Byline: Michael R. Heinlein

4 min read

Saints

A Simple Novena: St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Michael R. Heinlein

September 25, 2022 10:23 am September 25, 2022

4 min read

1617 views

Comments Off

4 min read

Prepare for the Church’s commemoration of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on Oct. 1 with this novena beginning on Sept. 22. Or use it any time you might want to beg…

Prepare for the Church’s commemoration of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on Oct. 1 with this novena beginning on Sept. 22. Or use it any time you might want to beg the Little Flower’s intercession. Each day’s prayer begins with an opportunity for reflection based on a brief selection from St. Thérèse’s spiritual autobiography “Story of a Soul,” followed by a short prayer asking that her witness may bear fruit in our lives.

Day 1

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “Jesus points out to me the only way which leads to Love’s furnace — that way is self-surrender — it is the confidence of the little child who sleeps without fear in its father’s arms”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, give me clarity of vision to know you are the way, truth and life, giving us the model of love on which to pattern my life.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 2

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to see that any greatness within me comes only from your life within me — for without you, I am nothing.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 3

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “A word, a kindly smile, will often suffice to gladden a wounded and sorrowful heart.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to see that each moment of every day is an opportunity for us to bring your love to others.

Our Father…
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 4

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “For me, prayer is a burst from my heart, it is a simple glance thrown toward heaven, a cry of thanksgiving and love in times of trial as well as in times of joy.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to cling to prayer as a means to growing closer to you, and be faithful in its practice.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 5

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “My strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; they are invincible weapons, and touch hearts more surely than words can do, as I have learned by experience.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to make prayer and sacrifice a priority so that we might share in your saving work.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 6

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “We must abandon the future into the hands of God.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to place my trust in you and believe with all my heart that everything works for the good when we love you above all else.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 7

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “Jesus may hide himself, but we know He is there.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to place myself regularly in your Eucharistic presence, so that I may become like you.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 8

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “No harm can come to me since, in whatever happens, I see only the tender hand of Jesus.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to understand your purpose in our lives and to know your care for us.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Day 9

Reflecting with St. Thérèse: “I’m not relying on my own merits, as I have none, but I put my hope in Him who is goodness and holiness Himself.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the intercession of St. Thérèse, help me to persevere in my call to holiness, step by step, day by day, especially in the little things.

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory Be …

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic.

Comments Off

3 min read

Saints

Good Reads For Growth in Holiness

Michael R. Heinlein

September 21, 2022 7:46 am September 21, 2022

3 min read

5993 views

Comments Off

3 min read

The vast panoply of spiritual writings from the saints and other holy persons can be overwhelming and intimidating. There are just so many priceless works! That makes it hard to…

The vast panoply of spiritual writings from the saints and other holy persons can be overwhelming and intimidating. There are just so many priceless works! That makes it hard to direct someone to a text without knowing more specifics. Additionally, I can only address or recommend those I’ve read or have some familiarity with. All that being said, I would recommend the following three spiritual classics without hesitation:

“Introduction to the Devout Life”: St. Francis de Sales addresses Christians living in any state of life who want to grow in a personal relationship with Christ. He reminds readers that God made all of us with intentionality, and our goal should be to fulfill that. As he wrote, “Be who you are and be that well.” The book is composed in five parts, each relating to a particular stage on a person’s Christian journey, the third of which — on the practice of virtue — is most helpful in anyone’s life.

“Story of a Soul”: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux chronicles the saint’s short life that, not unlike many, was filled with much suffering. In the book, the saint posits her “Little Way” — a spiritual path to serve God in one’s littleness and simplicity. The “Little Way” doesn’t require us to do great things or offer great sacrifices, but to be faithful in all the ordinary and daily circumstances of life — embracing it all as a gift from God. St. Thérèse sums up her spiritual plan well: “I know well that it is not my great desires that please God in my little soul, what He likes to see is the way I love my littleness and my poverty; it is my blind hope in His mercy, this is my only treasure…. The weaker one is, without desires or virtues the more ready one is for the operations of this consuming and transforming love…. God rejoices more in what He can do in a soul humbly resigned to its poverty than in the creation of millions of suns and the vast stretch of the heavens.”

“Confessions”: St. Augustine’s Confessions is a partial autobiography chronicling his own conversion and the regrets associated with his formerly sinful life. The last portions of the book are a commentary on a variety of theological and philosophical ideas. Especially moving in the text are St. Augustine’s reflections on the Faith and his own memories of his relationship with his mother who, in fact, brought him to the Faith. Confessions is one of the most profound conversion stories in history, one to help all Christian grown in their own relationship with God. In this work we find the famous line that sums up St. Augustine’s primary discovery in his spiritual journey, and perhaps experienced in many of ours: “For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.”

These and other spiritual classics are available from Our Sunday Visitor’s Noll Library Classics.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter @HeinleinMichael.

Comments Off

4 min read

Saints

St. Louis IX: A saint for piety

Michael R. Heinlein

August 25, 2022 7:51 am August 25, 2022

4 min read

7089 views

Comments Off

4 min read

At times the biographies about St. Louis IX, King of France, make it sound like he had an overbearing mother. And it seems very likely that he did. However, it…

At times the biographies about St. Louis IX, King of France, make it sound like he had an overbearing mother. And it seems very likely that he did. However, it also seems that the care and formation that his mother provided also is what contributed greatly to his personal holiness.

St. Louis’ mother, Queen Blanche, knew that her young boy would one day become king, and she did all within her power to make sure that he would be prepared as best as possible. She personally saw to it that he was trained in all the things a king-in-waiting should, including Latin, military arts, oration and government. But first and foremost, she raised him to desire holiness above all. She drilled into him: “I love you, my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child; but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should ever commit a mortal sin.”

This aversion to sin defined St. Louis’ life and directed his own quest for holiness. He knew that in order to be a good king, husband and father he needed to be a good Christian first. To aid him in this quest he adopted a spirituality that included a strict regimen of mortification and penitence.

As a king, he enacted a series of laws by which he forbade sinful and illicit behavior in his realm. And he reformed the French judicial system to be thoroughly more merciful and just. For those reforms, he is memorialized throughout the world — even in the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court buildings.

All of this adds up to the fact that the saintly king was a pious man marked by charity in thought, word and deed. St. Louis modeled this charity in a very tangible way by his care of and service to the poor and underprivileged. He attended to the construction of institutions for their care and even publicly washed the feet of the poor on Holy Thursdays in imitation of Christ.

In 1234, St. Louis married Princess Margaret of Provence. Their marriage was tested thoroughly, however, by the saint’s meddlesome and overbearing mother who became very jealous of the attention her son gave his wife. Despite the difficulties, their marriage appeared a success, and together they had 11 children.

St. Louis’ reign was marked as a golden age of French culture and prominence on the global stage. A man of courage and action, he also supported the intellectual life of the Church and supported the establishment of a theological school in Paris that would be later known as the Sorbonne. He even was joined once at court by the great St. Thomas Aquinas, a preeminent theologian and philosopher of the day.

A motto in life for St. Louis comes from the mission with which he was entrusted at his coronation: to serve as “God’s lieutenant on Earth.” His life’s highest aim was to give his all for the glory of God and the good of his people. This was evident in leading two of the Crusades, at which time he took possession of a relic of Christ’s crown of thorns. St. Louis built a magnificent chapel in Paris to house the relic. Known as Sainte Chappelle, it remains one of the most visited places in France.

He died in 1270 in Tunisia after contracting dysentery en route to the Holy Land during the eighth Crusade. In his spiritual testament to his eldest son, he passed along the guiding wisdom he learned from his mother years before: “My dearest son, you should permit yourself to be tormented by every kind of martyrdom before you would allow yourself to commit a mortal sin.” St. Louis was canonized in 1295.

Feast day is August 25.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter at @HeinleinMichael.

Comments Off

1 min read

Eternal Life

Are People in Hell Forever?

Michael R. Heinlein

August 15, 2022 7:26 am August 15, 2022

1 min read

16943 views

Comments Off

1 min read

Each human person is endowed with an immortal soul from the moment of our conception. Our souls exist into eternity, and we are each particularly judged at the end of…

Each human person is endowed with an immortal soul from the moment of our conception. Our souls exist into eternity, and we are each particularly judged at the end of our life and assigned to hell or heaven, either immediately or after a period of purification.

Eternity in hell is the result of dying “in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love … remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice” (CCC, No. 1033). If assigned to hell, one is eternally separated from God as the result of his or her own free will. God doesn’t want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Pt 3:9).

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter@HeinleinMichael.

Comments Off

1 min read

Papacy

What are the qualifications needed to be elected pope?

Michael R. Heinlein

August 12, 2022 7:30 am August 12, 2022

1 min read

10704 views

Comments Off

1 min read

Canon 332 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law states: “The Roman Pontiff obtains full and supreme power in the Church by his acceptance of legitimate election together with episcopal…

Canon 332 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law states: “The Roman Pontiff obtains full and supreme power in the Church by his acceptance of legitimate election together with episcopal consecration. Therefore, a person elected to the supreme pontificate who is marked with episcopal character obtains this power from the moment of acceptance. If the person elected lacks episcopal character, however, he is to be ordained a bishop immediately.”

Now, in consideration that Canon 1024 states: “A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly,” it is concluded that one only needs to be a baptized male in order to be elected pope. Even married men, as much as that might seem as fantasy to some, could be elected pope! Many bishops in the early Church had been married first, however they would cease to live in the conjugal state. That would not annul or dissolve one’s marriage, however.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter @HeinleinMichael.

Comments Off

1 min read

Sacramentals

What Is Blessed Salt?

Michael R. Heinlein

July 31, 2022 8:05 am July 31, 2022

1 min read

28170 views

Comments Off

1 min read

Blessed salt is one of many sacramentals in the Church. Sacramentals “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which…

Blessed salt is one of many sacramentals in the Church. Sacramentals “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church’s intercession. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy” (Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 60).

Salt is mentioned frequently in Scripture — in both Old and New Testaments (see 2Kgs 2: 20-21 and Mk 9: 49-50). An interesting tidbit of history is that salt was a valuable commodity in much of the ancient world. The word “salary” finds its root in the Latin word “sal” because Roman soldiers were paid in quantities of salt.

St. Augustine mentions that blessed salt was used with catechumens — those preparing for baptism — a practice that continued until the liturgical revisions of the Second Vatican Council.

An older form of blessing prayer for salt includes an invocation of exorcism. For this reason blessed salt still is used by some for blessing homes and the like.

Today, blessed salt is most typically used in the blessing of holy water — although it’s optional. There is a prayer for the blessing of salt in the Roman Missal.

Sacramentals should be disposed of with care and dignity — not in ways we dispose of average rubbish. As in the case of blessed salt, it’s best to dispose of it in the ground or, perhaps, give it to your parish priest to dissolve in holy water.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter@HeinleinMichael.

Comments Off