Christ Is the Answer
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November 22, 2014. Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and
Martyr
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Luke 20: 27-40
Some Sadducees,
those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man´s brother dies, leaving a
wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for
his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died
childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way
all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection,
therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."
Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in
marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in
the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children
of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised
Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the
Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is
God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are
alive." Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have
spoken well." For they no longer dared to ask him another question.
Introductory
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Alpha and the Omega. You have given me life
and offer me eternal life with You. You deserve my honor, gratitude and love,
and yet You never impose Yourself upon me. Thank You for respecting my
freedom so that I can offer myself to You. All that I have is Yours; I return
it to You.
Petition: Lord Jesus, help
me to be a child of God, a child of the resurrection.
1. Simple and
Constant Conversation: Today we see some Sadducees asking Christ an
important question about heaven. Christ teaches us that once we are in
heaven, things will be considerably different than they are here on earth.
This is a beautiful example how we can converse with Christ. We simply need
to ask him questions: questions about our faith, about difficulties we may be
having with certain relationships, about career changes, etc. The answers we
receive may not be what we were expecting or hoping for, but what is
important is that we engage Christ in conversation every day and that we seek
to please him in everything we do. This open, warm contact with Our Lord is
already a little taste of heaven.
2. Union with
Christ: Christ reminds us that he and the Father are the God of the living. He
gave us our life; we lost it. He became man, suffered, died and rose on the
third day that we might have a new life — a life in and with God, now and for
all eternity. Our ultimate marriage will be in heaven, as we will be one with
God as Jesus is.
3. Participation
in the Life of God: When God reveals his mysteries to us, we
participate in his life. God has made us so we would pursue him, so we would
listen to him, so we would understand him, so we would crave the things of
God. Is not that a mystery unto itself? We have a God who wants to speak with
us constantly about the things of heaven! This reality, this inestimable
gift, should move us to share with others the Good News.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord Jesus, through Your death and resurrection and my baptism, You
have made me a child of God. Help me to appreciate more fully this day and
what it means to be a child of God. Grant me the grace to live in accord with
this gift of gifts.
Resolution: Today I will look
on all things as if God were speaking to me in every moment.
Excerpts from
the DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
205 +The Resurrection. Today,
during the [Mass of the] Resurrection, I saw the Lord Jesus in the midst of a
great light. He approached me and said, Peace be to you, My children, and
He lifted up His hand and gave His blessing. The wounds in His hands, feet
and side were indelible and shining. When He looked at me with such kindness
and love, my whole soul drowned itself in Him. And He said to me, You have
taken a great part in My Passion; therefore I now give you a great share in
My joy and glory. The whole time of the Resurrection [Mass] seemed like
only a minute to me. A wondrous recollection filled my soul and lasted
throughout the whole festal season. The kindness of Jesus is so great that I
cannot express it.
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.
413 This morning I heard these words: From today until
the [celebration of the]
Resurrection, you will not feel My presence, but your soul
will be filled with great longing. And
immediately a great longing filled my soul; I felt a separation from my
beloved Jesus, and when the moment for Holy Communion came, I saw the
suffering Face of Jesus in every Host [contained] in the chalice. From
that moment, I felt a more intense yearning in my heart.
649 Mass of the Resurrection. [April 12, 1936]. When I
entered the chapel, my spirit was immersed in God, its only treasure. His
presence flooded me.
650 O my Jesus, my Master and Director, strengthen and
enlighten me in these difficult moments of my life. I expect no help from
people; all my hope is in You. I feel alone in the face of Your demands, O
Lord. Despite the fears and qualms of my nature, I am fulfilling Your holy
will and desire to fulfill it as faithfully as possible throughout my life
and in my death. Jesus, with You I can do all things. Do with me as You please;
only give me Your merciful Heart and that is enough for me.
O Jesus my Lord, help me. Let what You have planned before
all ages happen to me. I am ready at each beckoning of Your holy will.
Enlighten my mind that I may know Your will. O God, You who pervade my soul,
You know that I desire nothing but Your glory.
O Divine Will, You are the delight of my heart, the food
of my soul, the light of my intellect, the omnipotent strength of my will;
for when I unite myself with Your will, O Lord, Your power works through me
and takes the place of my feeble will. Each day, I seek to carry out God's
wishes.
697 Jesus, You know that I love suffering and want to
drain the cup of suffering to the last drop; and yet, my nature experienced a
slight shudder and fear. Quickly, however, my trust in the infinite mercy of
God was awakened in all its force, and everything else had to give way before
it, like a shadow retreating before the sun's rays. O Jesus, how great is
Your goodness! Your infinite goodness, so well known to me, enables me to
bravely look death itself in the eye. I know that nothing will happen to me
without God's permission. I desire to glorify Your infinite mercy during my
life, at the hour of death, in the resurrection and
throughout eternity.
+ My Jesus, my strength, my peace, my repose; my soul
bathes daily in the rays of Your mercy. There is not a moment in my life when
I do not experience Your mercy, O God. I count on nothing in my whole life,
but only on Your infinite mercy. It is the guiding thread of my life, O Lord.
My soul is filled with God's mercy.
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.
1067 March 28. Resurrection. During the Mass of
Resurrection, I saw the Lord in beauty and splendor, and He said to me, My
daughter, peace be with you. He blessed me and disappeared, and my soul
was filled with gladness and joy beyond words. My heart was fortified for
struggle and sufferings.
1141 In the evening, He gave me to understand how fleeting
all earthly things are, and [how] everything that appears great disappears
like smoke, and does not give the soul freedom, but weariness. Happy the soul
that understands these things and with only one foot touches the earth. My
repose is to be united with You; everything else tires me. Oh, how much I
feel I am in exile! I see that no one understands my interior life. You alone
understand me, You who are hidden in my heart and yet are eternally alive.
1427 Hidden Jesus, life of my soul,
Object of my ardent desire,
Nothing will stifle Your love in my heart.
The power of our mutual love assures me of that.
Hidden Jesus, glorious pledge of my resurrection,
All my life is concentrated in You.
It is You, O Host, who empower me to love forever,
And I know that You will love me as Your child in return.
Hidden Jesus, my purest love,
My life with You has begun already here on earth,
And it will become fully manifest in the eternity to come,
Because our mutual love will never change.
Hidden Jesus, sole desire of my soul,
You alone are to me more than the delights of heaven.
My soul searches for You only, who are above all gifts and
graces,
You who come to me under the form of bread.
Hidden Jesus, take at last to Yourself my thirsting heart
Which burns for You with the pure fire of the Seraphim.
I go through life in Your footsteps, invincible,
With head held high, like a knight, feeble maid though I
be.
1668 The Resurrection. Before the Mass of the
Resurrection, I felt so weak that I lost all hope of participating in the
procession which takes place in the church; and I said to the Lord,
"Jesus, if my prayers are pleasing to You, give me the strength for this
moment that I may take part in the procession." At that same instant, I
felt strong and certain that I could go along with the sisters in the
procession.
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...
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-205, 306, 413)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-II-649-650, 697, 699)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-III-1067, 1141)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-V-1427)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1668, 1702) |
Nobyembre 22, 2014
Christ Is the Answer-Divine Mercy Miracles Meditations
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