Avila bound

Readings until I return click here

Reflections until I return click here

Out of the country; going to Spain for a few days; we priest have it tough.

Will be in Avila the place of St. Teresa. Here are few quotes from the Doctor of the Church.

"It is true that we cannot be free from sin, but at least let our sins be not always the same."

"Remember you have only one soul; you have only one death to die; you have only one life to live; if you do this there will be many things for which you will no longer care."

"Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns; so it is with man's mind."

"True strength rises in obedience."

Here is a tid bit from a book entitled The Spiritual Life by Tanquerey:

"To avoid sin is not sufficient; we must grow in perfection. Here again, what is the great stumbling block if not the love of pleasure and dread of the cross. How many would wish to be better than they are, to aim at perfection, were it not that they shrink from the effort required, from the trials sent by God to his friends. Some Christians have to be reminded what St. Paul said time and again: Life is a struggle; that we should blush with shame if we show less courage than those who strive for an earthly reward and who in order to assure victory deprive themselves of sundry pleasures, willingly submitting to discipline: stern and arduous. They for a corruptible crown but we for an incorruptible."