True Worship
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Tuesday of the Fifth
Week of Ordinary Time
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Mark 7:1-13
Now when the
Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is,
unwashed, hands. [For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat
without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying
themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally
observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles (and beds).] So the
Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow
the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"
He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is
written: ´This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.´
You disregard God´s commandment but cling to human tradition." He went
on to say, "How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order
to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, ´Honor your father and your
mother,´ and ´Whoever curses father or mother shall die.´ Yet you say, ´If a person
says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is
qorban"´ (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more
for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your
tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things."
Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your Gospel and for all the truth it
teaches me. Thank You for warning me of attitudes and dispositions that could
become temptations for me. I love You for Your goodness and mercy, and I entrust
myself into Your loving hands.
Petition: Lord, help me to serve You sincerely, in
truth and in love.
1. “This people
honors me only with lip service, while their hearts are far from me.” Jesus calls his disciples to authenticity.
Too often so-called disciples give the impression of following him, while at
the same time accepting sensual loves and lusts in their heart. Although the
Pharisees display the outward trappings of holiness, the way they treat Jesus
and others betrays their true character. Jesus would call them “whitewashed
tombs” (Matthew 15:27): clean and bright on the outside, but full of dead
men’s bones within. Self-righteousness would be their downfall. Such
dispositions may lend the proud man certain short-term security, but it will
always be illusory since it is not rooted in the truth. Is there any way in
which I also pay tribute to God with my lips but say something else in my
heart, or behave contrariwise in my actions?
2. “The worship they
offer me is worthless.” True
worship begins with humility, when the soul recognizes that it possesses no
good in and of itself, but that all of its goodness comes from God. The
Pharisees offered no real worship to God since, in effect, they worshiped
only themselves by relying more on their talents and goodness than on the
goodness that comes from God. It is not insignificant that when Jesus
describes a Pharisee’s prayer in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax
collector, he says “The Pharisee prayed this prayer to himself” (Luke
18:11). How can I make sure that my prayer is truly devoted, meaning
that I am addressing Our Lord with the words of my heart?
3. "You make
God’s word null and void.” The Pharisees used the talents and gifts God had given them
not for God’s glory, but for their own personal gain, whether that gain
consisted of praise and admiration or personal comfort and ease. True worship
of God, truly placing God above all else, involves using the things God
created as means to reaching him. As number 226 of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church states, “It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the
only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it
brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns
us away from him:
My Lord
and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.”
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, thank You for my life and all the good
things You have given me. Help me to realize that You have created everything
and that all I have is from You. May I use all I have to serve others and as
a means to come closer to You, the source of all good.
Resolution: I will examine my conscience to see if I am
using any of my gifts and talents to glorify or serve only myself. If so,
I’ll strive to put these same gifts at the service of God
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.
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!
119 I tremble to think that I have to give an account of
my tongue. There is life, but there is also death in the tongue. Sometimes we
kill with the tongue: we commit real murders. And we are still to regard that
as a small thing? I truly do not understand such consciences. I have known a
person who, when she learned from someone that a certain thing was being said
about her, fell seriously ill. She lost a good deal of blood and shed many
tears, and the outcome was very sad. It was not the sword that did all this,
but the tongue. O my silent Jesus, have mercy on us!
120 I have wandered onto the subject of silence. But this
is not what I wanted to speak about, but rather about the soul's life with
God and about its response to grace. When a soul has been cleansed, and the
Lord is on intimate terms with it, it begins to apply all its inner force in
striving after God. Yet the soul cannot do anything of itself. God alone
arranges everything. The soul knows this and is mindful of it. It is still in
exile and understands well that there may yet come cloudy and rainy days, but
it must now look upon things differently from what it had up to now. It does
not seek reassurance in a false peace, but makes ready for battle. It knows
it comes from a warrior race. It is now much more aware of everything. It
knows that it is of royal stock. It is concerned with all that is great and
holy.
126 Yet, I resolved to bear everything in silence and to
give no explanations when I was questioned. Some were irritated by my
silence, especially those who were more curious. Others, who reflected more
deeply, said, "Sister Faustina must be very close to God if she has the
strength to bear so much suffering." It was as if I were facing two
groups of judges. I strove after interior and exterior silence. I said
nothing about myself, even though I was questioned directly by some sisters.
My lips were sealed. I suffered like a dove, without complaint. But some
sisters seemed to find pleasure in vexing me in whatever way they could. My
patience irritated them. But God gave me so much inner strength that I
endured it calmly.
163 JMJ The Year 1937
General Exercises +O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify Your mercy. +I want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection, 0 Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor. Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors' souls and come to their rescue. Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors' needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings. Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all. Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks. Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor. Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me. +You yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy. The first: the act of mercy, of whatever kind. The second: the word of mercy-if I cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words. The third: prayer-if I cannot show mercy by deeds or words, I can always do so by prayer. My prayer reaches out even there where I cannot reach out physically. O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself, for you can do all things. [four pages left blank][55]
169 My conversation with the Lord Jesus before the
retreat. Jesus told me that this retreat would be a little different from
others. You shall strive to maintain a profound peace in respect to your
communings with Me. I will remove all doubts in this regard. I know that you
are at peace now as I speak to you, but the moment I stop talking you will
start looking for doubts. But I want you to know that I will affirm your soul
to such a degree that even if you wanted to be troubled, it will not be
within your power. And as a proof that it is I who am speaking to you, you
will go to confession on the second day of the retreat to the priest who is
preaching the retreat; you will go to him as soon as he has finished his
conference and will present to him all your doubts concerning Me. I will
answer you through his lips, and then your fears will end. During this
retreat, observe such strict silence that it will be as though nothing exists
around you. You shall speak only to Me and to your confessor; you will ask your
superiors only for penances. I felt immense joy that the Lord would show
me such kindness and lower himself so much for my sake.
171 Struggle to keep silence. As usual, sisters from
various houses came to the retreat. One of the sisters whom I had not seen
for a long time, came to my cell and said she had something to tell me. I did
not answer her, and she saw that I did not want to break silence. She said to
me, "I didn't know you were such an eccentric, sister," and she
went away. I was well aware that she had no other business with me than to
satisfy her own curious self-love. O God, preserve me in faithfulness.
200 O Jesus, how
deeply it hurts the soul when it is always trying to be sincere and they
accuse it of hypocrisy and behave with mistrust toward it. O Jesus, You also
suffered like this to make satisfaction to Your Father.
226 The rules that I most often fail to obey: sometimes I
break silence; disobedience to the signal of the bell; sometimes I meddle in
other people's affairs. I will do my very best to improve.
I will avoid sisters who grumble, and if they cannot be avoided, I will at least keep silent before them, thus letting them know how sorry I am to hear such things. I must take no heed of the opinion of others, but obey the evidence of my own conscience and take God to be the witness of all my actions. I must do everything and act in all matters now as I would like to do and act at the hour of my death. For this reason, in every action I must be mindful of God. Avoid presumed permissions.[67] I must report [even] small things to my superiors, and do so in as much detail as is possible. I must be faithful in my spiritual exercises; I must not easily ask to be dispensed from them. I must keep silence outside the time of recreation, and avoid jokes and witty words that make others laugh and break silence. I must have great appreciation for even the most minute rules. I must not let myself become absorbed in the whirl of work, [but] take a break to look up to heaven. Speak little with people, but a good deal with God. Avoid familiarity. I must pay little attention as to who is for me and who is against me. I must not tell others about those things I have had to put up with. I must avoid speaking out loud to others during work. I must maintain peace and equanimity during times of suffering. In difficult moments I must take refuge in the wounds of Jesus; I must seek consolation, comfort, light and affirmation in the wounds of Jesus.
236 Oh, how misleading are appearances, and how unjust the
judgments. Oh, how often virtue suffers only because it remains silent. To be
sincere with those who are incessantly stinging us demands much self-denial.
One bleeds, but there are no visible wounds. O Jesus, it is only on the last
day that many of these things will be made known. What joy-none of our
efforts will be lost!
253 +I must never judge anyone,
but look at others with leniency and at myself with severity. I must refer
everything to God and, in my own eyes, recognize myself for what I am: utter
misery and nothingness. In suffering, I must be patient and quiet, knowing
that everything passes in time.
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 indulgence 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!
359 January 10, 1935. +Thursday. In the evening during
benediction,[85] such thoughts as
these began to distress me: Is not perhaps all this that I am saying about
God's great mercy just a lie or an illusion...? And I wanted to think about
this for a while, when I heard a strong and clear inner voice saying,
Everything that you say about My goodness is true; language has no adequate
expression to extol My goodness. These words were so filled with power
and so clear that I would give my life in declaring they came from God. I can
tell this by the profound peace that accompanied them at that time and that
still remains with me. This peace gives me such great strength and power that
all difficulties, adversities, sufferings, and death itself are as nothing.
This light gave me a glimpse of the truth that all my efforts to bring souls
to know the mercy of the Lord are very pleasing to God. And from this springs
such great joy in my soul that I do not know whether it could be any greater
in heaven. Oh, if souls would only be willing to listen, at least a little, to
the voice of conscience and the voicethat is, the inspirations-of the Holy
Spirit! I say "at least a little," because once we open ourselves
to the influence of the Holy Spirit, He himself will fulfill what is lacking
in us.
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.
396 My traveling companions were very kind; several women
of the Sodality of Mary were in the same compartment with me. I sensed that
one of them was suffering greatly and fighting a difficult battle in her
soul. l began to pray in spirit for this soul. At eleven o'clock these women
went to another compartment for a chat, leaving only the two of us behind in
the carriage. I could feel that my prayer was causing this soul's struggle to
become even fiercer. I did not console her, but prayed all the more
fervently. Finally, the lady turned to me and asked if she was obliged to
fulfill a certain promise which she had made to God. At that moment, I
received inner knowledge of the promise and replied, "You are absolutely
obliged to keep it, or else you will be miserable for the rest of your life.
This thought will pursue you everywhere and give you no peace."
Surprised at my answer, she opened her soul to me.
She was a schoolteacher. When she was about to take her examinations, she had promised God that if she did well in her examinations she would devote herself to His service; that is, enter a religious congregation. She passed the examinations very well. "But," she said, "when I entered into the hustle and bustle of the world, I no longer wanted to enter a convent. However, my conscience has given me no peace, and despite amusements I am always unhappy." After a lengthy conversation, she was completely changed and told me that she would immediately take steps to enter a convent. She asked me to pray for her, and I felt that God would be generous with His grace.
1579 + It is when I
meet with hypocrisy that I suffer most. Now I understand You, my Savior, for
rebuking the Pharisees so severely for their hypocrisy. You associated more
graciously with hardened sinners when they approached You contritely.
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.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-117-120 126, 163, 169, 171, 200)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-226, 236, 253, 254, 274-275)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-359, 375, 396)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-445, 449)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1579)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1702, 1728)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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