CAPG's Blog 

Devotion for the Month of December:  the Immaculate Conception

Virtue for the month of September: Union

Qui manet in eharitate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo — Whoabidethin charity, abideth in God, and God in him. — I John, iv : 16.

 The object of all virtues is to bring us into union with God, in which alone is laid up all the happines that can be enjoyed in this world. Now, in what does ibis unioa properly consist ? In nothing save a perfect conformity and resemblance between our will and the will of God, so that these two wills are absolutely alike — there is nothing in one repugnant to the otber ; all that one wishes and loves, the other wishes and loves ; whatever pleases or displeases one, pleases or displeases the other. — St. John of the Cross.

December's Poetry:

December thou wert named              
By whom the wise remember
As fighting warrior famed
To fill Ambition's blighting.

Thy frozen runes appear,
As slanting sun has chosen,
Directing icy cheer
And life of Bloom dissecting.

The smitten hearts are sad
By wind and cold much bitten,
But cheerful is and glad
The soul of bliss less fearful.

Thy mornings shine not bright
Nor fill the daytime yearnings,
Yet glory's thy delight
And shows the festive stories.

The purest feast of her
Who was of bliss the surest
Engages days that stir
The virtuous of all ages.

Thy sainted list is grand
As Nature white is painted
In glowings joys that stand
Above all human knowing.

The manger saw the Light
The inn foretold a danger,
And heaven, in the night,
Announced the saving Leaven.

The Glorious of the meek,
Who spent His days laborious,
Remembers them who seek 
His love in sorrow's embers.

First Martyr, John, and they
Who gave their life as charter
The hated sword to stay
Are in they rolls related.

Let cherished be thy days!
Thought Nature now has perished,
December still we praise 
Our birthright to remember.

Rev. T.F. Kramer, C.PP.S.

1923  Messenger of the Most Precious Blood, Volumes 28-29

"Oh, my friends, let us pray much, and let obtain many prayers from others, for the poor dead; the good God will render us back the good we do to them a hundredfold. Ah! if every one knew how useful this devotion to the holy souls in purgatory is to those who practice it, they would not be forgotten so often; the good God regards all that we do for them as if it were done to Himself." -- St. John Mary Vianney (Blessed Sacrament Book, Fr. Francis X. Lasance)

Devotion for the month of November: Souls in Purgatory

Virtue of the month of November: Charity

This is the first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart; but the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Matthew, xxii: 88

"My God and my Lord! What need was there of commanding us to love Thee? Art Thou not most lovely in Thy infinite perfections? and for the infinite love Thou bearest to us, dost Thou not deserve our love? How, then, is it possible that any one should not love Thee? if there is such a person, it must be because he has not deserved to know Thee. For, a soul that knows God, cannot help loving Him, and loving Him in proportion to his knowledge of Him; so that is he loves Him but little, it  is a sign that he knows Him but little; and the more his knowledge increases, the more his love will go on growing. St. Teresa."

"Among all those who are included under the title of neighbor, there are none who deserve it more, in one sense, that those of our own household. They are nearest of all of us, living under the same roof, and eating the same bread. Therefore, they ought to be one the principal objects of our love, and we should practice in regard to them all the acts of true charity, which ought to be founded not in flesh and blood, or upon their good qualities, but altogether upon God. St. Francis de Sales"

November's Daily Thoughts:

November's leaden skies are stretched above the fields
That Autumn's sun from flaming gold turned gray;
How faint they gleam in gossamered delight that yields
The grandeurs of Saint Martin's summer day.
True hearts are awed, yet fain, to see that Nature died;
True souls rejoice to know that not in vain they sighed.

As verdure passed, so man who is of earth, but part,
Lays down his life like wilted garden blooms,
And flowered clay, like pall, enshrouds the frozen heart,
But not the soul that Justice then illumes.
What naught was held, is vivid splotch in vision pure,
And in the purgatorial flames finds cleaning cure.

Like babes, they helpless mourn to burn away their stains,
And know beyond the bars beams heaven's light
That God will show, like sun-lit sheen, when pardon reigns.
While yet our days are clear, they live in night;
The merits of Christ-blest November's daily prayer.
Rev. T.F. Kramer, C.PP.S.

1923  Messenger of the Most Precious Blood, Volumes 28-29

Only two means are left to save Her (the Church) amidst so much confusion: Frequent Communion and Devotion to Mary most holy, making use of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced everywhere and by everybody. -- Don Bosco

Devotion for the month of October: Rosary for the Sanctification of Priests

Virtue of the month of October: Confidence

Whoever serves God with a pure heart, and, setting aside all individual and human interests, seeks only His glory, has reason to hope for success in all he does, and especially under circumstances, when, according to human Judgment, there is no help ; for the divine works are above the sight of human prudence, and depend upon a loftier principle. — St. Charles Borromeo