Make Ready, the Lord is Coming
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Matthew Reinhardt,
Consecrated Member of Regnum Christi
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Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Jesus said to his
disciples: "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and
on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and
the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon
the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these
signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your
redemption is at hand. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from
carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch
you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on
the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the
strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the
Son of Man."
Introductory Prayer: Heavenly Father, I gladly spend a few minutes with You, to be
close to You, because You know how much I need Your presence and grace in my
life. You deserve to be the center of my thoughts and desires; but often I
let myself be taken up by the anxieties of daily life. Sorry Lord, but at
least here I am right now, hungry for You alone. Today, Lord, I accompany the
whole Church as we begin the Advent Season and begin to prepare for Your
coming to earth as a baby on Christmas morning.
Petition: Lord, prepare my heart for your coming at
Christmas.
1. The World Then
and Now: When Christ came to
earth 2,000 years ago he encountered a world similar to the one we live in:
far from God and full of anxiety. The lives of many people of Christ’s time
were devoid of meaning because God had not yet sent his Son into the world.
Today, as then, our world often lives as if Christ had never come to earth.
But hope is not lost. Christ is our hope! Is my life full of meaning
rooted in Christ’s saving message, or do I permit worries and selfish desires
to choke my spirit?
2. Christ Is Coming:
Advent and Christmas
are all about Christ coming to earth to give us hope. On that cold, quiet,
star-filled winter’s night in a little, poor cave in Bethlehem, God was born
into our world. The Almighty came into the world as a small, poor, innocent
baby adored only by his mother and father and some animals. Yes, this child
is the reason for our hope, infinite hope, because he is an infinite God
making an infinite act of love for us. To permit my soul to be filled with
this quiet, gentle hope, what noise within my heart first needs to be shut
off?
3. A Heart Checkup: Surprises can be pleasant, like an
unexpected birthday party or a successful close on a big business deal. But
they can also be unpleasant, like the pop quiz given at school or a sudden
car accident. Will Christmas take me by surprise this year? The good news is
that I know that he is coming: less than a month away. Christ tells us,
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy and thus allow that day to
catch you by surprise.” Advent is a time to wake up to Christ in our life. We
need to prepare our hearts for his coming on Christmas morning so that he can
be received by us with warmth and joy. Christ is the reason for the season!
Conversation with Christ:
Lord, help me during
this Advent Season, which begins today, to see that the priority in my life
is preparing myself and those around me for a truly “spiritual” Christmas. I
know it is a busy time of year. Help me remain focused on what is essential --
You being born into our hearts.
Resolution: I will begin some form of daily Advent
reminder for myself and those I live with so we can prepare our hearts for
Christmas: Advent wreath, Advent calendar, Jesse Tree etc.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
117
I will mention here that those who live with such a person should not add
external sufferings; for indeed, when the soul's cup is full, the little drop
we may add to it may be the one drop too much, and the cup of bitterness will
overflow. And who will answer for such a soul? Let us beware of adding to the
suffering of others, because that is displeasing to the Lord. If the sisters
or the superiors knew or even suspected that a soul was suffering such trials,
and they nevertheless added still other sufferings, they would be sinning
gravely, and God himself would demand an account of them on behalf of such a
soul. I am not speaking here of instances which of their very nature are
sinful, but of things which in other circumstances would not be sinful. Let
us be on our guard against having the weight of such a soul on our
conscience. This is a grave and common defect in religious life; namely, that
when one sees a suffering soul, one always wants to add even more suffering.
I do not say that everyone acts like this, but there are some. We take the
liberty of passing all sorts of judgments, and we repeat them when we would
do better to remain silent.
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.
180
+During Advent, a great yearning for God arose in my soul. My spirit rushed
toward God with all its might. During that time, the Lord gave me much light
to know His attributes.
The
first attribute which the Lord gave me to know is His holiness. His holiness
is so great that all the Powers and Virtues tremble before Him. The pure
spirits veil their faces and lose themselves in unending adoration, and with
one single word they express the highest form of adoration; that is-Holy...
The holiness of God is poured out upon the Church of God and upon every
living soul in it, but not in the same degree. There are souls who are
completely penetrated by God, and there are those who are barely alive.
The
second kind of knowledge which the Lord granted me concerns His justice. His
justice is so great and penetrating that it reaches deep into the heart of
things, and all things stand before
Him in naked truth, and nothing can withstand Him.
The
third attribute is love and mercy. And I understood that the greatest attribute
is love and mercy. It unites the creature with the Creator. This immense love
and abyss of mercy are made known in the Incarnation of the Word and in the
Redemption [of humanity], and it is here that I saw this as the greatest of
all God's attributes.
362 +One day,
during the morning meditation, I heard this voice: I myself am your
director; I was, I am, and I will be. And since you asked for visible help, I
chose and gave you a director even before you had asked, for My work required
this. Know that the faults you commit against him wound My Heart. Be especially
on your guard against self-willfulness; even the smallest thing should bear
the seal of obedience.
With a crushed and
humbled heart I begged forgiveness of Jesus for these faults. I also
begged pardon of my
spiritual director and resolved to do nothing rather than to do many things
wrongly.
781 O Love, O
queen! Love knows no fear. It passes through all the choirs of angels that
stand on guard before His throne. It will fear no one. It reaches God and is
immersed in Him as in its sole treasure. The Cherubim who guards paradise
with flaming sword, has no power over it. O pure love of God, how great and
unequalled you are! Oh, if souls only knew your power!
783 + I must be on
my guard, especially today, because I am becoming over-sensitive to everything.
Things I would not pay any attention to when I am healthy bother me today. O my
Jesus, my shield and my strength, grant me Your grace that I may emerge
victorious from these combats. O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself by the
power of Your love, that I may be a worthy tool in proclaiming Your mercy.
792 I must never
speak of my own experiences. In suffering, I must seek relief in prayer. In doubts,
even the smallest, I must seek only the advice of my confessor. I must always
have a heart which is open to receive the sufferings of others, and drown my
own sufferings in the Divine Heart so that they would not be noticed on the
outside, in so far as possible.
I must always
strive for equanimity, no matter how stormy the circumstances might be. I
must not allow
anything to disturb my interior calm and silence. Nothing can compare with peace
of soul. When I am wrongfully accused of something, I will not explain
myself; if the superior wants to know the truth, whether I was in the right
or not, let her find out from others rather than from me. My concern is to
accept everything with a humble inner disposition.
I will spend this
Advent in accordance with the directions of the Mother of God: in meekness and
humility.
874 Mary,
Immaculate Virgin, take me under Your special protection and guard the purity
of my soul, heart and body. You are the model and star of my life.
1022 + Although
outwardly I meet with many sufferings and various adversities, this does not,
however, lessen my interior life for a moment nor disturb my inner silence. I
do not fear at all being abandoned by creatures because, even if all
abandoned me, I would not be alone, for the Lord is with me. And even if the
Lord were to hide, love will know how to find Him. For love knows no gates or
guards; even the keen-eyed Cherub himself, with his flaming sword, will not
stop love; it will work its way through wilderness and scorching heat, through
storm, thunder and darkness, and will reach the source from which it came,
and there it will endure forever. All things will come to an end; but love,
never.
1095 When, one day,
God gave me the inner knowledge that I had never lost my innocence, and that
despite all dangers in which I had found myself, He himself had been guarding
me so that the virginity of my soul and heart would remain intact, I spent
the day in fervent interior thanksgiving. I thanked God that He had bee
pleased to protect me from evil, and also for this: that I had found favor in
His eyes, that He himself had given me assurance of this.
1398 Advent is
approaching. I want to prepare my heart for the coming of the Lord Jesus by silence
and recollection of spirit, uniting myself with the Most Holy Mother and
faithfully imitating Her virtue of silence, by which She found pleasure in
the eyes of God Himself. I trust that, by Her side, I will persevere in this
resolution.
The Goodness of
God.
1485 The mercy of
God, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, the voice of the Lord who speaks to us from
the throne of mercy: Come to Me, all of you.
Conversation of the
Merciful God with a Sinful Soul.
Jesus: Be not
afraid of your Savior, O sinful soul. I make the first move to come to
you, for I know
that by yourself you are unable to lift yourself to me. Child, do not
run away from your
Father; be willing to talk openly with your God of mercy who
wants to speak
words of pardon and lavish his graces on you. How dear your soul is to Me! I
have inscribed your name upon My hand; you are engraved as a deep wound in My
Heart.
Soul: Lord, I hear
your voice calling me to turn back from the path of sin, but I have neither the
strength nor the courage to do so.
Jesus: I am your
strength, I will help you in the struggle.
Soul: Lord, I
recognize your holiness, and I fear You.
Jesus: My child,
do you fear the God of mercy? My holiness does not prevent Me
from being
merciful. Behold, for you I have established a throne of mercy on earth the tabernacle-and
from this throne I desire to enter into your heart. I am not
surrounded by a
retinue or guards. You can come to me at any moment, at any
time; I want to
speak to you and desire to grant you grace.
Soul: Lord, I doubt
that You will pardon my numerous sins; my misery fills me with fright.
Jesus: My mercy
is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can
measure the extent
of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth;
for you I allowed
myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be
pierced with a
lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then,
with trust to draw
graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart. Your
misery has
disappeared in the depths of My mercy. Do not argue with Me about
your wretchedness.
You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your
troubles and grief's.
I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace.
Soul: You have
conquered, O Lord, my stony heart with Your goodness. In trust and
humility I approach
the tribunal of Your mercy, where You yourself absolve me by the hand
1599 As I was trying
to make my Holy Hour, I saw the suffering Jesus, who spoke these words tome: My
daughter, do not pay so much attention to the vessel of grace as to the grace
itself which I give you, because you are not always pleased with the vessel,
and then the graces, too, become deficient. I want to guard you from that,
and I want you never to pay attention to the vessel in which I send
you My grace. Let all the attention of your soul be concentrated on
responding to My grace as faithfully as possible.
1799 J.M.J. I feel
that there is a power which is defending me and protecting me from the blows of
the enemy. It guards and defends me. I feel it very distinctly; it is as if I
am being shielded by the shadow of His wings.
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-117, 146, 180, 362)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-II-781, 783, 792, 874)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-III-1022, 1095)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-V-1398, 1485)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-VI-1599, 1799)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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