Under my bio (About Peg), on this blog, is a quote I love and live by, from our new, soon to be Saint.
With Christians, a poetical view of things is a duty. We are bid to color all things with hues of faith, to see a divine meaning in every event.
– Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman
It is a simple message, but carries with it the importance of being aware, in each of our lives, of the perpetual presence of our Lord, and putting His word into use at all times and places. Under all circumstances, our Lord is first.
If you are not familiar with his works, I highly suggest seeking them out, and spending some time getting to know him in his works.
Below taken from: Desires for Laity
Lecture 9. Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View
As troubles and trials circle round you, He will give you what you want at present—”a mouth, and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay.” “There is a time for silence, and a time to speak;” the time for speaking is come. What I desiderate in Catholics is the gift of bringing out what their religion is; it is one of those “better gifts,” of which the Apostle bids you be “zealous.” You must not hide your talent in a napkin, or your light under a bushel. I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity; I am not denying you are such already: but I mean to be severe, and, as some would say, exorbitant in my demands, I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory. I have no apprehension you will be the worse Catholics for familiarity with these subjects, provided you cherish a vivid sense of God above, and keep in mind that you have souls to be judged and to be saved. In all times the laity have been the measure of the Catholic spirit; they saved the Irish Church three centuries ago, and they betrayed the {391} Church in England. Our rulers were true, our people were cowards. You ought to be able to bring out what you feel and what you mean, as well as to feel and mean it; to expose to the comprehension of others the fictions and fallacies of your opponents; and to explain the charges brought against the Church, to the satisfaction, not, indeed, of bigots, but of men of sense, of whatever cast of opinion. And one immediate effect of your being able to do all this will be your gaining that proper confidence in self which is so necessary for you. You will then not even have the temptation to rely on others, to court political parties or particular men; they will rather have to court you. You will no longer be dispirited or irritated (if such is at present the case), at finding difficulties in your way, in being called names, in not being believed, in being treated with injustice. You will fall back upon yourselves; you will be calm, you will be patient. Ignorance is the root of all littleness; he who can realise the law of moral conflicts, and the incoherence of falsehood, and the issue of perplexities, and the end of all things, and the Presence of the Judge, becomes, from the very necessity of the case, philosophical, long-suffering, and magnanimous.
Peg Pondering Again 