Religion

Jesus does not expect us to be strong but weak. In our weakness His power reaches perfection (2 Cor 12:9). He does not expect us to be independent and self-sufficient, but rather childlike (Mt 18:3). We don't need will-power, just willingness. He'll provide the

> We must guard against that attitude of spiritual pride that makes us say, "What I do not feel I do not need." We must allow for the possibility that our feelings may be unreliable and therefore we must honestly strive to correct them. Yearning for God is

> Humility is the safeguard of chastity. In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing danger. When a person puts himself in an occasion of sin, saying, "I shall not fall," it is almost an infallible sign that he will fall, and with

Happy holidays! Today kicks off the holiday season, at least in Michigan. Working backwards: New Years, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Opening Day. Yup: Today is opening day of deer season in Michigan. Some factories shut down; workers take vacation days; union workers take sick days; Michigan Kennedies call in drunk. It&

> No sooner has [a person] started to pray than, conjured up by his inner unrest, all sorts of other things clamor for attention: a task at work, a conversation, an errand, a newspaper, a book. All these suddenly appear most important, and prayer seems a sheer waste of time.

"Everything depends on [the] state of recollectedness. No effort to obtain it is ever wasted. And even if the whole duration of our prayer should be applied to this end only, the time thus used would have been well employed. For recollectedness itself is prayer." Romano Guardini, from

All Saints Day is here. Rejoice! There's hope for all of us. Sainthood isn't just for those canonized. The Francises, Theresas, and other show-offs. Today, we celebrate all those saints we don't know about: everyone in heaven that isn't canonized. Go to

Jesus is the same today as He was in the Gospels (Heb 13:8). He is full of pity, mercy, and compassion for You (see Ps 103:8). You may be in a desert now (Ps 126:4), but Jesus can turn even the hottest desert into a place of

> The senses, the memory, and the imagination must be guarded, not only against things which are a direct temptation to sin, but against everything which may engage the mind in passing interests when it should be bent upon the unseen realities. Ths intellect too must be called off from