St. John Damascene (aka St. John of Damascus) was a priest and monk who lived from about AD 675 to 750.  He was born in Damascus (still the Capitol and largest city in modern Syria.) However, he spent most of his time as a monk in a monastery near Jerusalem.   St. John is considered to be among the last of the Church Fathers, but he wrote much more about the Holy Mother of God than most of them.  Because St. John was a Church Father before the East-West Schism (AD 1054) he is also revered as a saint by both Catholics and Orthodox.  Below is the bedtime prayer of [...]

Below is my own English translation of Let Nothing Disturb You, originally in the Spanish as Nada Te Turbe (far below) by the 16th century nun, St. Teresa of Avila. Let Nothing Disturb You Let nothing disturb you, nothing shake you. Everything passes, God does not change. Patience obtains everything. Whoever has God lacks nothing. Only God suffices. Elevate your thoughts to the heavens above. Let nothing distress you, nothing disturb you. Follow Jesus Christ with a big-heart, and come what may let nothing disturb you. Do you see the glory of the world? It's vain-glory. Nothing is stable, everything passes. Aspire unto the heavens which last forever. Faithful and [...]

Remember that the narcissistic person appears arrogant on the outside, but lives with tremendous inadequacy and insecurity on the inside.  This is why the narcissist lives on the supply of validation of self and also the degradation or manipulation of others. Is there any hope for such people? I received an anonymous email from "two narcissists who married each other."  One of the spouses wrote:  "Long story short, we use a combination of plain old Catholic religious practices, health practices, and deliverance prayers. I do not think most people should give up on a narcissistic spouse. Maybe get away for safety if needed, but never give up hope."  On the [...]

A good friend recently asked me to explain the difference between traditional Catholic mental prayer (meditation on the life of Jesus that the Spanish mystics called oración mental) and New Age centering prayer (amorphous meditation promoted by pseudo-Eastern groups.)  My online series on mental prayer called Video Lectio Divina tries to teach the former, but I have never tackled the difference in definitions. So what is the difference between mental prayer and centering prayer?  A decent answer would be that that mental prayer looks outwards to God and centering prayer looks inward to self.  This would be a decent answer.  However, it's not a perfect answer because great mystics like [...]

You may wish to save in your note-app this little-known prayer of a saint to Mary and pray it every day: O Purest Queen of heaven and earth, most perfect work of the Holy Trinity, since from all eternity the Father chose you for His daughter, the Son selected you to be His Mother and the Holy Spirit selected you as His spouse, there could not be the slightest imperfection, not even the smallest shadow of original sin on your soul.  As the first fruit of the redemption, your soul was free, beautiful and free from the initial moment of your conception.  Receive, O Mother, in virtue of this singular mystery, my [...]