A Question of Kingdoms
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Solemnity of Christ
the King
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Father Edward Hopkins, LC
John 18:33b-37
Pilate said to
Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you
say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered,
"I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you
over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does
not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my
attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then
you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I
was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone
who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Introductory Prayer: Dear Jesus, I believe that You are truth itself; that You are
the foundation of all moral judgments. I trust that You really care for me
and give me the light to see the needs of others. I love You, Lord, and show
it now with my desire to pray.
Petition: Make your truth my life, Lord!
1. Asking My Own
Questions: Every day we form
countless judgments. Often they seem based more on what others have said,
than on what we know. We are often told what to think by the media,
government and even coworkers. Pilate was one of those whose judgment was
based on what others had said. His question to Jesus was that of a
functionary; not of someone sincerely seeking the truth. Jesus sensed this
weakness and confronted him. Pilate’s excuse was that he was not Jewish, so
how could he hope to understand? I will be judged one day on how I judged.
How fair, how sincere and really how interested am I in others? Do I treat
those in my life as though I really cared?
2. Jesus Stands
above This World: Pilate’s verbalized
thoughts and the accusations of the Sanhedrin against Jesus come from this
world. It is a world where people, once accused, are already judged; where
most judgments remain hidden but still assassinate the person through actions
and omissions; where “what others think of you” seems to matter most. Jesus
does not belong to the ways of human respect. Nor can human respect even
begin to judge him. He answers to God alone, just as he lives only to please
his Father. Do I belong to this world? What kind of grip does this world have
on me? How do its judgments affect my behavior?
3. Belonging to the
Kingdom of Truth: What is relative can
never judge what is absolute, just as changing seasons do not define human
nature. Only a judgment from what is absolute can determine real values for
all. Just before being elected Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger exposed the
world’s imposition of subjective personal values, calling it a “a
dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and
whose ultimate goal consists solely of one´s own ego and desires” (Homily,
April 18, 2005). In the same homily he juxtaposed this relativistic “truth”
to friendship with Christ. Real friendship with Christ is our single guiding
light, and it requires that we subject to him all other guides: our ego, our
own feelings and our selfish desires. His ways, love and truth replace
self-seeking. In which kingdom do I live?
Conversation with
Christ: Lord Jesus, You are my king and Your kingdom
is truth. Form my mind to know all things in relation to You. Form my heart
to judge all people in relation to Your love. Free me from the deceptions of
pride, human respect and self-love. May only Your love reign in my heart!
Resolution: This week I will reject all internal
judgments of others that are based on hearsay. I will replace them with
prayers for those persons, giving them the benefit of the doubt and
entrusting them to the care of the King.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
80 O Jesus, Divine
Prisoner of Love, when I consider Your love and how You emptied Yourself for me,
my senses fail me. You hide Your inconceivable majesty and lower Yourself to
miserable me. O King of Glory, though You hide Your beauty, yet the eye of my
soul rends the veil. I see the angelic choirs giving You honor without cease,
and all the heavenly Powers praising You without cease, and without cease
they are saying: Holy, Holy, Holy.
Oh, who will comprehend
Your love and Your unfathomable mercy toward us! O Prisoner of Love, I lock
up my poor heart in this tabernacle, that it may adore You without cease
night and day. I know of no obstacle in this adoration, and even though I be
physically distant, my heart is always with You. Nothing can put a stop to my
love for You. No obstacles exist for me. O my Jesus, I will console You for
all the ingratitude, the blasphemies, the coldness, the hatred of the wicked,
the sacrileges. O Jesus, I want to burn as 'a pure offering and to be consumed
before the throne of Your hiddenness. I plead with You unceasingly for poor
dying sinners.
83 Write this: before I come as the just Judge, I am
coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there
will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the
heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole
earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the
openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come
forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This
will take place shortly before the last day.
88 +During
adoration I felt God close to me. A moment later I saw Jesus and Mary. At the
sight of them I was filled with joy, and I asked the Lord, "What is Your
will, Jesus, concerning the matter about which my confessor told me to ask
You?" Jesus replied, It is My will that he should remain here
and that he should not take the initiative of dispensing himself. I asked
Jesus whether the inscription could be: "Christ King of Mercy." He
answered, I am King of Mercy, but He did not say
"Christ." I desire that this image be displayed in public
on the first Sunday after Easter. That Sunday is the Feast of Mercy. Through
the Word Incarnate I make known the bottomless depth of My mercy.
199 When I think of
my perpetual vows and Who it is that wants to be joined with me, for hours I become
absorbed in the thought of Him. How can this be; You are God and I-I am Your creature.
You, the Immortal King and I, a beggar and misery itself! But now all is
clear to me; Your grace and Your love, O Lord, will fill the gulf between
You, Jesus, and me.
354 As I was talking to a certain person[84]
who was to paint the image but, for certain reasons, was not painting it, I
heard this voice in my soul: I want her to be more obedient. I
understood that our efforts, no matter how great, are not pleasing to God if
they do not bear the seal of obedience; I am speaking about a religious soul.
O God, how easy it is to know Your will in the convent! We religious have
God's will set clearly before our eyes from morning till night, and in
moments of uncertainty we have our superiors through whom God speaks.
365 My spiritual director replaced it with an interior
mortification; namely, throughout Holy Mass I was to meditate on why the Lord
Jesus had submitted to being baptized. The meditation was no mortification
for me, for thinking about God is a delight and not a mortification; but
there was a mortification of the will in that I was not doing [simply] what I
like, but what I was told to do, and it is in this that interior
mortification consists. When I left the confessional and started to recite my
penance, I heard these words: I have granted the grace you asked for on
behalf of that soul, but not because of the mortification you chose for
yourself. Rather, it was because of your act of complete obedience to My
representative that I granted this grace to that soul for whom you interceded
and begged mercy. Know that when you mortify your own self-will, then Mine
reigns within you.
366 O my Jesus, be patient with me. I will be more careful
in the future. I will rely, not upon myself, but upon Your grace and Your very
great goodness to miserable me.
367 +On one occasion, Jesus gave me to know that when I
pray for intentions which people are wont to entrust to me, He is always
ready to grant His graces, but souls do not always want to accept them: My
Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners.
If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that
it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount
overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy.
I desire to bestow My graces upon souls, but they do not want to accept them.
You, at least, come to Me as often as possible and take these graces they do
not want to accept. In this way you will console My Heart. Oh, how
indifferent are souls to so much goodness, to so many proofs of love! My
Heart drinks only of the ingratitude and forgetfulness of souls living in the
world. They have time for everything, but they have no time to come to Me for
graces.
So I turn to you, you-chosen souls, will you also fail to understand the love of My Heart? Here, too, My Heart finds disappointment; I do not find complete surrender to My love. So many reservations, so much distrust, so much caution. To comfort you, let Me tell you that there are souls living in the world who love Me dearly. I dwell In their hearts with delight. But they are few. In convents too, there are souls that fill My Heart with joy. They bear My features; therefore the Heavenly Father looks upon them with special pleasure. They will be a marvel to Angels and men. Their number is very small. They are a defense for the world before the justice of the Heavenly Father and a means of obtaining mercy for the world. The love and sacrifice of these souls sustain the world in existence. The infidelity of a soul specially chosen by Me wounds My Heart most painfully. Such infidelities are swords which pierce My Heart.
742 My daughter, if I demand through you that people
revere My mercy, you should be the first to distinguish yourself by this
confidence in My mercy. I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise
out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and
everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve
yourself from it.
I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first-by deed, the second-by word, the third-by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy. Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy, and I demand the worship of My mercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through the veneration of the image which is painted. By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works. O my Jesus, You yourself must help me in everything, because You see how very little I am, and so I depend solely on Your goodness, O God. + Particular Examen Union with the merciful Christ. With my heart I encompass the whole world, especially countries which are uncivilized or where there is persecution. I am praying for mercy upon them.
Conference on Spiritual Warfare.
1760 My daughter, I want to teach you about spiritual warfare. Never trust in yourself, but abandon yourself totally to My will. In desolation, darkness and various doubts, have recourse to Me and to your spiritual director. He will always answer you in My name. Do not bargain with any temptation; lock yourself immediately in My Heart and, at the first opportunity, reveal the temptation to the confessor. Put your self-love in the last place, so that it does not taint your deeds. Bear with yourself with great patience. Do not neglect interior mortifications. Always justify to yourself the opinions of your superiors and of your confessor. Shun murmurers like a plague. Let all act as they like; you are to act as I want you to. Observe the rule as faithfully as you can. If someone causes you trouble, think what good you can do for the person who caused you to suffer. Do not pour out your feelings. Be silent when you are rebuked. Do not ask everyone's opinion, but only the opinion of your confessor; be as frank and simple as a child with him. Do not become discouraged by ingratitude. Do not examine with curiosity the roads down which I lead you. When boredom and discouragement beat against your heart, run away from yourself and hide in My heart. Do not fear struggle; courage itself often intimidates temptations, and they dare not attack us. Always fight with the deep conviction that I am with you. Do not be guided by feeling, because it is not always under your control; but all merit lies in the will. Always depend upon your superiors, even in the smallest things. I will not delude you with prospects of peace and consolations; on the contrary, prepare for great battles. Know that you are now on a great stage where all heaven and earth are watching you. Fight like a knight, so that I can reward you. Do not be unduly fearful, because you are not alone.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-80, 83, 88, 199, 354, 365-367)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-742)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1760)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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