It is up to us to use the freedom we have been given to choose life
or death. So I beg you as lovingly and tenderly as I can to be the
sort of flower that breathes out a fragrance before God and for those
in your care. Be a true shepherd, ready to give your life for your
sheep. Correct vice and strengthen the virtuous in doing good. The
failure to correct causes decay just as surely as does a gangrenous
organ in the human body. Keep a watchful eye on yourself and on those
in your care. Don't think it harsh to root out the thorns; the fruit
will be far sweeter than the effort is bitter.
Consider God's ineffable love for your salvation; open your eyes and
you see His boundless blessings and gifts.
Is there a greater love than to give one's life for one's friends?
How much more deserving of praise is the one who gave his life for
his enemies! So let our hearts be on the defensive no longer, but let
hardness be driven out and let these hearts not be stone forever. Let
that binding chain be broken with which the devil so often keeps us bound.
The power of holy desire, scorn for vice, and love for virtue will
break all these bonds. Fall in love with virtue; its effect is the
opposite of that of vice, because sin brings bitterness while virtue
brings sweetness and even in this life a foretaste of the next.
St. Catherine of Siena
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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