St. Paul said that he "was given a messenger of satan" to keep him humble. "To torment me" he says, realizing his pride could easily cost him all he had gained in Christ. Isaac includes this work of demons in his discussion of fallen angels....ref. the Cistercian Study Series on St. Isaac: "Angel's are always astonished at the divine mysteries, 'because of revelations that come upon them in various ways.' Demons, on the other hand, are 'extremely polluted', and in their st

Elder Zacharias of Essex was asked by a priest, "Where is the heart? The elder answered, "The heart is within our chest. When we speak of the heart we speak of the spiritual heart, which coincides with the fleshly one; but when man receives illumination and sanctification, then his whole being becomes a heart. The heart is synonymous with the soul, with the spirit; it is a spiritual place where a man finds his unity; where his mind is enthroned when he has been healed of

Some years ago, when I was Pastor of St. Anne in Gilbert, before the new church was built, I was preparing the weekend homily and stopped to read a few more pages of St. Therese's "Story of a Soul." She says, " Let love be the mainspring of every action". Her dad was a watchmaker, so she knew without a working mainspring a watch could look great and even elegant, but could not run. So, without love energizing everything, we are hollow, maybe looking good, but really functi