First Things First
August
25, 2015. Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew
23:23-26
Jesus said: "Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected
the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you
ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You
strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside
they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the
inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come to You again in prayer. Even
though I cannot see You, I know through faith that You are present in my life.
I hope in Your promise to be with me. I love You, and I know You love me.
Accept this prayer as a token of my love.
Petition: Lord, help me to dedicate my life to weightier matters rather
than mere appearances.
1. Tithed Up in Knots: When God originally commanded his people to
tithe, it was so that they would acknowledge him as the source of all the gifts
in their lives. It was to be the recognition on their part that all they had
was from him, that he is Lord, and that his law is the way to salvation. Yet it
became easy for the Israelites to fall into legalism and forget the true
purpose of the tithe. They observed the letter of the law and forgot the
meaning of the law: acknowledge the sovereignty of God. In the end, all we are
and all we have belongs to God. We have to use our talents, wealth and
possessions all for him and his kingdom. Is there some area in which I do not
acknowledge his sovereignty in my life?
2. What Really Counts: What are the weightier matters of the law?
Jesus speaks of justice and mercy and faith. When we neglect these, we are
distorting true religion, for true religion is not a question of formalisms and
actions to appease God, but rather of turning our hearts to his word. We need
to make our hearts more like his, in charity and mercy toward others. How many
times do we miss the most important things and work only at side issues? How
often do we try to please God in the wrong way, by supposing we are doing his
will when really we are only doing our own will instead? How often do we forget
the true essence of devotion to the law of God?
3. Interior Cleaning: “First clean the inside of the cup…” We should
tend to our soul and make sure the intentions behind our actions are holy
motivations. We need to check our heart frequently so that we can work with
purity of intention. Sometimes we work only to present an appearance to others,
to appear virtuous and holy, but inside we are filled with negative judgments,
such as lack of charity. Virtue comes from within the heart of a person, where
the Spirit dwells and inspires as he wills. We need to be attentive to the Holy
Spirit and follow his lead.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, You know what is in my heart. Purify it and recast it in
the image of Your divine heart, so that I may love You and love others as You
love them. Let me put aside all vanity and desire for appearances that does not
give glory to You.
Resolution: I will examine my conscience as to the motives of my actions
each day, making sure I am inspired by mercy, justice and faith.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint
Faustina Kowalska
92 Humiliation is my daily food. I
understand that the bride must herself share in everything that is the groom's;
and so His cloak of mockery must cover me, too. At those times when I suffer
much, I try to remain silent, as I do not trust my tongue which, at such
moments, is inclined to talk for itself, while its duty is to help me praise
God for all the blessings and gifts which He has given me. When I receive Jesus
in Holy Communion, I ask Him fervently to deign to heal my tongue so that I
would offend neither God nor neighbor by it. I want my tongue to praise God
without cease. Great are the faults committed by the tongue. The soul will not
attain sanctity if it does not keep watch over its tongue.
200
O Jesus, how deeply it hurts the soul when it is always trying to be sincere
and they accuse it of hypocrisy and behave with mistrust toward it. O Jesus,
You also suffered like this to make satisfaction to Your Father.
282 Once the Lord said to me, My
Heart was moved by great mercy towards you, My dearest child, when I saw you
torn to shreds because of the great pain you suffered in repenting for your
sins. I see your love, so pure and true that I give you first place among the
virgins. You are the honor and glory of My Passion. I see every abasement of
your soul, and nothing escapes my attention. I lift up the humble even to my
very throne, because I want it so.
320 Jesus made known to me how very
pleasing to Him were prayers of atonement. He said to me, The prayer of a
humble and loving soul disarms the anger of My Father and draws down an ocean
of blessings. After the adoration, half way to my cell, I was surrounded by
a , pack of huge black dogs who were jumping and howling and trying to tear me
to pieces. I realized that they were not dogs, but demons. One of them spoke up
in a rage, "Because you have snatched so many souls away from us this
night, we will tear you to pieces." I answered, "If that is the will
of the most merciful God, tear me to pieces, for I have justly deserved it,
because I am the most miserable of all sinners, and God is ever holy, just, and
infinitely merciful." To these words all the demons answered as one,
"Let us flee, for she is not alone; the Almighty is with her!" And
they vanished like dust, like the noise of the road, while I continued on my
way to my cell undisturbed, finishing my Te Deum and pondering the infinite and
unfathomable mercy of God.
332
+Thursday. When I started the Holy Hour, I wanted to immerse myself in
the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. Then I heard a voice in my soul:Meditate
on the mystery of the Incarnation . And suddenly the Infant Jesus appeared
before me, radiant with beauty. He told me how much God is pleased with
simplicity in a soul. Although My greatness is beyond understanding, I
commune only with those who are little. I demand of you a childlike spirit.
1306
+ O humility, lovely flower, I see how few souls possess you. Is it
because you are so beautiful and at the same time so difficult to attain? O
yes, it is both the one and the other. Even God takes great pleasure in her.
The floodgates of heaven are open to a humble soul, and a sea of graces flows
down upon her. O how beautiful is a humble soul! From her heart, as from a
censer, rises a varied and most pleasing fragrance which breaks through the
skies and reaches God himself, filling His Most Sacred Heart with joy. God
refuses nothing to such a soul; she is all-powerful and influences the destiny
of the whole world. God raises such a soul up to His very throne, and the more
she humbles herself, the more God stoops down to her, pursuing her with His
graces and accompanying her at every moment with His omnipotence. Such a soul
is most deeply united with God. O humility, strike deep roots in my whole
being. O Virgin most pure, but also most humble, help me to attain deep
humility. Now I understand why there are so few saints; it is because so few
souls are deeply humble.
1579 + It is when I meet with
hypocrisy that I suffer most. Now I understand You, my Savior, for rebuking the
Pharisees so severely for their hypocrisy. You associated more graciously with
hardened sinners when they approached You contritely.
1602 Today the Lord said to me, Daughter,
when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water
which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles
it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy,
with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul.
When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there
for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here
the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount
of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is
great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate
humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace
turns away from them to humble souls.
1702 Towards the end of the Way of
the Cross which I was making, the Lord Jesus began to complain about the souls
of religious and priests, about the lack of love in chosen souls. I will allow
convents and churches to be destroyed. I answered, "Jesus, but there are
so many souls praising You in convents." The Lord answered, That praise
wounds My Heart, because love has been banished from convents.
Souls without love and without
devotion, souls full of egoism and self-love, souls full of pride and arrogance,
souls full of deceit and hypocrisy, lukewarm souls who have just enough warmth
to keep them alive: My Heart cannot bear this. All the graces that I pour out
upon them flow off them as off the face of a rock. I cannot stand them, because
they are neither good or bad. I called convents into being to sanctify the
world through them. It is from them that a powerful flame of love and sacrifice
should burst forth. And if they do not repent and become enkindled by their
first love, I will deliver them over to the fate of this world...
How can they sit on the promised throne of judgment to judge the world, when their guilt is greater than the guilt of the world? There is neither penance nor atonement. O heart, which received Me in the morning and at noon are all ablaze with hatred against Me, hatred of all sorts! O heart specially chosen by Me, were you chosen for this, to give Me more pain? The great sins of the world are superficial wounds on My Heart, but the sins of a chosen soul pierce My Heart through and through..
How can they sit on the promised throne of judgment to judge the world, when their guilt is greater than the guilt of the world? There is neither penance nor atonement. O heart, which received Me in the morning and at noon are all ablaze with hatred against Me, hatred of all sorts! O heart specially chosen by Me, were you chosen for this, to give Me more pain? The great sins of the world are superficial wounds on My Heart, but the sins of a chosen soul pierce My Heart through and through..
1710 May 26, [1938-Feast of the
Ascension]. Today I accompanied the Lord Jesus as He ascended into heaven. It
was about noon. I was overcome by a great longing for God. It is a strange
thing, the more I felt God's presence, the more ardently I desired Him. Then I
saw myself in the midst of a huge crowd of disciples and apostles, together
with the Mother of God. Jesus was telling them to... Go out into the whole
world and teach in My name. He stretched out His hands and blessed them and
disappeared in a cloud. I saw the longing of Our Lady. Her soul yearned for
Jesus with the whole force of Her love. But She was so peaceful and so united
to the will of God that there was not a stir in Her heart but for what God
wanted.
1711 When I was left alone with the Blessed Virgin, She instructed me concerning the interior life. She said, The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud.
1711 When I was left alone with the Blessed Virgin, She instructed me concerning the interior life. She said, The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud.
(Diary of
Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-92, 200, 282, 320, 332)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1306)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1306)
(Diary of
Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1579)
(Diary of
Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1602, 1702, 1710-1711)
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