May 13th
Ven. Louis of Granada (1505-1588), Confessor; Granada, Spain

"If you are tempted to gluttony or sensuality, retrench something from your usual repasts, even though they in no way exceed the limits of sobriety, and give yourself with more fervor to fasting and other practices of devotion.  If you are assailed by avarice, increase the amount of your alms and the number of your good works.  If you feel the promptings of vainglory, lose no opportunity of accepting humiliations.  Then, perhaps, the devil may fear to tempt you, seeing that you convert his snares into occasions of virtue, and that he only affords you opportunities of greater good.  Above all things fly idleness.  Even in your hours of relaxation do not be wholly unoccupied.  And, on the other hand, do not be so absorbed in your labors that you cannot from time to time raise your heart to God and treat with Him in prayer."

St Bonaventure (1221-1274), Bishop, Doctor of the Church;  Bagnoregio, Italy; Feast day July 14th

"If you  would endure with patience the adversities and miseries of this life, be a man of prayer.  If you would acquire strength and courage to vanquish the temptations of the enemy, be a man of prayer.  If you would crush your self-will with all its inclinations and desires, be a man of prayer.  If you would know the wiles of Satan and defend yourself against his snares, be a man of prayer.  If you would live with a joyful heart, and pass lightly along the road of penance and sacrifice, be a man of prayer.  If you would drive away vain thoughts and cares which worry the soul like flies, be a man of payer.  If you would nourish the soul with the sap of devotion and have it always filled with good thoughts and desires, be a man of prayer.  If you would strengthen and establish your heart in the way of God, be a man of prayer.  Finally, if you would uproot from your soul all vices, and plant virtues in their place, be a man of prayer, for herein does a man receive the unction and grace of the Holy Spirit, who teaches all things. Nay more, would you mount to the summit of contemplation, and enjoy the sweet embraces of the Spouse, exercise yourself in prayer, for it is the road that leads to contemplation and to the taste of what is heavenly."