“I realize as never before that the Lord is gentle and merciful; He did not send me this heavy cross until I could bear it. If He had sent it before, I am certain that it would have discouraged me . . . I desire nothing at all now except to love until I die of love. I am free, I am not afraid of anything, not even of what I used to dread most of all . . . a long illness which would make me a burden to the community. I am perfectly content to go on suffering in body and soul for years, if that would please God. I am not in the least afraid of living for a long time; I am ready to go on fighting.”

— St. Therese of Lisieux

“To the extent that we abandon our personality to Him, He will take possession of our will and work in us. We are no longer ruled by commands coming from the outside, as from a cruel master, but by almost imperceptible suggestions that rise up from within. We feel as if we had wanted all along to do those things He suggests to us; we are never conscious of being under command. Thus our service to Him becomes the highest form of liberty, for it is always easy to do something for the one we love.”

— Fulton J. Sheen

“The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection.”

— St. Padre Pio

“To join two things together there must be nothing between them or there cannot be a perfect fusion. Now realize that this is how God wants our soul to be, without any selfish love of ourselves or of others in between, just as God loves us without anything in between.”

— St. Catherine of Siena

 

The fish fry crew is moving locations and times for tomorrow.  Anyone interested should now meet at St. Leonard (440 Zorn Avenue) at 6:00.  Even though the Archdiocese has lifted the obligation to abstain from meat for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, I can not find a reason not to eat fish tomorrow, as fish’n’chips sounds fairly Irish to me.

Reading the holy Scriptures confers two benefits. It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man’s attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God. Two kinds of study are called for here. We must first learn how the Scriptures are to be understood, and then see how to expound them with profit and in a manner worthy of them . . . No one can understand holy Scripture without constant reading . . . The more you devote yourself to the study of the sacred utterances, the richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil is tilled, the richer the harvest.”

— St. Isidore of Seville

“The life of a true Christian should be such that he fears neither death nor any event of his life, but endures and submits to all things with a good heart.” 

– Saint Teresa

“To become holy, to become saints, we must of course try as hard as we can to do God’s will as it comes to us in a general way that is valid for everyone: through Scripture, the Commandments, and so on. It is also indispensable, as has just been said, to go further: to aspire to know not only what God demands of everyone in general, but also what he wants more specifically of us individually.”

— Fr. Jacques Philippe

Stop #2 of the 2017 Fish Fry Tour took us to St. Matthews and Our Lady of Lourdes parish.

I didn’t take many photos this time around, but this week’s fish fry was a little more relaxed.  The line to the food was quick, a wait of only 3 minutes.  For the second straight week, applesauce was a choice for a side.  I went with the traditional sides, but can you guess based on this picture?  

The French fries are visible, but the Mac and cheese are in the bowl.  The fish sandwich?  Also under wraps!   Much of the food was kept wrapped for freshness.  Shrimp dinners were also offered.  Looked pretty good.

As I mentioned before, I didn’t take many pictures this time, so not much from here.  However, there was one unique feature to this fish fry:  a book sale.  Not surprising given we were at another suburban school fish fry.  I didn’t get a chance to look at the selection, but from what I heard, there was quite a variety to choose from.