A Decisive Response
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Friday-Feast of
Saint Andrew, Apostle
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Father Edward Hopkins, LC
Matthew 4:18-22
As Jesus was walking
by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and
his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said
to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." At
once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and
saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They
were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called
them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
Introductory Prayer: Dear Jesus, I believe that You have called me to follow You
more closely today. I trust that in this prayer, You will help me see the
concrete implications of following Your will. I love You and want to respond
to all that You ask of me, today and always. Thank You for watching over me
and guiding me home to heaven.
Petition: Make me a fisher of men, here and now, Lord!
1. As Jesus Walked
By: One summer afternoon
a priest just happened to be in the area and visited my home. Within three
years, two of my brothers and I were following Christ on the road to the
priesthood. Jesus didn’t just happen to walk by these two pairs of brothers!
He had every intention of inviting those brothers to become “fishers of men.”
How much happens in my life, prepared and intended by God, to help me follow
him more closely? And all I see is an accident, a coincidence? Ask him when
was the last time he just happened by.
2. At Once They
Followed Him: Jesus never calls
someone when it’s perfectly convenient, when that person has nothing better
to do. No, he calls precisely when we are in the middle of living our life, doing
what we do best, what we do most, “casting or mending our nets.” “What a
losing formula!” we are tempted to conclude. Yet what is it he really wants
of us when he calls? He wants a response -- a reply of love. Love is all
about preference and priority. If I love him more than myself, I can follow
him “at once.” If I prefer him over my own activities and life, I can follow
him “immediately.” What is the response of love I am giving or want to give
Jesus today in my life?
3. They Left
Something Behind: “Pro-choice:” That’s
what God is! He wants us to choose. But he is not indifferent about what we
choose. Every choice implies the rejection of other options. We cannot follow
someone somewhere without leaving something and someone else behind. Peter
and Andrew left their nets behind. James and John left their boat and their
father behind. This was possible only with Jesus before them. Yet we, too,
often try to follow Christ without leaving things and others behind: the
world, comforts, my preferences... We think that we can have it all. We
can’t. We are in danger of “taming our faith,” bending to the demands of our
passions and the world’s insistence. Love requires a choice, a choice for the
real, complete Jesus. It asks me to reject everything in me that is not him.
How wholehearted is my following of Christ?
Conversation with
Christ: Lord Jesus, You have called me and continue
to call me throughout this day. Help me to respond with love, a love that
trumps all my other loves, likes and desires. I don’t want You to have to
wait for me, Lord. Just show me what You want and give me the courage and
generosity to give it to You, no matter the cost.
Resolution: I will give up something today that
diminishes the attention that I give to my spouse, family or friends.
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.
301 Proclaim that mercy is the
greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.
341 November 5, 1934. One morning,
when it was my duty to open the gate to let out our people who deliver baked
goods, I entered the little chapel to visit Jesus for a minute and to renew
the intentions of the day. Today, Jesus, I offer You all my sufferings,
mortifications and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, so that he
may approve the Feast of Mercy. But, Jesus, I have one more word to say to
You: I am very surprised that You bid me to talk about this Feast of Mercy,
for they tell me that there is already such a feast[81] and so why should I talk about it? And
Jesus said to me, And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even
those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often
do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the image to be solemnly
blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated
publicly so that every soul may know about it. Make a novena for the Holy
Father's intention. It should consist of thirty-three acts; that is,
repetition that many times of the short prayer-which I have taught you-to The
Divine Mercy.
375 Particular interior practice;
that is, the examination of conscience. Self-denial, denial of my own will.
I. The denial of my reason. Subjecting it to the reason of those who represent God to me here on earth. II. The denial of my will. Doing the will of God, which is revealed in the will of those who represent God to me and which is contained in the rule of our order. III. The denial of my judgment. Accepting immediately and without reflection, analysis or reasoning all orders given by those who represent God to me. IV. The denial of my tongue. I will not give it the least bit of freedom; but in one case only I will give it complete freedom; that is, in proclaiming the glory of God. Whenever I receive Holy Communion, I will ask Jesus to fortify and cleanse my tongue that I may not injure my neighbor with it. That is why I have the greatest respect for the rule which speaks about silence.
378 Once as I was talking with my
spiritual director, I had an interior vision-quicker than lightning-of his
soul in great suffering, in such agony that God touches very few souls with
such fire. The suffering arises from this work. There will come a time when
this work, which God is demanding so very much, will be as though utterly
undone. And then God will act with great power, which will give evidence of
its authenticity. It will be a new splendor for the Church, although it has
been dormant in it from long ago. That God is infinitely merciful, no one can
deny. He desires everyone to know this before He comes again as Judge. He
wants souls to come to know Him first as King of Mercy. When this triumph
comes, we shall already have entered the new life in which there is no
suffering. But before this, your soul [of the spiritual director] will be
surfeited with bitterness at the sight of the destruction of your efforts.
However, this will only appear to be so, because what God has once decided
upon, He does not change. But although this destruction will be such only in
outward appearance, the suffering will be real. When will this happen? I do
not know. How long will it last? I do not know.[89] But God has promised a great grace
especially to you and to all those... who will proclaim My great mercy. I
shall protect them Myself at the hour of death, as My own glory. And even if
the sins of soul are as dark as night, when the sinner turns to My mercy he
gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of My Passion. When a soul
praises My goodness, Satan trembles before it and flees to the very bottom of
hell.
379 During one of the adoration's,
Jesus promised me that: With souls that have recourse to My mercy and with
those that glorify and proclaim My great mercy to others, I will deal
according to My infinite mercy at the hour of their death.
My Heart is sorrowful, Jesus said, because even chosen souls do not understand the greatness of My mercy. Their relationship [with Me] is, in certain ways, imbued with mistrust. Oh, how much that wounds My Heart 1 Remember My Passion, and if you do not believe My words, at least believe My wounds.
962 + I often see a certain person
dear to God. The Lord has great love for him, not only because he is striving
to spread the veneration of God's mercy, but also because of the love he has
for the Lord God, although he does not always feel this love in his own heart
and is almost always in Gethsemane. However, this person is always pleasing
to God, and his great patience will overcome all difficulties.
1046 Then suddenly, I saw how the
two rays, as painted in the image, issued from the Host and spread over the
whole world. This lasted only a moment, but it seemed as though it had lasted
all day, and our chapel was overcrowded all day long, and the whole day
abounded in joy.
1074 When I went for adoration, I
heard these words: My beloved daughter, write down these words, that today
My Heart has rested in this convent [the Cracow house]. Tell the world
about My mercy and My love.
The flames of mercy are burning me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept them! My daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My mercy. I will make up for what you lack. Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My merciful Heart, and I will fill it -with peace. Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.
1075 Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield
through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of
death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior. At that last
hour, a soul has nothing with which to defend itself except My mercy. Happy
is the soul that during its lifetime immersed itself in the Fountain of
Mercy, because justice will have no hold on it.
1083 + That beautiful soul who is
spreading this work of divine mercy throughout the world is, by his deep
humility, very pleasing to God.
1652 Adore, my soul, the mercy of
the Lord,
O my heart, rejoice wholly in Him, Because for this you have been chosen by Him, To spread the glory of His mercy. His goodness no one has fathomed, no one can measure, His compassion is untold. Every soul that approaches Him experiences this. He will shield her and clasp her to His merciful bosom. Happy the soul that has trusted in Your goodness And has abandoned herself completely to Your mercy. Her soul is filled with the peace of love. You defend her everywhere as Your own child. O soul, whoever you may be in this world, Even if your sins were as black as night, Do not fear God, weak child that you are, For great is the power of God's mercy.
1680 Low Sunday. Today, I again
offered myself to the Lord as a holocaust for sinners. My Jesus, if the end
of my life is already approaching, I beg You most humbly, accept my death in
union with You as a holocaust which I offer You today, while I still have
full possession of my faculties and a fully conscious will, and this for a
threefold purpose:
Firstly: that the work of Your mercy may spread throughout the whole world and that the Feast of The Divine Mercy may be solemnly promulgated and celebrated. Secondly: that sinners, especially dying sinners, may have recourse to Your mercy and experience the unspeakable effects of this mercy. Thirdly: that all the work of Your mercy may be realized according to Your wishes, and for a certain person who is in charge of this work... Accept, most merciful Jesus, this, my inadequate sacrifice, which I offer to You today before heaven and earth. May Your Most Sacred Heart, so full of mercy, complete what is lacking in my offering, and offer it to Your Father for the conversion of sinners. I thirst after souls, O Christ.
1692 I adore You, Lord and
Creator, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament. I adore You for all the works of
Your hands, that reveal to me so much wisdom, goodness and mercy, O Lord. You
have spread so much beauty over the earth, and it tells me about Your beauty,
even though these beautiful things are but a faint reflection of You,
Incomprehensible Beauty. And although You have hidden Yourself and concealed
Your beauty, my eye, enlightened by faith, reaches You, and my soul recognizes
its Creator, its Highest Good; and my heart is completely immersed in prayer
of adoration.
My Lord and Creator, Your goodness encourages me to converse with You. Your mercy abolishes the chasm which separates the Creator from the creature. To converse with You, O Lord, is the delight of my heart. In You I find everything that my heart could desire. Here Your light illumines my mind, enabling it to know You more and more deeply. Here streams of graces flow down upon my heart. Here my soul draws eternal life. O my Lord and Creator, You alone, beyond all these gifts, give Your own self to me and unite Yourself intimately with Your miserable creature. Here, without searching for words, our hearts understand each other. Here, no one is able to interrupt our conversation. What I talk to You about, Jesus, is our secret, which creatures shall not know and Angels dare not ask about. These are secret acts of forgiveness, known only to Jesus and me; this is the mystery of His mercy, which embraces each soul separately. For this incomprehensible goodness of Yours, I adore You, O Lord and Creator, with all my heart and all my soul. And, although my worship is so little and poor, I am at peace because I know that You know it is sincere, however inadequate...
1749 + God's Infinite Goodness in
Adorning the Whole World with Beauty
in Order to Make Man's Stay on Earth Pleasant. O God, how generously Your mercy is spread everywhere, and You have done all this for man. Oh, how much You must love him, since Your love is so active on his behalf. O my Creator and Lord, I see on all sides the trace of Your hand and the seal of Your mercy, which embraces all created things. O my most compassionate Creator, I want to give You worship on behalf of all creatures and all inanimate creation; I call on the whole universe to glorify Your mercy. Oh, how great is Your goodness, O God!
1796 Today, 254 I saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the sky,
in the midst of a great brilliance. The rays were issuing from the Wound [in
His side] and spreading out over the entire world.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-97, 301, 341, 375, 378-379)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-962)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1046, 1074-1075, 1083)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1652, 1680, 1692, 1749, 1796)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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