Charles Kenny - My Daily Visit with the Saints

My Daily Visit
with the Saints

Compiled by Charles Kenny

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS
Manchester, New Hampshire

Copyright 2017 by John L. Barger

My Daily Visit with the Saints is an abridgment of Half-Hours with the Saints and Servants of God (London: Burns and Oates, 1882). The 1882 edition from which this abridgment is derived contained a number of anomalies and not a few errors of detail about the sources of the readings contained in it. In this 2017 edition we have sought, where possible, to remedy those deficiencies. We apologize for any new problems our efforts may have introduced into this superb work of spiritual readings.

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Cover design by LUCAS Art & Design, Jenison, MI.

Biblical references in this book are taken from the Douay-Rheims edition of the Old and New Testaments. Where applicable, quotations have been cross-referenced with the differing names and enumeration in the Revised Standard Version.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

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ePub ISBN 978-1-622824-472

Contents

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Part 1

Gods Attributes, Gifts, and Graces

The Love of God

This only take care of with all diligence, that you love the Lord your God.

Joshua 23:11

Love is strong as death (Song of Sol. 8:6); since both equally separate the soul from the body and all terrestrial things, the only difference is that the separation is real and effectual when caused by death, whereas that occasioned by love is usually confined to the heart.

I say usually, because divine love is sometimes so violent that it actually separates the soul from the body, and, by causing the death of those who love, it renders them infinitely happier than if it bestowed on them a thousand lives.

As the lot of the reprobate is to die in sin, that of the elect is to expire in the love and grace of God, which is effected in several ways.

Many of the saints died not only in the state of charity but in the actual exercise of divine love. St. Augustine expired in making an act of contrition, which cannot exist without love; St. Jerome, in exhorting his disciples to charity and the practice of all virtues; St. Ambrose, in conversing sweetly with his Savior, whom he had received in the Holy Eucharist. St. Anthony of Padua also expired in the act of discoursing with our Divine Lord, after having recited a hymn in honor of the ever-glorious Virgin; St. Thomas Aquinas, with his hands clasped, his eyes raised to heaven, and pronouncing these words of the Canticles, which were the last he had expounded: Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field (Song of Sol. 7:11).

All the Apostles, and the greater number of the martyrs, died in prayer. Venerable Bede, having learned the hour of his death by revelation, went to the choir at the usual hour to sing the evening office, it being the feast of the Ascension. And at the very moment he had finished singing vespers, he expired, following his Guide and Master into heaven, to celebrate His praises in that abode of rest and happiness, around which the shades of night can never gather, because it is illumined by the brightness of the eternal day, which neither dawns nor ends.

John Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris, remarkable for his learning and virtue of whom Sixtus of Siena said that it is difficult to decide whether the vein of piety which runs through his works surpasses his science, or whether his learning exceeds his piety after having explained the fifty properties of divine love mentioned in the Canticles, expired at the close of three days, smiling, and pronouncing these words of the same sacred text: Thy love, O God, is strong as death (Song of Sol. 8:6).

The fervor and ardor of St. Martin at the hour of his death are remarkable. St. Louis, who has proved himself as great a monarch among the saints as an eminent saint among kings, being attacked by the plague, ceased not to pray, and after receiving the viaticum, he extended his arms in the form of a cross, fixed his eyes on heaven, and, animated with love and confidence, expired in saying with the psalmist: I will come into Thy house, O Lord; I will worship towards Thy holy temple, in Thy fear (Ps. 5:8 [RSV = Ps. 5:7]).

St. Peter Celestine, after having endured the most cruel and incredible afflictions, seeing the end of his days approach, began to sing like the swan and terminated his song with his life, by these words of the last psalm: Let every spirit praise the Lord (Ps. 150:5 [RSV = 150:6]).

St. Eusebia, surnamed the Stranger, died kneeling in fervent prayer. St. Peter the Martyr yielded his last sigh in writing (with his finger, which he had dipped in his blood) the articles of the faith for which he sacrificed his life, and in saying: Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit (Ps. 30:6 [RSV = Ps. 31:5]).

The great apostle of the Indies and Japan, St. Francis Xavier, expired holding a crucifix, which he tenderly embraced, and incessantly repeated in transports of love: O Jesus, the God of my heart!

St. Francis De Sales (15671622), Treatise on the Love of God

* * *

The saintly Father Segneri tells us that the sure way of gaining heaven, without much cost, is by making frequent acts of the love of God, and by accustoming ourselves to do everything with the intention of pleasing Him:

We shall no longer be tempted to complain that we cannot undertake such great things as we so much admire in others.

God is content if we do all we can to love Him in our sphere of life, and He asks for nothing more. You sometimes regret that you cannot practice great austerities, which no doubt are due to Him for our past sins.

Supply for these in another way. Replace those fastings and watchings by fervent acts of love; He requires nothing more.

You are engaged here below in temporal affairs; domestic cares, perchance, occupy your time. Well, do all these with the intention of pleasing Him, and God will be as content as if you had undertaken the worthy functions of an apostolate.

By what way, do you think, did the saints attain to the perfection of holiness? It was less by their heroic actions than by the great love they showed in performing their lesser duties. Our Savior praises Mary Magdalen not for having done much but for having loved much. Magdalen had not then practiced austerities, but the love of Jesus had filled her heart with torrents of tears.

Fr. Paul Segneri, S.J. (16241694), Meditations

The Holy Fear of God

With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.

Sirach 1:13

The fear of the terrible judgment of God is necessary to lead a sinner back to repentance, but love must be added to fear to make this repentance perfect.

It seems to me that there is implanted in the heart of man two natures; both combined will contribute to his conversion and make it perfect and secure. There is in the heart an inferior nature, which is more worldly and which can be moved only by sensible things. Fear is for this portion of the heart, for it is contemplation of hell and the fearful consequences of vice that seizes the heart of man and turns it away from sin. But there is in this same heart a superior celestial nature, which is only susceptible of the dawn of grace. This is love; this is that divine charity that moves that portion of the heart and makes it seek God for Gods sake alone.