Father James Swanson, LC
Luke 11:27-28
While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
"Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you
nursed." He replied, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word
of God and observe it."
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the master of the universe, and yet You
wish to listen to me and guide me. You know all things past, present and
future, and yet You respect my freedom to choose You. Holy Trinity, You are
completely happy and fulfilled on Your own, and yet You have generously
brought us into existence. You are our fulfillment. Thank You for the gift of Yourself. I offer the littleness of myself in return, knowing You are pleased
with what I have to give.
Petition: Lord, help me to imitate Mary.
1. Mary’s
Masterpiece: The woman in this
passage has a great insight. She senses the greatness of Jesus. Probably she
intuits that he is the Messiah. It is doubtful if she has guessed that he is
also God-made-man. But from Jesus’ greatness, she is able to infer the
greatness of Mary. It is obvious to her that whoever produced this
masterpiece of humanity must have been a masterpiece of humanity herself. And
she is right. The humanity of Jesus is Mary’s masterpiece. All of what she
is, she imparted to him. While we cannot credit Mary with the perfections of
Jesus’ divinity, we would be doing her a grave injustice to think that Jesus’
human virtues and perfections were not positively impacted by her example.
2. The Immaculate
Conception: God desired Jesus to
come into this world like every one of us, as an infant, and so Jesus needed
a mother. God wanted him to have the finest mother, a perfect mother, and so
he gave Mary many gifts, starting with her Immaculate Conception, preserving
her from original sin. Who could imagine Jesus – pure and innocent – wrapped
in flesh polluted by sin for the first nine months of his existence? Would such
an innocent child ever have been able to stop crying while being tended to by
a sinner? The Father wanted the best for his Son and gave him the best, even
though he had to provide the miracle of the Immaculate Conception in order to
do it.
3. Jesus’ Educator: Being truly human, Jesus had to learn just
like any one of us. Because of his divinity, his human capacities were
untainted by sin, but it was Mary who taught him how to use them, who honed
them in the everyday life of the family until they were perfect – just as any
mother would. Mary was the perfect one to bring out all the perfections in
Jesus’ human nature. Being immaculately conceived, Mary’s mind was not
wounded by sin and so was always able to discover ways of parenting and
teaching that were perfectly suited to Jesus’ human nature. To educate
doesn’t mean to just give knowledge. In its fullest sense, it means to train
in virtue. Mary’s continuous example of virtue – hearing the word of God and
observing it – was certainly compelling for Jesus in his educational
upbringing.
Conversation with
Christ: Dear Jesus, it’s hard for me to understand
that, as human, You needed education just like anyone else. Help me to see
that You were truly and fully human like me. Moreover, since You have already
given me Mary to be my Mother, ask her to educate me too, to form me in all
the virtues the way she formed them in You.
Resolution: Do I really think of Mary as my educator in the full sense, in
the sense of teaching me virtue? What is the virtue I need the most? I will
ask Mary to educate me in it in a special way today.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
6 I am to write [3]
down the encounters of my soul with You, O God, at the moments of Your
special visitations. I am to write about You, O Incomprehensible in mercy
towards my poor soul. Your holy will is the life of my soul. I have received
this order through him who is for me Your representative here on earth, who interprets
Your holy Will to me. Jesus, You see how difficult it is for me to write, how
unable I am to put down clearly what I experience in my soul. O God, can a
pen write down that for which many a time there are no words? But You give
the order to write, O God; that is enough for me.
25 During the night, the Mother of
God visited me, holding the Infant Jesus in Her arms. My soul was filled with
joy, and I said, "Mary, my Mother, do You know how terribly I
suffer?" And the Mother of God answered me, I know how much you
suffer, but do not be afraid. I share with you your suffering, and I shall
always do so. She smiled warmly and disappeared. At once, strength and a
great courage sprang up anew in my soul; but that lasted only one day. It
seemed as though hell had conspired against me. A terrible hatred began to
break out in my soul, a hatred for all that is holy and divine. It seemed to
me that these spiritual torments would be my lot for the rest of my life. I
turned to the Blessed Sacrament and said to Jesus, "Jesus, my Spouse, do
You not see that my soul is dying because of its longing for You? How can You
hide Yourself from a heart that loves You so sincerely? Forgive me, Jesus;
may Your holy will be done in me. I will suffer silently like a dove, without
complaining. I will not allow my heart even one single cry of sorrowful
complaint."
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.
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.
497 O Eternal Truth, Word Incarnate, who
most faithfully fulfilled Your Father's will, today I am becoming a martyr of
Your inspirations, since I cannot carry them out because I have no will of my
own, though interiorly I see Your will clearly. I submit in everything to the
will of my superiors and my confessor. I will follow Your will insofar as You
will permit me to do so through Your representative. O my Jesus, it cannot be
helped, but I give priority to the voice of the Church over the voice with
which You speak to me.
620 Mary is my Instructress, who
is ever teaching me how to live for God. My spirit brightens up in Your
gentleness and Your humility, O Mary.
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-6, 25, 116, 2202, 260, 309, 316, 497)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-620, 635)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1742, 1745-1748)
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/semanal.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=866
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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