Never Stop Seeking Holiness
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Thursday of the
First Week of Lent
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Father Alex Yeung, LC
Matthew 7:7-12
"Ask and it
will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would
hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he
asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to
those who ask him. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This
is the law and the prophets.”
Introductory Prayer: Heavenly Father, I take these moments to adore You and to enter
into Your loving presence. I dare to tell You I believe in You, although You
know how weak my faith is. You are the reason for all my hope in life. Lord,
I count on You as I strive to love You more totally and to attain the
holiness of life to which You have called me. Amen.
Petition: Lord, teach me how to pray.
1. The Shortcut to
Holiness: As Pope John Paul II reminds us, “The royal and indispensable wayto
advance on the path of holiness is prayer:being with the Lord, we become
friends of the Lord, his attitude gradually becomes our attitude and his
heart our heart” (Address to the Priests of the Diocese of Rome, March 6,
2003). Again we are confronted with that fundamental principle of our
sanctification: “He must increase, and I must decrease” (Cf. John 3:30).
Christ must become more and more in us. That’s what genuine prayer
accomplishes, if that prayer consists of a one-on-one conversation with the
Savior that engages heart, mind and will. Could it be the case that I am
seeking holiness without having firmly decided to anchor each day, indeed my
entire life, in prayer?
2. Trust Like Little
Children: Why is it that the prospect of our personal holiness seems so
outlandish to us? Why are we so inwardly reluctant to believe that God, the
almighty, the all-powerful, who created us from nothing, can also sanctify
us? Maybe the part that discourages us is our unwillingness to jump headlong
into that part of our sanctification that depends on us. But even here,
Christ urges us to pray with confidence: “If you then, who are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven
give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). Is it too much to
believe and trust that God will strengthen our will in the pursuit of holiness?
Will his grace fail us if we ask for holiness with complete trust and
childlike confidence?
3. What a
Combination! Prayer, holiness and apostolic fruitfulness are intrinsically linked.
If we, as lay apostles, wish to see fruit in all our apostolic endeavors, we
know it will depend in large part on our degree of holiness : our degree of
real union with God, the degree to which his divine life flows through us.
That divine life, given to us in baptism and increased through our
sacramental life, can be enhanced every day in personal prayer where our
thirst for God is not quenched, but rather greatly increased.
We should pray always, so that prayer will be the secret of our
holiness and apostolic fruitfulness.
Prayer continues to be the greatest power on earth. It must be at the
very center of our quest for holiness.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord Jesus, thank You
for this time of prayer. Thank You for teaching me interiorly, little by
little every day, how to pray more perfectly. For the sake of those men and
women, my brothers and sisters, whose own salvation is somehow mysteriously
linked to my life and to my fidelity to You, give me holiness! Amen.
Resolution: I will renew my
determination to make a daily prayer time, and make sure that this becomes,
or continues to be, a part of my daily routine.
Excerpts from the DIARY
of Saint Faustina Kowalska
27 First vows [First profession of temporary vows, April
30, 1928]. An ardent desire to empty myself for God by an active love, but a
love that would be imperceptible, even to the sisters closest to me.
However, even after the vows, darkness continued to reign in my soul for almost a half year. Once, when I was praying, Jesus pervaded all my soul, darkness melted away, and I heard these words within me: You are My joy; you are My heart's delight. From that moment I felt the Most Holy Trinity in my heart; that is to say, within myself. I felt that I was inundated with Divine light. Since then, my soul has been in intimate communion with God, like a child with its beloved Father.
55 1933. Spiritual Counsel Given Me by Father Andrasz,
S.J.
First: You must
not turn away from these interior inspirations, but always tell everything to
your confessor. If you recognize that these interior inspirations refer to
your own self; that is to say, they are for the good of your soul or for the
good of other souls, l urge you to follow them; and you must not neglect
them, but always do so in consultation with your confessor.
Second: If these inspirations are not in accord with the faith or the spirit of the Church, they must be rejected immediately as coming from the evil spirit. Third: If these inspirations do not refer to souls, in general, nor specifically to their good, you should not take them too seriously, and it would be better to even ignore them. But you should not make this decision by yourself, either one way or the other, as you can easily be led astray despite these great favors from God. Humility, humility, and ever humility, as we can do nothing of ourselves; all is purely and simply God's grace. You say to me that God demands great trust from souls; well then, you be the first to show this trust. And one more word-accept all this with serenity. Words of one of the confessors: "Sister, God is preparing many special graces for you, but try to make your life as clear as crystal before the Lord, paying no attention to what anyone else thinks about you. Let God suffice you; He alone." Toward the end of my novitiate, a confessor [perhaps Father Theodore] told me: "Go through life doing good, so that I could write on its pages: `She spent her life doing good.' May God bring this about in you." Another time the confessor said to me, "Comport yourself before God like the widow in the Gospel; although the coin she dropped into the box was of little value, it counted far more before God than all the big offerings of others." On another occasion the instruction I received was this: " Act in such a way that all those who come in contact with you will go away joyful. Sow happiness about you because you have received much from God; give, then, generously to others. They should take leave of you with their hearts filled with joy, even if they have no more than touched the hem of your garment. Keep well in mind the words I am telling you right now." Still another time he gave me the following recommendation: "Let God push your boat out into the deep waters, toward the unfathomable depths of the interior life." Here are a few words from a conversation I had with the Mother Directress [Mary Joseph] toward the end of my novitiate: "Sister, let simplicity and humility be the characteristic traits of your soul. Go through life like a little child, always trusting, always full of simplicity and humility, content with everything, happy in every circumstance. There, where others fear, you will pass calmly along, thanks to this simplicity and humility. Remember this, Sister, for your whole life: as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God's graces flow only into humble souls."
102 After some time, one of the sisters came into the cell
and found me almost dead. She was frightened and went to find the Directress
of Novices who, in the name of holy obedience ordered me to get up from the
ground. My strength returned immediately, and I got up, trembling. The
Directress recognized immediately the state of my soul and spoke to me about
the inscrutable mercy of God, saying, "Do not be distressed about
anything, Sister. I command this of you in virtue of obedience." Then she
said to me, "I see now, Sister, that God is calling you to a high degree
of holiness; the Lord wants to draw you very close to Himself since He has
allowed these things to happen to you so soon. Be faithful to God, Sister,
because this is a sign that He wants you to have a high place in
heaven." However, I did not understand anything of these words. When I
went into the chapel, I felt as though my soul had been set free from
everything, as though I had just come forth from the hand of God. I perceived
the inviolability of my soul; I felt that I was a tiny child.
116 My Jesus, You know what my soul goes through at the
recollection of these sufferings. I have often marvelled that the angels and
saints hold their peace at the sight of a soul suffering like that. Yet they
have special love for us at such moments. My soul has often cried out after
God, as a little child who cries as loudly as he can when his mother covers
her face and he cannot recognize her. O my Jesus, honor and glory to You for
these trials of love! Great and incomprehensible is your mercy. All that You
intended for my soul, O Lord, is steeped in Your mercy.
118 The tongue is a small member, but it
does big things. A religious who does not keep silence will never attain
holiness; that is, she will never become a saint. Let her not delude
herself-unless it is the Spirit of God who is speaking through her, for then
she must not keep silent. But, in order to hear the voice of God, one has to
have silence in one's soul and to keep silence; not a gloomy silence, but an
interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God. One can speak a great
deal without breaking silence and, on the contrary, one can speak little and
be constantly breaking silence. Oh, what irreparable damage is done by the
breach of silence! We cause a lot of harm to our neighbor, but even more to
our own selves.
In my opinion, and according to my
experience, the rule concerning silence should stand in the very first place.
God does not give himself to a chattering soul which, like a drone in a
beehive, buzzes around but gathers no honey. A talkative soul is empty
inside. It lacks both the essential virtues and intimacy with God. A deeper interior
life, one of gentle peace and of that silence where the Lord dwells, is quite
out of the question. A soul that has never tasted the sweetness of inner
silence is a restless spirit which disturbs the silence of others. I have
seen many souls in the depths of hell for not having kept their silence; they
told me so themselves when I asked them what was the cause of their undoing.
These were souls of religious. My God, what an agony it is to think that not
only might they have been in heaven, but they might even have become saints!
O Jesus, have mercy!
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.
148 +A noble and delicate soul, even the most simple, but
one of delicate sensibilities, sees God in everything, finds Him everywhere,
and knows how to find Him in even the most hidden things. It finds all things
important, it highly appreciates all things, it thanks God for all things, it
draws profit for the soul from all things, and it gives all glory to God. It
places its trust in God and is not confused when the time of ordeals comes.
It knows that God is always the best of Fathers and makes little of human
opinion. It follows faithfully the faintest breath of the Holy Spirit; it
rejoices in this Spiritual Guest and holds onto Him like a child to its
mother. Where other souls come to a standstill and fear, this soul passes on
without fear or difficulty.
184 +Holy Hour. During this
hour, l tried to meditate on the Lord's Passion. But my soul was filled with
joy, and suddenly I saw the Child Jesus. But His majesty penetrated me to
such an extent that I said, "Jesus, You are so little, and yet I know
that You are my Creator and Lord." And Jesus answered me, I am, and I
keep company with you as a child to teach you humility and simplicity.
I gathered all my sufferings and difficulties into a bouquet for Jesus for the day of our perpetual betrothal. Nothing was difficult for me, when I remembered it was for my Betrothed as proof of my love for Him.
209 In my sufferings, I do not seek help from creatures,
but God is everything to me. And yet, it often seems that even the Lord does
not hear me. I arm myself with patience and silence, like a dove that does
not complain and feels no bitterness when its children are being taken away
from it. I want to soar into the very heat of the sun, and I do not want to
stop in its vapors. I will not grow weary, because it is on You that I am
leaning-O You, my Strength!
219 In the evening, the Lord said to me, My daughter,
let nothing frighten or disconcert you. Remain deeply at peace. Everything is
in My hands. I will give you to understand everything through Father Andrasz.
Be like a child towards him.
A Moment Before the Blessed Sacrament.
220 O my eternal Lord and Creator, how am I going to thank You for this great favor; namely, that You have deigned to choose miserable me to be Your betrothed and that You are to unite me to yourself in an eternal bond? O dearest Treasure of my heart, I offer You all the adoration and thanksgiving of the Saints and of all the choirs of Angels, and I unite myself in a special way with Your Mother. O Mary, my Mother, I humbly beg of You, cover my soul with Your virginal cloak at this very important moment of my life, so that thus I may become dearer to Your Son and may worthily praise Your Son's mercy before the whole world and throughout all eternity.
227 +In the midst of trials I will try to see the loving
hand of God. Nothing is as constant as suffering-it always faithfully keeps
the soul company. O Jesus, I will let no one surpass me in loving You!
+O Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, 228 You see that in pronouncing my perpetual vows I am leaving the novitiate[68] today. Jesus, You know how weak and little I am, and so from today on, I am entering Your novitiate in a very special way. I continue to be a novice, but Your novice, Jesus, and You will be my Master to the last day. Daily I will attend lectures at Your feet. I will not do the least thing by myself, without consulting You first as my Master. Jesus, how happy I am that You yourself have drawn me and taken me into Your novitiate; that is to say, into the tabernacle. In making my perpetual vows, I have by no means become a perfect nun. No, no! I am still a weak little novice of Jesus, and I must strive to acquire perfection as I did in the first days of the novitiate, and I will make every effort to keep the same disposition of soul which I had on that first day the convent gate opened to admit me. With the trust and simplicity of a small child, I give myself to You today, O Lord Jesus, my Master. I leave You complete freedom in directing my soul. Guide me along the paths You wish. I won't question them. I will follow You trustingly. Your merciful Heart can do all things! The little novice of Jesus-Sister Faustina. 229 +At the beginning of the retreat, Jesus told me, During this retreat, I myself will direct your soul. I want to confirm you in peace and love. And so the first few days passed by. On the fourth day, doubts began to trouble me: Is not this tranquillity of mine false? Then I heard these words, My daughter, imagine that you are the sovereign of all the world and have the power to dispose of all things according to your good pleasure. You have the power to do all the good you want, and suddenly a little child knocks on your door, all trembling and in tears and, trusting in your kindness, asks for a piece of bread lest he die of starvation. What would you do for this child? Answer Me, my daughter. And I said, "Jesus, I would give the child all it asked and a thousand times more. "And the Lord said to me, That is how I am treating your soul. In this retreat I am giving you, not only peace, but also such a disposition of soul that even if you wanted to experience uneasiness you could not do so. My love has taken possession of your soul, and I want you to be confirmed in it. Bring your ear close to My Heart, forget everything else, and meditate upon My wondrous mercy. My love will give you the strength and courage you need in these matters. 230 Jesus, living Host, You are my Mother, You are my all! It is with simplicity and love, with faith and trust that I will always come to You, O Jesus! I will share everything with You, as a child with its loving mother, my joys and sorrows-in a word, everything.
240 Three requests on the day of my perpetual vows. Jesus,
I know that today You will refuse me nothing.
First request: Jesus, my most beloved Spouse, I beg You for the triumph of the Church, particularly in Russia and in Spain; for blessings on the Holy Father, Pius XI, and on all the clergy; for the grace of conversion for impenitent sinners. And I ask You for a special blessing and for light, O Jesus, for the priests before whom I will make my confessions throughout my lifetime. Second request :I beg Your blessings on our Congregation, and may it be filled with great zeal. Bless, O Jesus, our Mother General and our Mother Directress, all the novices and all the superiors. Bless my dearest parents. Bestow Your grace, O Jesus, on our wards; strengthen them so powerfully by Your grace so that those who leave our houses will no longer offend You by any sin. Jesus, I beg You for my homeland; protect it against the assaults of its enemies. Third request:Jesus, I plead with You for the souls that are most in need of prayer. I plead for the dying; be merciful to them. I also beg You, Jesus, to free all souls from purgatory. Jesus, I commend to You these particular persons: My confessors, persons recommended to my prayers, a certain person..., Father Andrasz, Father Czaputa, and the priest I met in Vilnius [Father Sopocko], who is to be my confessor, a certain soul... a certain priest, a certain religious[70] to whom You know how much I owe, Jesus, and all the people who have been recommended to my prayer. Jesus, on this day You can do everything for those for whom I am pleading. For myself I ask, Lord, transform me completely into Yourself, maintain in me a holy zeal for Your glory, give me the grace and spiritual strength to do Your holy will in all things. Thank You, o my dearest Bridegroom, for the dignity You have conferred on me, and in particular for the royal coat-of-arms which will adorn me from this day on and which even the Angels do not possess; namely, the cross, the sword and the crown of thorns. But above all, O my Jesus, I thank You for Your Heart-it is all I need. Mother of God, Most Holy Mary, my Mother, You are my Mother in a special way now because Your beloved Son is my Bridegroom, and thus we are both Your children. For Your Son's sake, You have to love me. O Mary, my dearest Mother, guide my spiritual life in such a way that it will please Your Son. +Holy and Omnipotent God, at this moment of immense grace by which You are uniting me with Yourself forever, I, mere nothingness, with the utmost gratitude, cast myself at Your feet like a tiny, unknown flower and, each day, the fragrance of that flower of love will ascend to Your throne. In times of struggle and suffering, of darkness and storm, of yearning and sorrow, in times of difficult trials, in times when nobody will understand me, when I will even be condemned and scorned by everyone, I will remember the day of my perpetual vows, the day of God's incomprehensible grace.
242 +O God, how much I desire to be a small child.[71] You are my Father, and You know how little
and weak I am. So I beg You, keep me close by Your side all my life and
especially at the hour of my death. Jesus, I know that Your goodness
surpasses the goodness of a most tender mother.
244 Now a gray, ordinary day has begun. The solemn hours
of the perpetual vows have passed, but God's great grace has remained in my
soul. I feel I am all God's; I feel I am His child, I feel I am wholly God's
property. I experience this in a way that can be physically sensed. I am
completely at peace about everything, because I know it is the Spouse's
business to look after me. I have forgotten about myself completely. My trust
placed in His Most Merciful Heart has no limit. I am continuously united with
Him. It seems to me as though Jesus could not be happy without me, nor could
I without Him. Although I understand that, being God, He is happy in himself
and has absolutely no need of any creature, still, His goodness compels Him
to give himself to the creature, and with a generosity which is beyond
understanding.
245 My Jesus, I will now strive to give honor and glory to Your Name, doing battle till the day on which You yourself will say, enough! Every soul You have entrusted to me, Jesus, I will try to aid with prayer and sacrifice, so that Your grace can work in them. O great lover of souls, my Jesus, I thank You for this immense confidence with which You have deigned to place souls in our care. O you days of work and of monotony, you are not monotonous to me at all, for each moment brings me new graces and opportunity to do good.
260 I had permission to visit Czestochowa while on my
journey. I saw the Mother of God [image] for the first time, when I went to
attend the unveiling of the image at five in the morning. I prayed without
interruption until eleven, and it seemed to me that I had just come. The
superior of the house there [Mother Serafin[75]] sent a sister for me, to tell me to come
to breakfast and said she was worried that I would miss my train. The Mother
of God told me many things. I entrusted my perpetual vows to Her. I felt that
I was her child and that She was my Mother. She did not refuse any of my
requests.
264 +O my Jesus, keep me near to You! See how weak I am! I
cannot go a step forward by myself; so You, Jesus, must stand by me
constantly like a mother by a helpless child-and even more so.
274 Jesus gave me the grace of knowing myself. In this
divine light I see my principal fault; it is pride which takes the form of my
closing up within myself and of a lack of simplicity in my relations with
Mother Superior [Irene].
The second light concerns speaking. I sometimes talk too much. A thing could be settled in one or two words, and as for me, I take too much time about it. But Jesus wants me to use that time to say some short indulgenced prayers for the souls in purgatory. And the Lord says that every word will be weighed on the day of judgment. The third light concerns our rules. I have not sufficiently avoided the occasions that lead to breaking the rules, especially that of silence. I will act as if the rule were written just for me; it should not affect me at all how anyone else might act, as long as I myself act as God wishes. Resolution. Whatever Jesus demands of me regarding external things, I will immediately go and tell my superiors. I shall strive for childlike openness and frankness in my relations with the superior.
275 Jesus loves hidden souls. A hidden flower is the most
fragrant. I must strive to make the interior of my soul a resting place for
the Heart of Jesus. In difficult and painful moments, O my Creator, I sing
You a hymn of trust, for bottomless is the abyss of my trust in You and in
Your mercy!
God, One in the Holy Trinity.
283 I want to love You as no human soul has ever loved You before; and although I am utterly miserable and small, I have nevertheless cast the anchor of my trust deep down into the abyss of Your mercy, O my God and Creator! In spite of my great misery I fear nothing, but hope to sing You a hymn of glory forever. Let no soul, even the most miserable, fall prey to doubt; for, as long as one is alive, each one can become a great saint, so great is the power of God's grace. It remains only for us not to oppose God's action.
284 O Jesus, if only I could become like mist before Your
eyes, to cover the earth so that You would not see its terrible crimes.
Jesus, when I look at the world and its indifference towards You, again and
again it brings tears to my eyes; but when I look at a cold soul of a
religious, my heart bleeds.
295 +At that moment Jesus asked me, My child, how is
your retreat going? I answered, "But Jesus, You know how it is
going." Yes, I know, but I want to hear it from your own lips and
from your heart. "O my Master, when You are leading me, everything
goes smoothly, and I ask You, Lord, to never leave my side." And Jesus
said, Yes, I will be with you always, if you always remain a little child
and fear nothing. As I was your beginning here, so I will also be your end.
Do not rely on creatures, even in the smallest things, because this
displeases Me. I want to be alone in your soul. I will give light and
strength to your soul, and you will learn from My representative that I am in
you, and your uncertainty will vanish like mist before the rays of the sun.
296 +O Supreme Good, I want to love You as no one on earth
has ever loved You before! I want to adore You with every moment of my life
and unite my will closely to Your holy will. My life is not drab or
monotonous, but it is varied like a garden of fragrant flowers, so that I
don't know which flower to pick first, the lily of suffering or the rose of
love of neighbor or the violet of humility. I will not enumerate these treasures
in which my every day abounds. It is a great thing to know how to make use of
the present moment.
297 +Jesus, Supreme Light, grant me the grace of knowing
myself, and pierce my dark soul with Your light, and fill the abyss of my
soul with Your own self, for You alone [...]
298 O my Jesus, the Life, the Way and the Truth, I beg You
to keep me close to You as a mother holds a baby to her bosom, for I am not
only a helpless child, but an accumulation of misery and nothingness.
306 I asked the Lord to grant me the grace that my nature
be immune and resist the influences that sometimes try to draw me away from
the spirit of our rule and from the minor regulations. These minor
transgressions are like little moths that try to destroy the spiritual life within
us, and they surely will destroy it if the soul is aware of these minor
transgressions and yet disregards them as small things. I can see nothing
that is small in the religious life. Little matter if I am sometimes the
object of vexation and jeers, as long as my spirit remains in harmony with
the spirit of the rules, the vows and the religious statutes.
O my Jesus, delight of my heart, You know my desires. I should like to hide from people's sight so as to be like one alive and yet not living. I want to live pure as a wild flower; I want my love always to be turned to You, just as a flower that is always turning to the sun. I want the fragrance and the freshness of the flower of my heart to be always preserved for You alone. I want to live beneath Your divine gaze, for You alone are enough for me. When I am with You, Jesus, I fear nothing, for nothing can do me harm.
332
+Thursday. When I started the Holy Hour, I wanted to immerse myself in the
agony of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. Then I heard a voice in my soul:
Meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation. And suddenly the Infant Jesus
appeared before me, radiant with beauty. He told me how much God is pleased
with simplicity in a soul. Although My greatness is beyond understanding,
I commune only with those who are little. I demand of you a childlike spirit.
333 I
now see clearly how God acts through the confessor and how faithfully He
keeps His promises. Two weeks ago, my confessor told me to reflect upon this
spiritual childhood. It was somewhat difficult at first, but my confessor,
disregarding my difficulties, told me to continue to reflect upon spiritual
childhood. "In practice, this spiritual childhood," [he said,]
"should manifest itself in this way: a child does not worry about the
past or the future, but makes use of the present moment. I want to emphasize
that spiritual childlikeness in you, Sister, and I place great stress upon
it." I can see how God bows down to my confessor's wishes; He does not
show himself to me at this time as a Teacher in the fullness of His strength
and human adulthood, but as a little Child. The God who is beyond all
understanding stoops to me under the appearance of a little Child.
334 But
the eye of my soul does not stop at this appearance. Although You take the
form of a little Child, I see in You the immortal, infinite Lord of lords,
whom pure spirits adore, day and night, and for whom the hearts of the
Seraphim burn with the fire of purest love. O Christ, O Jesus, I want to
surpass them in my love for You! I apologize to you, O pure spirits, for my
boldness in comparing myself to you. I, this chasm of misery, this abyss of
misery; and You, O God, who are the incomprehensible abyss of mercy, swallow
me up as the heat of the sun swallows up a drop of dew! A loving look from
You will fill up any abyss. I feel immensely happy at the greatness of God.
Seeing God's greatness is more than enough to make me happy throughout all
eternity!
335 Once, when I saw Jesus in
the form of a small child, I asked, "Jesus, why do you now take on the
form of a child when You commune with me? In spite of this, I still see in
You the infinite God, my Lord and Creator. Jesus replied that until I learned
simplicity and humility, He would commune with me as a little child.
497 O Eternal Truth, Word Incarnate, who most
faithfully fulfilled Your Father's will, today I am becoming a martyr of Your
inspirations, since I cannot carry them out because I have no will of my own,
though interiorly I see Your will clearly. I submit in everything to the will
of my superiors and my confessor. I will follow Your will insofar as You will
permit me to do so through Your representative. O my Jesus, it cannot be
helped, but I give priority to the voice of the Church over the voice with
which You speak to me.
567 All the sisters should
respect the superior as the Lord Jesus himself, as I mentioned when speaking
about the vow of obedience. They should behave toward her with childlike
trust, and should never murmur or find fault with her commands, as this is
very displeasing to God. Let each be guided by a spirit of faith in her
relationship to superiors; let her ask with simplicity for all that she
needs. God forbid that it ever happen or be repeated that any of the sisters
would be a cause of sorrow or tears to the superior. Let each one know that
as the fourth commandment obliges a child to honor its parents, in like
manner is the religious bound to respect her superior. Only a bad religious
would take the liberty of judging her superior. Let the sisters be sincere
with the superior, telling her about everything and about their needs with
childlike simplicity.
The sisters will address the superior thus: "With your leave, Sister Superior." They shall never kiss her hand, but whenever they meet her in the corridor or enter her cell, they should say, "Praised be Jesus Christ," bowing their heads slightly. They shall address each other as "Sister," adding the proper name. Their relationship toward the superior should be marked by a spirit of faith and not by sentimentality or flattery, as these are unworthy of a religious and would degrade her very much. A religious should be as free as a queen, and will be such only when she lives in the spirit of faith. We should obey and respect the superior, not because she is good, holy or prudent, but solely because she represents God, and by obeying her we are obeying God himself.
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I- 27, 55, 102, 116, 118, 146, 148, 184)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-209, 219, 220, 227-230, 240, 242, 244)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-245, 260, 264, 274-275, 283-284)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-295-298, 306, 332-335, 497)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-567)
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I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory. (Notebook I-48)
I desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for souls, and you will understand this when you meditate upon My Passion. Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: "O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You."
(Notebook I-186-187)
I desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for souls, and you will understand this when you meditate upon My Passion. Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: "O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You."
(Notebook I-186-187)
Pebrero 21, 2013
Never Stop Seeking Holiness-Divine Mercy Miracles Meditations
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