The saints are awesome witnesses of holiness and how to walk through the tribulations of this life while remaining close to God, but sometimes it can be difficult to find a way to talk with them daily or to know where to start with them. In his book, My Daily Visit with the Saints, Charles Kenny sets out to do just that.
Broken into eight different parts covering topics from grace to Mary, vices and virtues, to the four last things, each topic contains quotes from saints and servants of God that are robust and not short sound bytes. These are often a page or more of the writings of the saints on a particular topic- enough to delve into for meditation but not too much to overwhelm. And it’s sprinkled with little bites of wisdom like this from Fr. Croiset (who was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque’s spiritual director):
“Ah! great Go, when shall we be convinced that perfection and merit does not consist in doing or in suffering great things for Your glory, but in wishing and doing all that pleases You?”
Even greater for our understanding is that many of these saints quote other saints in their writing, showing that we all learn from each other and build upon understanding to continually go further up and further in.
From an excerpt of Fr. Frederick William Faber’s writing (who translated St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion to Mary” into English), “St. Bernardine of Siena says that so great was the dolor of the Blessed Virgin that if subdivided and parceled out among all creatures capable of suffering, they would perish instantly. An angel revealed to St. Bridget that if our Lord had not miraculously supported His Mother, it would not have been possible for her to live through her martyrdom.” In the same entry, Fr. Faber says, “Jesus, the joy of martyrs, is the executioner of His Mother.” Wow!!
Each page is packed with wisdom from these saints, many of them names that we do not hear much about in our times, but who were clearly heavy-hitters in their own. My Daily Visit with the Saints is a fantastic devotional book to add into your repertoire!
