Tonight’s Oratory Young Adults meeting focused on ‘Death: the final frontier’.
‘Real solid inner joy of the heart is a gift from God, which derives from a good conscience, detachment from external things, and the contemplation of what is most profound. It comes through meditating on death, associating with devout men, nourishing ourselves regularly on the holy sacraments, taking great care over oneself and over others, practising generosity towards many, daily prayer to God, reverence for the holy Cross, the prayers of the saints and our devotion to them.
‘Now this is the purpose of our Oratory, of our way of life, of the companionship of our community…our meditations and frequent sermons about death, seen as something to be desired more than to dread; all is a preparation for death welcomed with a joyous heart. Let us go forth from our prison joyfully, when the Lord bids us.’
(from the dialogue by Cardinal Augustine
‘Philip, or On Christian Joy’)
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