The Awesome Presence
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Thursday after
Epiphany
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Luke 4:14-22
Jesus
returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread
throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by
all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his
custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was
handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the
passage where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and
the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them,
"Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And
all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from
his mouth.
Introductory
Prayer: Lord, welcome into
the temple of my soul. I know that You will root up and tear down, heal and
sanctify, making there a holy and righteous place that has always been
intended for You. Only You have the power to unlock the sanctuary of my
heart; only You build what will last forever. I trustfully open my entire
self to You now, so that Your words can shape my thoughts, so that Your love
can penetrate my heart, so that no disorder of soul may remain in me.
Petition:
Lord, grant me a
greater reverence for You.
1.
He Returned in the Power of the Spirit: The Spirit appears in the world to unite
heaven’s plan to that of earth, and it does so here with every move of
Christ. Christ’s whole mission is nothing other than the fulfillment of the
passage he reads. Our vocation in life is nothing other than fulfilling our
baptismal commission by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord shows himself, therefore,
to be no one-man show. He, the Son, is sent and works in communion with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, and from here all his fruitfulness and power
flows. Our mission must truly make us feel “sent.” It compels us to bear
fruit through acts of obedience and love. Heaven seeks to deliver its plan to
me in this prayer. May I be attentive to all that the Holy Spirit prompts me
to do.
2.
“He Unrolled the Scroll…. ‘Today This Passage Is Fulfilled in Your Hearing’”:
Man is given a
response to the eternal question found in Revelation 5:2: "Who is worthy
to open the scroll and break its seals?” Contemplate this solemn moment when
the Word reveals himself among men: Many could read from the scroll, but only
one was worthy to unlock its salvific power. Many could recite the texts, but
only one could set them ablaze in their hearts. Many could preach with fascination,
but only one could satisfy their hunger for the fullness of truth. Our words
are an empty breath without Christ’s voice; our labors are to no end, if our
actions are not Christ’s. Only one person by right can change the human
heart, and we in truth can only be apostles when Christ is the one who moves
our hand.
3.
All Were Amazed at the Words That Came from His Mouth: The precise nature
of these words is not revealed to us here, as if to mean that the person of
Christ himself is the revelation. Christ, in the totality of his person,
comes to lighten our burdens and lift our spirits in a way no teaching, no
miraculous event, no cure left to itself ever could. Divine providence has
secured for us many goods in life, but all goods fail us if they do not come
with Christ in all the power and intimacy that is God-among-us.
Conversation
with Christ: Lord,
I seek to revere You and honor You as the center of my life. I work now with
a holy ambition to ensure Your throne is firmly established in my heart.
Teach me to let nothing usurp what belongs to You in my life. Let me not
build a life of empty self-sufficiency, lest I lose the experiences of Your
power and grace I could have.
Resolution:
I will visit our
Lord in the Eucharist today for the sake of honoring him for his greatness
and thanking him for His active presence in my life.
Excerpts from the
DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
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].
248 The words of the Bishop
[Rospond[73]], spoken at the
ceremony of the taking of perpetual vows: "Accept this candle as a sign
of heavenly light and of burning love." While giving the ring: "I
betroth you to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father Most High; may He keep you
unblemished. Take this ring as a sign of the eternal covenant you are making
with Christ, the Spouse of Virgins. May it be for you the ring of faith and
the sign of the Holy Spirit, that you may be called the bride of Christ and,
if you serve Him faithfully, be crowned [as such] for all eternity.
301 Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of
God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.
375 Particular interior practice;
that is, the examination of conscience. Self-denial, denial of my own will.
I. The denial of my reason. Subjecting it to the reason of those who represent God to me here on earth. II. The denial of my will. Doing the will of God, which is revealed in the will of those who represent God to me and which is contained in the rule of our order. III. The denial of my judgment. Accepting immediately and without reflection, analysis or reasoning all orders given by those who represent God to me. IV. The denial of my tongue. I will not give it the least bit of freedom; but in one case only I will give it complete freedom; that is, in proclaiming the glory of God. Whenever I receive Holy Communion, I will ask Jesus to fortify and cleanse my tongue that I may not injure my neighbor with it. That is why I have the greatest respect for the rule which speaks about silence.
376 My Jesus, I trust that Your
grace will help me to carry out these resolutions. Although the above points
are contained in the vow of obedience, I want to practice these things in a
special way, because this is the essence of the religious life. Merciful
Jesus, I beg You fervently to enlighten my mind so that I may come to know
You better, You who are the Infinite Being, and that I may get to know myself
better, who am nothingness itself.
378 Once as I was talking with my
spiritual director, I had an interior vision-quicker than lightning-of his
soul in great suffering, in such agony that God touches very few souls with
such fire. The suffering arises from this work. There will come a time when
this work, which God is demanding so very much, will be as though utterly
undone. And then God will act with great power, which will give evidence of
its authenticity. It will be a new splendor for the Church, although it has
been dormant in it from long ago. That God is infinitely merciful, no one can
deny. He desires everyone to know this before He comes again as Judge. He
wants souls to come to know Him first as King of Mercy. When this triumph
comes, we shall already have entered the new life in which there is no suffering.
But before this, your soul [of the spiritual director] will be surfeited with
bitterness at the sight of the destruction of your efforts. However, this
will only appear to be so, because what God has once decided upon, He does
not change. But although this destruction will be such only in outward
appearance, the suffering will be real. When will this happen? I do not know.
How long will it last? I do not know.[89] But God has promised a great grace
especially to you and to all those... who will proclaim My great mercy. I
shall protect them Myself at the hour of death, as My own glory. And even if
the sins of soul are as dark as night, when the sinner turns to My mercy he
gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of My Passion. When a soul
praises My goodness, Satan trembles before it and flees to the very bottom of
hell.
379 During one of the adorations,
Jesus promised me that: With souls that have recourse to My mercy and with
those that glorify and proclaim My great mercy to others, I will deal
according to My infinite mercy at the hour of their death.
My Heart is sorrowful, Jesus said, because even chosen souls do not understand the greatness of My mercy. Their relationship [with Me] is, in certain ways, imbued with mistrust. Oh, how much that wounds My Heart 1 Remember My Passion, and if you do not believe My words, at least believe My wounds.
389 Love must be reciprocal. If
Jesus tasted the fullness of bitterness for me, then I, His bride, will
accept all bitterness as proof of my love for Him.
391 Through Holy Baptism, we
entered into union with other souls. Death tightens the bonds of love. I
ought always to be of help to others. If I am a good religious, I will be
useful, not only to the Order, but to the whole Country as well.
392 The Lord God grants His graces
in two ways: by inspiration and by enlightenment. If we ask God for a grace,
He will give it to us; but let us be willing to accept it. And in order to
accept it, self-denial is needed. Love does not consist in words or feelings,
but in deeds. It is an act of the will; it is a gift; that is to say, a
giving. The reason, the will, the heart-these three faculties must be
exercised during prayer. I will rise from the dead in Jesus, but first I must
live in Him. If I do not separate myself from the Cross, then the Gospel will
be revealed in me. Jesus in me makes up for all my deficiencies. His grace
operates without ceasing. The Holy Trinity grants me Its life abundantly, by
the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Three Divine Persons live in me. When God
loves, He loves with all His Being, with all the power of His Being. If God
has loved me in this way, how should I respond I, His spouse?
393 During one conference, Jesus
said to me, You are a sweet grape in a chosen cluster; I want others to
have a share in the juice that is flowing within you.
525 O
Holy Trinity, in whom is contained the inner life of God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, eternal joy, inconceivable depth of love, poured
out upon all creatures and constituting their happiness, honor and glory be
to Your holy name forever and ever. Amen.
When I consider Your greatness and beauty, O my God, I rejoice exceedingly that the Lord I serve is so great. With love and joy I carry out His will, and the more I come to know Him, the more I desire to love Him. I burn with the desire to love Him ever more and more.
543
The duration of the postulancy. The postulancy will last one year. During
this time, the candidate should examine whether she is attracted to this type
of life and whether it is suitable to her. The directress should also
diligently consider whether or not the person in question is suitable for
this type of life. After a year, if the postulant shows evidence of a stable
will and an earnest desire to serve God, she should be admitted to the
novitiate.
699 On one occasion, I heard these
words: My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I
desire that the Feast of Mercy [139] be a refuge and shelter for all souls,
and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender
mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who
approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and
receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and
punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow
are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as
scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be
able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come
forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its
relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The
Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire
that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will
not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.
745 During Holy
Mass, I was so enveloped in the great interior fire of God's love and the
desire to save souls that I do not know how to express it. I feel I am all
aflame. I shall fight all evil with the weapon of mercy. I am being burned up
by the desire to save souls. I traverse the world's length and breadth and
venture as far as its ultimate limits and its wildest lands to save souls. I
do this through prayer and sacrifice. I want every soul to glorify the mercy
of God, for each one experiences the effects of that mercy on himself. The
Saints in heaven worship the mercy of the Lord. I want to worship it even
now, here on earth, and to spread devotion to it in the way that God demands
of me.
930 + O my Jesus, although I will
go to You, and You will fill me with Yourself, and that will make my
happiness complete, I will nevertheless not forget about humanity. I desire
to draw aside the veils of heaven, so that the earth would have no doubts
about The Divine Mercy. My repose is in proclaiming Your mercy. The soul
gives the greatest glory to its Creator when it turns with trust to The
Divine Mercy.
962 + I often see a
certain person dear to God. The Lord has great love for him, not only because
he is striving to spread the veneration of God's mercy, but also because of
the love he has for the Lord God, although he does not always feel this love
in his own heart and is almost always in Gethsemane. However, this person is
always pleasing to God, and his great patience will overcome all
difficulties.
+ The
Love of God is the flower - Mercy the fruit.
1000
In the terrible desert of life,
O my sweetest Jesus, Protect souls from disaster, For You are the Fountain of Mercy. Let the resplendence of Your rays, O sweet Commander of our souls, Let mercy change the world. And you who have received this grace, serve Jesus. Steep is the great highway I must travel, But I fear nothing, For the pure fount of mercy is flowing for my sake, And, with it, strength for the humble soul. I am exhausted and worn out, But my conscience bears me witness That I do all for the greater glory of the Lord, The Lord who is my repose and my heritage. [End of Notebook Two of the Diary.]
1074 When I went for adoration, I
heard these words: My beloved daughter, write down these words, that today
My Heart has rested in this convent [the Cracow house]. Tell the world
about My mercy and My love.
The flames of mercy are burning me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept them! My daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My mercy. I will make up for what you lack. Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My merciful Heart, and I will fill it -with peace. Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.
1075 Souls who spread the honor
of My mercy I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her
infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the
Merciful Savior. At that last hour, a soul has nothing with which to defend
itself except My mercy. Happy is the soul that during its lifetime immersed
itself in the Fountain of Mercy, because justice will have no hold on it.
1076 Write this: Everything
that exists is enclosed in the bowels of My mercy, more deeply than an infant
in its mother's womb. How painfully distrust of My goodness wounds Me! Sins
of distrust wound Me most painfully.
1256 [August] 30.
Reverend Father Sopocko left this morning. When I was steeped in a prayer of
thanksgiving for the great grace that I had received from God; namely, that
of seeing Father, I became united in a special way with the Lord who said to
me, He is a priest after My own Heart; his efforts are pleasing to
Me. You see, My daughter, that My will must be done and that which I
had promised you, I shall do. Through him I spread comfort to
suffering and careworn souls. Through him it pleased Me to proclaim the
worship of My mercy. And through this work of mercy more souls will come close
to Me than otherwise would have, even if he had kept giving absolution day
and night for the rest of his life, because by so doing, he would have
labored only for as long as he lived; whereas, thanks to this work of
mercy, he will be laboring till the end of the world.
1286 +
Thank You, O God, for all the graces
Which unceasingly You lavish upon me, Graces which enlighten me with the brilliance of the sun, For by them You show me the sure way. Thank You, 0 Lord, for creating me, For calling me into being from nothingness, For imprinting Your divinity on my soul, The work of sheer merciful love. Thank You, O God, for Holy Baptism Which engrafted me into Your family, A gift great beyond all thought or expression Which transforms my soul. Thank You, O Lord, for Holy Confession, For that inexhaustible spring of great mercy, For that inconceivable fountain of graces In which sin-tainted souls become purified. Thank You, O Jesus, for Holy Communion In which You give us Yourself. I feel Your Heart beating within my breast As You cause Your divine life to unfold within me. Thank You, O Holy Spirit, for the Sacrament of Confirmation, Which dubs me Your knight And gives strength to my soul at each moment, Protecting me from evil. Thank You, O God, for the grace of a vocation. For being called to serve You alone, Leading me to make You my sole love, An unequal honor for my soul. Thank You, O Lord, for perpetual vows, For that union of pure love, For having deigned to unite Your pure heart with mine And uniting my heart to Yours in the purest of bonds. Thank You, O Lord, for the Sacrament of Anointing Which, in my final moments, will give me strength; My help in battle, my guide to salvation, Fortifying my soul till we rejoice forever. Thank You, O God, for all the inspirations That Your goodness lavishes upon me, For the interior lights given my soul, Which the heart senses, but words cannot express. Thank You, O Holy Trinity, for the vastness of the graces Which You have lavished on me unceasingly through life. My gratitude will intensify as the eternal dawn rises, When, for the first time, I sing to Your glory.
1300 When I looked
at this image, I was pierced with such a lively love for God that, for a
moment, I did not know where I was. When we had finished our business, we
went to the Church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. We attended Holy Mass,
during which the Lord gave me to know what a great number of souls would
attain salvation through this work. Then I entered into an intimate
conversation with the Lord, thanking Him for having condescended to grant me
the grace of seeing how the veneration of His unfathomable mercy is
spreading. I immersed myself in a profound prayer of thanksgiving. Oh, how
great is God's generosity! Blessed be the Lord, who is faithful in His
promises...
1519 + Today before
Holy Communion, the Lord said to me, My daughter, today talk openly to the
Superior [Mother Irene] about My mercy because, of all the superiors,
she has taken the greatest part in proclaiming My mercy. And in fact,
Mother Superior came this afternoon, and we talked about this Work of
God. Mother told me that the images had not come out too well and were
not selling very well. "But," she said, "I have taken a good
quantity myself and am distributing them wherever I can and do the best I can
to spread the Work of Mercy." When she had gone, the Lord gave me
to know how pleasing this soul was to Him.
1540 January 28,
1938. Today the Lord said to me, My daughter, write down these words: All
those souls who will glorify My mercy and spread its worship, encouraging
others to trust in My mercy, will not experience terror at the hour of death.
My mercy will shield them in that final battle...
1548 January 30,
1938. One-day retreat.
The Lord gave me to
know, during meditation, that as long as my heart beats in my breast, I must
always strive to spread the Kingdom of God on earth. I am to fight for the
glory of my Creator. I know that I will give God the glory He expects of me
if I try faithfully to cooperate with God's grace.
1652 Adore, my soul, the mercy of
the Lord,
O my heart, rejoice wholly in Him, Because for this you have been chosen by Him, To spread the glory of His mercy. His goodness no one has fathomed, no one can measure, His compassion is untold. Every soul that approaches Him experiences this. He will shield her and clasp her to His merciful bosom. Happy the soul that has trusted in Your goodness And has abandoned herself completely to Your mercy. Her soul is filled with the peace of love. You defend her everywhere as Your own child. O soul, whoever you may be in this world, Even if your sins were as black as night, Do not fear God, weak child that you are, For great is the power of God's mercy.
1680 Low Sunday.
Today, I again offered myself to the Lord as a holocaust for sinners. My Jesus,
if the end of my life is already approaching, I beg You most humbly, accept
my death in union with You as a holocaust which I offer You today, while I
still have full possession of my faculties and a fully conscious will, and
this for a threefold purpose:
Firstly: that the
work of Your mercy may spread throughout the whole world and that the
Feast of The Divine
Mercy may be solemnly promulgated and celebrated.
Secondly: that
sinners, especially dying sinners, may have recourse to Your mercy and
experience the
unspeakable effects of this mercy.
Thirdly: that all
the work of Your mercy may be realized according to Your wishes, and for a
certain person who is in charge of this work...
Accept, most
merciful Jesus, this, my inadequate sacrifice, which I offer to You today
before heaven and earth. May Your Most Sacred Heart, so full of mercy,
complete what is lacking in my offering, and offer it to Your Father for the
conversion of sinners. I thirst after souls, O Christ.
1710 May 26, [1938-Feast of the Ascension].
Today I accompanied the Lord Jesus as He ascended into heaven. It was about
noon. I was overcome by a great longing for God. It is a strange thing, the
more I felt God's presence, the more ardently I desired Him. Then I saw
myself in the midst of a huge crowd of disciples and apostles, together with
the Mother of God. Jesus was telling them to... Go out into the whole
world and teach in My name. He stretched out His hands and blessed them
and disappeared in a cloud. I saw the longing of Our Lady. Her soul yearned
for Jesus with the whole force of Her love. But She was so peaceful and so
united to the will of God that there was not a stir in Her heart but for what
God wanted.
1711 When I was left alone with
the Blessed Virgin, She instructed me concerning the interior life. She said,
The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His
presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing;
because the Lord is great, but He is well pleased only with the humble; He
always opposes the proud.
1749 + God's
Infinite Goodness in Adorning the Whole World with Beauty
in Order to Make
Man's Stay on Earth Pleasant.
O God, how
generously Your mercy is spread everywhere, and You have done all this for
man. Oh, how much You must love him, since Your love is so active on his
behalf. O my Creator and Lord, I see on all sides the trace of Your hand and
the seal of Your mercy, which embraces all created things. O my most
compassionate Creator, I want to give You worship on behalf of all creatures
and all inanimate creation; I call on the whole universe to glorify Your
mercy. Oh, how great is Your goodness, O God!
1796
Today, 254 I saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the sky,
in the midst of a great brilliance. The rays were issuing from the Wound [in
His side] and spreading out over the entire world.
1797
Today, the Lord came to me and said, My daughter, help Me to save souls.
You will go to a dying sinner, and you will continue to recite the chaplet,
and in this way you will obtain for him trust in My mercy, for he is already
in despair.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-49-50, 248, 301, 375-376, 378-379,
389)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-391-393)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-525, 543, 699, 745, 962, 930, 1000)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1074-1076, 1083)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1256, 1286, 1300)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1519, 1540, 1548)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1652, 1680, 1710-1711, 1749)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1796-1797)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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