Let no my abandonment and my sorrow and my bereavement go to waste. Gather up the fragments, and as the drop of water is absorbed by the wine at the offertory of the Mass, let my life be absorbed in thine; let my little cross be entwined with the great cross so that I may purchase the joys of everlasting happiness in union with thee.

Consecrate these trial of my life which would go unrewarded unless united with thee; transubstantiate me so that like bread which is now thy body, and wine which is now thy blood, I too my be wholly thine. I care not if the species remain, or that, like the bread and the wine I seem to all earthly eyes the same as before. My station in life, my routine duties, my work, my family — all these are but the species of my life which remain unchanged; but the substance of my life: my soul, my mind, my will, my heart – transubstantiate them, transform them wholly into thy service, so that through me all may know how sweet is the life of Christ.  Amen  –Bishop Fulton J Sheen ‘Calvary and the Mass’

Obviously, some give their freedom away and become slaves in the most disastrous sense of the term, An alcoholic became such by a free act of choice multiplied a thousandfold. Finally came the surrender, and he became the “slave of drink.” He sold his choice, but in a way to destroy his personality. Now take another example in which one gives away freedom of choice to attain a true spiritual freedom. The husband in love with his wife, acquired by a free choice on the part of both, is an example of the highest kind of liberty in the order of affection. True spiritual liberty exists when two essential values are acquired by a free choice on the part of both is an example of the highest kind of liberty in the order of human affection. True liberty exists when two essential values are acquired: self-mastery, by which one is liberated from external constraint such as excessive drinking or smoking; and the complete and total gift of self to justice, truth, and love, which are rooted in God. Such are those who dedicate themselves to the person of Christ in serving lepers to make reparations for sins. Others use their free choice to attain what is to them the maximum of spiritual liberty. As Kafka wrote, “Christ is such an abyss of light that before Him one must close his eyes to avoid throwing oneself to Him in total dedication.” At this peak of freedom, one has quite surpassed the first stage of freedom which is identified with the power to choose evil as well as good; one enters into the spontaneity of love in full clarity. The truth is that man is not so much free as freeable; he makes himself free by choosing those goals which give his spirit the maximum room for joy. –Bishop Fulton J Sheen ‘On Being Human’

Restlessness is the opposite of contentment. Greater is the number of the restless then the contented, and yet contentment is not impossible in any situation of life. Contentment is the virtue of being satisfied with whatever state or condition in which we find ourselves. It consists not so much in adding fuel to the fire as in taking some fire away; not in multiplying wealth, but in diminishing desires, in realizing that thirst can better be quenched out of a cup then out of a river. Velvet slippers do not cure gout, and a bed of gold does not ease sickness more readily than a mattress of straw. –Bishop Fulton J. Sheen ‘On Being Human’