Who Am I That My Lord Should Come to Me?
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Feast of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Matthew 1:1-16,18-23
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us."
Introductory Prayer:
Lord I thank You for
the gift of faith. I believe only because so many others believed before me –
and often at what great price! As I begin this prayer I review my genealogy
of faith remembering all those who have passed on the faith to me. I strive
to be a link in the faith chain for many other souls.
Petition: Dear Jesus, help me to be humble like the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
1. God Is With Us: Today’s Gospel narrates for us the great
mystery of the Incarnation. Why would God choose to become one of us? In his
lineage appear the good and the bad, the faithful and the weak, the useful
and useless. Why does God choose to take what is faulty, inferior, and make
it his own? Why does he purify, restore, elevate, and cure what we are and
what we offer him? Why? Why does he take upon himself my lineage, my personal
history –– both the good and the bad –– and shape it into salvation history,
for myself and for others? Why does he continue to do this? When will it be
enough? God has said and will always be able to say, “What more could I have
done for my people?”
2. Blessed Are You,
and Blessed Is the Fruit of Your Womb: Joachim and Anna, the parents of Mary, were in a marriage
apparently “going nowhere”: It was sterile. Tradition has it that Joachim was
scorned by a bystander when presenting his offerings, because God had left
him without offspring. Feeling deeply offended and downhearted, he followed
his flocks of sheep into the wilderness and didn’t return to his wife for a
long time. In the desert, he supposedly was informed by a supernatural
appearance that a child would be born to him. When Joachim returned to his
wife in Bethesda, inspired with new hope, she became pregnant and gave birth
to Mary, who was born without sin. God takes what is useless and creates his
masterpiece, the Immaculate Conception. Indeed, he raises up the lowly. What
plans does he have for my life? Where do I fit into salvation history?
3. Let It Be Done
According to Your Word: Having
been told by her parents of the special circumstances of her birth, Mary grew
of age “treasuring these things in her heart” (Cf. Luke 2:51). It is
understandable that the pious girl Mary wanted to devote herself entirely to
God, and perhaps, in her early years, took a vow of continence. Her simple
and total dedication to God indeed made her his “highly favored daughter.”
But God had other plans for her: He would ask her to bear his Son. Once
again, God takes what is freely offered him and molds it into what he
desires. He takes what is good and beautiful and makes it exceedingly so for
the salvation of many. God humbly inserts himself into my boring and
defective human lineage.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, help me to
remember today all the good things You have given me and my family. Let me
see Your work and Your providence. I know that You come to my aid in hundreds
of different ways. Help me to become more like Mary, and to ponder over all
these things in my heart.
Resolution: I will look at my vocation with faith and
new hope, confident that God is comfortable in inserting himself in the most
common of circumstances. I will try to see his hand in at least one event of
my day today.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
56 O my God, I understand well that You demand this
spiritual childhood[32] of me, because You are constantly asking
it of me through Your representatives.
At the beginning of my religious life, suffering and adversities frightened and disheartened me. So I prayed continuously, asking Jesus to strengthen me and to grant me the power of His Holy Spirit that I might carry out His holy will in all things, because from the beginning I have been aware of my weakness. I know very well what I am of myself, because for this purpose Jesus has opened the eyes of my soul; I am an abyss of misery, and hence I understand that whatever good there is in my soul consists solely of His holy grace. The knowledge of my own misery allows me, at the same time, to know the immensity of Your mercy. In my own interior life, I am looking with one eye at the abyss of my misery and baseness, and with the other, at the abyss of Your mercy, O God.
79 O Mary, my Mother and my Lady, I offer You my soul, my
body, my life and my death, and all that will Follow it. I place everything
in Your hands. O my Mother, cover my soul with Your virginal mantle and grant
me the grace of purity of heart, soul and body. Defend me with Your power
against all enemies, and especially against those who hide their malice
behind the mask of virtue. O lovely lily! You are for me a mirror, O my
Mother!
148 +A noble and delicate soul, even the most simple, but
one of delicate sensibilities, sees God in everything, finds Him everywhere,
and knows how to find Him in even the most hidden things. It finds all things
important, it highly appreciates all things, it thanks God for all things, it
draws profit for the soul from all things, and it gives all glory to God. It
places its trust in God and is not confused when the time of ordeals comes.
It knows that God is always the best of Fathers and makes little of human
opinion. It follows faithfully the faintest breath of the Holy Spirit; it
rejoices in this Spiritual Guest and holds onto Him like a child to its
mother. Where other souls come to a standstill and fear, this soul passes on
without fear or difficulty.
161 Immaculate Virgin,
Pure crystal for my heart, You are my strength, O sturdy anchor! You are the weak heart's shield and protection. Mary you are pure, of purity incomparable; At once both Virgin and Mother, You are beautiful as the sun, without blemish, And your soul is beyond all comparison. Your beauty has delighted the eye of the Thrice-Holy One. He descended from heaven, leaving His eternal throne, And took Body and Blood of your heart And for nine months lay hidden in a Virgin's Heart. O Mother, Virgin, purest of all lilies, Your heart was Jesus' first tabernacle on earth. Only because no humility was deeper than yours Were you raised above the choirs of Angels and above all Saints. O Mary, my sweet Mother, I give you my soul, my body and my poor heart. Be the guardian of my life, Especially at the hour of death, in the final strife.
220 O my eternal Lord and Creator, how am I going to thank
You for this great favor; namely, that You have deigned to choose miserable
me to be Your betrothed and that You are to unite me to yourself in an
eternal bond? O dearest Treasure of my heart, I offer You all the adoration
and thanksgiving of the Saints and of all the choirs of Angels, and I unite
myself in a special way with Your Mother. O Mary, my Mother, I humbly beg of
You, cover my soul with Your virginal cloak at this very important moment of
my life, so that thus I may become dearer to Your Son and may worthily praise
Your Son's mercy before the whole world and throughout all eternity.
260 I had permission to visit
Czestochowa while on my journey. I saw the Mother of God [image] for the
first time, when I went to attend the unveiling of the image at five in the
morning. I prayed without interruption until eleven, and it seemed to me that
I had just come. The superior of the house there [Mother Serafin[75]] sent a sister for me, to tell me to come
to breakfast and said she was worried that I would miss my train. The Mother
of God told me many things. I entrusted my perpetual vows to Her. I felt that
I was her child and that She was my Mother. She did not refuse any of my
requests.
309 Before heaven and earth,
before all the choirs of Angels, before the Most Holy Virgin Mary, before all
the Powers of heaven, I declare to the One Triune God that today, in union
with Jesus Christ, Redeemer of souls, I make a voluntary offering of myself
for the conversion of sinners, especially for those souls who have lost hope
in God's mercy. This offering consists in my accepting, with total subjection
to God's will, all the sufferings, fears and terrors with which sinners are
filled. In return, I give them all the consolations which my soul receives
from my communion with God. In a word, I offer everything for them: Holy Masses,
Holy Communions, penances, mortifications, prayers. I do not fear the blows,
blows of divine justice, because I am united with Jesus. O my God, in this
way I want to make amends to You for the souls that do not trust in Your
goodness. I hope against all hope in the ocean of Your mercy. My Lord and my
God, my portion-my portion forever, I do not base this act of oblation on my
own strength, but on the strength that flows from the merits of Jesus Christ.
I will daily repeat this act of self-oblation by pronouncing the following
prayer which You yourself have taught me, Jesus:
"O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You!"
316 Once, the Mother of God came
to visit me. She was sad. Her eyes were cast down. She made it clear that She
wanted to say something, and yet, on the other hand, it was as if She did not
want to speak to me about it. When I understood this, I began to beg the
Mother of God to tell me and to look at me. Just then Mary looked at me with
a warm smile and said, You are going to experience certain sufferings
because of an illness and the doctors; you will also suffer much because of
the image, but do not be afraid of anything. The next day I fell ill and
suffered a great deal, just as the Mother of God had told me. But my soul was
ready for the sufferings. Suffering is a constant companion of my life.
635 March 25. In the morning, during meditation, God's
presence enveloped me in a special way, as I saw the immeasurable greatness
of God and, at the same time, His condescension to His creatures. Then I saw
the Mother of God, who said to me, Oh, how pleasing to God is the soul
that follows faithfully the inspirations of His grace! I gave the Savior to
the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy
and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a
merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh, how terrible is that day!
Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble
before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time
for [granting] mercy. If you keep silent now, you will be answering for a
great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing. Be faithful to the
end. I sympathize with you.
1742 Be praised, merciful God, One God in the Holy
Trinity,
Unfathomable, infinite, incomprehensible, immersing themselves in You, their minds cannot comprehend You, So they repeat without end their eternal: Holy. Be glorified, O merciful Creator of ours, O Lord, Omnipotent, but full of compassion, inconceivable. To love You is the mission of our existence, Singing our eternal hymn: Holy... Be blessed, merciful God, Eternal Love. You are above the heavens, the saphires, the firmaments. The host of pure spirits sings You praises, With its eternal hymn: Thrice Holy. And, gazing upon You, face to face, O God, I see that You could have called other creatures before them. Therefore they humble themselves before You in great humility, For well they see that this grace comes solely from Your mercy. One of the most beautiful spirits would not recognize Your mercy, And, blinded by his pride, he drew others after him. Angel of great beauty, he became Satan And was cast down in one moment from heaven's heights into hell. Then the faithful spirits cried, "Glory to God's mercy!" And they stood firm in spite of the fiery test. Glory to Jesus, the Christ abased, Glory to His Mother, the humble and pure Virgin. After this battle, the pure spirits plunged into the ocean of Divinity; Contemplating and praising the depths of His mercy, They drown in His mercy and manifold light, Possessing in knowledge the Trinity of Persons, the Oneness of Godhead.
+The Infinite Goodness of God in Sending Us His
Only-Begotten Son.
1745 God, You did not destroy man after his fall, but in Your mercy You forgave him, You forgave in a divine way; that is, not only have You absolved him from guilt, but You have bestowed upon him every grace. Mercy has moved You to deign to descend among us and lift us up from our misery. God will descend to earth; the Immortal Lord of lords will abase Himself. But where will You descend, Lord; will it be to the temple of Solomon? Or will You have a new tabernacle built for Yourself? Where do You intend to come down? O Lord, what kind of tabernacle shall we prepare for You, since the whole earth is Your footstool? You have indeed prepared a tabernacle for Yourself: the Blessed Virgin. Her Immaculate Womb is Your dwelling place, and the inconceivable miracle of Your mercy takes place, O Lord. The Word becomes flesh; God dwells among us, the Word of God, Mercy Incarnate. By Your descent, You have lifted us up to Your divinity. Such is the excess of Your love, the abyss of Your mercy. Heaven is amazed at the superabundance of Your love. No one fears to approach You now. You are the God of mercy. You have compassion on misery. You are our God, and we are Your people. You are our Father, and we are Your children by grace. Praise be to Your mercy, that You have deigned to descend among us.
1746 Be adored, O God of mercy,
Because You have deigned to descend from heaven to earth. Most humbly we adore You For Your having vouchsafed to exalt all mankind. Unfathomable and incomprehensible in Your mercy, For love of us You take on flesh From the Immaculate Virgin, ever untouched by sin, Because You have willed it so from all ages. The Blessed Virgin, that Snow-White Lily, Is first to praise the omnipotence of Your mercy. Her pure heart opens with love for the coming of the Word; She believes the words of God's messenger and is confirmed in trust. Heaven is astounded that God has become man, That there is on earth a heart worthy of God Himself. Why is it that You do not unite Yourself with a Seraph, but with a sinner, O Lord? Oh, because, despite the purity of the virginal womb, this is a mystery of Your mercy. O mystery of God's mercy, O God of compassion, That You have deigned to leave the heavenly throne And to stoop down to our misery, to human weakness, For it is not the angels, but man who needs mercy. To give worthy praise to the Lord's mercy, We unite ourselves with Your Immaculate Mother, For then our hymn will be more pleasing to You, Because She is chosen from among men and angels. Through Her, as through a pure crystal, Your mercy was passed on to us. Through Her, man became pleasing to God; Through Her, streams of grace flowed down upon us.
+ God's Infinite Goodness in Redeeming Man.
1747 God, You could have saved thousands of worlds with one word; a single sigh from Jesus would have satisfied Your justice. But You Yourself, Jesus, purely out of love for us, underwent such a terrible Passion. Your Father's justice would have been propitiated with a single sigh from You, and all Your self-abasement is solely the work of Your mercy and Your inconceivable love. On leaving the earth, O Lord, You wanted to stay with us, and so You left us Yourself in the Sacrament of the Altar, and You opened wide Your mercy to us. There is no misery that could exhaust You; You have called us all to this fountain of love, to this spring of God's compassion. Here is the tabernacle of Your mercy, here is the remedy for all our ills. To You, O living spring of mercy, all souls are drawn; some like deer, thirsting for Your love, others to wash the wound of their sins, and still others, exhausted by life, to draw strength. At the moment of Your death on the Cross, You bestowed upon us eternal life; allowing Your most holy side to be opened, You opened an inexhaustible spring of mercy for us, giving us Your dearest possession, the Blood and Water from Your Heart. Such is the omnipotence of Your mercy. From it all grace flows to us.
1748 Be adored, O God, in the work of Your mercy,
Be blessed by all faithful hearts On whom Your gaze rests, In whom dwells Your immortal life. O my Jesus, have mercy, sorrowful was Your life on this earth, And in terrible torment Your work came to an end, Hanging stretched out on the wood of the Cross, And all this for the love of our souls. In Your inconceivable love, You allowed Your most holy side to be opened, And streams of Blood and Water gushed forth from Your Heart. Here is the living fountain of Your mercy, Here souls receive consolation and refreshment. In the Blessed Sacrament, You left us Your mercy; Your love deigned to arrange it so, That, going through life, suffering and toil, I might never doubt of Your goodness and mercy. For even if the whole world's miseries weighed on my soul, We must not doubt for even a moment, But have trust in the power of God's mercy, Because, with graciousness, God receives a contrite soul. O unspeakable mercy of our Lord, Source of compassion and all sweetness, Trust, trust, O soul, though you are stained by sin, For when you approach God, you will not taste bitterness. Because He is a living fire of great love, When we approach Him with sincerity, Our miseries, sins and evil deeds vanish; He will settle our debts when we surrender ourselves to Him.
(Diary of Sister
Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-56, 79 148, 161, 220, 260, 309, 316)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-635 )
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1742, 1745-1748)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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