Sermon by St. John Vianney:We can only find our happiness on earth in loving God, and we can only love Him in prayer to Him. We see that Jesus Christ, to encourage us often to have recourse to Him through prayer, promises never to refuse us anything if we pray for it as we should. But there is no need to go looking for elaborate and roundabout ways of showing you that we should pray often, for you have only to open your catechism and you will see there that the duty of every good Christian is to pray morning and evening and often during the day -- that is to say, always.
Which of us, my dear brethren, could, without tears of compassion, listen to those poor Christians who dare to say that they have not time to pray? You have not the time! Poor blind creatures, which is the more precious action: to strive to please God and to save your soul, or to go out to feed your animals in the stable or to call your children or your servants in order to send them out to till the earth or to tidy up the stable? Dear God! How blind man is!
You have not the time! But tell me, ungrateful creatures, if God had called you to die that night, would you have exerted yourselves? If He had sent you three or four months of illness, would you have exerted yourselves? Go away, you miserable creatures; you deserve to have God abandon you in your blindness and leave you thus to perish. We find that it is too much to give Him a few minutes to thank Him for the graces which He is giving us at every instant!
You must get on with your work, you say.
That, my dear people, is where you are greatly mistaken. You have no other work to do except to please God and to save your souls. All the rest is not your work. If you do not do it, others will, but if you lose your soul, who will save it?
Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
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Today is the Double of the II Class Feast of the Queenship of our Blessed Lady. 
Today I sat down and had the opportunity to read through "The Mass" by Father Louis A. Gales, a booklet, which I believe to be at least 50 years old judging by the condition of the document as well as the photographs inside.
The booklet begins with an enumeration of the Eight Wonders of the Mass and then immediately enters the the component of the text which explains the Mass section by section. But rather than simply providing a translation of the Tridentine Mass, Fr. Gales explains the spiritual significance and offers a meditative approach in addition to providing a translation of the prayers. This booklet is not a missal but rather offers beautiful commentary on the rubrics of the Mass of the Ages
Here is a short excerpt from the text:
The book is composed of Fr. Gales' writings along with a series of photographs by Father Robert E. Southard, from the set of Eighty Mass Photos published and copyrighted by the Catechetical Guild. The Catechetical Guild Educational Society, at the time of this document's publication, was located in my city: St. Paul, Minnesota.
In another post relating to updating the blog, I would like to announce that the Book Review Page on A Catholic Life, which lists some of the books that I have reviewed, has been updated. I am very pleased with the many updates to the site in recent weeks, chief among them the website design that was created by the blogger at Sons of Lepanto.
Sermon by St. John Vianney:
Image Source: Photos used with permission of Nick Gale, Found via Facebook.
