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- You know - one loves the sunset when one is so sad.
- If someone loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars.
- Conceited people never hear anything but praise.
- Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends anymore.
- Words are the source of misunderstandings.
- It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.
- It is the time, time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.
- Men have forgotten this truth but you must not forget it; You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
- The house, the stars, the desert - what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible.
- The eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.
"THE LITTLE PRINCE"(LE PETIT PRINCE)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
June 1984

* Man does not slave for love, for love that enslaves is not love.
* A person freely sharing from love can only bring about freedom: freedom to the one experiencing the love and, to him who shared freely, a greater capacity to love and therefore a growth in inner freedom.
* Be humble:
in your mind, because you know what you are doing
in your deed, because it is only a drop of your thinking
in your heart, because you realize you are so unloving
in your sorrow, because it is purifying in your joy,
because it is only passing.
* It is alright to disregard people as long as it ends up in greater regard for God - and therefore - of people. Those who regard people at the expense of disregard for God, will end up disregarding not only God but also people.
* When people get into verbal fights, it is not the words that are causing the fighting. It is the way each of them experiences the words.
* The world is filled
with intelligent men who lack wisdom;
with powerful men who lack humility;
with men of authority without a sense of service
- save that of self-service;
with speakers with nothing to say;
with writers with nothing to communicate;
with things that do not liberate;
with praying men who are really talking to themselves;
with critics who are mere loafers and complainers;
with noise that numbs;
with medicine that sickens.
* When you look for your image in a group picture, you are not looking at the picture. You are worshipping your image. The group pictures you cherish are the ones in which you are included. But if you love people, you are in every group picture... even when you are not there, even when you know not the group. For the group has become you. For to love is to be identified with.
"RICHES BEYOND REACH"
Mini-deflections #2
Fr. Guido Arguelles, S.J.
July 4, 1984

* The effectiveness of the laymen's work and the depth of their spiritual development will be dependent on the kind of priest they will encounter.

They will be
inspired by the zealous priest,
strengthened by the holy priest,
challenged by the imaginative priest,
reassured by the democratic priest.

Conversely, they can be
hurt by the arrogant priest,
embarrassed by the stupid priest,
embittered by the cynical priest and
shocked by the lazy priest.

* Active participation in the liturgy is the essential and indispensable requirement of all true piety.
* You must have a passion for reading, because without it you will not read and if you do not read you will stagnate intellectually.
* It is required of you that you be a man of leisure, a man of reflection.
* The priest, the seminarian must be a man of intellectual curiosity, a man who is never satisfied with the answers he has, the techniques he uses, the advice he gives.
* We are afraid of what reflection will reveal to us.
* Holiness is the most essential element of the priestly personality.
* Spiritual reading, meditation, days of recollection, the annual retreat, frequent confession, the breviary - these are, of course, the foundations of piety.
* Essence of zealous charity is simply to be able to bounce back after failures, to try again after fiascos, to start at the beginning in the midst of discouragement and disillusion.
* Priestly piety must be liturgical.
* A person who is not secure in his own selfhood is not capable of loving anyone else.
"PRIESTS FOR TOMORROW"
Rev. Andrew Greeley
July 9, 1984

It is not what we show off but what we hide away that tells our truest story.

People must sense that somebody else notices and makes room for them, that they measure up in the eyes of somebody else who likes them just as they are.

People wear masks which they hope will cover up what they dislike about themselves.

Coolness has become a highly popular way of presenting oneself to others.

Living up to someone else's expectations can affect not only your career choice but the kind of marriage you make.

The more we can accept the many aspects of our humanity, the less troubled we are by them, and the more surely we will feel a sense of self-control and self-confidence.

How empty is life when it is reduced to all the `gusto' you are supposed to be able to grab from a can of beer.

What attracts people is not what we pretend to be but what we are.

There is nothing wrong with needing and wanting someone to like us in a unique way.

The funny thing is that many of the best things in life actually happen by accident.

Happiness approaches us sideways, catching us when we are not even looking in its direction, surpassing us when we are able to forget ourselves.

Somebody likes us, not because we are trying to impress them but he or she can see more of us than we can see ourselves.

Experience is the stuff of our own autobiography, the bedrock truth about who we are, where we have been, and what it means to us.

Sometimes we do not spend the day so much as to kill it slowly strangling it to death.

Listening to our feelings is a way of getting vital information about who we are.

There may be nothing sadder than people who spend their lives talking about what they might have been.

Sometimes we try to secure our own identity by driving it from someone else.

Love is not really love when it drains one person completely to nourish the other.

We cannot survive very long unless we hear someone say "I love you."

When someone prizes us just as we are, he or she confirms our existence.

We fear that if people sees us with our make-up off they will reject us.
"IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME WOULD YOU STILL LIKE ME?"
Eugene Kennedy
July 13, 1984

There is nothing special
in being a seminarian
in being a priest
in being a sister
in being a prefect
in being a rector
in being a president
in being a minister
unless he acts and fulfills
what the will of God asks
of him..
HOMILY
Rev. Fr. Jose Miguel delos Santos Paz
July 23, 1984

"REMEMBER"
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day,
You tell me of our future that you planned.
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember; do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better far you should forget and smile
Better than you should remember and be sad.
Christina Georgina Rossetti
SPEECH IMPROVEMENT FOR THE YOUNG
Jose M. Manalo
July 26, 1984

What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and losses his immortal soul?

This is a serious business. You are preparing to guide immortal souls to God. That is a job for a big man and a serious man, and sometimes I am inclined to suspect that you are a frivolous and lightheaded.

"Ecce Sacerdos Magnus" Behold the Great Priest.

We have to do good things over and over until it becomes a habit and gets to be easy.

We must not expect to be more successful than Christ. He preached for three years, and when He died everybody was deserted except His Mother. You must be prepared for bitter disappointments.

Time is something precious which God gave to us and can never be regained, once lost.

The mistake a lot of girls and boys make is going steady too soon. When they get married they have only gone around with one or two boys and this is not enough. The reason is because after you get married you might think how nice it would be to be married to somebody else and this is indeed a very silly thought after you are married until death. The time for looking around is when you are young. Go with someone who is the life of the party. See how that is. Go with the strong, silent type. Maybe that is your type. Who knows? There are all kinds of people in the world, and if you have only gone with one boy steady, you are just plain lucky if you get the right man. And the same goes to the boys too.

Worry is what makes people older than anything else.

If there were the rotten pictures, rotten plays, rotten magazines around when I was a kid that there are now, I don't know how I could have kept my purity. Kids have to be real heroes to keep clean nowadays.

The purpose of dating. It's to find out who you can best live with for the rest of your life. I am told that some people can't find anything else to do on a date but stop at taverns, go to movies and make love. Now life is more than all this. You won't be spending the rest of your lives going to movies and taverns, because you won't be able to afford it. Nor will love-making be your whole life. You'll be going to games together, maybe to the opera. When you are dating use your imagination. See how many different things you can do together and enjoy. That is the way you find out if you will live in happiness the rest of your lives.

Be pure and you won't have to worry much about any of the other virtues.

You can mess up your life more by giving in to impurity than in any other virtues.

A kiss is something sacred, a pledge of special love, not just a way to pass an evening. It is dangerous and serious, and not something to be taken lightly.

Your marriage will be a success if there are three of you united - You, (N), and you, (N), and Christ. Marriages are in terrible jeopardy today. There is one divorce for every three marriages, and it is getting worse. If you pray to Christ to give you the help to live with one another for life, if you forgive one another from the bottom of your hearts every night, you will have the most joyful life possible. You are just beginning a real life now. You are the greatest builders in the world today. You will build men and women. The course before you is clear. You are to have children, to teach them to love the Master. You are to lead one another close to God, the other one will fall back too, because marriage tends to equalize, to make two people the same. You have a great obligation to encourage one another and not to discourage. Do not try to get all you can out of your married partner, try to see how much you can do for one another, and your marriage will not be a failure, but a great job well done.

God, I can't get through the day without your help. Just get me through this one day.

If you've made mistakes, you're just starting life, and you can make up for lost time.

Get yourself some religion. Learn to love God and leave things up to Him. Life isn't half bad that way. Do things for other people, and your life will really be happy.

Lots of times people do something pretty good, but they don't keep it up. They get tired and quit after a while.

Discretion is the better part of valor.
"EVERYBODY CALLS ME FATHER"
Father X
August 13, 1984

Do you know the difference between involvement and commitment?
Think of ham and eggs.
The chicken is involved.
The pig is committed.
"MR. AND MRS."
Martina Navratilova
August 14, 1984

Even as my hands unfold,
my burden has lightened and nerves are at ease.
With Christ's grace at work on his problems,
only a fool would fret.
When they crack under pressure,
it isn't lack of knowledge that's responsible,
it's lack of love.
And love
is not something that's learned out of books or
at a blackboard.
It isn't learned at all,
it's imparted.
It is a fire that is ignited by contact.
"VESSEL OF CLAY"
Leo Trese
September 1, 1984

Maturity --- Stop acting the child; drop that affectation that only suits a silly girl. Let your outward conduct reflect the peace and order of your soul.

Never correct anyone while you are still indignant about a fault committed. Wait until the next day, or even longer. And then, calmly, and with a purer intention, make your reprimand. You will gain more by our friendly word than by a three-hour quarrel. Control your temper.

It is inevitable that you should feel the rub of other people's characters against your own. After all, you are not a gold coin that anyone likes.

Besides, without that friction produced by contact with others, how would you ever lose those corners, those edges and projections - the imperfections and defects - of your character, and acquire the smooth and regular finish, the firm flexibility of charity, of perfection?

If your character and the characters of those who live with you were soft and sweet like sponge-cake you would never become a saint.

`Pray that I may never be satisfied with what is easy.' I have prayed, now it is up to you to carry out that fine resolution.

Give the polite excuse which Christian charity and social convention demand.

When judging other people, why do you put into criticism the bitterness of your own failures?

A Priest - whoever he may be - is always another Christ.

It shows very little refinement- and great lack of respect - to make fun of a Priest, whoever he is, and whatever the pretext.

Prayer is the foundation of the spiritual edifice. Prayer is all-powerful.

You ask me: why that wooden cross? - and I copy from a letter: `As I look up from the microscope, my sight comes to rest on the cross - black and empty. That Cross without its crucified is a symbol. It has a meaning which others cannot see. And though I am tired out and on the point of abandoning the job, I once again bring my eyes to the lens and continue: for the lonely cross is calling for a pair of shoulders to bear it.'

Without holy purity one cannot persevere in the apostolate.

`Domine' Lord - si vis, potes me mundare, if thou wilst, thou canst make me clean.

Silence is the door-keeper of the interior life.

An hour of study, for a modern apostolate, is an hour of prayer.

If you are to serve God with your mind, to study is a grave obligation for you.

The secret that ennobles the humblest, even the most humiliating thing is Love.

A friend is a treasure. But what about the Friend? ... For where your treasure is, there is your heart.

My God I Love You, but ... oh teach me to love!

Everything that is done out of love acquires greatness and beauty.

Don't make negative criticisms: if you can't praise, say nothing.

Don't forget your childhood prayers, learned perhaps from your mother's lips. Say them each day with simplicity, as you did them.

When you hear your success being applauded, let there also sound in your ears the laughter you provoked with your failures.

The more I am exalted, Jesus, the more I want you to humble me in my heart, showing me what I have been, and what I will be if you leave me.

A little act, done for love, is worth so much!

The standards of holiness that God asks of us is determined by these three points:

1.Holy intransigence,
2.Holy coercion, and
3.Holy shamelessness.
"THE WAY"
Josemaria Escriva de Bolaguer
September 2, 1984

As long as you have a strong love for God your success in the seminary is certain.

The seminary tends to make you grow more and more in love with God.

To love God means three things:
1.Getting to know God better by reading and meditating about Him.
2.Uniting your will ever closer to His through devotion to the Holy Eucharist.
3.Serving Him in your everyday life by studying hard and practicing charity to all those around you.

The Son of God became man, so that man might become the son of God.

The first Christmas: God's love for us is made visible in Christ.

The secret to success in the seminary is this: Preparing for the priesthood is a love affair between you and God. God floods your heart with all the love it can hold, and asks in return every fiber of love that you can muster. Always keep God's love for you foremost in your mind. It will turn into Gold the hundred events of everyday life in the seminary. It will make the burden of daily repetition sweet, and the yoke of struggling for holiness light. At every moment of the day God's love bursts in torrents upon you: in the recreational room as well as in the chapel, in the study hall as well as in the prayer hall. You have only to open the eyes of your soul by making an act of faith, and your weariness, your weakness, and sufferings are swept away in the current of God's love which rushes to embrace you.

You can't love unless you know, and you can't grow in love unless you first grow in knowledge.

One does not love God as he ought unless he values God and the things of God above everything else in the entire world.

What you see with your eyes is unimportant in itself; the important thing is what lies in the mind and the heart.

Love goes on in the depths of the soul. There, as on the floor of the ocean, it is undisturbed by what is happening on the surface. Through storm and calm, in the barren cold of winter as well as in the peace of summertime, it grows stronger day by day.

If friendship offers mutual strength and consolation in the struggle for holiness, it is indeed a treasure.

Love Him and keep Him for thy friend who, when all go away, will not leave thee nor suffer thee to perish at the last. Thou must one day be parted from all things else, whether thou willest or not. Keep thyself with Jesus both in life and death, and commit thyself to His faithfulness, who alone can help thee when all else fails.

The best way to be charitable to others is to rid oneself of what offends others.

Ability is not born; it comes through years of concentrated effort.

The really great and noble things done in life are always paid for in sweat and tears.
"FIRST STEPS TO THE PRIESTHOOD"
Rev. Melvin Farrell, S.S.
January 13, 1985

"THE PRIESTHOOD"

Five thousand years from now, Manila will be a hole in the ground! And pythons will be moving up and down where the Escolta is now.

But five thousand years from now you will be living with God.

Ten thousand years from now, the world may have served its purpose, and God will pack it up like scenery and put it away.

But ten thousand years from now, for, you,
eternity will be only beginning, in heaven or in hell.

A million years from now the earth will be a cinder, spinning through space.
But a million years from now -
eternity will be only beginning, in heaven or in hell.

If this is true, how foolish it would be to waste your life on anything that ends with death!

What does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffer the loss of his immortal soul?

Vocations come from God. They are like seed, scattered over the ground. You have to provide good ground, for the seed to grow.

God does not twist arms. He does not brainwash the mind.

A vocation is an invitation, offered very gently. God needs priests. The world needs priests. The salvation of mankind rests largely on their human shoulders.

God calls from strange places.
You stumble into the world of the poor.
You feel their misery, their loneliness...
No one cares...
Suddenly you feel that YOU must care!
As Christ did.

Sometimes at Mass, after communion, God speaks to you.
Sometimes at prayer. Sometimes God speaks through the example
of a good priest. Suddenly you think: "Why can't I?" hits you between the eyes.
Sometimes it is the casual remark of a
friend... the emptiness of the world... a sudden hunger, a reaching out, a longing for something more than this world can give.

Happiness is giving. Happiness is helping others.
Happiness is serving God and man.
The priest brings God to man, and man
to God. He is a bridge builder. He is a bridge.

One thing is necessary: when the grace comes to you - act!

The key sentence, of course, was spoken by Christ Our
Lord. It is the only possible explanation of a vocation:

You have not chosen Me!

I HAVE CHOSEN YOU!
June 9, 1985

"WHAT IS LOVE?"

Many men try to explain Love
but none can succeed for they
try to define pagan love . . .

Christian Love brings a sense of warmth not in the body but in the soul.

Love
is a mutual respect of two people - boy and girl -
man and woman - for each other.

Love
is kindness, consideration, generosity, purity,
prudence, thoughtfulness, understanding, patience,
charity, trust, and even humility.

Love
is an invisible bond holding two people together.

Love
is a sharing of thoughts, beliefs, ideals, and goals.
It is a mutual participation in the disappointments
as well as joys.

Love
can be real only if it can withstand the problems
and difficulties of life.

Love
is the longing of two people to find God together, to
share their love with Him and to ask His blessing on them.

Love
must be stronger than the world, the flesh
and the devil.
June 9, 1985

"THE PRIEST"

He is another Christ - respect him;
He is God's representative - trust him;
He is your benefactor - be thankful to him.

At the Altar
He offers your prayers to God - do not forget him;
He prays for you and yours in purgatory -
ask God's mercy for him.

In the confessional
He is the physician of your soul - show him its wounds;
He directs you towards God - follow his admonitions;
He is judging - abide by his decisions.

In his daily life
He is human - do not hastily condemn him;
He is human - a word of kindness will cheer him.
If you must tell his faults - tell them to God,
That He may give him light and strength to correct them;
He has a great responsibility - ask God to guide him in life,
And to be merciful to him in death.
June 9, 1985

God blesses a man ... not because he has found but because he has searched.

Life becomes meaningful when lived in love.

It is those I love ... that I correct and hasten.

Make Love your aim ... and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.

Loving ... is always leaving oneself to go toward others.

Our Greatest Glory is not in never falling ... but in rising every time we fall.
June 9, 1985

"Ten years ago, if anyone had told me life would work out this way it would have seemed like the end of my world," was the quiet answer. "But as I've lost out in material things and my health has grown worse, my eyes have been opened to the real world -- the spiritual world in which we were intended to live. A man's career, his success, even his home are not of supreme importance. They all have to be left behind. It's the characters we become -- our real selves that go on. A man's achievements should not be measured by what he possess but by what he learns to hand over to God. I found release from the cares of this world, from the twin tyrannies of success and failures, by placing my life in God's keeping."
"TOP OF THE HILL"
Vera Minshall
August 29, 1985

"Lord, where were you, when my heart was so tormented?"

"I was in the midst of your heart."

"Ah! Lord, you are the everlasting truth, and I humbly bow before your majesty; but how can I believe that you were in my heart, when it was filled with such detestable thoughts?"

"Did these thoughts and temptations give you pleasure or pain?"

"An excessive pain and sadness."

"You were sad and in suffering because I was hidden in the midst of your heart. Had I been absent, these thoughts would have penetrated your heart and would have filled you with joy: but my presence rendered them insupportable to you..."

Yes, Our Lord said, I will give them women, ignorant and weak by their nature, but prudent and powerful through my grace, to confound their ignorance. If they recognize their folly, if they humble themselves, if they profit by the instructions which I will offer in these frail but consecrated vessels, I will be full of mercy towards them; but should they condemn this salutary disgrace, I will send them so many humiliations that they will become the scoff of every one.

This is just chastisement which I administer to pride:
the more the proud aim at exultation,
the lower will I abuse them,
even beneath themselves.
For you, delay not to obey me, for I wish you to appear
publicly. I will accompany you on all occasions; I will
continue to visit you, and will direct you in all that you must do.
"ST. CATHERINE OF SIENNA"
Sr. Barbara, O.P.
September 17, 1985