happy those who suffer thus."

Happy? Yes, my God! Teach us this happiness, this deep delight of pain. Teach us two lessons, - to fight, and to suffer, for Thee and under Thy red-cross flag!  Blessed who suffer - blessed who mourn - blessed who wounded and bleeding, still face untiring the tireless foe! We are sinners; and we must, here or hereafter, do penance for our sins. We are called to be saints; and like the saints we  must war unflinching in the tremendous warfare, if we would win the saints' reward and follow the mighty army into heaven.

"Cut, scourge, purge, burn here," prayed the penitent Augustine, "yea, burn here so as by fire, and spare there!" Yet not only for the cleansing and the penance do we fling ourselves, O God! into the red fire of earth's purgatory but because pain purges out the dross, and brightens the gold, and brings us closer to Thee. Strike and spare not, O God! and, even though we cry out otherwise, heed not, till every fiber of our being is one with Thee!
 
Sometimes, gazing steadily upward at the Blessed, radiant in their rapture which sin mar no more, a light flashes over the soul for a moment, and dazzles it; and it seems to comprehend, for that moment, that pain is heaven! For what is heaven but union with God/ and odes not he who clings closest to the Sacred Heart find union with God among the thorns, and does he not behold, in that darkness which makes earthly things invisible, the vision of Christ's face?

Cowards that we are, to shrink from pain or from insult; to fear this world's disgrace, or failure as worldly men count failure; when the question is of God's will, God's honor, God's eternal cause! We are soldiers in His army by the ineffaceable character of our Baptism. If we have been cowards, deserters, traitors, a hundred times, then the keener ought to be our soldierly longing to endure and encounter all in order that we may retrieve our honor, and far more, our Lord's honor! But if He has kept us from open treason, who shall tell with what loyal love we ought to follow after Him, down into the very valley of the agony and up the heights of Calvary, upward, with all the saints, to Heaven!"

The Inner Life of the Soul, Short Spiritual Messages for the Ecclesiastical Year by Susan L. Emery, 1903

Book also available at Barnes and Nobles

"Consider (...)2ndly, the eminent dignity to which the apostles were raised by our Lord: they were made his disciples, his individual companions, his familiar friends and confidants - yea, his brethren too, John xx. 17; they were made under him the chief priests of the New Testament, the first bishops and pastors of his church, the prime ministers of his kingdom, the stewards and dispensers of all his mysteries; his ambassadors to men; his vicegerents upon earth; the doctors and teachers of the whole world; and next after him, who is the chief corner-stone, the twelve foundations of his church, Eph. ii. 20 - yea, the twelve foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem, Apoc. xxi. 14. Reflect also on the distinguishing graces, and the excellency of power which our Lord conferred upon them, suitable to their great office and callings; such as the power of consecrating and of offering in sacrifice his sacred body and blood; of remitting sins; and of opening or shutting heaven's gates to men; the commission of feeding his flock, and of ruling and directing his church, with the promise of the Holy Ghost to assist them therein; the authority of publishing throughout the whole world his new law, the law of grace; and the covenant of salvation through him, & c.: besides the gifts of tongues, and prophecy, and other eminent graces of the Holy Ghost; and a power of working all kind of miracles, yea, even greater than those of Christ himself, St. John xiv. 12. Christians, bless your Saviour on the festivals of the apostles, for all these great things he has done for them, and through them for his church in general, and in some degree for every one of you in particular. For as they were, under Christ, the fathers and founders of the Christian religion, so from them, and through their ministry, the faith, the word, the sacraments, the graces of Christ, and all spiritual goods and treasures are derived down to your souls by the channel of their successors in the church of Christ."

Source: Meditations for Every Day in the Year, by Bishop Challoner

"Mary was born in order to be the Mother of Jesus. : "Of whom was born Jesus." This is the principle of all her privileges, the summing up of all her praises. (...) It is as the Mother of the Redeemer of mankind that she will be the refuge and advocate of sinners. She is the aurora which precedes and ushers in the morning sun. (...) Certain it is that if men had known the blessings which Mary's nativity drew upon them, there would have been throughout the whole world a repetition of that which occurred among the Jews at their having been preserved from death through the meditation of Ester. "A new light seemed to rise, you, honor, dancing in all peoples...wonderful rejoicing." (Est. viii. 16,17).

You also, O Priests, were born for a sublime destiny! Accomplish it faithfully, and you shall be the cause of an unspeakable joy for heaven and earth. To give Jesus to the world, and with Jesus to give it all blessings, such is your vocation, and such was the vocation of Mary. This is the reason why the holy Virgin has such a warm affection for good priests and lavishes upon them such truly maternal cares.

Source: September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin  p444. Meditations for the Use of the Secular Clergy, from the French of Father Chaignon, S.J. Volume 2. 1907

I.  The  order  of  its  fulfillment.
II.  The  mode  of  its  fulfillment.
III.  Its  final  accomplishment.


"  He  said :  It  is  consummated :  and  bowing  His  head.  He  gave  up  the ghost." — St.  John  xix.  30.

I.  He  said:  It  is  consummated.  St.  Thomas  says,  that  Jesus Christ  hung  upon  the  Cross  between  heaven  and  earth,  in  order to  shew  His  quality  of  Priest  and  Mediator  between  God  and man ;  and  St.  Augustine  says  that  He  then  completed  that Sacrifice  of  reconciliation,  in  which  He  was  one  with  God,  to Whom  it  was  offered, — one  with  men,  for  whom  it  was  offered,— and  Himself  at  once  both  the  offerer  and  the  offered.  He Himself  announced  that  "  all  was  consummated,"  for  it  became Him  alone,  to  Whom  were  present  both  past  and  future,  to declare  it.  All  the  prophecies,  all  the  figures  contained  in  the sacred  Scriptures,  were  "consummated,"  as  He  had  already promised  :  "all  things  shall  be  accomplished  which  were  written "(St.  Luke  xviii.  31);  and  abundant  price  had  been  offered,  efficacious means  had  been  merited,  to  "consummate"  all  transgression,  and to  put  an  end  to  every  sin :  "that  transgression  may  be  finished, and  sin  may  have  an  end  "  (Dan.  ix.  24).  By  "one  oblation  He perfected  for  ever  them  that  are  sanctified"  (Heb.  x.  14).  He, therefore,  being  thus  "consummated,  became  to  all  that  obey Him,  the  cause  of  eternal  salvation"  (Heb.  v.  9).  Let  us  then meditate  on  the  admirable  order  with  which  Jesus  fulfilled  " the days  of  His  flesh,"  and  let  us  pray  to  Him  by  His  most  holy death,  that,  at  the  hour  of  our  death,  we  may  be  found  to  have "fulfilled  the  Divine  law"  (Rom.  ii.  27),  and  to  "have  finished" well  "the  course"  of  our  Priesthood  (2  Tim.  iv.  7).

2.  And  bowing  His  head.  The  manner  in  which  Christ  willed to  die,  was  to  bow  His  adorable  head,  in  token  of  perfect  obedience to  the  command  of  His  Father,  to  Whom  He  became "  obedient  unto  death,  even  to  the  death  of  the  Cross  "  (Phil.  ii.  8). He  proclaimed  to  the  world,  that,  as  He  had  fulfilled  His  Father's will  through  life,  so  also  He  rendered  Him  obedience  in  His  death  : "That  the  world  may  know  that  I  love  the  Father,  and  as  the Father  hath  given  Me  commandment,  so  do  I "  (St.  John  xiv.  31). Thus  was  it  the  fire  of  love, — that  is,  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  hypostatic Love  of  the  Father  and  the  Son, — "Who  immolated  the  Divine  holocaust :  " Who  by  the  Holy  Ghost  offered  Himself  unspotted  to God"  (Heb.  ix.  14).  in  bowing  His  Head,  Jesus  declared  to earth,  that  His  Sacrifice  had  had  the  desired  effect ;  that  is  to  say, "  into  the  face  of  man,"  once  dead  in  sin,  "  was  breathed  the breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul "  (Gen.  ii.  7).  To the  sinner,  once  an  enemy,  was  given  the  kiss  of  reconciliation and  of  peace;  when  the  Savior  turned  His  Face  to  him,  as though  to  give  him  the  kiss  of  peace  (says  St.  Bonaventure).  O great  High  Priest,  who  can  thank  Thee  for  all  these  inventions  of Thy  mercy  !  When  shall  I  begin  to  love  Thee  with  the  fervor which  befits  one  who  is  Thy minister,  and  who  is  acquainted  with these  august  mysteries  ?  Bow  down  Thy  head  to  me,  and  breathe into  me  Thy  love.

3.  He  gave  up  the  ghost.  The  Eternal  Word,  Who  had  united His  Soul  to  His  Body,  and  assumed  both,  alone  had  power  to  separate them,  and  so  to  fulfill  the  supreme  act  of  Priesthood  (says  St. John  Damascene).  Therefore  He  "  gave  up  "  His  "  spirit "  into the  hands  of  His  Father,  to  shew  that  He  had  that  power  of which  He  had  formerly  spoken  to  His  enemies  (St  John  x.  18). Then  He  immolated  the  Victim,  and  offered  the  Sacrifice  decreed from  all  eternity,  promised  from  the  beginning shadowed  by  innumerable  types,  predicted  by  so  many  prophets, begun  in  Mary's  womb,  and  continued  throughout  His  whole  life. Then  was  homage  and  thanksgiving,  worthy  of  the  Divine  Majesty, rendered  to  God ;  and  pardon,  and  every  other  grace,  obtained for  all  mankind.  Christ  died  and  subjected  Himself  to  the  punishment of  sin,  in  order  to  free  us  from  the  fear  of  death,  which held  men  in  slavery  all  their  life ;  to  teach  us  to  die  to  sin,  as  He died  to  the  penalty  of  sin ;  and  to  fill  us  with  all  good  things.  Let us  then,  on  this  day,  honor  His  death,  which  has  been  the  means of  salvation  both  to  our  soul  and  body.  Our  Savior's  single death  (says  St  Augustine)  saved  us  from  the  double  death  which was  our  due.  With  the  same  holy  Father,  let  us  bless  God  for having  given  us  so  holy  a  Priest, — "a  Victim  taken  from  among  ourselves, yet  without  sin,  to  cleanse  us  from  our  sins  ;  so  that  the flesh  of  our  Sacrifice  is  the  Body  of  our  Priest  Let  us  thank  our Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Who  has  loved  us  so  greatly,  Who  has given  Himself  for  us,  as  if  for  each  one  of  us  alone  (Gal.  ii. 20).  Let  us  thank  Him  that,  through  the  merits  of  His  death. He  has  engrafted  us  into  His  Priesthood,  to  continue  the  offering of  this  same  Sacrifice.  Let  us  pray  to  Him  that  we  may  die mystically  with  Him,  in  order  that  we  may  live  in  Him  in  this life,  and  after  the  death  of  our  body  may  dwell  with  Him  for ever.

"Into Thy hands I commend my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth." Ps. xxx.6

"O great High Priest, who wast made the death of death and the sting of hell, redeem our soul from the hand of hell." From Ps. XlVIII. 16.

Source: Meditations for the use of the clergy, for every day in the year ..., Volume 1 By Angelo Agostino Scotti (abp. of Thessalonica.)

Prayer for Priests (Fr. Lasance)

My God, I believe in the sublime dignity of the priesthood-a dignity which St. Denis calls divine; a dignity which surpasses that of kings and angels, as St. Ambrose says. O My God! Thy priests are the leaders of Thy people, the guardians of Thy Church, the light of the world, (Matt. v. 14), the dispensers of the sacraments, the vicars of Jesus Christ, and His coadjutors in the work of salvation (1 Cor. III. 9). Grant, then, O Lord, to me and to all the faithful to have the same respect and submission toward the person, words, and counsels of Thy ministers as toward Thine own, since Thou Thyself didst say to them: “He that heareth you Heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me"

I ask of Thee, my God, for all the priests in the world and specially for those who have done any good to my soul, by seeking to sanctify it, the grace of loving Thee much and making Thee to be loved by others, so that by their piety, their virtues, and the ardor of their zeal they may merit a place with Thy apostles and most faithful servants.

Divine Spirit! Influence all their thoughts, words, and deeds; take complete possession of their minds and hearts, so that they may live in Thee and Thou in them. Jesus, meek and gentle Lamb of God, let their lives resemble the life Thou Thyself didst lead upon earth!

Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus, do thou by thy intercession sanctify the souls of all our priests and second their efforts in the work of saving souls; shield them, and defend them as thine own. Pray for them that the peace of God may be always with them, and that they may attain to the everlasting blessedness of heaven. Amen.

Blessed Sacrament Prayer Book

A Catholic must believe every truth revealed by the Almighty, be it great or small, as God cannot fail either in small things or great. The offense which we do to God by denying even the smallest article of faith, is as great as if we denied an important one, or all of them together; for, is is just as if we said: God has been deceived, or He has deceived us in revealing this article. Whether this is said of great and important articles, or of one that is small, makes but little difference; or if we desire to make a difference, we must say that it is a greater offense to God to ascribe to Him a fault in a small matter than in a great; for, what can be more blasphemous than to maintain that the Almighty has been deceived in a trifling matter, or that He intends to deceive us?

They should ponder on this, who sometimes entertain doubts about an article of faith, or even go so far as to say that in some matters, they agree with non-Catholics, and consider them right. These are no longer Catholics. Their faith is lost; and if they do not repent, as St. Thomas did, they will go to perdition, because they are incredulous. They are disobedient who obey nine of the Commandments but not the tenth. What is the fate of the incredulous? Christ Himself pointed it out when He said: " Who believes not in the Son, will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain with him." (John viii)

Source: Life of the Saints, by Fr. Franz X. Weninger.

A good priest described by Jesus Christ. By saying to us that He is the good pastor, He declares that none is a good pastor except as he resembles Him. "The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep." He is ever ready to expose his temporal life to save his people from eternal death. 

In the early days of the Church the acceptance of the pastoral charge was a consecration to martyrdom. " I know My sheep, and Mine know Me." Mutual confidence begets mutual affection.

" I give My life for My sheep." It is on Calvary and at the altar that the good priest learns how he ought to love souls.

Source: Meditations for the use of the secular Clergy, Père Pierre Chaignon 1907

If we understood fully what it is to receive the sacraments, we should bring to the reception of them very much better sentiments than those we do. It is true that the greater number of people, in hiding their sins, always keep at the back of their minds the thought of acknowledging them. Without a miracle, they will not be any the less lost for that.

If you want the reason, it is very easy to give it to you. The more we remain in that terrible state which makes Heaven and earth tremble, the more the Devil takes control of us, the more the grace of God diminishes in us, the more our fear increases, the more our sacrileges multiply, and the more we fall away.

The result is that we put ourselves almost beyond the possibility of returning into favor with God. I will give you a hundred examples of this against one to the contrary. Tell me, my dear brethren, can you even hope that after passing perhaps five or six years in sacrilege, during which you outraged God more than did all the Jews together, you would dare to believe that God is going to give you all the graces which you will need to emerge from this terrible state? You think that notwithstanding the many crimes against Jesus Christ of which you have been guilty, you have only to say: "I am going to give up sin now and all will be over."

 Alas, my friends! Who has guaranteed to you that Jesus Christ will not have made to you the same threat He made to the Jews and pronounce the same sentence which He pronounced against them?.... You did not wish to profit by the graces which I wanted to give you; but I will leave you alone, and you will seek Me and you will not find Me, and you will die in your sin!.... Alas, my dear brethren, our poor souls, once they are in the Devil's hands, will not escape from these as easily as we would like to believe.... Look, my dear brethren, at what the Devil does to mislead us.

When we are committing sin, he represents it to us as a mere trifle. He makes us think that there are a great many others who do much worse than we do. Or again, that as we will be confessing the sin, it will be as easy to say four times as twice. But once the sin has been committed, he acts in exactly the opposite way. He represents the sin to us as a monstrous thing. He fills us with such a horror of it that we no longer have the courage to confess it. If we are too frightened to keep the sin hidden, he tells us, to reassure us, that we will confess it at our very next Confession. Subsequently, he tells us that we will not have the courage to do that now, that it would be better to wait for another time to confess it. Take care, my dear brethren; it is only the first step which costs the effort. Once in the prison of the sin, it is very difficult, indeed, to break out of it....

But, you are thinking, I do not really believe that there are many who would be capable of hiding their sins because they would be too much troubled by them. Ah, my dear brethren, if I had to affirm on oath whether there were or were not such people, I would not hesitate to say that there are at least five or six listening to me who are consumed by remorse for their sins and who know that what I say is true. But have patience; you will see them on the day of judgment, and you will recall what I have said to you today. Oh, my God, how shame and fear can hold a Christian soul prisoner in such a terrifying state! Ah, my dear brethren, what are you preparing for yourselves?

You do not dare to make a clean breast of it to your pastor? But is he the only one in the world? Would you not find priests who would have the charity to receive you? Do you think that you would be given too severe a penance? Ah, my children, do not let that stop you! You would be helped; the greater part of it all would be done for you. They would pray for you; they would weep for your sins in order to draw down with greater abundance the mercies of God on you! My friends, have pity on that poor soul which cost Jesus Christ so dearly!.... Oh, my God, who will ever understand the blindness of these poor sinners! You have hidden your sin, my child, but it must be known one day, and then in the eyes of the whole universe, while by one word you would have hidden it forever and you would have changed your hell for an eternity of happiness. Alas, that a sacrilege can lead these poor sinners so far. They do not want to die in that state, but they have not the strength to leave it. My God, torment them so greatly that they will not be able to stay there!

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lenten Reading plan: Daily readings from St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests, compiled by Fr. Bryan W. Jerabek. Used with Permission.

Yes, my dear brethren, in everything that we see, in everything that we hear, in all we say and do, we are conscious of the fact that we are drawn towards evil. If we are at table, there is sensuality, and gluttony, and intemperance. If we take a few moments of recreation, there are the dangers of flightiness and idle chatter. If we are at work, most of the time it is self-interest, or avarice, or envy which influences us – or even vanity. When we pray, there is negligence, distraction, distaste, and boredom. If we are in pain or any trouble, there are complaints and murmurings. When we are doing well and are prosperous, pride, self-love, and contempt for our neighbor take hold of us. Our hearts swell with pride when we are praised. Wrongs inflame us into rages.

There you see my dear brethren, the thing which made the greatest of the saints tremble. This was what made so many of them retire into the desert to live solitary lives; this was the source of so many tears, of so many prayers, of so many penances. It is true that the saints who were hidden away in the forests were not exempt from temptations, but they were far removed from so much bad example as that which surrounds us continually and which is the cause of so many souls being lost.

But, my dear brethren, we see from their lives that they watched, they prayed, and they were in dread unceasingly, while we, poor, blind sinners, are quite placid in the midst of so many dangers which could lose us our souls! Alas, my dear brethren, some of us do not even know what it is to be tempted because we hardly ever, or very rarely, resist. Which one of us can expect to escape from all these dangers? Which one of us will be saved? Anyone who wanted to reflect upon all these things could hardly go on living, so greatly terrified would he be! However, my dear brethren, what ought to console and reassure us is that we have to deal with a good Father Who will never allow our struggles to be greater than our strength, and every time we have recourse to Him, He will help us to fight and to conquer.

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lenten Reading plan: Daily readings from St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests, compiled by Fr. Bryan W. Jerabek. Used with Permission.

Temptation is necessary to us to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves. St. Augustine tells us that we should thank God as much for the sins from which He has preserved us as for those which He has had the charity to forgive us. If we have the misfortune to fall so often into the snares of the Devil, we set ourselves up again too much on the strength of our own resolutions and promises and too little upon the strength of God. This is very true.

When we do nothing to be ashamed of, when everything is going along according to our wishes, we dare to believe that nothing could make us fall. We forget our own nothingness and our utter weakness. We make the most delightful protestations that we are ready to die rather than to allow ourselves to be conquered. We see a splendid example of this in St. Peter, who told our Lord that although all others might be scandalized in Him, yet he would never deny Him.

Alas! To show him how man, left to himself, is nothing at all, God made use, not of kings or princes or weapons, but simply of the voice of a maidservant, who even appeared to speak to him in a very indifferent sort of way. A moment ago, he was ready to die for Him, and now Peter protests that he does not even know Him, that he does not know about whom they are speaking. To assure them even more vehemently that he does not know Him, he swears an oath about it. Dear Lord, what we are capable of when we are left to ourselves! There are some who, in their own words, are envious of the saints who did great penances. They believe that they could do as well. When we read the lives of some of the martyrs, we would, we think, be ready to suffer all that they suffered for God; the moment is short-lived,we say, for an eternity of reward. But what does God do to teach us to know ourselves or, rather, to know that we are nothing? This is all He does: He allows the Devil to come a little closer to us. Look at this Christian who a moment ago was quite envious of the hermit who lived solely on roots and herbs and who made the stern resolution to treat his body as harshly. Alas! A slight headache, a prick of a pin, makes him, as big and strong is he is, sorry for himself. He is very upset. He cries with pain. A moment ago he would have been willing to do all the penances of the anchorites – and the merest trifle makes him despair! Look at this other one, who seems to want to give his whole life for God, whose ardor all the torments there are cannot damp. A tiny bit of scandal-mongering.... a word of calumny.... even a slightly cold reception or a small injustice done to him.... a kindness returned by ingratitude.... immediately gives birth in him to feelings of hatred, of revenge, of dislike, to the point, often, of his never wishing to see his neighbor again or at least of treating him coldly with an air which shows very plainly what is going on in his heart. And how many times is this his waking thought, just as it was the thought that almost prevented him from sleeping? Alas, my dear brethren, we are poor stuff, and we should count very little upon our good resolutions!

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lenten Reading plan: Daily readings from St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests, compiled by Fr. Bryan W. Jerabek. Used with Permission.

It is most unfortunate for ourselves if we do not know that we are tempted in almost all our actions, at one time by pride, by vanity, by the good opinion which we think people should have of us, at another by jealousy, by hatred and by revenge. At other times, the Devil comes to us with the foulest and most impure images. You see that even in our prayers he distracts us and turns our minds this way and that. It seems indeed that we are in a state.... since we are in the holy presence of God [sentence incomplete – Trans.]. And even more, since the time of Adam, you will not find a saint who has not been tempted – some in one way, some in another – and the greatest saints are those who have been tempted the most. If Our Lord was tempted, it was in order to show us that we must be also. It follows, therefore, that we must expect temptation. If you ask me what is the cause of our temptations, I shall tell you that it is the beauty and the great worth and importance of our souls which the Devil values and which he loves so much that he would consent to suffer two Hells, if necessary, if by so doing he could drag our souls into Hell.

We should never cease to keep a watch on ourselves, lest the Devil might deceive us at the moment when we are least expecting it. St. Francis tells us that one day God allowed him to see the way in which the Devil tempted his religious, especially in matters of purity. He allowed him to see a band of devils who did nothing but shoot their arrows against his religious. Some returned violently against the devils who had discharged them. They then fled, shrieking hideous yells of rage. Some of the arrows glanced off those they were intended for and dropped at their feet without doing any harm. Others pierced just as far as the tip of the arrow and finally penetrated, bit by bit.

If we wish to hunt these temptations away, we must, as St. Anthony tells us, make use of the same weapons. When we are tempted by pride, we must immediately humble and abase ourselves before God. If we are tempted against the holy virtue of purity, we must try to mortify our bodies and all our senses and to be ever more vigilant of ourselves. If our temptation consists in a distaste for prayers, we must say even more prayers, with greater attention, and the more the Devil prompts us to give them up, the more we must increase their number.

The temptations we must fear most are those of which we are not conscious. St. Gregory tells us that there was a religious who for long had been a good member of his community. Then he developed a very strong desire to leave the monastery and to return to the world, saying that God did not wish him to be in that monastery. His saintly superior told him: "My friend, it is the Devil who is angry because you may be able to save your soul. Fight against him."

 But no, the other continued to believe that it was as he claimed. St. Gregory gave him permission to leave. But when he was leaving the monastery, the latter went on his knees to ask God to let this poor religious know that it was the Devil who wanted to make him lose his soul. The religious had scarcely put his foot over the threshold of the door to leave when he saw an enormous dragon, which attacked him. "Oh, brothers," he cried out, "come to my aid! Look at the dragon which will devour me!" And indeed, the brethren who came running when they heard the noise found this poor monk stretched out on the ground, half-dead. They carried him back into the monastery, and he realized that truly it was the Devil who wanted to tempt him and who was bursting with rage because the superior had prayed for him and so had prevented the Devil from getting him. Alas, my dear brethren, how greatly we should fear, lest we do not recognize our temptations! And we shall never recognize them if we do not ask God to allow us to do so.

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lenten Reading plan: Daily readings from St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests, compiled by Fr. Bryan W. Jerabek. Used with Permission.