Aspiring to Humility
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Memorial of Saints
Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church
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John 1: 19-28
This is the
testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to
him to ask him, "Who are you?" He admitted and did not deny it, but
admitted, "I am not the Christ." So they asked him, "What are
you then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are
you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." So they said to him,
"Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you
have to say for yourself?" He said: "I am the voice of one crying
out in the desert, ´Make straight the way of the Lord,´ as Isaiah the prophet
said." Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, "Why then do
you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?" John
answered them, "I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom
you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am
not worthy to untie." This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where
John was baptizing.
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Son
of God who came into this world to save us because You love us. Your
Incarnation fills me with hope. The only response I can give is to love You
with all my heart, soul, strength and mind.
Petition: Jesus, help me to learn from St. John the
Baptist how to bring others to You.
1. Making Jesus
Known: The next few days
have readings on John the Baptist. These lead up to this Sunday’s feast of
the Epiphany, which celebrates the manifestation of Jesus to the world.
Tradition has linked several similar events to Epiphany. Although the first
one is the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem, Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan is
also a key moment of revelation — of epiphany — of Jesus’ mission and
divinity. Thus, although the Baptism of the Lord has its own feast day a week
after Epiphany, the two events have a common result: They make known the
truth of Jesus. A first question we need to ask ourselves is: What am I, a
believer in Christ, doing to make the truth of Jesus known to others?
2. The Power of
Humility: In this reading,
John the Baptist demonstrates the attitude fundamental to making Christ
known: humility. John the Baptist had the chance to be considered the
Messiah, the Christ. True, eventually the deception would become known, but
for a while he could have had all of Israel at his feet. All too often today,
people give in to temptation and compromise their principles to get glory and
power for a day — think of businessmen who inflate their company’s profits,
or scientists who fake their results. Their inevitable downfall is tragic.
St. John the Baptist knows that the only way he can serve God and fulfill his
mission in life is to direct all glory to God and none to himself, never
presuming to be more than he is. We, too, can live as true Christians and
make Jesus present to others only if we put aside our own pride and vanity.
3. Living Love: What really makes John the Baptist’s
message effective is that he doesn’t just preach his message; he is his
message. He preaches penance, but first he lives it, going out into the
desert and living an ascetic life. He baptizes with water, but first he gets
into the water. If we want to make Jesus known to others, we first have to know
him ourselves. We cannot preach the essence of the Gospel, the message of
love, if we don’t live love in our daily lives. We can’t criticize, judge
others, and always “look out for number one” (where “one” is ourselves) and
still hope to be an effective apostle of Christ. However, if with the help of
God’s grace, we do our best to put love into action, then words will hardly
be necessary. Our example alone will change people’s lives.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, when I look
at myself and my life, I see that too often I have been selfish, focused on
what I enjoy and on what I want. Help me to love You above all things. Help
me want to make You known by living love, even at the cost of my own pride
and comfort.
Resolution: I will make an extra effort today to show
through my actions what it means to love Christ and one another.
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.
282 Once the Lord said to me, My Heart was moved by
great mercy towards you, My dearest child, when I saw you torn to shreds
because of the great pain you suffered in repenting for your sins. I see your
love, so pure and true that I give you first place among the virgins. You are
the honor and glory of My Passion. I see every abasement of your soul, and
nothing escapes my attention. I lift up the humble even to my very throne,
because I want it so.
God, One in the Holy Trinity.
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.
388 See what grace and reflection made out of the greatest
criminal. He who is dying has much love: "Remember me when You are in
paradise." Heartfelt repentance immediately transforms the soul. The
spiritual life is to be lived earnestly and sincerely.
423 Praise the Lord, my soul, for everything, and glorify
His mercy, for His goodness is without end. Everything will pass, but His
mercy is without limit or end. And although evil will attain its measure, in
mercy there is no measure.
O my God, even in the punishments You send down upon the earth
I see the abyss of Your mercy, for by punishing us here on earth You free us
from eternal punishment. Rejoice, all you creatures, for you are closer to
God in His infinite mercy than a baby to its mother's heart. O God, You are
compassion itself for the greatest sinners who sincerely repent. The greater
the sinner, the greater his right to God's mercy.
717 All night long, I was preparing to receive Holy
Communion, since I could not sleep because of physical suffering. My soul was
flooded with love and repentance.
793 I am reliving these moments with Our Lady. With great
longing, I am waiting for the Lord's coming. Great are my desires. I desire
that all humankind come to know the Lord. I would like to prepare all nations
for the coming of the Word Incarnate. O Jesus, make the fount of Your mercy
gush forth more abundantly, for humankind is seriously ill and thus has more
need than ever of Your compassion. You are a bottomless sea of mercy for us
sinners; and the greater the misery, the more right we have to Your mercy.
You are a fount which makes all creatures happy by Your infinite mercy.
852 Today the Lord's gaze shot through me suddenly, like
lightning. At once, I came to know the tiniest specks in my soul, and knowing
the depths of my misery, I fell to my knees and begged the Lord's pardon, and
with great trust I immersed myself in His infinite mercy. Such knowledge does
not depress me nor keep me away from the Lord, but rather it arouses in my soul
greater love and boundless trust. The repentance of my heart is linked to
love. These extraordinary flashes from the Lord educate my soul. O sweet rays
of God, enlighten me to the most secret depth, for I want to arrive at the
greatest possible purity of heart and soul.
908 + O Jesus, how sorry I feel for poor sinners. Jesus,
grant them contrition and repentance. Remember Your own sorrowful Passion. I
know Your infinite mercy and cannot bear it that a soul that has cost You so
much should perish. Jesus, give me the souls of sinners; let Your mercy rest
upon them. Take everything away from me, but give me souls. I want to become
a sacrificial host for sinners. Let the shell of my body conceal my offering,
for Your Most Sacred Heart is also hidden in a Host, and certainly You are a
living sacrifice.
Transform me into Yourself, O Jesus, that I may be a
living sacrifice and pleasing to You. I desire to atone at each moment for
poor sinners. The sacrifice of my spirit is hidden under the veil of the
body; the human eye does not perceive it, and for that reason it is pure and
pleasing to You. O my Creator and Father of great mercy, I trust in You, for
You are Goodness Itself. Souls, do not be afraid of God, but trust in Him,
for He is good, and His mercy is everlasting.
934 Small practices for Lent. Although I wish and desire
to do so, I cannot practice big
mortification's as before, because I am under the strict
surveillance of the doctor. But I can practice little things: first-sleep
without a pillow; keep myself a little hungry; every day, with my arms
outstretched, say the chaplet which the Lord taught me; occasionally, with
arms outstretched, for an indefinite period of time pray informally.
Intention: to beg divine mercy for poor sinners, and for priests, the power
to bring sinful hearts to repentance.
1052 O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church:
Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit, and give power to the words of
priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to
You, O Lord. Lord, give us holy priests; You yourself maintain them in
holiness. O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Your mercy
accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares
which are continually being set for the souls of priests. May the power of
Your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the
sanctity of priests, for You can do all things.
1248 I experience a desire to make reparation to the Lord
Jesus in a way which corresponds [to the offense]. Today I wore a chain belt
for seven hours in order to obtain the grace of repentance for that soul. In
the seventh hour I felt relief as the soul experienced interiorly the
remission of its sin, although it had not yet gone to confession. For sins of
the flesh, I mortify the body and fast to the degree that I am permitted. For
sins of pride, I pray with my forehead touching the floor. For sins of
hatred, I pray and do some good deed for a person whom I find difficult. And
thus I make amends according to the nature of the sin of which I am aware.
1521 The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of
proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which
burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners
will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable
mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who
proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their
words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak.
1698 l often attend upon the dying and through entreaties
obtain for them trust in God's mercy, and I implore God for an abundance of
divine grace, which is always victorious. God's mercy sometimes touches the
sinner at the last moment in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it
seems as if everything were lost, but it is not so. The soul, illumined by a
ray of God's powerful final grace, turns to God in the last moment with such
a power of love that, in an instant, it receives from God forgiveness of sin
and punishment, while outwardly it shows no sign either of repentance or of
contrition, because souls [at that stage] no longer react to external things.
Oh, how beyond comprehension is God's mercy! But-horror!- there are also
souls who voluntarily and consciously reject and scorn this grace! Although a
person is at the point of death, the merciful God gives the soul that
interior vivid moment, so that if the soul is willing, it has the possibility
of returning to God. But sometimes, the obduracy in souls is so great that
consciously they choose hell; they [thus] make useless all the prayers that
other souls offer to God for them and even the efforts of God Himself...
1702 Towards the end of the Way of the Cross which I was
making, the Lord Jesus began to complain about the souls of religious and
priests, about the lack of love in chosen souls. I will allow
convents and churches to be destroyed. I answered, "Jesus, but there
are so many souls praising You in convents." The Lord answered, That
praise wounds My Heart, because love has been banished from convents.
Souls without love and without devotion, souls full of egoism and
self-love, souls full of pride and arrogance, souls full of deceit and
hypocrisy, lukewarm souls who have just enough warmth to keep them
alive: My Heart cannot bear this. All the graces that I pour out upon
them flow off them as off the face of a rock. I cannot stand them, because
they are neither good or bad. I called convents into being to sanctify the
world through them. It is from them that a powerful flame of love and
sacrifice should burst forth. And if they do not repent and become
enkindled by their first love, I will deliver them over to the fate of
this world...
How can they sit on the promised throne of judgment to
judge the world, when
their guilt is greater than the guilt of the world? There
is neither penance nor
atonement. O heart, which received Me in the morning and
at noon are all ablaze
with hatred against Me, hatred of all sorts! O heart
specially chosen by Me, were
you chosen for this, to give Me more pain? The great sins
of the world are
superficial wounds on My Heart, but the sins of a chosen
soul pierce My Heart
through and through...
1728 Write: I am Thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest
sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents,
there is no limit to My generosity toward it. My mercy embraces and justifies
it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart
rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed
My Heart and rejoice at their return.
Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run
away from My Merciful
Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners
that I am always waiting for
them, that I listen intently to the beating of their
heart... when will it beat for Me?
Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of
conscience, through
their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms,
through the voice of the
Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin
to be angry with them,
leaving them alone and giving them what they want.
1766 During this reading, my soul was filled with deep
repentance. I saw all the ingratitude of creatures toward their Creator and
Lord; I asked God to protect me from spiritual blindness.
Conference on Sacrifice and Prayer.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-117, 146, 180, 282, 362, 388, 423)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-717, 793, 852, 908, 934)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1052)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1248)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1521)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1698, 1702, 1728, 1766)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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