Charles Kenny

“ Through that this sacred humanity has been raised above all that God has created, and beyond anything that His infinite power is capable of creating; and in order that this supreme dignity may correspond with His grandeur and magnificence, it has been made the fountain of every grace. The grace of being the universal Head of all mankind has been given to Him, in order that, through it all the treasures of heaven should be communicated to the children of Adam. ”

“ But if God, who cannot deceive, is charmed with the beauty of a soul in a state of grace, how is it that we are so careless in enriching our souls by the practice of every virtue? Is it not lamentable that we should prefer to please a wretched being — uncomely though we be — rather than try to please the Divine Majesty by that true beauty which He is ever willing to give to those who seek Him? ”

“ It is an error to suppose that priests and missionaries ought alone to be zealous. There is not one who has not a mission to fulfil, without going out of his state in life; not a single person who ought not to connect his own salvation with that of his brethren. Your own sanctification is, of course, your first and greatest business. Every one should look to this; but every one is bound to edify his neighbour, by giving a good example. This zeal is common to all, and to all conditions of life.
Are you in office, have you inferiors, have you the cares of a family and servants? ”

“ MERCY is the tranquillity of God's omnipotence and the sweetness of His omnipresence, the fruit of His eternity and the companion of His immensity, the chief satisfaction of His justice, the triumph of His wisdom, and the patient perseverance of His love.
Wherever we go there is mercy, the peaceful, active, endless mercy of our Heavenly Father. If we work by day, we work in mercy's light; and we sleep at night in the lap of our Father's mercy. ”

“ We have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption of sons of God." The spirit of bondage is that which creates fear, the spirit of adoption is that of love; fear makes us slaves, love makes us as children. The Jews, who acted only through fear of punishment, were slaves; the Christians, who love, are the true children. ”

“ I am never more vigorous in mind than when my body is exhausted with illness and wearied with weakness. More than this, illness may be said to be victorious over vice, through the triumph of grace over the passions of the soul, and a triumph of the soul over the appetites of the flesh. ”

“ His mercy is simply infinite, for mercy is one of His perfections, while His love is the harmony of all.
Mercy does not tire of us, does not despair of us, does not give over its pursuit of us, takes no offence, repays evil with good, and is the ubiquitous minister of the precious Blood of Jesus. But love seems more than this. Love fixes upon each of us, individualises us, is something personal; but mercy is something by itself.
Love is the perfection of the uncreated , in Himself. Mercy is the character of the Creator. ”

“ If you are sinners, what more capable of bringing you to a sense of your own unworthiness than by listening to the voice of the missionary sent by God? If you are good, what sweeter consolation than hearing truths explained, truths you love and practise, and which become more beneficial the oftener you hear them? ”

“ What is the result when we compare our worldly promptitude and industry with our preference of the service of God over all other things? Are we in any way on the look out for His greater glory, or our own greater union with Him? Is it plain at first sight that we have no object or pursuit so engrossing and so decidedly paramount as the service of God? ”

“ Let all the world rise up in arms against the servants of God, what have they to fear when under the protection of their Divine Master? The malice of men cannot hurt them.
Let them employ all possible cunning to disquiet them, let them use every kind of cruel torture to destroy their bodies, even let all hell be unloosed against them, what have they to dread, if God is for them? ”

“ The Holy Spirit of God can, if He will, change the weakest of men into one so strong and powerful that nought can make him swerve from his fidelity, no danger can shake his firmness, no seductive pleasure can corrupt him; in one word it is this, that grace, far stronger than nature, surmounts every obstacle, and attracts all hearts gently and sweetly which He wishes to convert.
Massillon. Grace is, par excellence, the gift of God. It is this that infinitely surpasses every gift of nature ”

“ Shall I dare, in the presence of Thy glance so infinitely pure, commit deeds which I dare not even show to man? Shall I dare to sin in Thy presence, knowing that sin and the sinner is hated by Thee, and to condemn the sinner Thou hast no wish? ”

“ WHAT an honour, and how glorious it is to be in the service of so great, so good a Master!
The condition of the least of His servants is incomparably greater than that of the kings of the earth; for their greatness and prosperity finish with their lives, but the servants of God finish with their lives the pains and trials they have had to suffer in His service, and after that they find an eternal happiness and immortal crowns awaiting them. ”

“ The cunning and malice of an enemy, the ill-will of an envious man, a hundred accidents of this life, all end advantageously to those who love their God.
It is true that we are but exiles and travellers in this fleeting world, that we therein journey through difficult and dangerous paths, but what does God not do — yes, and daily too — to prevent His servants from straying or from, perishing? He not only is their guide and protector, but He showers down His graces, and even makes use of His angels to help them. ”

“ It is true that all men esteem and love to be great, but they do not think wherein true greatness is. They deem it to be a great honour to be in the service of royalty; they pay heavy sums to be deemed the head of a firm; but they take but little pains to be a servant of God, and, what is more grievous, they often blush at the idea of fulfilling the duties of His service. ”

“ It is of importance not to allow ourselves to rest in any pursuit except the service of God. By resting I mean feeling at home, reposing on what we do, forgetting it is a mere means even when we do not err so far as to mistake it for an end, being contented with what we are, not pushing on, nor being conscious that we are fighting a battle and climbing a hill. Nothing can excuse the neglect of the duties of the position in life which God has conferred upon us. ”

“ Men may deprive me of property and honour; sickness may take away my strength and other means of serving You; I may even lose Your grace by sin; but never, never will I lose my hope in Thee. I will cherish it unto that dreadful moment when all hell will be unchained to snatch my soul away. ”

“ I say usually, because divine love is sometimes so violent that it actually separates the soul from the body, and, by causing the death of those who love, it renders them infinitely happier than if it bestowed on them a thousand lives. ”

“ GOD, when He created man, gave him a free-will, and this in so perfect a way that, without constraint, without impairing his liberty, He rules him by His power, frightens him by His threats, and wins him by His blessings.
He has an earnest wish for the salvation of all, but He waits for their consent, for their co-operation. It is to gain them that He warns, that He encourages them, that He leads them on in so wonderful a manner, so as to bring them, with His assistance, to that happiness which is their destiny. ”

“ The evangelical precepts are no other than divine lessons, they are the foundation of hope, the strengthening of faith, the food of charity; the Gospel is a rudder to steer our way through life, and helps us to reach the harbour of salvation. ”

“ This is a true picture of very many who add to their indifference, the torpidity of an obstinate negligence; those who do not wish to fall into open sin, but take no trouble to advance in virtue; who, although absolved from past sins, still remain in a guilty negligence of their everyday duties; who do not deny the truths of our holy faith, but, in listening to exhortations, pay no attention or heed them not; who, under the pretence that they are not so bad as many others, never wish or try to imitate those who are fervent. ”

“ When age or some unforeseen calamity will efface that beauty which attracted many admirers, and which in your heart you wished to preserve, you would be forced to confess that all is vanity and vexation of spirit. ”

“ Sin, the only evil that God does not will, He simply permits, but the consequences of sin He wills. He condemns the envy of Joseph's brethren, but He wills the effect, which was the slavery of Joseph. He had a horror of the rage of the Jews, but He willed and ordained the death of our Lord, which was the consequence." He will punish the injury which is done to you, but He wills the loss or affliction it causes you. ”

“ When a preconcerted calumny or any underhand conspiracy will cause you to fall from a position to which you ambitiously aspired, and which position you may have kept up by intrigue, you will at last be convinced of the nothingness and instability of human greatness. ”

“ Thus, ecclesiastical history and the biographies of the great Christian writers, will acquire a new interest in their minds, and who can say, how great a blessing a taste for such reading may prove? Many, whose lives are now full of activity, may have before them, through ill health or old age, long years of enforced inactivity; and a taste for reading will save them from many temptations, and make these years, a time, not only of tranquil enjoyment, but of much profit to their souls. ”

“ Here is a wonder which in itself is out of the ordinary course of nature, of which experience has not taught us, a marvel which reason ignores, of which the human intellect cannot conceive, which astonishes heaven and earth, which creates admiration even among the celestial choir ”

“ Venerable Bede, having learned the hour of his death by revelation, went to the choir at the usual hour to sing the evening office, it being the feast of the Ascension, and at the very moment he had finished singing vespers, he expired, following his Guide and Master into heaven, to celebrate His praises in that abode of rest and happiness, round which the shades of night can never gather, because it is illumined by the brightness of the eternal day, which neither dawns nor ends. ”

“ Not only does God act within me, but He also acts with every creature for me. It is for me that He gives light and warmth to the sun, that He refreshes me with the breeze, that He cheers me with the fire ”

“ Acknowledge, O Christian, thy dignity, and after having been made participator of the divine nature, do- not return to thy first state by leading a life, which would tarnish thy nobility.
Is it not a gift, exceeding all other gifts, that God should call man His child, and that man should call God his Father? ”

“ The will of My Father, says His divine Son, and the reason He sent Me, is to save souls, and not to lose one He intrusted to Me. In fact, as God has nothing more dear to Him than the salvation of men, so nothing is more pleasing to Him than to see them withdrawn from the abyss and led into the right path. ”

“ But what words can describe the immensity of the various gifts with which the Holy Ghost has endowed this sacred humanity, the first and foremost being, His unspeakable union with the Divine Word, which is the greatest of all the wonders which the power of God could make? ”

“ He who fears God, fears naught else; and he who has a dread of displeasing Him, or a fear of forfeiting His love, does not shrink from suffering — cares not if he lose all, provided he be in a state of grace.
It is said that love banishes fear; but it is the baneful fear of man, or that servile and imperfect fear which dreads the shame of sin more than the sin that brings the shame. ”

“ If you are always ready to do His will and to submit to it, then be sure that you love Him.
Conformity to the will of God also makes a man happy as God, who is happiness itself.
What is it that makes God infinitely happy? It is that He does all that He wills; it is that He wills all that is good; it is that He finds in Himself all the good that He wills.
Thus a man perfectly conformed to the will of God possesses all these blessings. ”

“ And God created man according to His own image and likeness," say that man has two kinds of resemblance to God — the first, signified by the name of image, consists in that man by nature is endowed with an understanding and a will like unto God, capable of knowing Him and of loving Him; the second, expressed by the name of likeness, consists in that man was created in the grace of God, and this gives him a perfect resemblance to His Creator, which he had not in his natural being. ”

“ Of what use would all our cares, anxieties, and troubles be to us if they only served to torment us, and made us suffer the pain of having had them?
Our cares are only the cares of an individual, those of God include the whole world. The more we trouble ourselves with our own interests, the less will God interfere. ”

“ I hold myself in readiness to meet bravely all misfortunes, because my hope is not shaken. I hope, too, that You will help me to overcome every spiritual enemy, that You will defend me against every assault, and You will make me triumph over my fiercest passions. ”

“ Pagans imagined that it was unworthy of the majesty of God to clothe Himself with a substance so degrading as our flesh; but it is easy to show them how this humanity has been glorified, what riches it has possessed, and, far from having been a thing below the dignity of God, it has, on the contrary, considerably added to His glory, by uniting these two natures into one person. ”

“ At least — if fear did what love should do, we should have less to complain of — what is so shocking is, that nowadays we have reached that pitch of indifference which is neither moved by fear nor by love, and that the most frightful things do not make any impression on our hearts. ”

“ Why not complain of these evils when looked at in themselves? but wherefore murmur when we look upon them as the will of God? God wills it! Ah, that has a great weight with a man who has faith, who knows and loves God. ”

“ In fine, our perfection and holiness consists in charity. Charity is the fulfilment of the law, says St. Paul. Perfect charity consists in doing the will of God in the highest sense it can be placed. "He who keeps my commandments and does my will," says Jesus Christ himself, " is he who loves me " (John xiv.) ”

“ All that contributes to our justification is an effect of His divine grace. It is that which accompanies this great work, which teaches us by exhortation, which encourages us by example, which terrifies us by chastisement, which moves us by miracles, which enlightens our mind, which induces us to follow wise counsels, which improves our understanding, and which inspires us with feelings conformable to the faith which we profess. ”