Frederic Baraga

“ If we have, and preserve until death, the true faith, and do not live according to its precepts, we shall be cast out into exterior darkness on the day of judgment, like that slothful servant, who received a precious talent at the hands of his master, and merely preserved it, but made no profit on it. Our holy Catholic faith is a most precious and immense treasure, infinitely more precious than all the gold and silver of the universe. ”

“ My children, whom I love, keep always well your religion as long as you shall live on earth. You are happy in having taken the true religion. For man lives not only here on earth, he will live forever after his life on earth is at an end, his soul will live forever. But, our souls will be there forever well off if we are Christians, and if at the same time we live a good life. Therefore keep well your religion that you may be happy forever in heaven, after you have been poor on earth. ”

“ God Almighty has created us for happiness; and he could not create us for anything else, because he is Charity, and all his designs and ways are charity and mercy. He has created all things for us, but he has created us for himself. And if we, nevertheless, see how much misery and unhappiness there is among us in this world, and are taught that innumerable souls are in eternal sufferings in the next world, we must acknowledge that the cause of all that, is not the will of God, but our own wickedness, our want of obedient submission to the most holy and merciful will of God Almighty. ”

“ And the will of God, our heavenly Father, is our sanctification, our eternal happiness; that we should love him and serve him in this world, and be happy with him forever in the next. And there is no true happiness but with him and in him. ”

“ Christians are told to obey even those who are living on earth, namely, children to obey their parents, and servants to obey their masters. Far more are we exhorted to obey God, for to him we all belong entirely.
God always speaks to us in our hearts ; he always tells us that we should hate and shun all that is bad, and on the contrary should do only what is good. If a Christian is inclined to do bad, immediately he is told by God in his heart: don't do that, it is bad, thus he will be told by Him. ”

“ It is that we love and serve God well, and so make happy our souls. No occupation (work) on earth is so important as that, that we serve Our Lord God and so go one day to heaven. That is just for what we are on earth.
Remember, my children, what God has done to give us eternal life in heaven. Namely first, he wants us to live on earth; he gives us religion, the holy sacraments and his grace ; he has given even his Son, whom he loves, to die on the cross in order that we may be happy in heaven forever. Truly, God desires much that we be happy, he prizes highly our happiness. ”

“ With all the eagerness and solicitude of a loving father's heart I entreat you, in the name of God, whose Holy Providence has now committed you to my spiritual care, be faithful in the fulfilling of these principal and most essential duties towards God our heavenly Father. Especially endeavor to have the true love of God, which is the very foundation of all Christianity, and the glorious mark of a happy predestination. If you love God sincerely and above all, you will easily fulfill all other duties towards Him. Nothing is difficult, nothing tedious, to a loving heart. ”

“ It is natural to a loving heart to remember often the object of its affection. Imagine, a good loving child who lives at a distance from his kind and loving father. That child will almost continually think of his father, and will long after the happy moment of his reunion with the beloved object of his filial affections. So ought every Christian to do, because he has the happiness to be a child of the best of Fathers. And so he will do if he loves God with his whole mind. He will think continually of his heavenly Father, and never forget His holy presence. ”

“ Respect and glorify Our Lord God more than all people on earth. But it often happens that a person shows greater respect to people on earth than to God. Reflect that you may understand. If a person converses with a priest, he will not speak ill ; he will not speak immodestly ; he will not say anything bad ; for he respects the priest, who is listening to him. But if he converses with another, who is his comrade in impurity, he will talk various foolish, immodest things. Understand ! Does he not respect more highly the priest than God ? ”

“ This duty of faith is essential and the fulfilling of it necessary for salvation, because without faith it is impossible to please God. And Christ said very expressly; "He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believes not, shall be condemned." But we must not think that faith alone will save us, as many believe who do not belong to the true church of God. We have the infallible authority of the word of God for it, that faith without good works is dead; and a dead faith will certainly not procure us life everlasting. ”

“ The fourth mark of the true love of God is, that we love Him with our whole strength. The true love of God is the greatest happiness and the most precious privilege of a Christian. It is that splendid wedding-garment in which he will be admitted to the happiness and eternal joy of the "Lamb's nuptials." Nothing in the world can be obtained without endeavors and labor ”

“ If you obtain everlasting happiness in heaven, you yourselves shall be happy, you yourselves have all you shall have gained. God will not be more happy, if you are in heaven, and he will not be less happy if you burn in hell. You alone will have what you have gained. ”

“ With thy whole heart shalt thou love God, says Jesus. If a person loves God more than all that is on earth, and gives his whole heart to God, such a one loves God with all his heart. If one strongly resolves to avoid sin, and if he would rather wish to be killed than do evil purposely, such a one loves God with his whole soul. ”

“ Not only the word of our Savior, but also His holy example teaches us the duty of praying; He was continually praying and spent whole nights in prayer.
Never neglect your prayers, beloved children. A Christian without prayer is like a soldier without arms; exposed to every attack of his enemies, and easily overcome. We are soldiers of Christ; our whole life is a kind of warfare against our enemies, visible and invisible; and our strongest weapon is prayer. If you throw away that weapon, how will you be able to withstand the violent and repeated attacks of your enemies? ”

“ But understand well, beloved children, when we are commanded to love God with our whole heart, this means not that we must not love anything but God. We may love, and we are commanded to love, our parents, our relatives, our benefactors, our friends, even our enemies. But we must love all in God, according to the will of God, and for God's sake; and God in all and above all. And so we will love Him with our whole heart. ”

“ This is that precious talent which our heavenly Lord and Master entrusted to us, His servant?, that we may deal in it, and make all possible profit by it, against the day of account. He that merely preserves this talent, and makes no profit of it, will certainly be cast out into that horrid darkness of eternal damnation. ”

“ The voice of conscience is one of these means by which God gives us to understand His will. The voice of your conscience is the voice of God. Pay attention to the voice of your conscience and you will understand that. When you propose to do wrong, or are in danger of committing sin, your conscience will immediately warn you not to do evil, to avoid it by all means. On the contrary, when you propose to do good, and find opportunity to do so, your conscience will encourage you to do all good you can. ”

“ This heart has ever loved you, my dear children, but never so paternally as now.
Faith I. Our first essential duty towards God is the duty of Faith, which consists in the believing of every word that God has revealed to us, without rejecting a single point of revealed faith. Some truths of our religion are so sublime that we cannot comprehend them with our feeble and limited reason. These truths we also must believe on the authority of God who never can err, never deceive nor be deceived. ”

“ Consider often, beloved children, these four marks of the true love of God, and examine yourselves whether your love has these marks. And do not think that only a few chosen and extraordinary souls are obliged to love God thus. No! we are all obliged so to love Him! ”

“ Adoration II. Another great duty of a Christian towards his God is the duty of Adoration. As soon as we believe in God and believe in His revealed word, we will easily understand how great our duty is to adore Him and Him alone. "The Lord thy God thou shalt adore and serve Him alone." We are often accused by our adversaries of adoring creatures equally with the Creator. Let them say what they please. Every Catholic child knows that we adore only God Almighty, and no other being. ”

“ As the true love of God is decidedly the most precious treasure of a Christian, so also our efforts to obtain and possess it ought to be extreme. But when we consider Christians as they commonly are, we will see how earnestly and perseveringly they endeavor to obtain riches and honors and pleasures, and all the comforts of this perishable life. ”

“ If a person does not pray in the morning, he will not be very strong to fight the devil. For he, the devil, wants to give us a bad thought, that we first think evil and so also then do evil. If a person prays well, he will strongly resolve, he will really fight the devil, he will not take bad thoughts from him, and he will not be bad. But if he does not pray, he will not make strong resolutions, but soon fall into sin. Do not be slothful in praying, my children; always pray every day, and at the same time reflect on what you are saying when praying. Instruct well your children in religion. ”

“ To fulfill this duty, we ought never to forget the presence of God, but continually to remember, as we are taught by our faith, that God Almighty is everywhere present, that He knows our thoughts, hears our words, and sees our actions; and then to behave as it becomes the awful presence of God. When a believing Christian (as they commonly are) is in the presence of a respected and worthy clergyman, he behaves decently; not a single word will escape his lips that could offend the respected person ”

“ And if he always remembers God, just as if he saw him, and so at the same time thinks: I will not speak ill and I will not do evil, for the Lord hears and sees me, such a one loves God with his whole mind. ”

“ Always truly serve God, whilst you are living a short time on earth ; act well as the Lord likes ; from your whole heart believe all that Jesus taught us when he came to be a short time on earth ; do not reject even one single word. ”

“ And if you are not earnestly ready to part with anything in the world for the love of God, if He requires it of you through the mouth of a pastor of His church, you do not love Him with all your heart; your heart is divided, and consequently not accepted by God at all. ”

“ But far greater is our duty of obedience towards God, who is our heavenly Father, and the best of Fathers, our Supreme Lord and Master, and the kindest of Masters.
To be obedient means, to fulfill the will of a superior. To be obedient to God means, then, to fulfill His holy will. When a master wants his servant to do something for him, he will tell him what he has to do, and the servant will know the will of his master. ”

“ But if a Christian is inclined to do good, immediately he will be requested by God to do the good. It is thus that God always speaks to us in our hearts. Very happy is the Christian who always listens to God speaking to him. ”

“ And happy, infinitely happy, is the Christian who never forgets the presence of his God and Father. He will behave decently, and will carefully avoid all that could offend his beloved Father in thoughts and words and actions; and will lead a holy life in the love of God. ”

“ If a Christian very strongly resolves to live well, if he always thinks : May I live well, and at the same time really avoids what is bad as much as he can, such a one loves God with all his strength. ”

“ But we pray to the saints in heaven that they may pray with us and for us to God Almighty.
The duty of praying is a great and holy duty. We are expressly commanded to pray continually and never to cease. ”

“ But since you love him, hate on the other hand all sins. Especially reject and hate bad drinking ; truly, it is very bad. When a person is drunk, he talks and does various bad things. Hate also adultery and impurity. Fear God, for he always sees us. ”