Do Good, Always and Everywhere
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Monday of the
Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
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Father Patrick Butler, LC
Luke 6: 6-11
On a certain Sabbath
Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose
right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to
see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to
accuse him. But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the
withered hand, "Come up and stand before us." And he rose and stood
there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good on
the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy
it?" Looking around at them all, he then said to him, "Stretch out
your hand." He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
Introductory Prayer:
God the Father,
thank You for the gift of creation, including my own life. God the Son, thank
You for redeeming me at the price of Your own Body and Blood. God the Holy
Spirit, thank You for being the sweet guest of my soul, enlightening my mind,
strengthening my spirit, and kindling the fire of Your love in my heart.
Petition: Lord, make me a magnanimous, great-hearted
person, one who always desires the good of others.
1. Teaching and
Doing: When Jesus speaks,
he convinces those of good will who are present. The people commented that
Jesus spoke convincingly, not like the Pharisees. That’s because Jesus
preached only what he was willing to put into practice himself. He practices
what he preaches. This is my Teacher and Master, who speaks of compassion and
shows it. This is he who lowers himself to washing his followers’ feet at the
Last Supper because he wants me to do the same.
2. Doing Good,
Regardless of What Others Think: Jesus is omniscient, knowing even what others are thinking. He
often chides the Pharisees, because he sees their nitpicking and pettiness.
They are guides of the people, yet they stand aloof from their needs and
constrain the people to follow many rules that they themselves do not
fulfill. Jesus sees a person in need whom he can help. Although he sees
around him many critics scrutinizing his words and actions, nothing will keep
him from doing this good deed. When I feel the weight of others’ eyes upon
me, can I still practice charity regardless of what they think?
3. Saving Life: There is a culture of death and a culture of
life in this Gospel. The judgments of the Pharisees make them critical of
Jesus to the point that they become enraged. Eventually, they will plot to
kill Jesus. They couldn’t care less about the plight of the man Jesus heals.
Jesus speaks the words of life in the synagogue. He enriches life through
healing. I must learn from Jesus how to be a beacon of light and life amid
the divisive culture of egoism and death that surrounds me.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, you can read my heart, as You read the
hearts of the Pharisees. I also have a tendency to be critical and not always
constructive. Make my heart be more like Yours, desiring good, and being
generous despite the criticisms that might come my way.
Resolution: I will strive to perceive the needs of another person today,
someone in particular. Then, I will seek to do what I can to help that
person, if possible in a way that does not draw attention to myself.
Excerpts from the
DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
97 Faith staggers under the
impact; the struggle is fierce. The soul tries hard to cling to God by an act
of will. With God's permission, Satan goes even further: hope and love are
put to the test. These temptations are terrible. God supports the soul in
secret, so to speak. The soul is not aware of this, but otherwise it would be
impossible to stand firm; and God knows very well how much He can allow to
befall a soul. The soul is tempted to unbelief in respect to revealed truths
and to insincerity toward the confessor. Satan says to it, "Look, no one
understands you; why speak about all this?" Words that terrify it sound
in its ears, and it seems to the soul that it is uttering these against God.
It sees what it does not want to see. It hears what it does not want to hear.
And, oh, it is a terrible thing at times like these not to have an
experienced confessor! The soul carries the whole burden alone. However, one
should make every effort to find, if it is at all possible, a well-informed
confessor, for the soul can collapse under the burden and come to the very
edge of the precipice. All these trials are heavy and difficult. God does not
send them to a soul which has not already been admitted to a deeper intimacy
with Him and which has not yet tasted the divine delights. Besides, in this
God has His own plans, which for us are impenetrable. God often prepares a
soul in this way for His future designs and great works. He wants to try it
as pure gold is tried. But this is not yet the end of the testing; there is
still the trial of trials, the complete abandonment of the soul by God.
113 And again, I would like to say three words to the soul that is determined to strive for sanctity and to derive fruit; that is to say, benefit from confession. First word-complete sincerity and openness. Even the holiest and wisest confessor cannot forcibly pour into the soul what he desires if it is not sincere and open. An insincere, secretive soul risks great dangers in the spiritual life, and even the Lord Jesus Himself does not give Himself to such a soul on a higher level, because He knows it would derive no benefit from these special graces. Second word-humility. A soul does not benefit as it should from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery. Third word-obedience. A disobedient soul will win no victory, even if the Lord Jesus himself, in person, were to hear its confession. The most experienced confessor will be of no help whatsoever to such a soul. The disobedient soul exposes itself to great misfortunes; it will make no progress toward perfection, nor will it succeed in the spiritual life. God lavishes His graces most generously upon the soul, but it must be an obedient soul. 114 +Oh, how pleasing are the hymns flowing from a suffering soul! All heaven delights in such a soul, especially when it is tested by God. It mournfully sings out its longing for Him. Great is its beauty, because it comes from God. The soul walks through the jungle of life, wounded by God's love. With one foot only it touches the ground. 115 + When a soul has come out of these tribulations, it is deeply humble. Its purity of soul is great. It knows better without need of reflecting, as it were, what it ought to do at a given moment and what to forbear. It feels the lightest touch of grace and is very faithful to God. It recognizes God from afar and continuously rejoices in Him. It discovers God very quickly in other souls and in its environment in general. The soul has been purified by God himself. God, as Pure Spirit, introduces the soul to a life which is purely spiritual. God himself has first prepared and purified the soul; that is, He has made it capable of close communion with himself. The soul, in a state of loving repose, communes spiritually with the Lord. It speaks to God without the need of expressing itself through the senses. God fills it with His light. The enlightened mind sees clearly and distinguishes the various degrees of the spiritual life. It recognizes [that state] when its union with God was imperfect: where the senses were involved, and the spirit was linked with the senses in a manner-exalted and special, to be sure but not yet perfect. There is a higher and more perfect union with God; namely, intellectual union. Here, the soul is safer from illusions; its spirituality is purer and more profound. In a life where the senses are involved, there is more danger of illusion. Both for the soul and for its confessor, prudence must play a greater part. There are moments when God introduces the soul to a purely spiritual state. The senses dim and are seemingly dead. The soul is most closely united to God; it is immersed in the Deity; its knowledge is complete and perfect, not sporadic as before, but total and absolute. It rejoices in this. But I want to say more about those moments of trial; at those times the confessor must have patience with such a soul. But the soul must have even greater patience with itself. 116 My Jesus, You know what my soul goes through at the recollection of these sufferings. I have often marvelled that the angels and saints hold their peace at the sight of a soul suffering like that. Yet they have special love for us at such moments. My soul has often cried out after God, as a little child who cries as loudly as he can when his mother covers her face and he cannot recognize her. O my Jesus, honor and glory to You for these trials of love! Great and incomprehensible is your mercy. All that You intended for my soul, O Lord, is steeped in Your mercy.
121 +There is a series of graces
which God pours into the soul after these trials by fire. The soul enjoys
intimate union with God. It has many visions, both corporeal and
intellectual. It hears many supernatural words, and sometimes distinct
orders. But despite these graces, it is not self-sufficient. In fact it is
even less so as a result of God's graces, because it is now open to many
dangers and can easily fall prey to illusions. It ought to ask God for a
spiritual director; but not only must it pray for one, it must also make
every effort to find a leader who is an expert in these things, just as a
military leader must know the ways along which he will lead [his followers]
into battle. A soul that is united with God must be prepared for great and
hard-fought battles.
+After these purifications and tears, God abides in the soul in a special way, but the soul does not always cooperate with these graces. Not that the soul itself is not willing to work, but it encounters so many interior and exterior difficulties that it really takes a miracle to sustain the soul on these summits. In this, it absolutely needs a director. People have often sown doubt in my soul, and I myself have sometimes become frightened at the thought that I was, after all, an ignorant person and did not have knowledge of many things, above all, spiritual things. But when my doubts increased, I sought light from my confessor or my superiors. Yet I did not obtain what I desired.
139 Still, a soul which is
faithful to God cannot confirm its own inspirations; it must submit them to
the control of a very wise and learned priest; and until it is quite certain,
it should remain distrustful. It should not, on its own initiative alone, put
its trust in these inspirations and all other higher graces, because it can
thus expose itself to great losses.
Even though a soul may immediately distinguish between false inspirations and those of God, it should nevertheless be careful, because many things are uncertain. God is pleased and rejoices when a soul distrusts Him for His own sake; because it loves Him, it is prudent and itself asks and searches for help to make certain that it is really God who is acting within it. And once a well-instructed confessor has confirmed this, the soul should be at peace and give itself up to God, according to His directions; that is, according to the directions of the confessor. 140 Pure love is capable of great deeds, and it is not broken by difficulty or adversity. As it remains strong in the midst of great difficulties, so too it perseveres in the toilsome and drab life of each day. It knows that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love-love, and always love. Pure love never errs. Its light is strangely plentiful. It will not do anything that might displease God. It is ingenious at doing what is more pleasing to God, and no one will equal it. It is happy when it can empty itself and burn like a pure offering. The more it gives of itself, the happier it is. But also, no one can sense dangers from afar as can love; it knows how to unmask and also knows with whom it has to deal.
146 Prayer.-A soul arms itself by
prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought
to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose
its beauty; a soul which is striving after this purity must pray, or else it
will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it
will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might
rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single
grace comes to the soul through prayer.
241 Love of neighbor. First:
Helpfulness towards the sisters. Second: Do not speak about those who are
absent, and defend the good name of my neighbor. Third: Rejoice in the
success of others.
242 +O God, how much I desire to be a small child.[71] You are my Father, and You know how little and weak I am. So I beg You, keep me close by Your side all my life and especially at the hour of my death. Jesus, I know that Your goodness surpasses the goodness of a most tender mother. 243 I will thank the Lord Jesus for every humiliation and will pray specially for the person who has given me the chance to be humiliated. I will immolate myself for the benefit of souls. I will not count the cost of any sacrifice. I will cast myself beneath the feet of the sisters, like a carpet on which they can not only tread, but also wipe their feet. My place is under the feet of the sisters. I will make every effort to obtain that place unnoticed by others. It is enough that God sees this. 244 Now a gray, ordinary day has begun. The solemn hours of the perpetual vows have passed, but God's great grace has remained in my soul. I feel I am all God's; I feel I am His child, I feel I am wholly God's property. I experience this in a way that can be physically sensed. I am completely at peace about everything, because I know it is the Spouse's business to look after me. I have forgotten about myself completely. My trust placed in His Most Merciful Heart has no limit. I am continuously united with Him. It seems to me as though Jesus could not be happy without me, nor could I without Him. Although I understand that, being God, He is happy in himself and has absolutely no need of any creature, still, His goodness compels Him to give himself to the creature, and with a generosity which is beyond understanding. 245 My Jesus, I will now strive to give honor and glory to Your Name, doing battle till the day on which You yourself will say, enough! Every soul You have entrusted to me, Jesus, I will try to aid with prayer and sacrifice, so that Your grace can work in them. O great lover of souls, my Jesus, I thank You for this immense confidence with which You have deigned to place souls in our care. O you days of work and of monotony, you are not monotonous to me at all, for each moment brings me new graces and opportunity to do good.
247 Jesus, Friend of a lonely
heart, You are my haven, You are my peace. You are my salvation, You are my
serenity in moments of struggle and amidst an ocean of doubts. You are the
bright ray that lights up the path of my life. You are everything to a lonely
soul. You understand the soul even though it remains silent. You know our
weaknesses, and like a good physician, You comfort and heal, sparing us
sufferings-expert that You are.
249 +Jesus, I trust in You; I
trust in the ocean of your mercy. You are a Mother to me.
477 Silence is a sword in the
spiritual struggle. A talkative soul will never attain sanctity. The sword of
silence will cut off everything that would like to cling to the soul. We are
sensitive to words and quickly want to answer back, without taking any regard
as to whether it is God's will that we should speak. A silent soul 14 strong;
no adversities will harm it if it perseveres in silence. The silent soul is
capable of attaining the closest union with God. It lives almost always under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God works in a silent soul without
hindrance.
478 O my Jesus, You know, You alone know well that m heart knows no other love but You! All my virginal love is drowned eternally in You, O Jesus! I sense keenly ho Your divine Blood is circulating in my heart; I have no the least doubt that Your most pure love has entered m heart with Your most sacred Blood. I am aware did You are dwelling in me, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, or ratherIam aware that it is I who it living in You, O incomprehensible God! I am aware that I am dissolving in You like a drop in an ocean. I am aware that You are within me and all about me, that You are in all things that surround me, in all that happens to me. O my God, I have come to know You within my heart, and I have loved You above all things that exist on earth or in heaven. Our hearts have a mutual understanding, and no one of humankind will comprehend this.
588 On one occasion, I heard these
words within me: Every movement of your heart is known to me. Know, My
daughter, that one glance of yours directed at someone else would wound Me
more than many sins committed by another person.
589 Love casts out fear. Since I came to love God with my whole being and with all the strength of my heart, fear has left me. Even if I were to hear the most terrifying things about God's justice, I would not fear Him at all, because I have come to know Him well. God is love, and His Spirit is peace. I see now that my deeds which have flowed from love are more perfect than those which I have done out of fear. I have placed my trust in God and fear nothing. I have given myself over to His holy will; let Him do with me as He wishes, and I will still love Him.
631 O my Jesus, Your goodness
surpasses all understanding, and no one will exhaust Your mercy. Damnation is
for the soul who wants to be damned; but for the one who desires salvation,
there is the inexhaustible ocean of the Lord's mercy to draw from. How can a
small vessel contain the unfathomable ocean?
633 I am greatly surprised at how
one can be so jealous. When I see someone else's good, I rejoice at it as if
it were mine. The joy of others is my joy, and the suffering of others is my
suffering, for otherwise I would not dare to commune with the Lord Jesus. The
spirit of Jesus is always simple, meek, sincere; all malice, envy, and
unkindness disguised under a smile of good will are clever little devils. A
severe word flowing from sincere love does not wound the heart.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-97, 113-116, 121, 139-140, 146, 241)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-245, 247, 249, 477-478)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-588-589)
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