Our Turn
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Feast of Saint Mark,
evangelist
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Father Patrick Langan, LC
Mark 16: 15-20
And he said to them,
"Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not
believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe:
by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing,
it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will
recover." So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken
up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and
proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and
confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Introductory Prayer:
Lord, thank You for
taking the time to be with me. There are things in life, Lord, that attract
me, but You attract me more. I hope in You because You are always faithful to Your promises. Maybe I don’t fully understand what it means to love, and
maybe I don’t love the way I should, but I do love You.
Petition: Lord, help me to focus on what I can do to
tell others of Your love.
1. Christ: When Christ blesses, it happens. When he
takes yeast and kneads it with three measures of flour, it leavens the dough
all through. When he blesses the bread, it multiplies. When he blesses the
Eucharist, he is there for us. Christ blesses his apostles. These are not
just events of the past, for God’s word is a living word. He also wants to
bless me and my work. How can I draw down Christ’s blessing upon me, my
family, the people I love, and the work I do? All I have to do is ask him to
bless me and believe that he can and wants to. He will take care of the rest.
2. Apostles: Imagine the apostles talking after the
Ascension. Andrew might say to Peter, “Peter, Christ told us to preach
to all nations.” “You are right, Andrew, we need to go to the next town,”
Peter would agree. “No,” would urge Andrew, “we have to go to Athens and
Rome.” Peter might object, “Athens and Rome! But we don’t know anyone there.”
In an attempt to persuade him Andrew would add, “Peter, Jesus wanted us to
begin here in Jerusalem because this is the largest Jewish city. However, he
has shown that he has also called the Gentiles to the Church. We must go to
their capitals, their cities of greatest influence so that they too might
hear the message Jesus entrusted to us.” Despite their fears, they obeyed
Christ and proclaimed the good news in new places.
3. Us: Now it is our turn. As it always has been,
being an apostle today is difficult. As we get older, it gets harder.
Nevertheless, it is our turn. We live at a crossroads of history. I know
Christ is blessing me. He is sending me. I feel fear, but I know he is asking
me to imitate the fidelity of the first apostles. He is only waiting for me
to begin preaching so that he can bless all that I undertake in his name.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, thank You for
coming. Thank You for giving the apostles the strength to resist and
persevere. Now it is my turn. Grant me the graces I need to proclaim the good
news.
Resolution: I live life but once. So today I will
analyze how I use my time and resolve to eliminate one of the bad habits that
leads me to waste time.
Excerpts from the DIARY of
Saint Faustina Kowalska
301 Proclaim that mercy is the
greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.
341 November 5, 1934. One morning,
when it was my duty to open the gate to let out our people who deliver baked
goods, I entered the little chapel to visit Jesus for a minute and to renew
the intentions of the day. Today, Jesus, I offer You all my sufferings,
mortifications and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, so that he
may approve the Feast of Mercy. But, Jesus, I have one more word to say to
You: I am very surprised that You bid me to talk about this Feast of Mercy,
for they tell me that there is already such a feast[81] and so why should I talk about it? And
Jesus said to me, And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even
those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often
do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the image to be solemnly
blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated
publicly so that every soul may know about it. Make a novena for the Holy
Father's intention. It should consist of thirty-three acts; that is,
repetition that many times of the short prayer-which I have taught you-to The
Divine 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.
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.
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.
1046 Then suddenly, I saw how the
two rays, as painted in the image, issued from the Host and spread over the
whole world. This lasted only a moment, but it seemed as though it had lasted
all day, and our chapel was overcrowded all day long, and the whole day
abounded in joy.
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.
1083 + That beautiful soul who is
spreading this work of divine mercy throughout the world is, by his deep
humility, very pleasing to God.
1104
Today there was a beautiful teaching [by Father Plaza on the goodness and
mercy of God. During this conference my soul experienced the flames of God's
love, and I understood that God's word is a living word.
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.
1692 I adore You, Lord and
Creator, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament. I adore You for all the works of
Your hands, that reveal to me so much wisdom, goodness and mercy, O Lord. You
have spread so much beauty over the earth, and it tells me about Your beauty,
even though these beautiful things are but a faint reflection of You,
Incomprehensible Beauty. And although You have hidden Yourself and concealed
Your beauty, my eye, enlightened by faith, reaches You, and my soul
recognizes its Creator, its Highest Good; and my heart is completely immersed
in prayer of adoration.
My Lord and Creator, Your goodness encourages me to converse with You. Your mercy abolishes the chasm which separates the Creator from the creature. To converse with You, O Lord, is the delight of my heart. In You I find everything that my heart could desire. Here Your light illumines my mind, enabling it to know You more and more deeply. Here streams of graces flow down upon my heart. Here my soul draws eternal life. O my Lord and Creator, You alone, beyond all these gifts, give Your own self to me and unite Yourself intimately with Your miserable creature. Here, without searching for words, our hearts understand each other. Here, no one is able to interrupt our conversation. What I talk to You about, Jesus, is our secret, which creatures shall not know and Angels dare not ask about. These are secret acts of forgiveness, known only to Jesus and me; this is the mystery of His mercy, which embraces each soul separately. For this incomprehensible goodness of Yours, I adore You, O Lord and Creator, with all my heart and all my soul. And, although my worship is so little and poor, I am at peace because I know that You know it is sincere, however inadequate...
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.
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.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-301, 341, 375, 378-379)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-962)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1046, 1074-1075, 1083)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1652, 1680, 1692, 1710, 1749, 1796)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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