Bernard O'Reilly

“ It was most fitting that the Second Eve, the humble and self-sacrificing parent of our redeemed humanity, should have been, at the very instant when soul and body were united, as free from every stain of moral evil as the first Eve, when the Almighty hand formed her body from out the substance of sinless Adam, and poured the breath of life into it. Even the Jewish traditions, long before the coming of Christ, affirmed the current belief from the days of the Patriarchs and from the beginning, that the stain of Adam's sin was not to touch the Messiah or His Mother. ”

“ But alas! the fruit of thy immaculate womb is all over mangled, in one continued wound. Yes, O Lord! the infernal fury of the Jews has at length triumphed; yet we renew their barbarity, crucifying Thee by our sins, inflicting new wounds. Most afflicted mother of my Redeemer, I conjure thee by the pains and torments thou sufferedst in the common cause of Salvation, to obtain for me, by thy powerful intercession, pardon of my sins, and grace to weep with a sympathizing feeling, thine and thy Son's afflictions. ”

“ Blessed is the man who knows himself, and reputes himself vile before God and men! Blessed is he who judges himself, and condemns himself, and not another: for he shall not be judged in the great, and terrible final judgment. Blessed is he who bears meekly the yoke of obedience, and submits to the guidance of another, as the holy Apostles did, both before and after they received the Holy Spirit!"
And again. Brother Giles said: "He who would acquire and possess perfect peace and quiet, must consider every man his superior, and himself subject and inferior to all. ”

“ But what shall we say then of the good which proceedeth from virtue? It is so great, that we cannot worthily speak of its excellence, which is admirable and infinite. And yet again, what shall we say of evil, and of the eternal pains which follow sin? It is an abyss so profound that it is incomprehensible to us, so that it is impossible for us to conceive it, or to speak about it. ”

“ He stretches out His bleeding arms, and tenderly embraces the Cross. Reflect with confusion on that sensitive pride which is fired with impatience at the very shadow of contempt — on your discontented murmurs in your lightest afflictions — and your obstinate resistance to the will of Heaven in the crosses of life, which are calculated to conduct you not to a Calvary of Crucifixion, but to joys of eternal glory ”

“ I return Thee infinite thanks for not permitting me, ungrateful sinner, as Thou has permitted thousands less criminal, to die in their sins. I, who have added torments to Thy torments, by heaping sin on sin, kindle in my soul the fire of charity, fan it with Thy continual grace into perseverance, until, delivered from the body of this death, I can enjoy the liberty of the children of God and Thy co-heirs. ”

“ Purpose here firmly to struggle against the impatient sallies of temper; and beholding your amiable Jesus prostrate under the Cross, excite in yourself a just hatred for those sins, which rendered insupportable that weight, with which your Saviour, for love of you, was burthened, and thus address your afflicted Jesus:
Prayer.
LAS, MY Jesus! the merciless violence of Thy inhuman executioners, the excessive weight of the Cross, or rather the more oppressive load of my sins, crush Thee to the earth. Panting for breath, exhausted as Thou art. Thou dost not refuse new tortures for me. ”

“ She is the Ark of the New Covenant, bearing over the mountains and through the valleys of Judaea, not the manna put within the former ark by Moses together with the Tables of the Law. Here is He, who is the true Bread of Life, the Divine Law-Giver, the very "Angel of the Testament" Himself. And as Mary crosses the threshold of Elizabeth, John feels the presence of Jesus; at the approach of "the Bridegroom," His "Friend" is quickened with the pulses of a new life. ”

“ Patriotism and religion were intended by God to be one undivided and absorbing sentiment in the breast of every Hebrew woman as well as man. The daughter of David, then, must have been thrilled by the Heaven-sent assurance of the resurrection of David's line, of the coming glory and eternity of the new kingdom. But that it should be through son of hers overwhelms her. Genuine humility is not littleness of soul: it merely gives the soul an intense feeling of the distance which exists between what our own will has made us, and what God wills us to be. ”

“ If there were a man to be found who had perfect faith, in a little space of time he would arrive at a state of perfection, in which it would be given him to know, with full certainty, his salvation. What good can prosperity or temporal advantage in this world do to the miserable man who expects eternal perdition? What hurt or harm can any temporal adversity of this life do to the man who, with firm faith, looks forward to eternal, consummate, and supreme bliss? Nevertheless, however great a sinner a man may be, let him never despair so long as he lives of the infinite mercy of God ”

“ Prayer is the beginning, the middle and the end of all good; prayer illumines the soul, and enables it to discern good from evil. Every sinful man ought to pray every day continually, humbly begging of God to give him a perfect knowledge of his own miseries and of his sins, and of all the benefits which he has received and still receives from God. And the man who knows not how to pray, how can he know God? And all those who would be saved, if they rightly use their reason, will, before all things, wholly turn themselves unto prayer. ”

“ As to Joseph, the blessed head of that holy household of Nazareth, the Gospel makes no further mention of him. He lived to rear, to the first years of manhood, that Jesus who loved to call him father. He died, as became one privileged beyond all men, blessed and loved, tended and cheered by the two beings to whom he had given his life. No Christian man and woman can think of the holy and devoted foster-father of the Saviour, and of the virtues which shine forth in his conduct, without saying that he was as "blessed among men" as Mary, his beloved companion, was "blessed among women." ”

“ For I would have thee to know, that the sum of all science is to love and to fear, and with these two things thou hast enough; for so much wisdom sufficeth a man as he can make use of and no more. He needeth no more. Be not solicitous to study much for the good of others, but be solicitous, and study, and labor for the things that are profitable to thyself; for it often comes to pass, that we desire to know much science for the sake of others, and but little for our own sake ”

“ My Brother, most sure it is, if a poor man knew of a great treasure hidden in an open field, that he would ask counsel of no one to assure himself whether it were well to dig it up, and to carry it home; how much more should a man endeavor, with all haste and diligence, to dig for that heavenly treasure, which is to be found in the holy state of Religion, and in spiritual congregations, without asking so much advice of others!" And the same man hearing this answer, immediately gave all he had to the poor, and thus deprived of all things, forthwith embraced the Religious state. ”

“ We, in our day and generation, are impatient of home-restraints, of slow and progressive culture: one such son as David or Samuel is glory enough for any mother. When Christ left His loved retreat at Nazareth, and filled Judaea with His name, it was said of Him: ' He hath done all things well.' What mother could desire sweeter praise for her life-labors, or a more complete eulogy on her dearest one? ”

“ O, that it would please God that men would indeed seek and procure in this world the welfare of their bodies, for then they would at the same time procure that of their souls! inasmuch as, without doubt, body and soul must be agreed to suffer together, or to rejoice together everlastingly; for of a truth either they shall suffer in hell eternal torments and immeasurable pains, or they shall enjoy with the Saints and the Angels in Paradise perpetual joy and unfailing consolation, through the merit of good works. ”

“ The man who speaks good and useful words to the souls of others is verily the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit: even as he who speaks evil and useless words is certainly the mouthpiece of the devil. When good and spiritual men are assembled to confer together, they should ever speak of the beauty of virtue, because the more virtue is pleasing to them, the more they will delight in practicing it; and the more we are pleased with virtue and delight in it, the more we shall exercise ourselves in it ”

“ It seems to me, that the sinful man fears his own good, more than his own injury, and worst evil. For he is afraid to enter into the Religious state and do penance, but he is not afraid of offending God and of losing his soul by remaining hard-hearted and obstinate in the world awaiting his final and eternal damnation in the filthy mire of his sins. ”

“ We forget that these long years of obscurity, obedience, progress in wisdom, in every virtue which can grace manhood, and in patient, uncomplaining toil beneath the carpenter's roof, were destined by the Eternal Wisdom to serve as the most eloquent and effective lesson for the immense majority of men in every age and country. ”

“ I am earth-born, a poor child of human parentage, like you all, with the feelings of human nature, and its limited knowledge and still more limited power. " But He that cometh from Heaven," the Word co-eternal with the Father, born of Him before the earth was, who testifieth among us only to what He hath seen in His Father's bosom and what He hath heard from Him who is the Essential Truth and Holiness, who sets the seal of divinity to His teaching by the miracles we behold— how is it that "no man receiveth His testimony?"
It is a tremendous condemnation of Jewish chicanery and incredulity. ”

“ If thou wouldst be perfect, study only to be gracious and virtuous, and combat valiantly thy evil inclinations, patiently enduring all adversity for the love of thy Lord, persecuted, afflicted, insulted, scourged, crucified, and dying for the love of thee, and not for sins of His own, or for His own glory, or for His own profit, but solely for thy salvation. And in order to do this, above all things it is needful that thou conquer thyself; for little doth it profit a man to direct and bring souls to God, unless first of all he conquers and governs himself. ”

“ O servant of the Heavenly King, who wouldst learn the mysteries and the needful and holy precautions of the doctrine of the spiritual life, open well the ears of thy soul, and receive with true desire of heart, and lay up carefully in the storehouse of thy memory, the precious treasures of doctrine and of spiritual warning which I deliver to thee! ”

“ He who fears not, shows that he has nothing to lose. The holy fear of God orders, governs and rules the soul, and brings it into a state of grace. If a man possess any grace or divine virtue, holy fear will preserve it for him to the end. And he who has not yet acquired either virtue or grace, will be enabled, through holy fear, to acquire them. The holy fear of God is a channel of Divine grace, for it causes the soul in which it dwells to obtain these graces and all holy virtue without delay. All who have fallen into sin would never have succumbed, had they possessed the holy fear of God. ”

“ HIS second Station represents the place where your most amiable Redeemer is clad in his usual attire, after His inhuman executioners had stripped Him of the purple garment of derision with which He was clothed, when as a visionary king they crowned Him with plaited thorns. The heavy burthen of the Cross Is violently placed on His mangled shoulders.
Behold your gracious Saviour, though torn with wounds, covered with blood, a man of griefs, abandoned by all — with what silent patience He bears the taunts and injuries with which the Jews insult Him. ”

“ If a man were the most perfect and the most holy upon earth, and he should consider and believe himself to be the most miserable sinner, and the vilest man in the world, herein would be true humility. ”

“ There is a degree of humility also in him, who renders to another the things which belong to him, and does not attribute them to himself; which is to say, that all good, and all virtue which man finds in himself, he must not attribute to himself, but solely to God, from whom proceeds every grace, every virtue and every good.
But all sins and evil passions in the soul, and whatever vice man finds in himself, he must take as his own, considering that they proceed from himself alone, and from his own malice, and not from any other. ”

“ Lay then on my stubborn neck the cross of true penance; let me, for the love of Thee, bear the adversities of this life, and cleave inseparably to Thee in the bonds of perpetual charity. Amen. Jesus.
Our Father, &c. Hail Mary, &c. Glory, &c.
Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us!
No pity for the Lamb was to be found;
As a mock King my loving Lord they crown'd.
To bear the heavy cross He does not tire,
To save my soul from everlasting fire.
Station III.
Jesus falls the first time under the Cross. ”

“ It seems to me a greater thing to know how to guard well, and in secret to preserve the graces given by God, than to know how to acquire them; because, however well a man knows how to acquire, yet unless he knows well how to store and keep, he will never grow rich; but they who acquire things by little and little will enrich themselves, for they take care of their gains and their treasure. ”

“ But I tell thee, that if a man live well according to God, and guard himself from offending God, of a surety he shall receive from God the fulness of all good, an infinite and eternal recompense, and great abundance, and great riches, and great honor, and long, even eternal, life in the everlasting glory of Heaven: to which may this good God, our Lord and King, Jesus Christ, bring us also: to the praise of Jesus Christ, and His poor little one, Francis. ”