Virtue

This Too Shall Pass

DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00

To be led by the Holy Ghost, you must repeatedly ask for His help. Come Holy Ghost! Enlighten my mind. Strengthen my will. Inflame my heart. The Holy Ghost is opposed by a three-fold source of evil: the devil, the world and the flesh. These spiritual enemies lead men's minds into error and enslave their wills to vice. On account of our fallen nature, our wills are weak and our hearts are selfish and self-seeking. We must take this seriously! To love in a proper and self-sacrificial way, we need the light and strength that comes from God. Pray especially for [...]

This Too Shall PassDVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00

Impurity Unleashes Destructive Passions and Death

DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00

We must understand the root causes which plague our Church and society. When man indulges an unchaste desire, he starts down a trajectory of sin that leads to violence and destruction. Unbridled passions in man's interior life lead to confusion, anger, frustration and unleash external acts of uncontrolled passion. Impure people are easily manipulated by the powers that be. Revolutionaries, hardened criminals and satanists are able to commit terrible atrocities because they first desensitize themselves by violations of the Sixth Commandment. As we are living though an unhappy time of unbridled luxury, we should expect that riots, acts of senseless violence, destruction, and public murder [...]

Impurity Unleashes Destructive Passions and DeathDVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00

Religion and Piety

DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:50-05:00

We must ask the Holy Ghost for His light to enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills and inflame our hearts. Without the Holy Ghost we cannot love rightly (our love is self-centered, self-seeking and weak). In order to bring forth any good fruit, we need the Holy Ghost. Pray for an increase in the virtue of religion (i.e. rendering due honor and glory to God). Pray too for the corresponding virtue of piety (an interior disposition by which we truly love God as our Father). By religion we carry out our duties to God in an exterior way. This is certainly important and necessary. Yet [...]

Religion and PietyDVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:50-05:00

We Desperately Need Fortitude

DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:50-05:00

Fortitude is the gift of the Holy Ghost that strengthens our will to banish all timidity and human respect; it strengthens the soul to hate sin, to practice virtue, and to prefer contempt, temporal loss, persecution, and even death, rather than to deny Christ by word or deed. By this gift, we are empowered to fight and overcome the enemies of our salvation. Fortitude enables us to fulfill the will of God in the midst of temptations, difficulties, and persecutions. It makes us ready and courageous to undertake the greatest sacrifices for our salvation. Today, we need to grow in fortitude! [...]

We Desperately Need FortitudeDVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:50-05:00

Pray for Courage

DVRodriguez2020-03-17T21:47:47-04:00

St. John of the Cross explains that we need two kinds of purgation to make it to the higher levels of holiness and ultimately Heaven. Active purgation is taking on voluntary penances so as to overcome ourselves, as we do in Lent. But, truth be told, we are too weak, too slow and too small of soul in performing such penances. So, God provides the needed cleansing though passive purgation. God normally does this by allowing us to undergo various trials through our neighbors, attacks by the devils, and natural disasters, war, famine, and plagues. The soul that loves God will [...]

Pray for CourageDVRodriguez2020-03-17T21:47:47-04:00

Guardians of Chastity

DVRodriguez2020-02-26T08:55:06-05:00

One thing that greatly tarnishes mankind is the sin of impurity - lust. It darkens our intellect and stains our souls. It is thrust upon us everywhere we go and seemingly wherever we turn our eyes. We must practice the virtue of chastity. Yet our holy tradition reminds us that chastity is a fragile virtue. It is easily tarnished or broken. Chastity is like a precious vase that needs guardians to protect it. These guardians, the saints teach us, are other virtues, including humility, obedience, temperance, and love of Jesus and Mary.

Guardians of ChastityDVRodriguez2020-02-26T08:55:06-05:00

Humility Heaven’s Stairway

DVRodriguez2020-01-27T09:03:19-05:00

The saints have often praised the humility of Our Lady, unsurpassed by no other human person. God finds humility irresistible. In fact, many saints have noted that it was the Blessed Virgin Mary's humility which drew the Lord down from Heaven. You see, God will not be outdone in humility. If our Lady humbled herself so greatly, God would humble Himself even more by taking on human nature within her so as to suffer for our sins. The teachings of St. John Climacus (+649), a desert monk, and of Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified (+1878), a Carmelite nun, can help inspires [...]

Humility Heaven’s StairwayDVRodriguez2020-01-27T09:03:19-05:00

Enslavement is Inescapable

DVRodriguez2019-11-14T16:54:26-05:00

Slavery is inescapable! You can however chose your master. Yet there really are only two choices: the dreary slavery of the devil or the sweet yoke of Christ. Heaven or hell. The saints see infallible dogmas as golden chains that bind the mind to the One Truth, God. The damned are held fast by only one principle, 'Do what you will.' The saints are yoked by a holy routine of prayer, penance, fasting, study and duty. The damned are imprisoned by the routine of habitual sin and regular indulgence. If you pick Christ as your King and allow Him to draw [...]

Enslavement is InescapableDVRodriguez2019-11-14T16:54:26-05:00

Ark of the Covenant Revealer of Faults

svfonline2019-10-22T07:33:12-04:00

Holy Simeon prophesied "And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed" (Lk 2:35). A study of the Ark of the Covenant shows that it does indeed reveal man's faults. This is true in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, when the Ark is given its perfect fulfillment in Blessed Virgin Mary Herself, and even in our own times. When man's faults are revealed, he can respond in one of four ways: [1] Try to change things to match the fault. [2] Blame others. [3] Run away. Or [4] Submit to the [...]

Ark of the Covenant Revealer of Faultssvfonline2019-10-22T07:33:12-04:00

Temptation in a Crisis of Authority

svfonline2019-10-22T07:29:25-04:00

We are currently enduring a grave crisis in authority. Our Lady forewarned this in the Vision of the Third Secret of Fatima. As if in a mirror, Sr. Lucia saw a ‘bishop in white.' He is not acting as the pope ought and Sr. Lucia does not refer to him as the pope. Then she does see the pope: he is martyred, followed by all the ranks of the Church in proper order. Understandably in this crisis, a great temptation is for the laity to lead themselves. Instead it is highly advisable that the laity find a good trustworthy priest (a [...]

Temptation in a Crisis of Authoritysvfonline2019-10-22T07:29:25-04:00