Degrees of Perfection 1.) Do not commit a sin for all there is in the world, or any deliberate venial sin, or any known imperfection.
2.) Endeavor to remain always in the presence of God, either real, imaginative, or unitive insofar as is permitted by your works.
3.) Neither do anything nor say any notable word that Christ would not have done or said were he in the state I am, as old as I, and with the same kind of health.
4.) Strive for the greater honor and glory of God in all things.
5.) Do not omit mental prayer for any occupation, for it is the sustenance of your soul.
6.) Do not omit examination of conscience because of any of your occupations, and for every fault do some penance.
7.) Be deeply sorry for any time that is lost or that passes without your loving God.
8.) In all things, both high and low, let God be your goal, for in no other way will you grow in merit and perfection.
9.) Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.
10.) In heaven and on earth, always the lowest and last place and office.
11.) Never interfere in what you are not ordered to do, or be obstinate about anything, even though you may be right. And if, as the saying goes, they give you an inch, do not take a mile. Some deceive themselves in such matters and think they have an obligation to do that which — if they reflect upon — in no way obliges them.
12.) Pay no attention to the affairs of others, whether they be good or bad, for besides the danger of sin, this is a cause of distractions and lack of spirit.
13.) Strive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with charity and purity.
14.) Even though your obligations and duties are difficult and disagreeable to you, you should not become dismayed, for this will not always be so. And God, who proves the soul by a precept under the guise of a trial [Ps 94:20], will after a time accord it the experience of blessing and gain.
15.) Remember always that everything that happens to you, whether prosperous or adverse, comes from God, so that you become neither puffed up in prosperity nor discouraged in adversity.
16.) Remember always that you came here for no other reason than to be a saint; thus let nothing reign in your soul that does not lead you to sanctity.
17.) Always be more disposed toward giving to others than giving to yourself, and thus you will not be envious of or selfish toward your neighbor. This is to be understood from the viewpoint of perfection, for God is angered with those who do not give precedence to his good pleasure over that of humans. Soli Deo honor et gloria.
from Words of Wisdom For Our World
The Precautions and Counsels of St. John of the Cross by Susan Muto

From DGO's daily email of the Gospel Reading:

Venerable Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), hermit and missionary in the Sahara desert
Letter of the 19 May 1898 to Père Jerome

"What did you go out to the desert to see?"

One has to pass through the desert, spending time there, if one is to receive the grace of God. It is there that we empty ourselves, getting rid of everything that is not God, and completely emptying this little house of our souls to leave all the room to God alone. The Hebrews travelled through the desert, Moses lived there before he received his mission, Saint Paul and Saint John Chrysostom were also made ready in the desert... It is a time of grace, a period during which all souls who want to bear fruit necessarily have to pass. They need this silence, recollection and forgetfulness of all created things in the midst of which God establishes his reign and forms a spirit of interiority within them: life in intimacy with God, conversation of the soul with God in faith, hope and love. Later on the soul will produce fruit in precisely the measure to which this interior man has been formed within it (Eph 3,16)...

We can only give what we have and it is in solitude, in that life alone with God alone, that profound recollection of the soul who forgets all else to live alone in union with God, that God gives himself wholly to the one who is thus given wholly to him. Give yourselves wholly to him alone... and he will give himself wholly to you... Look at Saint Paul, Saint Benedict, Saint Patrick, Saint Gregory the Great and so many others – what long periods of recollection and silence they spent! Go higher: look at Saint John the Baptist, look at our Lord. Our Lord had no need of it but he wanted to set us an example.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Selah

EPIC BLAST: As predicted, the a "mega-filament" of solar magnetism erupted on Dec. 6th, producing a blast of epic proportions. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action as the 700,000-km long structure lifted off the stellar surface and--snap!!--hurled itself into space. Click on the arrow to play the movie:

movie formats: 4 MB gif, 1 MB iPad, 0.5 MB iPhone, 1 MB still frame

The eruption produced a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by the STEREO-A spacecraft: video. Earth was not in the line of fire; the cloud should sail wide of our planet. Earth-effects might be limited to pretty pictures.