The Awesome Presence
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Thursday after
Epiphany
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Luke 4:14-22
Jesus returned to
Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the
whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came
to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the
synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of
the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was
written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the
synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this scripture
passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and
were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
Introductory Prayer:
Lord, welcome into
the temple of my soul. I know that You will root up and tear down, heal and
sanctify, making there a holy and righteous place that has always been
intended for You. Only You have the power to unlock the sanctuary of my
heart; only You build what will last forever. I trustfully open my entire
self to You now, so that Your words can shape my thoughts, so that Your love
can penetrate my heart, so that no disorder of soul may remain in me.
Petition: Lord, grant me a greater reverence for You.
1. He Returned in
the Power of the Spirit: The
Spirit appears in the world to unite heaven’s plan to that of earth, and it
does so here with every move of Christ. Christ’s whole mission is nothing other
than the fulfillment of the passage he reads. Our vocation in life is nothing
other than fulfilling our baptismal commission by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord
shows himself, therefore, to be no one-man show. He, the Son, is sent and
works in communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and from here all his
fruitfulness and power flows. Our mission must truly make us feel “sent.” It
compels us to bear fruit through acts of obedience and love. Heaven seeks to
deliver its plan to me in this prayer. May I be attentive to all that the
Holy Spirit prompts me to do.
2. “He Unrolled the
Scroll…. ‘Today This Passage Is Fulfilled in Your Hearing’”: Man is given a response to the eternal
question found in Revelation 5:2: "Who is worthy to open the scroll and
break its seals?” Contemplate this solemn moment when the Word reveals
himself among men: Many could read from the scroll, but only one was worthy
to unlock its salvific power. Many could recite the texts, but only one could
set them ablaze in their hearts. Many could preach with fascination, but only
one could satisfy their hunger for the fullness of truth. Our words are an
empty breath without Christ’s voice; our labors are to no end, if our actions
are not Christ’s. Only one person by right can change the human heart, and we
in truth can only be apostles when Christ is the one who moves our hand.
3. All Were Amazed
at the Words That Came from His Mouth: The precise nature of these words is not revealed to us here,
as if to mean that the person of Christ himself is the revelation. Christ, in
the totality of his person, comes to lighten our burdens and lift our spirits
in a way no teaching, no miraculous event, no cure left to itself ever could.
Divine providence has secured for us many goods in life, but all goods fail
us if they do not come with Christ in all the power and intimacy that is
God-among-us.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, I seek to
revere You and honor You as the center of my life. I work now with a holy
ambition to ensure Your throne is firmly established in my heart. Teach me to
let nothing usurp what belongs to You in my life. Let me not build a life of
empty self-sufficiency, lest I lose the experiences of Your power and grace I
could have.
Resolution: I will visit our Lord in the Eucharist today
for the sake of honoring him for his greatness and thanking him for His
active presence in my life.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
50 +I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of
Mine towards souls of sinners. Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me.
The flames of mercy are burning Me - clamoring to be spent; I want to pour
them out upon these souls.
Jesus complained to me in these words, Distrust on the part of souls is tearing at My insides. The distrust of a chosen soul causes Me even greater pain; despite My inexhaustible love for them they do not trust Me. Even My death is not enough for them. Woe to the soul that abuses these [gifts].
248 The words of the Bishop [Rospond[73]], spoken at the ceremony of the taking of
perpetual vows: "Accept this candle as a sign of heavenly light and of
burning love." While giving the ring: "I betroth you to Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Father Most High; may He keep you unblemished. Take
this ring as a sign of the eternal covenant you are making with Christ, the
Spouse of Virgins. May it be for you the ring of faith and the sign of the
Holy Spirit, that you may be called the bride of Christ and, if you serve Him
faithfully, be crowned [as such] for all eternity.
301 Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of
God. All the works of My hands are crowned with 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.
376 My Jesus, I trust that Your grace will help me to
carry out these resolutions. Although the above points are contained in the
vow of obedience, I want to practice these things in a special way, because
this is the essence of the religious life. Merciful Jesus, I beg You
fervently to enlighten my mind so that I may come to know You better, You who
are the Infinite Being, and that I may get to know myself better, who am
nothingness itself.
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 adorations, 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.
389 Love must be reciprocal. If Jesus tasted the fullness
of bitterness for me, then I, His bride, will accept all bitterness as proof
of my love for Him.
391 Through Holy Baptism, we entered into union with other
souls. Death tightens the bonds of love. I ought always to be of help to
others. If I am a good religious, I will be useful, not only to the Order,
but to the whole Country as well.
392 The Lord God grants His graces in two ways: by
inspiration and by enlightenment. If we ask God for a grace, He will give it
to us; but let us be willing to accept it. And in order to accept it,
self-denial is needed. Love does not consist in words or feelings, but in
deeds. It is an act of the will; it is a gift; that is to say, a giving. The
reason, the will, the heart-these three faculties must be exercised during
prayer. I will rise from the dead in Jesus, but first I must live in Him. If
I do not separate myself from the Cross, then the Gospel will be revealed in
me. Jesus in me makes up for all my deficiencies. His grace operates without
ceasing. The Holy Trinity grants me Its life abundantly, by the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The Three Divine Persons live in me. When God loves, He loves
with all His Being, with all the power of His Being. If God has loved me in
this way, how should I respond I, His spouse?
393 During one conference, Jesus said to me, You are a
sweet grape in a chosen cluster; I want others to have a share in the juice
that is flowing within you.
525 O
Holy Trinity, in whom is contained the inner life of God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, eternal joy, inconceivable depth of love, poured
out upon all creatures and constituting their happiness, honor and glory be
to Your holy name forever and ever. Amen.
When I consider Your greatness and beauty, O my God, I rejoice exceedingly that the Lord I serve is so great. With love and joy I carry out His will, and the more I come to know Him, the more I desire to love Him. I burn with the desire to love Him ever more and more.
543
The duration of the postulancy. The postulancy will last one year. During
this time, the candidate should examine whether she is attracted to this type
of life and whether it is suitable to her. The directress should also
diligently consider whether or not the person in question is suitable for
this type of life. After a year, if the postulant shows evidence of a stable
will and an earnest desire to serve God, she should be admitted to the
novitiate.
699 On one occasion, I heard these words: My daughter,
tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of
Mercy [139] be a refuge and
shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very
depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon
those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to
Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of
sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which
grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its
sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of
angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that
exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every
soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout
eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is
My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter.
Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.
745 During Holy
Mass, I was so enveloped in the great interior fire of God's love and the
desire to save souls that I do not know how to express it. I feel I am all
aflame. I shall fight all evil with the weapon of mercy. I am being burned up
by the desire to save souls. I traverse the world's length and breadth and
venture as far as its ultimate limits and its wildest lands to save souls. I
do this through prayer and sacrifice. I want every soul to glorify the mercy
of God, for each one experiences the effects of that mercy on himself. The
Saints in heaven worship the mercy of the Lord. I want to worship it even
now, here on earth, and to spread devotion to it in the way that God demands
of me.
930 + O my Jesus, although I will go to You, and You will
fill me with Yourself, and that will make my happiness complete, I will
nevertheless not forget about humanity. I desire to draw aside the veils of
heaven, so that the earth would have no doubts about The Divine Mercy. My
repose is in proclaiming Your mercy. The soul gives the greatest glory to its
Creator when it turns with trust to The Divine Mercy.
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.
+ The
Love of God is the flower - Mercy the fruit.
1000
In the terrible desert of life,
O my sweetest Jesus, Protect souls from disaster, For You are the Fountain of Mercy. Let the resplendence of Your rays, O sweet Commander of our souls, Let mercy change the world. And you who have received this grace, serve Jesus. Steep is the great highway I must travel, But I fear nothing, For the pure fount of mercy is flowing for my sake, And, with it, strength for the humble soul. I am exhausted and worn out, But my conscience bears me witness That I do all for the greater glory of the Lord, The Lord who is my repose and my heritage. [End of Notebook Two of the Diary.]
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.
1076 Write this: Everything that exists is enclosed in
the bowels of My mercy, more deeply than an infant in its mother's womb. How
painfully distrust of My goodness wounds Me! Sins of distrust wound Me most
painfully.
1256 [August] 30.
Reverend Father Sopocko left this morning. When I was steeped in a prayer of thanksgiving
for the great grace that I had received from God; namely, that of seeing Father,
I became united in a special way with the Lord who said to me, He is a
priest after My own Heart; his efforts are pleasing to Me. You see, My
daughter, that My will must be done and that which I had promised you,
I shall do. Through him I spread comfort to suffering and careworn
souls. Through him it pleased Me to proclaim the worship of My mercy.
And through this work of mercy more souls will come close to Me than
otherwise would have, even if he had kept giving absolution day and
night for the rest of his life, because by so doing, he would have labored
only for as long as he lived; whereas, thanks to this work of mercy,
he will be laboring till the end of the world.
1286 + Thank You, O God, for
all the graces
Which unceasingly You lavish upon me, Graces which enlighten me with the brilliance of the sun, For by them You show me the sure way. Thank You, 0 Lord, for creating me, For calling me into being from nothingness, For imprinting Your divinity on my soul, The work of sheer merciful love. Thank You, O God, for Holy Baptism Which en grafted me into Your family, A gift great beyond all thought or expression Which transforms my soul. Thank You, O Lord, for Holy Confession, For that inexhaustible spring of great mercy, For that inconceivable fountain of graces In which sin-tainted souls become purified. Thank You, O Jesus, for Holy Communion In which You give us Yourself. I feel Your Heart beating within my breast As You cause Your divine life to unfold within me. Thank You, O Holy Spirit, for the Sacrament of Confirmation, Which dubs me Your knight And gives strength to my soul at each moment, Protecting me from evil. Thank You, O God, for the grace of a vocation. For being called to serve You alone, Leading me to make You my sole love, An unequal honor for my soul. Thank You, O Lord, for perpetual vows, For that union of pure love, For having deigned to unite Your pure heart with mine And uniting my heart to Yours in the purest of bonds. Thank You, O Lord, for the Sacrament of Anointing Which, in my final moments, will give me strength; My help in battle, my guide to salvation, Fortifying my soul till we rejoice forever. Thank You, O God, for all the inspirations That Your goodness lavishes upon me, For the interior lights given my soul, Which the heart senses, but words cannot express. Thank You, O Holy Trinity, for the vastness of the graces Which You have lavished on me unceasingly through life. My gratitude will intensify as the eternal dawn rises, When, for the first time, I sing to Your glory.
1300 When I looked
at this image, I was pierced with such a lively love for God that, for a moment,
I did not know where I was. When we had finished our business, we went to the
Church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. We attended Holy Mass, during which the
Lord gave me to know what a great number of souls would attain salvation
through this work. Then I entered into an intimate conversation with the Lord,
thanking Him for having condescended to grant me the grace of seeing how the
veneration of His unfathomable mercy is spreading. I immersed myself in a
profound prayer of thanksgiving. Oh, how great is God's generosity! Blessed
be the Lord, who is faithful in His promises...
1519 + Today before
Holy Communion, the Lord said to me, My daughter, today talk openly to the
Superior [Mother Irene] about My mercy because, of all the superiors,
she has taken the greatest part in proclaiming My mercy. And in fact,
Mother Superior came this afternoon, and we talked about this Work of
God. Mother told me that the images had not come out too well and were
not selling very well. "But," she said, "I have taken a good
quantity myself and am distributing them wherever I can and do the best I can
to spread the Work of Mercy." When she had gone, the Lord gave me
to know how pleasing this soul was to Him.
1540 January 28,
1938. Today the Lord said to me, My daughter, write down these words: All
those souls who will glorify My mercy and spread its worship, encouraging others
to trust in My mercy, will not experience terror at the hour of death. My mercy
will shield them in that final battle...
1548 January 30,
1938. One-day retreat.
The Lord gave me to
know, during meditation, that as long as my heart beats in my breast, I must
always strive to spread the Kingdom of God on earth. I am to fight for the
glory of my Creator. I know that I will give God the glory He expects of me
if I try faithfully to cooperate with God's grace.
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.
1710 May 26, [1938-Feast of the Ascension]. Today I
accompanied the Lord Jesus as He ascended into heaven. It was about noon. I
was overcome by a great longing for God. It is a strange thing, the more I
felt God's presence, the more ardently I desired Him. Then I saw myself in
the midst of a huge crowd of disciples and apostles, together with the Mother
of God. Jesus was telling them to... Go out into the whole world and teach
in My name. He stretched out His hands and blessed them and disappeared
in a cloud. I saw the longing of Our Lady. Her soul yearned for Jesus with
the whole force of Her love. But She was so peaceful and so united to the
will of God that there was not a stir in Her heart but for what God wanted.
1711 When I was left alone with the Blessed Virgin, She
instructed me concerning the interior life. She said, The soul's true
greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence,
completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because
the Lord is great, but He is well pleased only with the humble; He always
opposes the proud.
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.
1797
Today, the Lord came to me and said, My daughter, help Me to save souls.
You will go to a dying sinner, and you will continue to recite the chaplet,
and in this way you will obtain for him trust in My mercy, for he is already
in despair.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-50, 248, 301, 375-376, 378-379, 389)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-391-393)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-525, 543, 699, 745, 962, 930, 1000)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1074-1076, 1083)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1256, 1286, 1300)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1519, 1540, 1548)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1652, 1680, 1710-1711, 1749)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1796-1797)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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