"Having made satisfaction to God, we must then make satisfaction to our neighbor for the wrong which - either in his body or in his soul -- we have done him.

I say that it is possible to wrong him in his body, that is to say, in his person, by attacking him either by injurious or insulting words or by bad treatment. If we have sinned against him by injurious words, then we must apologize to him and make our reconciliation with him. If we have done him some wrong by belaboring his animals, as sometimes happens when we find that they have been doing damage among our crops, we are obliged to give him all that we have been the cause of his losing: we could have got compensation without maltreating these animals. If we have done any harm, we are obliged to repay as soon as we can; otherwise we will be gravely at fault. If we have neglected to do that, we have sinned and we must confess it.

If you have done wrong to your neighbor in his honor, as, for instance, by scandalous talk, you are obliged to make up by favorable and beneficent talk for all the harm you have done to his reputation, saying all the good of him which you know to be true and concealing any faults which he may have and which you are not obliged to reveal. If you have calumniated your neighbor, you must go and find the people to whom you have said false things about him and tell them that what you have been saying is not true, that you are very grieved about it, and that you beg them not to believe it.

But if you have done him harm in his soul, it is a still more difficult thing to repair, and yet it must be done as far as possible; otherwise God will not pardon you. You must also examine your conscience as to whether you have given scandal to your children or to your next-door neighbors. How many fathers, mothers, masters, and mistresses are there who scandalize their children and their servants by not saying their prayers morning or evening or by saying them when they are dressing or sitting back in a chair, who do not even make the Sign of the Cross before and after a meal?

How many times are they heard swearing, or perhaps even blaspheming? How many times have they been seen working on Sunday morning, even before Holy Mass?

You must consider, too, whether you have sung bad songs, or brought in bad books, or whether you have given bad counsel, as, for instance, advising someone that he should take his revenge on someone else, should exact satisfaction by force. Consider, too, whether you have ever taken anything from a next-door neighbor and neglected to pay it back, whether you have neglected to give some alms which you had been told to give or make some restitution which your parents, who are dead, should have made. If you wish to have the happiness of having your sins forgiven, you must have nothing belonging to anyone else which you should and could pay back. So if you have sullied your neighbor's reputation, you must do all in your power to repair the damage. You must be reconciled with your enemies, speak to them as if they had never done you anything but good all your life, keeping nothing in your heart but the charity which the good Christian should have for everyone, so that we can all appear with confidence before the tribunal of God. "

Source: The Sermons of the Cure d'Ars, p.121, 1960.

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

St. Lawrence giving alms, 1449 - Fra Angelico

"The fast of the Ember days has been instituted principally to obtain of God good, holy and zealous priests for His Church. On this point especially depend the honor and welfare of the Church and the salvation of mankind. History proves, beyond all doubt, that a careless and tepid clergy do greater injury to the Church and to the souls of men than a bitter and bloody persecution. Persecution, in its outcome, proves beneficial to the Church and sends heroic martyrs to heaven, but a clergy devoid of holiness and virtue is the scourge of souls and the disgrace of the Church. That she may possess a truly worthy clergy, the Church endeavors to secure God's blessing on the ordinations by prescribing special prayers in her liturgy and the fasting of the Ember days to all the faithful. Wherefore, it behooves every Catholic to enter into the spirit of the Church by faithfully keeping the laws of fasting and abstinence on the prescribed days, by devout and earnest prayer, and moreover, by contributing, each one according to his means, to educate aspirants to the priesthood, and to support missionaries both at home and in foreign lands. This is not a mere counsel, but a duty for which God will hold each one accountable." Source: A Pulpit Commentary on Catholic Teaching: The liturgy of the ecclesiastical year. Rev. H.G. Hugues, 1910 p.119

• Mass Propers for Ember Friday
  

Prayers for Ember Days:

Listen, Almighty God, we beseech Thee, to the prayers which Thy universal Church offers to Thee at this time, beseeching Thy blessing on those who are about to be admitted to Thy Holy Service of the Altar, in particular on (name). Give Thy grace to all who are called to any office and administration amongst Thy clergy, and so replenish them with the truth of Thy doctrine, and indue them with innocence of life, that they may faithfully serve Thee, to the glory of Thy great name and the benefit of Thy Holy Church. Amen

O God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the treasure is infinite, we humbly thank Thee for the gifts thou hast bestowed upon us. Continue Thy mercy to us, and give us also so much of Thy temporal blessings as Thou knowest to be for our good. Grant that the fruits of the earth may, by Thy holy favor, increase and multiply. Defend them from all drought, frosts or tempests, or whatever else may be hurtful to them. It is from Thy hand only that we look for succor, and to Thee we have recourse in all our necessities. Amen.

Source: St. John's Manual 1856, Archbishop of New York John J. Hugues

Devotions for Ember days:

• Diving into the Catholic Treasury: A Revival of the Ember Days by Canon Huberfelt, ICRSS
  
• Renewal and the Penitential Life by Msgr. Ingham
• The Seven Penitential Psalms (Msgr. Ingham, audio)
• Seven Penitential Psalms (Latin/English)
  
• Litany of Saints
• Litany to Obtain Holy Priests
• Holy Hour of Adoration and Reparation for Priests
• Stations of the Cross for Priests (Especially for those who are suffering persecution)
• The Rosary to Our Lady of Sorrows dedicated for Priests, (by Fr. Scott McCaig,CC on the occasion of the Year for Priest, 2009)
  

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“God has placed deep within the bosom of this physician and priest the heart of Saint Vincent de Paul. The fervour of his love for the poor was unsurpassed, the integrity of his blameless conduct was truly angelic, the kindness beaming from his face recalled Saint Francis de Sales. I have followed him very attentively through all the stages of his virtuous life and I must acknowledge, I have never met a priest who was so zealous for the salvation of souls, so amiable and so holy as he.” Archbishop of Palermo, Cardinal Giuseppe Guarino,

• Missionary Servants of the Poor

Prayer to Blessed James Cusmano:

O Most loving Father James Cusmano, you who consecrated your life to the love and service of Christ by serving the Poor, teach us to make real in our own lives the "New Commandment" given by Our Lord, by lovingly putting into practice the Works of Charity.
Help us to re-discover the joy of serving others, so that we can come to the fullness of "Faith through Charity". Free us from the illusion of feeling we are so poor that we have nothing to give or of feeling so rich that we have nothing to receive. Make us capable of sharing with others what we have and what we are, in a spirit of true communion. Obtain for us that, by loving and serving Christ with you as our example we may one day contemplate Him and possess Him for ever, together with you in the Home of our heavenly Father. Amen.

Source: Missionary Servants of the Poor Philippines

Almighty God and Merciful Father, I thank you and praise you for you adorned the heart of Blessed James Cusmano with "Charity which knows no bounds" in helping the poor and the unhappy.
Make that, by his example, inflamed by the ardor of the same ardor of charity, I can also be always happy to offer my life for the glory of Your name, to the service of others, and to be blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven. Grant me, through his intercession the grace ... of which I am badly in need. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end amen.

Source: James Cusmano

"My dear brethren, we read in holy Scripture that the Lord, while speaking to His people of the necessity to do good works in order to please Him and to become included in the number of saints, said to them: "The things that I ask are not above your powers; to do them it is not necessary for you to lift yourselves to the clouds nor to cross the seas. All that I command is, so to speak, in your hands, in your hearts, and all around."

I can easily repeat the very same thing to you, my dear brethren. It is true that we shall never have the happiness of going to Heaven unless we do good works, but let us not be afraid of that, my dear children. What Jesus Christ demands of us are not the extraordinary things or those beyond our powers. He does not require that we should be all day in the church or that we should do enormous penances, that is to say, to the extent of ruining our health, or even to that of giving all our substance to the poor (although it is very true that we are obliged to give as much as we possibly can to the poor, which we should do both to please God, Who commands it, and also to atone for our sins). It is also true that we should practice mortification in many things to make reparation for our sins. There is no doubt but that the person who lives without mortifying himself is someone who will never succeed in saving his soul. There is no doubt but that, although we cannot be all day in the church, which yet should be a great joy for us, we do know very well that we should never omit our prayers, at least in the morning and at night.

But, you will say, there are plenty who cannot fast, others who are not able to give alms, and others who have so much to do that often they have great difficulty in saying their prayers in the morning and at night. How can they possibly be saved, then, if it is necessary to pray continuously and to do good works in order to obtain Heaven? Because all your good works, my dear brethren, amount to prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds, which we can easily perform as you shall see.

Yes, my dear brethren, even though we may have poor health or even be infirm, there is a fast which we can easily perform. Let us even be quite poor; we can still give alms. And however heavy or demanding our work, we can still pray to Almighty God without interfering with our labors; we can pray night and morning, and even all day long, and here is how we can do it. All the time that we deprive ourselves of anything which it gives us pleasure to do, we are practicing a fast which is very pleasing to God because fasting does not consist solely of privations in eating and drinking, but of denying ourselves that which pleases our taste most. Some mortify themselves in the way they dress; others in the visits they want to make to friends whom they like to see; others in the conversations and discussions which they enjoy. This constitutes a very excellent fast and one which pleases God because it fights self-love and pride and one's reluctance to do things one does not enjoy or to be with people whose characters and ways of behaving are contrary to one's own.

You can, without offending God, go into that particular company, but you can deprive yourself of it to please God: there is a type of fasting which is very meritorious. You are in some situation in which you can indulge your appetite? Instead of doing so, you take, without making it obvious, something which appeals to you the least. When you are buying chattels or clothes, you do not choose that which merely appeals to you; there again is a fast whose reward waits for you at the door of Heaven to help you to enter.

Yes, my dear brethren, if we want to go about it properly, not only can we find opportunities of practicing fasting every day, but at every moment of the day. Tell me, now, is there any fasting which would be more pleasing to God than to do and to endure with patience certain things which often are very disagreeable to you? Without mentioning illness, infirmities, or so many other afflictions which are inseparable from our wretched life, how often do we not have the opportunity to mortify ourselves in putting up with what annoys and revolts us? Sometimes it is work which wearies us greatly; sometimes it is some person who annoys us. At another time, it may be some humiliation which is very difficult to endure. Well, then, my children, if we put up with all that for God and solely to please Him, these are the fasts which are most agreeable to God and most meritorious in His eyes.

You are compelled to work all the year round at very heavy and exacting labor which often seems as if it is going to kill you and which does not give you even the time to draw your breath. Oh, my dear children, what treasures would you be storing up for Heaven, if you so desired, by doing just what you do and in the midst of your labors having the wisdom and the foresight to lift up your hearts to God and say to Him: "My good Jesus, I unite my labors to Your labors, my sufferings to Your sufferings; give me the grace to be always content in the state in which You have placed me! I will bless Your holy Name in all that happens to me!"

Yes, my dear children, if you had the great happiness to behave in this way, all your trials, all your labors, would become like most precious fruits which you would offer to God at the hour of your death. That, my children, is how everyone in his own state in life can practice a kind of fasting which is very meritorious and which will be of the greatest value to him for eternal life.

I have been telling you, too, that there is a certain type of almsgiving which everyone can perform. You see quite well that almsgiving does not consist solely in feeding those who are hungry and giving clothes to those who have none. It consists in all the services which one renders to a neighbor, whether of body or soul, when they are done in a spirit of charity. When we have only a little, very well, let us give a little; and when we have nothing, let us lend if we can. If you cannot supply those who are sick with whatever would be good for them, well then, you can visit them, you can say consoling words to them, you can pray for them so that they will put their illness to good use.

Yes, my dear children, everything is good and precious in God's sight when we act from the motives of religion and of charity because Jesus Christ tells us that a glass of water would not go unrewarded. You see, therefore, my children, that although we may be quite poor, we can still easily give alms. I told you that however exacting our work was, there is a certain kind of prayer which we can make continually without, at the same time, upsetting our labors, and this is how it is done. It is seeking, in everything we do, to do the will of God only. Tell me, my children, is it so difficult to seek only to do the will of God in all of our actions, however small they may be? Yes, my children, with that prayer everything becomes meritorious for Heaven, and without that will, all is lost. Alas! How many good things, which would help us so well to gain Heaven, go unrewarded simply by not doing our ordinary duties with the right intention! "

Source: Sermons of the Cure d'Ars, p.170, 1960

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

"Yes, my dear brethren, in everything that we see, in everything that we hear, in all we say and do, we are conscious of the fact that we are drawn towards evil. If we are at table, there is sensuality, and gluttony, and intemperance. If we take a few moments of recreation, there are the dangers of flightiness and idle chatter. If we are at work, most of the time it is self-interest, or avarice, or envy which influences us -- or even vanity.

When we pray, there is negligence, distraction, distaste, and boredom. If we are in pain or any trouble, there are complaints and murmurings. When we are doing well and are prosperous, pride, self-love, and contempt for our neighbor take hold of us. Our hearts swell with pride when we are praised. Wrongs inflame us into rages.

There you see my dear brethren, the thing which made the greatest of the saints tremble. This was what made so many of them retire into the desert to live solitary lives; this was the source of so many tears, of so many prayers, of so many penances. It is true that the saints who were hidden away in the forests were not exempt from temptations, but they were far removed from so much bad example as that which surrounds us continually and which is the cause of so many souls being lost. But, my dear brethren, we see from their lives that they watched, they prayed, and they were in dread unceasingly, while we, poor, blind sinners, are quite placid in the midst of so many dangers which could lose us our souls!

Alas, my dear brethren, some of us do not even know what it is to be tempted because we hardly ever, or very rarely, resist. Which one of us can expect to escape from all these dangers? Which one of us will be saved? Anyone who wanted to reflect upon all these things could hardly go on living, so greatly terrified would he be!

However, my dear brethren, what ought to console and reassure us is that we have to deal with a good Father Who will never allow our struggles to be greater than our strength, and every time we have recourse to Him, He will help us to fight and to conquer."

source: Sermons of the Cure d'Ars, p.89, 1960

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

Nikephoros I of Constantinople trampling on John VII of Constantinople. Miniature from Chludov Psalter.

"Integrity of the Faith: There are not in the Christian faith any articles which it is permissible to accept or reject according to one's own good pleasure; all are equally holy and equally true. Faith teaches that it is good to hold in reverence the images of the saints; and this article of belief, apparently to little importance, has been upheld by martyrs.

Nicephorus, elected patriarch of Constantinople in 806, despite his opposition, furnished us with a striking example. The emperor Nicephorus, who had been instrumental in bringing about this election, was not mistaken in the estimate he had made of his former secretary. On the emperor Leo the Armenian succeeding to Nicephorus, he renewed the persecution in the matter of images, but found on the part of the patriarch an amount of resistance as unbending as it was determined. Unable to conquer him, he banished him to a monastery, where the saintly old man spent fourteen years, accounting himself happy to suffer this long disgrace for the sake of religion. He there died in 828, after having composed several works in defense of the faith. The Greeks celebrate his festival on the 2nd of June, and the Latin Church on the 13th of March.

Moral Reflection: How shall we venture to cavil at the Faith, when St. Paul himself proclaimed that he had received the apostleship not for the control of, but for obedience to the faith? (Rom. i. 5)" Pictorial Half Hours with the Saints by Abbe Auguste Lecanu

• "Second Council of Nicaea, the Seventh Ecumenical Council, in 787. Among the canons that were issued  during this council:
  
      “We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people. The more frequently they are seen in representational art, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these images the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration (dulia). Certainly, this is not the full adoration [or real worship] (latria) in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature… Further, people are drawn to honor these images with the offering of incense and lights, as was piously established by ancient custom. Indeed, the honor paid to the image is in effect transmitted to the prototype; he who venerates the image, venerates the person represented in that image.
  
      “Therefore all those who dare to think or teach anything different, or who follow the accursed heretics in rejecting ecclesiastical traditions, or who devise innovations, or who spurn anything entrusted to the church (whether it be the Gospel or the figure of the cross or any example of representational art or any martyr’s holy relic), or who fabricate perverted and evil prejudices against cherishing any of the lawful traditions of the Catholic Church, or who secularize the sacred objects and saintly monasteries, we order that they be suspended if they are bishops or clerics, and excommunicated if they are monks or lay people.”

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.  It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.” Pope Benedict XVI

Source: Ugly Churches and Modern Day Iconoclasm

A Litany of Saints Who Suffered for the Sake of Holy Images (for private use)

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father, invisible and uncircumscribed, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Image of the Father, made flesh for man, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, sent under the form of a dove and tongues of flame, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us.

Ye forty-two holy monks of Ephesus, tortured under Constantine Copronymus, pray for us.
St. Lazarus, monk, tortured under Theophilus as a painter of sacred images, pray for us.
St. Tharasius, bishop, recipient of a letter from Pope Adrian I in defense of holy images, pray for us.
St. Euthymius of Sardis, bishop, exiled by Michael and martyred under Theophilus, pray for us.
St. Theophanes, monk, imprisoned, then exiled by Leo the Armenian for venerating images, pray for us.
St. Nicephorus, bishop, exiled to the island of Prokonesis for reverencing holy images, pray for us.
St. Paul of Constantinople, burnt to death under Constantine Copronymus, pray for us.
St. Nicetas of Apollonia, bishop, driven into exile, pray for us.
St. John Damascene, apologist of icons, whose cut-off hand was restored by the Mother of God, pray for us.
St. Macarius, who under the Emperor Leo ended his life in exile, pray for us.
St. Nicetas of Medikion, abbot, who suffered much under Leo the Armenian, pray for us.
St. Plato, monk, who strove dauntlessly against the heretical breakers of holy images, pray for us.
St. George of Antioch, bishop, who died in exile for the veneration of holy images, pray for us.
St. Anthusa, virgin, beaten with scourges for the veneration of holy images and exiled, pray for us.
St. Emilian, bishop, who suffered at the hands of the Emperor Leo and died in exile, pray for us.
SS. Julian, Marcian, and eight others, slain with the sword for venerating an image of the Saviour, pray for us.
St. George Limniota, whose hands were cut off and whose head was set on fire, pray for us.
SS. Hypatius and Andrew, who suffered flaying, burning, and the cutting of your throats, pray for us.
St. Theophilus, cruelly scourged and driven into exile by Leo the Isaurian, pray for us.
St. Andrew of Crete, monk, scourged by Constantine Copronymus who cut off thy foot, pray for us.
St. Theodore of Studium, zealous fighter for the Catholic veneration of holy images, pray for us.
St. Gregory Decapolites, who suffered much for the veneration of holy images, pray for us.
SS. Theodore & Theophanes, brothers, beaten and sent into exile twice for the honor due to icons, pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there a simulacrum in Israel.
R. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the King’s victory is in him. (Num 23:21)

V. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
R. For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. (Col 1:15–16)

Let us pray. Almighty everlasting God, who dost not forbid us to carve or paint likenesses of Thy saints, in order that whenever we look at them with our bodily eyes we may call to mind their holy lives and resolve to follow in their footsteps: may it please Thee to bless us by images made in memory and honor of Thine only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to grant that all who in their presence pay devout homage to Thine only-begotten Son may by His merits and primacy obtain Thy grace in this life and everlasting glory in the life to come, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: A Litany of Saints Who Suffered for the Sake of Holy Images

7. We adore Thee, O source and origin of all sanctity and innocence! And to repair the abominations committed by wicked priests, who consecrate and receive Thee in the state of mortal sin, we offer up to Thee the profound adoration and holiness of the Powers. Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to the Most Holy and Most Divine Sacrament.

O Queen of heaven and earth, hope of mankind, who adores thy Divine Son incessantly! We entreat thee, that, since we have the honor to be of the number of thy children, thou would interest thyself in our behalf and make satisfaction for us, and in our name, to our Eternal Judge, by rendering to Him the duties which we ourselves are incapable of performing. Amen

Source: CAPG

"Whom does the devil pursue most? Perhaps you are thinking that it must be those who are tempted most; these would undoubtedly be the habitual drunkards, the scandalmongers, the immodest and shameless people who wallow in moral filth, and the miser, who hoards in all sorts of ways.

No, my dear brethren no, it is not these people. On the contrary, the Devil despises them, or else he holds onto them, lest they not have a long enough time in which to do evil, because the longer they live, the more their bad example will drag souls into Hell.

Indeed, if the Devil had pursued this lewd and shameless old fellow too closely, he might have shortened the latter's life by fifteen or twenty years, and he would not then have destroyed the virginity of that young girl by plunging her into the unspeakable mire of his indecencies; he would not, again, have seduced that wife, nor would he have taught his evil lessons to that young man, who will perhaps continue to practice them until his death. If the Devil had prompted this thief to rob on every occasion, he would long since have ended on the scaffold and so he would not have induced his neighbor to follow his example. If the Devil had urged this drunkard to fill himself unceasingly with wine, he would long ago have perished in his debaucheries, instead of which, by living longer, he has made many others like himself. If the Devil had taken away the life of this musician, of that dance hall owner, of this cabaret keeper, in some raid or scuffle, or on any other occasion, how many souls would there be who, without these people, would not be damned and who now will be? St. Augustine teaches us that the Devil does not bother these people very much; on the contrary, he despises them and spits upon them.

So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted? They are these, my friends; note them carefully. The people most tempted are those who are ready, with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls, who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek. It is not one devil only who tempts them, but millions seek to entrap them. We are told that St. Francis of Assisi and all his religious were gathered on an open plain, where they had built little huts of rushes. Seeing the extraordinary penances which were being practiced, St. Francis ordered that all instruments of penance should be brought out, whereupon his religious produced them in bundles. At this moment, there was one young man to whom God gave the grace to see his Guardian Angel. On the one side, he saw all of these good religious, who could not satisfy their hunger for penance, and, on the other, his Guardian Angel allowed him to see a gathering of eighteen thousand devils, who were holding counsel to see in what way they could subvert these religious by temptation. One of the devils said: "You do not understand this at all. These religious are so humble; ah, what wonderful virtue, so detached from themselves, so attached to God! They have a superior who leads them so well that it is impossible to succeed in winning them over. Let us wait until their superior is dead, and then we shall try to introduce among them young people without vocations who will bring about a certain slackening of spirit, and in this way we shall gain them." A little further on, as he entered the town, he saw a devil, sitting by himself beside the gate into the town, whose task was to tempt all of those who were inside. This saint asked his Guardian Angel why it was that in order to tempt this group of religious there had been so many thousands of devils while for a whole town there was but one -- and that one sitting down. His good angel told him that the people of the town had not the same need of temptations, that they had enough bad in themselves, while the religious were doing good despite all the traps which the Devil could lay for them.

The first temptation, my dear brethren, which the Devil tries on anyone who has begun to serve God better is in the matter of human respect. He will no longer dare to be seen around; he will hide himself from those with whom heretofore he had been mixing and pleasure seeking. If he should be told that he has changed a lot, he will be ashamed of it! What people are going to say about him is continually in his mind, to the extent that he no longer has enough courage to do good before other people. If the Devil cannot get him back through human respect, he will induce an extraordinary fear to possess him that his confessions are not good, that his confessor does not understand him, that whatever he does will be all in vain, that he will be damned just the same, that he will achieve the same result in the end by letting everything slide as by continuing to fight, because the occasions of sin will prove too many for him.

Why is it, my dear brethren, that when someone gives no thought at all to saving his soul, when he is living in sin, he is not tempted in the slightest, but that as soon as he wants to change his life, in other words, as soon as the desire to give his life to God comes to him, all Hell falls upon him? Listen to what St. Augustine has to say: "Look at the way," he tells us, "in which the Devil behaves towards the sinner. He acts like a jailer who has a great many prisoners locked up in his prison but who, because he has the key in his pocket, is quite happy to leave them, secure in the knowledge that they cannot get out. This is his way of dealing with the sinner who does not consider the possibility of leaving his sin behind. He does not go to the trouble of tempting him. He looks upon this as time wasted because not only is the sinner not thinking of leaving him, but the Devil does not desire to multiply his chains. It would be pointless, therefore, to tempt him. He allows him to live in peace, if, indeed, it is possible to live in peace when one is in sin. He hides his state from the sinner as much as is possible until death, when he then tries to paint a picture of his life so terrifying as to plunge him into despair. But with anyone who has made up his mind to change his life, to give himself up to God, that is another thing altogether."

While St. Augustine lived in sin and evil, he was not aware of anything by which he was tempted. He believed himself to be at peace, as he tells us himself. But from the moment that he desired to turn his back upon the Devil, he had to struggle with him, even to the point of losing his breath in the fight. And that lasted for five years. He wept the most bitter of tears and employed the most austere of penances: "I argued with him," he says, "in my chains. One day I thought myself victorious, the next I was prostrate on the earth again. This cruel and stubborn war went on for five years. However, God gave me the grace to be victorious over my enemy."

You may see, too, the struggle which St. Jerome endured when he desired to give himself to God and when he had the thought of visiting the Holy Land. When he was in Rome, he conceived a new desire to work for his salvation. Leaving Rome, he buried himself in a fearsome desert to give himself over to everything with which his love of God could inspire him. Then the Devil, who foresaw how greatly his conversion would affect others, seemed to burst with fury and despair. There was not a single temptation that he spared him. I do not believe that there is any saint who was as strongly tempted as he. This is how he wrote to one of his friends: "My dear friend, I wish to confide in you about my affliction and the state to which the Devil seeks to reduce me. How many times in this vast solitude, which the heat of the sun makes insupportable, how many times the pleasures of Rome have come to assail me! The sorrow and the bitterness with which my soul is filled cause me, night and day, to shed floods of tears. I proceed to hide myself in the most isolated places to struggle with my temptations and there to weep for my sins. My body is all disfigured and covered with a rough hair shirt. I have no other bed than the naked ground and my only food is coarse roots and water, even in my illnesses. In spite of all these rigors, my body still experiences thoughts of the squalid pleasures with which Rome is poisoned; my spirit finds itself in the midst of those pleasant companionship in which I so greatly offended God. In this desert to which I have condemned myself to avoid Hell, among these sombre rocks, where I have no other companions than the scorpions and the wild beasts, my spirit still burns my body, already dead before myself, with an impure fire; the Devil still dares to offer it pleasures to taste. I behold myself so humiliated by these temptations, the very thought of which makes me die with horror, and not knowing what further austerities I should exert upon my body to attach it to God, that I throw myself on the ground at the foot of my crucifix, bathing it with my tears, and when I can weep no more I pick up stones and beat my breast with them until the blood comes out of my mouth, begging for mercy until the Lord takes pity upon me. Is there anyone who can understand the misery of my state, desiring so ardently to please God and to love Him alone? Yet I see myself constantly prone to offend Him. What sorrow this is for me! Help me, my dear friend, by the aid of your prayers, so that I may be stronger in repelling the Devil, who has sworn my eternal damnation." These, my dear brethren, are the struggles to which God permits his great saints to be exposed.

Alas, how we are to be pitied if we are not fiercely harried by the Devil! According to all appearances, we are the friends of the Devil: he lets us live in a false peace, he lulls us to sleep under the pretense that we have said some good prayers, given some alms, that we have done less harm than others. According to our standard, my dear brethren, if you were to ask, for instance, this pillar of the cabaret if the Devil tempted him, he would answer quite simply that nothing was bothering him at all. Ask this young girl, this daughter of vanity, what her struggles are like, and she will tell you laughingly that she has none at all, that she does not even know what it is to be tempted. There you see, my dear brethren, the most terrifying temptation of all, which is not to be tempted. There you see the state of those whom the Devil is preserving for Hell. If I dared, I would tell you that he takes good care not to tempt or torment such people about their past lives, lest their eyes be opened to their sins. The greatest of all evils is not to be tempted because there are then grounds for believing that the Devil looks upon us as his property and that he is only awaiting our deaths to drag us into Hell. Nothing could be easier to understand. Just consider the Christian who is trying, even in a small way, to save his soul. Everything around him inclines him to evil; he can hardly lift his eyes without being tempted, in spite of all his prayers and penances. And yet a hardened sinner, who for the past twenty years has been wallowing in sin, will tell you that he is not tempted! So much the worse, my friend, so much the worse! That is precisely what should make you tremble -- that you do not know what temptations are. For to say that you are not tempted is like saying the Devil no longer exists or that he has lost all his rage against Christian souls."

If you have no temptations," St. Gregory tells us, "it is because the devils are your friends, your leaders, and your shepherds. And by allowing you to pass your poor life tranquilly, to the end of your days, they will drag you down into the depths." St. Augustine tells us that the greatest temptation is not to have temptations because this means that one is a person who has been rejected, abandoned by God, and left entirely in the grip of one's own passions."

Source: Sermons of the Cure d'Ars, p. 94, 1960.

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

"Having lived a monk for some time, eminent for sanctity, he was afterwards abbot; and upon the death of Pelagius, was chosen bishop of Rome. In this dignity he preserved a wonderful humility, was ever careful in regulating the clergy, in promoting the honour and worship of God, in relieving the poor, having a list of all that were in the city and neighboring villages, and never dining but with some of them at his table. Though he was of a very infirm constitution, he was very vigorous in the public concerns of his flock; and in his vacant hours either reading, writing, or dictating to others holy lessons, such as discover the great sanctity of this prelate, and serve for food to all pious souls. Pray that all his successors may inherit his spirit; and that his example may be a rule to all the prelates of Christ's church. Pray for his present Holiness, that God would direct and assist him in the whole discharge of his duty.

St. Gregory, before he became pope, was anxious to bring about the conversion of the English nation. Seeing certain youths of fine features exposed to sale for slaves in the market at Rome, and being informed that they came from England, where the people were still heathens, he fetched a deep sigh, and lamented that the devil should be master of so much beauty, and that so fine an exterior should have nothing of God's grace within. When he was advanced to the chair of St. Peter, moved with compassion for the English, he sent St. Augustin with some other religious into this country, in the year 596, by whose zealous labors it was converted to the Christian faith. St. Gregory is therefore styled by St. Bede, the Apostle of England. Give God thanks for the light of the gospel, thus brought into this nation. Pray that God would remove all obstinacy, prejudice, and blindness from deluded souls, and solicit in particular in behalf of those who sincerely seek him. Pray for all the pastors of this nation, that they may faithfully labor in seeking the lost sheep; and that God would give a blessing to their endeavors." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother

Prayer to Saint Gregory, Pope and Confessor: O invincible defender of Holy Church's freedom, Saint Gregory of great Renown by that firmness thou didst show in maintaining the Church's rights against all her enemies, stretch forth from heaven thy mighty arm, we beseech thee, to comfort her and defend her in the fearful battle she must ever wage with the powers of darkness.
Do thou, in an especial manner, give strength in this dread conflict to the venerable Pontiff who has fallen heir not only to thy throne, but likewise to the fearlessness of thy mighty heart; obtain for him the joy of beholding his holy endeavors crowned by the triumph of the Church and the return of the lost sheep into the right path.
Grant, finally, that all may understand how vain it is to strive against that faith which has always conquered and is destined always to conquer: "this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith." This is the prayer that we raise to thee with one accord; and we are confident, that, after thou has heard our prayers on earth, thou wilt one day call us to stand with thee in heaven, before the eternal High Priest, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.

Source: CAPG

St Peter in Prayer Hendrick Bloemaer

"Our brethren of the laity often complain of the priest they get; I wonder, does it ever occur to them to pray for better? When the Ember seasons come round, how many people remember to pray for the priests who are being ordained? We pile the sanctuary with flowers, we make it a blaze of candles; but there is something else needed far more than lights or flowers for God's honor, that the hearts of his priests should be made a fit habitation for Himself. Of his priests? Not of His priests only, but our own hearts too." Source: Pastoral Sermons and Occasional Sermons, The Eucharist, Fr. Ronald Knox

• Ember days: The four ember-weeks in the year, are times of public prayers, fasting, and procession, partly instituted for the successful ordination of priests and other ministers of the Church; which is commonly performed at those seasons; and partly to thank God for the fruits of the earth and implore a continuance of them.
  
• Ember day derives its name from the ancient religious custom of eating nothing on those days till night, and then only a cake baked under the embers, called ember-bread.

The observance of ember-days is of great antiquity in the Church. Their connection with the ordination of the ministers of religion renders them particularly worthy the regard of the faithful. We cannot be too deeply impressed with the blessing granted a people, whose priests are according to God's heart. To obtain such, no humiliation should be deemed too great; no supplication should be neglected. Whilst therefore we thank God for the fruits of the earth, and humble ourselves for the sins we have committed, we should beg God to supply his Church with worthy pastors. Source: Saint Vincent's Manual, A Selection of Prayers and Exercises for the Sisters of Charity 1856 p34

Mass Propers for Ember Wednesday

• Prayers for Ember Days:
  

Listen, Almighty God, we beseech Thee, to the prayers which Thy universal Church offers to Thee at this time, beseeching Thy blessing on those who are about to be admitted to Thy Holy Service of the Altar, in particular on ..... Give Thy grace to all who are called to any office and administration amongst Thy clergy, and so replenish them with the truth of Thy doctrine, and indue them with innocence of life, that they may faithfully serve Thee, to the glory of Thy great name and the benefit of Thy Holy Church. Amen

O God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the treasure is infinite, we humbly thank Thee for the gifts thou hast bestowed upon us. Continue Thy mercy to us, and give us also so much of Thy temporal blessings as Thou knowest to be for our good. Grant that the fruits of the earth may, by Thy holy favor, increase and multiply. Defend them from all drought, frosts or tempests, or whatever else may be hurtful to them. It is from Thy hand only that we look for succor, and to Thee we have recourse in all our necessities. Amen. Source: St. John's Manual 1856, Archbishop of New York John J. Hugues

Prayer for the Bishop in Assigning Priests

God, Eternal Shepherd, You tend your Church in many ways and rule us with love. You have chosen your servant, Bishop (Name), to be the shepherd of Your flock. Give him a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. Inspire him to lay aside all worldly ambitions and concerns so that he may nurture us in the eternal truths of the Catholic Faith. May he be led by the Holy Spirit so that he will use wisdom and discernment in his choices in assigning new priests to the parishes of this diocese.

Blessed Virgin Mary, guard our bishop with your motherly care; bring him closer to your Son through your Immaculate Heart. Keep him pure and humble and grant that he may attain eternal life with those under his care. Holy Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

Devotions for Ember days:

• Diving into the Catholic Treasury: A Revival of the Ember Days by Canon Huberfelt, ICRSS
  
• Renewal and the Penitential Life by Msgr. Ingham
• The Seven Penitential Psalms (Msgr. Ingham, audio)
• Seven Penitential Psalms (Latin/English)
  
• Litany of Saints
• Litany to Obtain Holy Priests
• Holy Hour of Adoration and Reparation for Priests
• Stations of the Cross for Priests (Especially for those who are suffering persecution)
• The Rosary to Our Lady of Sorrows dedicated for Priests, (by Fr. Scott McCaig,CC on the occasion of the Year for Priest, 2009)