The Indestructible Temple
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Feast of the
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
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Father Steven Reilly, LC
John 2: 13-22
The
Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple
he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers
seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of
the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of
the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were
selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my
Father´s house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was
written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said
to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered
them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for
forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was
speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his
disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture
and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Introductory
Prayer:
Lord, I believe that
You are here with me, and I hope in Your boundless mercy and love. Thank You
for watching over me and keeping me in Your friendship. Thank You for the
precious gift of our Mother, the Church.
Petition:
Lord, increase my
zeal!
1.
The Indestructible Temple: Today we celebrate the dedication of St. John Lateran
Basilica, known as the “mother and head of all the churches.” Going to Rome
and visiting this wonderful church, now some seventeen centuries old, one
gets a sense of the durability of Catholicism. The Catholic Church has been
around for a long time, and it will be around for a lot longer — until
judgment day, to be exact. No matter how hard the world has tried, it hasn’t
been able to destroy the temple of the Church. This should give us a deep
confidence that the Lord is with us as we journey through history.
2.
Purification: Being
indestructible doesn’t mean, however, that the Catholic Church does not need
constant purification. When our Lord arrived to the temple in Jerusalem, he
found many things that marred the spirit of prayer and devotion that was to
characterize that sacred building. His vigorous reaction serves to underline
the high vocation of holiness that God had given to the Chosen People. We
Catholics have inherited that call; yet all too often, the ways of the world
creep into our souls. Each one of us needs to submit to the Lord’s
purification. He will challenge us in our conscience, and sometimes that will
sting like the whip of cords. But if we are sincere in our desires, we accept
this with humility, aware that our souls must be living temples of God’s
presence.
3.
Consuming Zeal: When the apostles contemplated our Lord’s action in the
temple, “zeal” was the word that summed it all up. Jesus is zealous because
he doesn’t accept the status quo of entrenched mediocrity. The day he arrives
it is no longer business as usual: His Father’s house WILL be respected. Too
often we let the barnacles of laziness and the accretions of apathy weigh
down and extinguish our zeal. Every day we must pray that the Lord will once
again “enkindle in our hearts the fire of his love.” Our zeal in living the
faith is part of the way God works to make this temple of his Church
indestructible. Don’t we want to cooperate with his love, so that the “gates
of hell will not prevail?”
Conversation
with Christ: Lord, I love Your Church. I thank You for the priceless gift
of my Catholic faith. Protect the Church from all her enemies and help me to
be an effective apostle filled with authentic zeal.
Resolution:
I will offer myself
to collaborate in a parish ministry or other Catholic apostolate out of love
for the Church.
Excerpts from the
DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
38 In order to purify a soul,
Jesus uses whatever instruments He likes. My soul underwent a complete
abandonment on the part of creatures; often my best intentions were
misinterpreted by the sisters,[26] a type of suffering which is most painful;
but God allows it, and we must accept it because in this way we become more
like Jesus. There was one thing which I could not understand for a long time:
Jesus ordered me to tell everything to my Superiors, but my Superiors did not
believe what I said and treated me with pity as though I were being deluded
or were imagining things.
Because of this, believing myself to be deluded, I resolved to avoid God interiorly for fear of these illusions. But the grace of God pursued me at every step, and God spoke to me when I least expected it.
41 On one occasion I saw a servant
of God in the immediate danger of committing a mortal sin. I started to beg
God to deign to send down upon me all the torments of hell and all the
sufferings He wished if only this priest would be set free and snatched from
the occasion of committing a sin. Jesus heard my prayer and, that very
instant, I felt a crown of thorns on my head. The thorns penetrated my head
with great force right into my brain. This lasted for three hours; the
servant of God was set free from this sin, and his soul was strengthened by a
special grace of God.
47 In the evening, when I was in
my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand [was]
raised in the gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the
breast. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were
emanating two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze
fixed on the Lord; my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy.
After a while, Jesus said to me, Paint an image according to the pattern
you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image
be venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world.
48 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.
49 When I told this to my
confessor,[29] I received this for
a reply: "That refers to your soul." He told me, "Certainly,
paint God's image in your soul." When I came out of the confessional, I
again heard words such as these: My image already is in your soul. I
desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this image, which you will
paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter;
that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy.
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].
95 +A Deeper
Knowledge of God and the Terror of the Soul.
In the beginning,
God lets himself be known as Holiness, Justice, Goodness - that is to say,
Mercy. The soul does not come to know this all at once, but piecemeal, in
flashes; that is to say, when God draws near. And this does not last for
long, because the soul could not bear such light. During prayer the soul
experiences flashes of this light which make it impossible to pray as before.
Try as it may to force itself to pray as it did before, all is in vain; it
becomes completely impossible for it to continue to pray as it did before it
received this light. This light which has touched the soul is alive within
it, and nothing can either quench or diminish it. This flash of the knowledge
of God draws the soul and enkindles its love for Him.
But this same
flash, at the same time, allows the soul to know itself as it is; the soul sees
its whole interior in a superior light, and it rises up alarmed and
terrified. Still, it does not remain under the effects of terror, but it
begins to purify itself, to humble and abase itself before the Lord. These
lights become stronger and more frequent; the more the soul is crystallized,
the more these lights penetrate it. However, if the soul has responded
faithfully and courageously to these first graces, God fills it with His
consolations and gives himself to it in a perceptible manner. At certain
moments, the soul, as it were, enters into intimacy with God and greatly
rejoices in this; it believes that it has already reached the degree of
perfection destined for it, because its defects and faults are asleep within
it, and this makes it think that they no longer exist. Nothing seems
difficult for it; it is ready for everything. It begins to plunge itself into
God and taste the divine delights. It is carried along by grace and does not
take account of the fact that the time of trial and testing may come. And, in
fact, this state does not last long. Other moments will soon come. I should
add here, however, that the soul will respond more faithfully to divine grace
if it has a well - informed confessor to whom it can confide everything.
113 And again, I would like to say
three words to the soul that is determined to strive for sanctity and to
derive fruit; that is to say, benefit from confession.
First word-complete sincerity and openness. Even the holiest and wisest confessor cannot forcibly pour into the soul what he desires if it is not sincere and open. An insincere, secretive soul risks great dangers in the spiritual life, and even the Lord Jesus Himself does not give Himself to such a soul on a higher level, because He knows it would derive no benefit from these special graces. Second word-humility. A soul does not benefit as it should from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery. Third word-obedience. A disobedient soul will win no victory, even if the Lord Jesus himself, in person, were to hear its confession. The most experienced confessor will be of no help whatsoever to such a soul. The disobedient soul exposes itself to great misfortunes; it will make no progress toward perfection, nor will it succeed in the spiritual life. God lavishes His graces most generously upon the soul, but it must be an obedient soul.
114 +Oh, how pleasing are the
hymns flowing from a suffering soul! All heaven delights in such a soul,
especially when it is tested by God. It mournfully sings out its longing for
Him. Great is its beauty, because it comes from God. The soul walks through
the jungle of life, wounded by God's love. With one foot only it touches the
ground.
115 + When a soul has come out of
these tribulations, it is deeply humble. Its purity of soul is great. It
knows better without need of reflecting, as it were, what it ought to do at a
given moment and what to forbear. It feels the lightest touch of grace and is
very faithful to God. It recognizes God from afar and continuously rejoices
in Him. It discovers God very quickly in other souls and in its environment
in general. The soul has been purified by God himself. God, as Pure Spirit,
introduces the soul to a life which is purely spiritual. God himself has
first prepared and purified the soul; that is, He has made it capable of
close communion with himself. The soul, in a state of loving repose, communes
spiritually with the Lord. It speaks to God without the need of expressing
itself through the senses. God fills it with His light.
The enlightened mind sees clearly and distinguishes the various degrees of the spiritual life. It recognizes [that state] when its union with God was imperfect: where the senses were involved, and the spirit was linked with the senses in a manner-exalted and special, to be sure but not yet perfect. There is a higher and more perfect union with God; namely, intellectual union. Here, the soul is safer from illusions; its spirituality is purer and more profound. In a life where the senses are involved, there is more danger of illusion. Both for the soul and for its confessor, prudence must play a greater part. There are moments when God introduces the soul to a purely spiritual state. The senses dim and are seemingly dead. The soul is most closely united to God; it is immersed in the Deity; its knowledge is complete and perfect, not sporadic as before, but total and absolute. It rejoices in this. But I want to say more about those moments of trial; at those times the confessor must have patience with such a soul. But the soul must have even greater patience with itself.
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.
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.
121 +There is a series of graces
which God pours into the soul after these trials by fire. The soul enjoys
intimate union with God. It has many visions, both corporeal and
intellectual. It hears many supernatural words, and sometimes distinct
orders. But despite these graces, it is not self-sufficient. In fact it is
even less so as a result of God's graces, because it is now open to many
dangers and can easily fall prey to illusions. It ought to ask God for a
spiritual director; but not only must it pray for one, it must also make
every effort to find a leader who is an expert in these things, just as a
military leader must know the ways along which he will lead [his followers]
into battle. A soul that is united with God must be prepared for great and
hard-fought battles.
+After these purifications and tears, God abides in the soul in a special way, but the soul does not always cooperate with these graces. Not that the soul itself is not willing to work, but it encounters so many interior and exterior difficulties that it really takes a miracle to sustain the soul on these summits. In this, it absolutely needs a director. People have often sown doubt in my soul, and I myself have sometimes become frightened at the thought that I was, after all, an ignorant person and did not have knowledge of many things, above all, spiritual things. But when my doubts increased, I sought light from my confessor or my superiors. Yet I did not obtain what I desired.
178 Today we are
beginning the third probation. All three of us met at Mother Margaret's, as
the other sisters were having their probation in the novitiate. Mother
Margaret began with a prayer, explained to us what the third probation
consists of, and then spoke on how great is the grace of the perpetual vows.
Suddenly I began to cry out loud. In an instant all God's graces appeared
before the eyes of my soul, and I saw myself so wretched and ungrateful
toward God. The sisters began to rebuke me, saying, "Why did she break
out crying?" But Mother Margaret came to my defense, saying that she was
not surprised.
At the end of the
hour, I went before the Blessed Sacrament and, like the greatest and most
miserable of wretches, I begged for His mercy that He might heal and purify
my poor soul. Then I heard these words, My daughter, all your miseries
have been consumed in the flame of My love, like a little twig thrown
into a roaring fire. By humbling yourself in this way, you draw upon
yourself and upon other souls an entire sea of My mercy. I
answered, "Jesus, mold my poor heart according to Your divine
delight."
+ For the Greater
Glory of God.
The Eight-day
Retreat before Perpetual Vows.
218 I am beginning
the retreat today. Jesus, my Master, guide me. Govern me according to Your
will, purify my love that it may be worthy of You, do with me as Your most
merciful Heart desires. Jesus, there will be just the two of us during these
days until the moment of our union. Keep me, Jesus, in a recollected spirit!
478 O my Jesus, You know, You
alone know well that m heart knows no other love but You! All my virginal
love is drowned eternally in You, O Jesus! I sense keenly ho Your divine
Blood is circulating in my heart; I have no the least doubt that Your most
pure love has entered m heart with Your most sacred Blood. I am aware did You
are dwelling in me, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, or
ratherIam aware that it is I who it living in You, O incomprehensible God! I
am aware that I am dissolving in You like a drop in an ocean. I am aware that
You are within me and all about me, that You are in all things that surround
me, in all that happens to me. O my God, I have come to know You within my
heart, and I have loved You above all things that exist on earth or in
heaven. Our hearts have a mutual understanding, and no one of humankind will
comprehend this.
482 O my God, I am conscious of my
mission in the Holy Church. It is my constant endeavor to plead for me mercy
for the world. I unite myself closely with Jesus and stand before Him as an
atoning sacrifice on behalf of the world. God will refuse me nothing when I
entreat Him with the voice of His Son. My sacrifice is nothing in itself, but
when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes all-powerful and
has the power to appease divine wrath. God loves us in His Son; the painful
Passion of the Son of God constantly turns aside the wrath of God.
483 O God, how I desire that souls
come to know You and to see that You have created them because of Your
unfathomable love. O my Creator and Lord, I feel that I am going to remove
the veil of heaven so that earth will not doubt Your goodness.
Make of me, Jesus, a pure and agreeable offering before the Face of Your Father. Jesus, transform me, miserable and sinful as I am, into Your own self (for You can do all things), and give me to Your Eternal Father. I want t become a sacrificial host before You, but an ordinary wafer to people. I want the fragrance of my sacrifice be known to You alone. O Eternal God, an unquenchable fire of supplication for Your mercy burns within me. I know and understand that this is my task here and in eternity. You yourself have told me to speak about this great mercy and about Your goodness.
492 Eternal God, Goodness itself,
whose mercy is incomprehensible to every intellect, whether human or angelic,
help me, your feeble child, to do Your holy will as You make it known to me.
I desire nothing but to fulfill God's desires. Lord, here are my soul and my
body, my mind and my will, my heart and all my love. Rule me according to
Your eternal plans.
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.
770 As for myself, I received this grace for
the first time, and that for only a brief moment, in the eighteenth [149] year of my life,
within the octave of Corpus Christi [June 18-25, 1925], during Vespers, when
I made to the Lord Jesus the vow of perpetual chastity. I was still living in
the world, but I entered the convent soon afterwards. The grace lasted for a
very brief moment, but its power was great. After this grace, there was a
long interval. It is true that I received many graces from the Lord during
this interval, but they were of a different order. It was a time of trials
and purification. The trials were so painful that my soul felt as though it
was being totally abandoned by God and it was steeped in profound darkness. I
became aware and understood that no one would be able to bring me out of
those torments or even understand me.
There were two occasions when my soul was
plunged into despair, once for half an hour, and the second time for three
quarters of an hour. Just as I cannot describe the greatness of the graces,
so too with these ordeals sent by the Lord; whatever words I might use, they
are only a pale shadow [of the reality]. However, just as the Lord plunged me
into these torments, so too He brought me out of them. Only this lasted for a
few years, after which I again received this extraordinary grace of union
which has continued to this day. Still, during this second period of union,
there also have been short interruptions. But for some time now, I have not
experienced any interruption at all; on the contrary, I am more and more
deeply steeped in God. The great light which illumines the mind gives me a
knowledge of the greatness of God; but it is not as if I were getting to know
the individual attributes, as before no, it is different now: in one moment,
I come to know the entire essence of God.
Eighth Day
1226 Today bring
to Me the souls who are in the prison of Purgatory, and immerse them in the
abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching
flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution
to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences
from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you
only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the
alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice.
1227 Most Merciful
Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the
abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are
very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the
streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the
flames of the purifying fire, that in that place, too, the power of Your
mercy may be praised.
From the terrible
heat of the cleansing fire Rises a plaint to Your mercy, And they receive
comfort, refreshment, relief In the stream of mingled Blood and Water.
Eternal Father,
turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are
enfolded in the
Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of
Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was
flooded, manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny.
Look upon them in no other way than through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly
beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness
and compassion.
1611 +
When the chaplain [Father Theodore] brings me the Lord Jesus, there are
moments when I am pervaded with a very vivid presence of God, and the Lord
gives me to know His holiness. At such times, I see the smallest speck on my
soul, and I would like to purify my soul before every Holy Communion. When I
asked the confessor, he said there was no need to confess before every Holy
Communion. Holy Communion takes away these tiny things and it is a temptation
to think about confession when receiving Holy Communion. I did not go on to
explain the condition of my soul in any greater detail, because he was not my
director, but the confessor.237 This
knowledge does not take up my time, because it is faster than lightning; it
enkindles my love, leaving me with a knowledge of myself...
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-41, 47-50, 113-117, 121, 178)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-478, 482-483, 492, 497, 770)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1226-1227)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1611)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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