Jubilee Year of Saint Francis on the 800th Anniversary of His Death
September is the month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows
Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord.
OUR LADY OF SORROWS,
MOTHER, ROCK OF CONSTANCY,
MOTHER, TREASURE OF THE FAITHFUL,
MOTHER, JOY OF ALL THE SAINTS,
SAINT FRANCIS,
SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,
PRAY FOR US.
God is still writing your story. Quit trying to steal the pen.
Trust the author.
(Anonymous)
Welcome to September, dear faithful readers. Put your hands together for September, the month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Mother, strength of weak, pray for us. It's another great month, and on September 8 we get to wish the Blessed Virgin Mary a happy birthday. Auguri, madre Maria, buon compleanno! At the same time, let's give a shout with the name of Mary, her most holy name commemorated September 12. And if that's not enough, we lift high the Cross, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, set for September 14. And "rejoice in the Lord always'" let me say it again, "Rejoice!", for our beloved Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on September 24 at the Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri, the Show Me State. Let's hear it for Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, who I like to call, "The Bullet," who said, among other notables, "This is the choice before us: either try to revolutionize the world and break under it or revolutionize ourselves and remake the world." Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, please intercede for us.
Speaking of bullets, how about the right on "bulls eye" anonymous quotation above? Give Him back the pen! Thank you, ME.
As we enter the last month of the third quarter of the year, we may notice how the year 2026 has gone so quickly. Thinking how "time flies," it may be helpful to remember that we only have now to live life to the full, with joy, enthusiasm, and gratitude. We only have today to love Jesus, our brothers, and our sisters, and ourselves more fully. In a poem by Saint Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower reminds us that we have but today: "To love thee, O Jesus, I have but today" (Poesie PN5). We go forth then and live in the present moment. It is all we have. So, "place your hope in God alone" (Rule of Saint Benedict, 4:41)
Recently introduced to a gem of a book, Interior Freedom,* by Jacques Philippe, I thought to share some quotations from it, some from the author himself, others from some of the spiritual giants he quotes. These, then, are our voices for the month.
Where there is no love, put love, and you will harvest love.
(Saint John of the Cross, 1542-1591, Letter 26 to Madre Maria de la Encarnacion,
discalced Carmelite in Segovia, July 6, 1591)
Love is a mystery that transforms everything it touches into beautiful things that are pleasing to God. The love of God sets the soul free. Then it is like a queen, knowing nothing of the constraints of slavery.
(Saint Faustina Kowalska, 1905-1938, Petit journal, English trans., Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul)
True peace will come only when every individual finds peace within himself; when we have all vanquished and transformed our hatred for our fellow human beings of whatever race - even into love one day, although perhaps that asking too much. It is, however, the only solution.
(Etty Hillesum, 1914-1943, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries and Letters of Etty Hillesum)
Peaceful suffering is no longer suffering.
(Saint John-Marie Vianney, 1786-1859)
I know realize, God, how much You have given me. So much that was beautiful and so much that was hard to bear. Yet whenever I showed myself ready to bear it, the hard was directly transformed into the beautiful.
(Etty Hillesum, 1914-1943, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries and Letters of Etty Hillesum)
If we understand holiness properly, as the possibility of growing indefinitely in love for God and our brothers and sisters, we can be certain that nothing will be beyond our reach. All we need to do is never get discouraged and never resist, but trust completely the action of God's grace.
(Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom)
The long-term consequences of inner attitudes are more important than they might seem. When faced with daily suffering, the "burden of the day and the heat," and tiredness, we should not spend time cursing interiorly or telling ourselves we can't wait till it's over or dreaming of a different life. We should accept things as they are. Life is good and beautiful just as it is, including its burden of suffering. When God created man and woman, He laid an immense blessing on every human life, and that blessing has never been withdrawn despite sin and all its consequences. "For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" - especially the first gift and first call, that of life itself. Every life, even subject to pain, is infinitely blessed and valuable.
(Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom)
Man's greatest illusion is to want to have mastery over his life ... But life is a gift that by its very nature escapes every attempt to master it.
(Jean-Claude Sagne, 1936-2010, Viens vers le Pere)
Availability is fundamental in our relations with others. In every encounter with someone else, however long or short, we should make him feel we're one hundred percent there for him at that moment, with nothing else to do except be with him and do whatever needs doing for him. Good manners, yes, but also really, heartfelt availability.
(Jacques Philippe,Interior Freedom)
I choose to be interrupted.
(Saint Therese of Lisieux)
To live at peace, even when it is people around us who are causing us suffering, we must take a fresh, radical look at our frustration. It does not correspond to reality. Other people's faults do not deprive us of anything. We have no valid reason for resenting them or their actions.
(Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom)
At the end of our lives, when we really come face to face with God, it would be childish to blame others for our lack of spiritual progress.
(Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom)
Identity is not rooted in the sum of one's aptitudes. Individuals have a unique value and dignity, independently of what they can do. Someone who doesn't realize this is at risk of have a real "identity crisis" on the day he or she experiences failure, or of despising others when face with their limitations. Where is there room for the poor or handicapped in a world where people are measured by their efficiency and the profit they can produce?
(Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom)
Faith is the mother of love and hope, as well as trust and confidence.
(Catherine de Hueck Doherty, 1896-1985, Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude, and Prayer)
Faith brings what seemed hopeless withing our reach ... A man of faith is not one who believes that God can do everything, but one who believes he can obtain everything from God.
(Saint John Climacus, 579-649)
We obtain from God as much as we hope for from Him.
(Saint John of the Cross, 1542-1591, The Dark Night of the Soul)
If one burdens the future with one's worries, it cannot grow organically. I am filled with confidence, not that I shall succeed in worldly things, but that even when things go badly for me I shall still find life good and worth living.
(Etty Hillesum, 1914-1943, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries and Letters of Etty Hillesum)
Above all, never despise yourself. It is difficult to despise ourselves without offending God in us.
(Georges Bernanos, 1888-1948, Dialogues des Carmelites)
What ruins our souls is not what happens outside, but the echo that it awakes within us.
(Christiane Singer, 1943-2007, Du bon usage des crises)
SAINT GILES,
SAINT TERESA MARGARET REDI OF THE SACRED HEART,
BLESSED ANDRE GRASSET,
JESUIT MARTRYS FOR THE NAME OF JESUS,
POPE SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, DOCTOR,
SAINT CUTHBERT,
SAINT MAC NISSI,
BLESSED DINA BELANGER,
MOTHER SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA,
SAINT HERBERT,
SAINT PETER CLAVER,
SAINT CIARAN OF CLONMACNOISE,
SAINT OSBURG,
SAINT AMBROSE BARLOW, OSB,
SAINT EGWIN, BISHOP,
BLESSED AGNELLUS OF PISA, PRIEST,
BLESSED FRANCIS GARATE,
SAINT DEINIOL,
BLESSED MARY OF JESUS,
SAINT AILBE,
OUR LADY OF RESHUN,
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM,
SAINT MIRIN,
POPE SAINT CORNELIUS,
SAINT CYPRIAN,
SAINT NINIAN,
SAINT ROBERT BELLARMINE, BISHOP, DOCTOR,
SAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, VIRGIN, DOCTOR,
SAINT ALBERT OF JERUSALEM,
SAINT STANSILAW KOSTKA,
SAINT EDITH OF KEMSING,
SAINT JANURIUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR,
SAINT ANDREW KIM TAEGON, PAUL CHONGD HASSANG, AND COMPANIONS,
SAINT MATTHEW, APOSTLE, EVANGELIST,
SAINT MAURICE AND THE THEBAN LEGION,
SAINT PIUS OF PIETRELCINA "PADRE PIO,"
SAINT STEPHANIE,
OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM,
BLESSED EMILIE TAVERNIER-GAEMLIN,
SAINT FINBARR,
SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN, MARTYRS,
SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL,
SAINT WENCESLAUS, MARTRY,
SAINTS LAURENCE RUIZ AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTRYS,
SAINT LIOBA,
SAINT MICHAEL, SAINT GABRIEL, SAINT RAPHAEL,
SAINT JEROME, PRIEST, DOCTOR,
PRAY FOR US.
* J. Philippe, Interior Freedom, trans. H. Scott (Scepter 2007).
This month's photo: Last June's "this month's photo," featured wildflowers from a walk in Kalamazoo, MI. This month's feature comes from a walk on the White Lick Trail, Avon, Indiana, the Hoosier state. And let your faithful ones bless you.
© Gertrude Feick 2026
