ON THE THOUGHT OF ETERNITY.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. WE are terrified at the thought of eternity, and in a certain sense we have great reason to be so, for this thought is indeed very terrible. But if we knew how to be frightened at it usefully, if we could draw from it, as a guide for our lives, the […]
ON THE THOUGHT OF DEATH.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. THE thought of death is a most terrible object for those who are living in sin; they have no other resource than to put such a thought entirely away from them. What a sad resource! They are like a man who, on the edge of a frightful precipice, shuts his eyes […]
ON THESE WORDS OF PSALM LXXII:—
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. “Ut jumentum factus sum apud te : et ego semper tecum.” (I am as a beast before Thee : nevertheless I am always with Thee.) REMARK the connection between these two things: “To be as a beast before God,” and yet “to be always with God.” This is scarcely in conformity […]
MARTHA AND MARY.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. NOTHING is more worthy of attention than what the Gospel teaches us about the two sisters, Martha and Mary. It is certain that Martha is a type of the active life, that is to say, of the life in which, by our own efforts, by our own labor, we try to […]
ON PURITY OF INTENTION.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. OUR Lord Jesus Christ said: “If thine eye be single” (that is, simple and pure), “thy whole body shall be full of light.” The intention is the eye of the soul, because it is the motive which makes the soul act, the end which the soul proposes to herself, and the […]
ON THE PRICE OF A SOUL.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. IF, on the one hand, religion humbles a man by teaching him that he comes from nothing, that he was conceived in sin, that he is inclined to evil and incapable of any supernatural good, on the other hand it raises him up, and inspires him with great thoughts about himself, […]
ON THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD FOR HIS CHILDREN.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. SAINT PAUL says that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” And as this maxim is used very often, when we are treating of the spiritual life it is important that we should quite understand the meaning of it, that we should discern the reason of it […]
ON HUMILITY.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.” MEEKNESS is the fruit of Christian humility; and Jesus Christ joins these two virtues together here, because one depends upon the other. Every man who is really humble of heart is meek; […]
ON OBEDIENCE.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. OF all the virtues, that of which the practice costs the most to man is obedience. To give up our own will, to sacrifice our own judgment, to depend upon another not only as to our way of acting, but even in our way of thinking and judging — and this […]
ON GENEROSITY.
Fr. Jean Grou, S.J. THERE are two kinds of generosity, one which is natural, the other which is supernatural: both come from God; and the first kind of generosity disposes us for the second. To enter upon the way of perfection, to walk in it and to persevere in it to the end, we have […]