There’s No Shepherd like the Good Shepherd
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December 9, 2014. Tuesday
of the Second Week of Advent
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Matthew
18:12-14
Jesus said to his disciples: “What is your
opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he
not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if
he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the
ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of
your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
Introductory Prayer: Dear Jesus, my Lord and God, I open my heart
to Your infinite love. I wish to listen and respond to the inspirations that
You wish to give me this morning. I believe in You. I hope in You. I love
You. Lord, You are my shepherd and the true meaning of my life.
Petition: Jesus, Good Shepherd, give me the grace to open my heart to
Your mercy.
1. Not All Shepherds Are the Same: In today’s society, the image of the
shepherd doesn’t say as much as it did in Jesus’ time. Psalm 23 was probably
one of Christ’s favorite psalms, for he uses the image of the shepherd
frequently: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” Sheep
have a trusting relationship with their shepherd. Instinctively they know
that the shepherd will care for them. Christ is our shepherd who loves us. In
our lives, other people or material possessions can seem to promise to bring
us happiness, causing us to follow after them as if they were our shepherd.
But when the real trial comes, they abandon us just as a hired hand leaves the
sheep when the wolf appears. Let us renew our commitment to Christ, the Good
Shepherd, since he is the true shepherd of our souls.
2. Searching Out the Lost Sheep: In every group of animals there is at least
one that seems to get distracted and eventually lost. In our lives we, too,
can get distracted and stray from the security of Christ and his way. Sin is
what separates us from Christ. If we are not careful, we can be easily
seduced by the world, by the fascination of material goods or pleasures, and
then mistakenly place our security in them. Then, when we experience the
emptiness and spiritual hunger that comes from wandering from the Good
Shepherd, we need only to recall that he is waiting for us, his wayward
sheep, to carry us back into the safety of his fold. It is comforting and
heartening to know that he longs for us to be reconciled with him, just as a
shepherd goes out in search of the lost sheep.
3. Let the Celebration Begin! Anyone who has children and has temporarily
“lost” one of them can empathize with the joy God experiences when one of us
is found once again and reunited with him. We may try to outdo him in love
and generosity, but that cannot happen. His love surpasses all our imagining.
Today, let us take a moment to talk to God about our state in life and
resolve to let him be actively present in our everyday living. Could there be
any better way to prepare for Christmas than to open the doors of our hearts?
Christ is there, knocking, asking to be allowed inside so he can heal us and
make us whole again. It’s almost shocking to discover that we can please him
simply by turning to him and letting him pick us up from where we’ve fallen
and restore us to full friendship with him. Shouldn’t we permit Our Lord that
pleasure, especially when the only cost is admitting our tremendous need for
him, confessing our sins and inviting him back into our hearts, where he
belongs?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I know my countless falls provide me
countless occasions to encounter You as the Good Shepherd, since without fail
You come to pick me up again. Instead of wallowing in a sterile self-pity at
the misery of my sinfulness, I intend to delight more in Your tender mercy. I
know this trusting attitude will please You.
Resolution: Each time I fall today, I will get back up
again immediately, because I will have confidence in my Good Shepherd’s
loving mercy.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
1 O
Eternal Love, You command Your Sacred Image [1] to be
painted
And
reveal to us the inconceivable fount of mercy,
You
bless whoever approaches Your rays,
And a
soul all black will turn into snow.
O sweet
Jesus, it is here [2] You established the throne of Your mercy
To
bring joy and hope to sinful man.
From
Your open Heart, as from a pure fount,
Flows
comfort to a repentant heart and soul.
May
praise and glory for this Image
Never
cease to stream from man's soul.
May
praise of God's mercy pour from every heart,
Now,
and at every hour, and forever and ever.
27 First vows [First profession of temporary vows, April
30, 1928]. An ardent desire to empty myself for God by an active love, but a
love that would be imperceptible, even to the sisters closest to me.
However, even after the vows, darkness continued to reign in my soul for almost a half year. Once, when I was praying, Jesus pervaded all my soul, darkness melted away, and I heard these words within me: You are My joy; you are My heart's delight. From that moment I felt the Most Holy Trinity in my heart; that is to say, within myself. I felt that I was inundated with Divine light. Since then, my soul has been in intimate communion with God, like a child with its beloved Father.
55 1933. Spiritual Counsel Given Me by Father Andrasz,
S.J.
First: You must not
turn away from these interior inspirations, but always tell everything to
your confessor. If you recognize that these interior inspirations refer to
your own self; that is to say, they are for the good of your soul or for the
good of other souls, l urge you to follow them; and you must not neglect
them, but always do so in consultation with your confessor.
Second: If these inspirations are not in accord with the faith or the spirit of the Church, they must be rejected immediately as coming from the evil spirit. Third: If these inspirations do not refer to souls, in general, nor specifically to their good, you should not take them too seriously, and it would be better to even ignore them. But you should not make this decision by yourself, either one way or the other, as you can easily be led astray despite these great favors from God. Humility, humility, and ever humility, as we can do nothing of ourselves; all is purely and simply God's grace. You say to me that God demands great trust from souls; well then, you be the first to show this trust. And one more word-accept all this with serenity. Words of one of the confessors: "Sister, God is preparing many special graces for you, but try to make your life as clear as crystal before the Lord, paying no attention to what anyone else thinks about you. Let God suffice you; He alone." Toward the end of my novitiate, a confessor [perhaps Father Theodore] told me: "Go through life doing good, so that I could write on its pages: `She spent her life doing good.' May God bring this about in you." Another time the confessor said to me, "Comport yourself before God like the widow in the Gospel; although the coin she dropped into the box was of little value, it counted far more before God than all the big offerings of others." On another occasion the instruction I received was this: " Act in such a way that all those who come in contact with you will go away joyful. Sow happiness about you because you have received much from God; give, then, generously to others. They should take leave of you with their hearts filled with joy, even if they have no more than touched the hem of your garment. Keep well in mind the words I am telling you right now." Still another time he gave me the following recommendation: "Let God push your boat out into the deep waters, toward the unfathomable depths of the interior life." Here are a few words from a conversation I had with the Mother Directress [Mary Joseph] toward the end of my novitiate: "Sister, let simplicity and humility be the characteristic traits of your soul. Go through life like a little child, always trusting, always full of simplicity and humility, content with everything, happy in every circumstance. There, where others fear, you will pass calmly along, thanks to this simplicity and humility. Remember this, Sister, for your whole life: as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God's graces flow only into humble souls."
69 +O Jesus,
eternal Truth, strengthen my feeble forces; You can do all things, Lord. I
know that without You all my efforts are in vain. O Jesus, do not hide from
me, for I cannot live without You. Listen to the cry of my soul. Your mercy
has not been exhausted, Lord, so have pity on my misery. Your mercy surpasses
the understanding of all Angels and people put together; and so, although it
seems to me that You do not hear me, I put my trust in the ocean of Your
mercy, and I know that my hope will not be deceived.
76 O my Jesus,
direct my mind, take possession of my whole being, enclose me in the depths
of Your heart, and protect me against the assaults of the enemy. My only hope
is in You. Speak through my mouth when I, wretchedness itself, find myself
with the mighty and wise, so that they will know that this undertaking is Yours
and comes from You.
Darkness and Temptations
77 My mind became dimmed in a
strange way; no truth seemed clear to me. When people spoke to me about God,
my heart was like a rock. I could not draw from it a single sentiment of love
for Him. When I tried, by an act of the will, to remain close to Him, I
experienced great torments, and it seemed to me that I was only provoking God
to an even greater anger. It was absolutely impossible for me to meditate as
I had been accustomed to do in the past. I felt in my soul a great void, and
there was nothing with which I could fill it. I began to suffer from a great
hunger and yearning for God, but I saw my utter powerlessness. I tried to
read slowly, sentence by sentence, and to meditate in this way, but this also
was of no avail. I understood nothing of what I had read.
The abyss of my misery was constantly before my eyes. Every time I entered the chapel for some spiritual exercise, I experienced even worse torments and temptations. More than once, all through Holy Mass, I had to struggle against blasphemous thoughts which were forcing themselves to my lips. I felt an aversion for the Holy Sacraments, and it seemed to me that I was not profiting from them in any way. It was only out of obedience to my confessor that I frequented them, and this blind obedience was for me the only path I could follow and my very last hope of survival. The priest explained to me that these were trials sent by God and that, in the situation I was in, not only was I not offending God, but I was most pleasing to Him. "This is a sign," he told me, "that God loves you very much and that He has great confidence in you, since He is sending you such trials." But these words brought me no comfort; it seemed to me that they did not apply to me at all. One thing did surprise me: it often happened that, at the time when I was suffering greatly, these terrible torments would disappear suddenly just as I was approaching the confessional; but as soon as I had left the confessional, all these torments would again seize me with even greater ferocity. I would then fall on my face before the Blessed Sacrament repeating these words: "Even if You kill me, still will I trust in You!" [cf. Job 13:15] It seemed to me that I would die in these agonies. But the most terrible thought for me was the conviction that I had been rejected by God. Then other thoughts came to me: why strive to acquire virtues and do good works? why mortify and annihilate yourself? what good is it to take vows? to pray? to sacrifice and immolate yourself? why sacrifice myself all the time? what good is it - if I am already rejected by God? why all these efforts? And here, God alone knew what was going on in my heart.
97 Faith staggers under the
impact; the struggle is fierce. The soul tries hard to cling to God by an act
of will. With God's permission, Satan goes even further: hope and love are
put to the test. These temptations are terrible. God supports the soul in
secret, so to speak. The soul is not aware of this, but otherwise it would be
impossible to stand firm; and God knows very well how much He can allow to
befall a soul. The soul is tempted to unbelief in respect to revealed truths
and to insincerity toward the confessor. Satan says to it, "Look, no one
understands you; why speak about all this?" Words that terrify it sound
in its ears, and it seems to the soul that it is uttering these against God.
It sees what it does not want to see. It hears what it does not want to hear.
And, oh, it is a terrible thing at times like these not to have an
experienced confessor! The soul carries the whole burden alone. However, one
should make every effort to find, if it is at all possible, a well-informed
confessor, for the soul can collapse under the burden and come to the very
edge of the precipice. All these trials are heavy and difficult. God does not
send them to a soul which has not already been admitted to a deeper intimacy
with Him and which has not yet tasted the divine delights. Besides, in this
God has His own plans, which for us are impenetrable. God often prepares a
soul in this way for His future designs and great works. He wants to try it
as pure gold is tried. But this is not yet the end of the testing; there is
still the trial of trials, the complete abandonment of the soul by God.
102 After some time, one of the sisters came into the cell
and found me almost dead. She was frightened and went to find the Directress
of Novices who, in the name of holy obedience ordered me to get up from the
ground. My strength returned immediately, and I got up, trembling. The
Directress recognized immediately the state of my soul and spoke to me about
the inscrutable mercy of God, saying, "Do not be distressed about
anything, Sister. I command this of you in virtue of obedience." Then
she said to me, "I see now, Sister, that God is calling you to a high
degree of holiness; the Lord wants to draw you very close to Himself since He
has allowed these things to happen to you so soon. Be faithful to God,
Sister, because this is a sign that He wants you to have a high place in
heaven." However, I did not understand anything of these words. When I
went into the chapel, I felt as though my soul had been set free from
everything, as though I had just come forth from the hand of God. I perceived
the inviolability of my soul; I felt that I was a tiny child.
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.
148 +A noble and delicate soul, even the most simple, but
one of delicate sensibilities, sees God in everything, finds Him everywhere, and
knows how to find Him in even the most hidden things. It finds all things
important, it highly appreciates all things, it thanks God for all things, it
draws profit for the soul from all things, and it gives all glory to God. It
places its trust in God and is not confused when the time of ordeals comes.
It knows that God is always the best of Fathers and makes little of human
opinion. It follows faithfully the faintest breath of the Holy Spirit; it
rejoices in this Spiritual Guest and holds onto Him like a child to its
mother. Where other souls come to a standstill and fear, this soul passes on
without fear or difficulty.
184 +Holy Hour. During this hour, l tried to meditate on
the Lord's Passion. But my soul was filled with joy, and suddenly I saw the
Child Jesus. But His majesty penetrated me to such an extent that I said,
"Jesus, You are so little, and yet I know that You are my Creator and
Lord." And Jesus answered me, I am, and I keep company with you as a
child to teach you humility and simplicity.
I gathered all my sufferings and difficulties into a bouquet for Jesus for the day of our perpetual betrothal. Nothing was difficult for me, when I remembered it was for my Betrothed as proof of my love for Him.
209 In my sufferings, I do not seek help from creatures,
but God is everything to me. And yet, it often seems that even the Lord does
not hear me. I arm myself with patience and silence, like a dove that does
not complain and feels no bitterness when its children are being taken away
from it. I want to soar into the very heat of the sun, and I do not want to
stop in its vapors. I will not grow weary, because it is on You that I am
leaning-O You, my Strength!
219 In the evening, the Lord said to me, My daughter,
let nothing frighten or disconcert you. Remain deeply at peace. Everything is
in My hands. I will give you to understand everything through Father Andrasz.
Be like a child towards him.
A Moment Before the Blessed Sacrament.
220 O my eternal Lord and Creator, how am I going to thank You for this great favor; namely, that You have deigned to choose miserable me to be Your betrothed and that You are to unite me to yourself in an eternal bond? O dearest Treasure of my heart, I offer You all the adoration and thanksgiving of the Saints and of all the choirs of Angels, and I unite myself in a special way with Your Mother. O Mary, my Mother, I humbly beg of You, cover my soul with Your virginal cloak at this very important moment of my life, so that thus I may become dearer to Your Son and may worthily praise Your Son's mercy before the whole world and throughout all eternity.
227 +In the midst of trials I will try to see the loving
hand of God. Nothing is as constant as suffering-it always faithfully keeps
the soul company. O Jesus, I will let no one surpass me in loving You!
+O Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, 228 You see that in pronouncing my perpetual vows I am leaving the novitiate[68] today. Jesus, You know how weak and little I am, and so from today on, I am entering Your novitiate in a very special way. I continue to be a novice, but Your novice, Jesus, and You will be my Master to the last day. Daily I will attend lectures at Your feet. I will not do the least thing by myself, without consulting You first as my Master. Jesus, how happy I am that You yourself have drawn me and taken me into Your novitiate; that is to say, into the tabernacle. In making my perpetual vows, I have by no means become a perfect nun. No, no! I am still a weak little novice of Jesus, and I must strive to acquire perfection as I did in the first days of the novitiate, and I will make every effort to keep the same disposition of soul which I had on that first day the convent gate opened to admit me. With the trust and simplicity of a small child, I give myself to You today, O Lord Jesus, my Master. I leave You complete freedom in directing my soul. Guide me along the paths You wish. I won't question them. I will follow You trustingly. Your merciful Heart can do all things! The little novice of Jesus-Sister Faustina. 229 +At the beginning of the retreat, Jesus told me, During this retreat, I myself will direct your soul. I want to confirm you in peace and love. And so the first few days passed by. On the fourth day, doubts began to trouble me: Is not this tranquillity of mine false? Then I heard these words, My daughter, imagine that you are the sovereign of all the world and have the power to dispose of all things according to your good pleasure. You have the power to do all the good you want, and suddenly a little child knocks on your door, all trembling and in tears and, trusting in your kindness, asks for a piece of bread lest he die of starvation. What would you do for this child? Answer Me, my daughter. And I said, "Jesus, I would give the child all it asked and a thousand times more. "And the Lord said to me, That is how I am treating your soul. In this retreat I am giving you, not only peace, but also such a disposition of soul that even if you wanted to experience uneasiness you could not do so. My love has taken possession of your soul, and I want you to be confirmed in it. Bring your ear close to My Heart, forget everything else, and meditate upon My wondrous mercy. My love will give you the strength and courage you need in these matters. 230 Jesus, living Host, You are my Mother, You are my all! It is with simplicity and love, with faith and trust that I will always come to You, O Jesus! I will share everything with You, as a child with its loving mother, my joys and sorrows-in a word, everything.
240 Three requests on the day of my perpetual vows. Jesus,
I know that today You will refuse me nothing.
First request: Jesus, my most beloved Spouse, I beg You for the triumph of the Church, particularly in Russia and in Spain; for blessings on the Holy Father, Pius XI, and on all the clergy; for the grace of conversion for impenitent sinners. And I ask You for a special blessing and for light, O Jesus, for the priests before whom I will make my confessions throughout my lifetime. Second request :I beg Your blessings on our Congregation, and may it be filled with great zeal. Bless, O Jesus, our Mother General and our Mother Directress, all the novices and all the superiors. Bless my dearest parents. Bestow Your grace, O Jesus, on our wards; strengthen them so powerfully by Your grace so that those who leave our houses will no longer offend You by any sin. Jesus, I beg You for my homeland; protect it against the assaults of its enemies. Third request:Jesus, I plead with You for the souls that are most in need of prayer. I plead for the dying; be merciful to them. I also beg You, Jesus, to free all souls from purgatory. Jesus, I commend to You these particular persons: My confessors, persons recommended to my prayers, a certain person..., Father Andrasz, Father Czaputa, and the priest I met in Vilnius [Father Sopocko], who is to be my confessor, a certain soul... a certain priest, a certain religious[70] to whom You know how much I owe, Jesus, and all the people who have been recommended to my prayer. Jesus, on this day You can do everything for those for whom I am pleading. For myself I ask, Lord, transform me completely into Yourself, maintain in me a holy zeal for Your glory, give me the grace and spiritual strength to do Your holy will in all things. Thank You, o my dearest Bridegroom, for the dignity You have conferred on me, and in particular for the royal coat-of-arms which will adorn me from this day on and which even the Angels do not possess; namely, the cross, the sword and the crown of thorns. But above all, O my Jesus, I thank You for Your Heart-it is all I need. Mother of God, Most Holy Mary, my Mother, You are my Mother in a special way now because Your beloved Son is my Bridegroom, and thus we are both Your children. For Your Son's sake, You have to love me. O Mary, my dearest Mother, guide my spiritual life in such a way that it will please Your Son. +Holy and Omnipotent God, at this moment of immense grace by which You are uniting me with Yourself forever, I, mere nothingness, with the utmost gratitude, cast myself at Your feet like a tiny, unknown flower and, each day, the fragrance of that flower of love will ascend to Your throne. In times of struggle and suffering, of darkness and storm, of yearning and sorrow, in times of difficult trials, in times when nobody will understand me, when I will even be condemned and scorned by everyone, I will remember the day of my perpetual vows, the day of God's incomprehensible grace.
242 +O God, how much I desire to be a small child.[71]
You are my Father, and You know how little and weak I am. So I beg You,
keep me close by Your side all my life and especially at the hour of my
death. Jesus, I know that Your goodness surpasses the goodness of a most
tender mother.
244 Now a gray, ordinary day has begun. The solemn hours
of the perpetual vows have passed, but God's great grace has remained in my
soul. I feel I am all God's; I feel I am His child, I feel I am wholly God's
property. I experience this in a way that can be physically sensed. I am
completely at peace about everything, because I know it is the Spouse's
business to look after me. I have forgotten about myself completely. My trust
placed in His Most Merciful Heart has no limit. I am continuously united with
Him. It seems to me as though Jesus could not be happy without me, nor could
I without Him. Although I understand that, being God, He is happy in himself
and has absolutely no need of any creature, still, His goodness compels Him
to give himself to the creature, and with a generosity which is beyond
understanding.
245 My Jesus, I will now strive to give honor and glory to Your Name, doing battle till the day on which You yourself will say, enough! Every soul You have entrusted to me, Jesus, I will try to aid with prayer and sacrifice, so that Your grace can work in them. O great lover of souls, my Jesus, I thank You for this immense confidence with which You have deigned to place souls in our care. O you days of work and of monotony, you are not monotonous to me at all, for each moment brings me new graces and opportunity to do good.
260 I had permission to visit Czestochowa while on my
journey. I saw the Mother of God [image] for the first time, when I went to
attend the unveiling of the image at five in the morning. I prayed without
interruption until eleven, and it seemed to me that I had just come. The
superior of the house there [Mother Serafin[75]]
sent a sister for me, to tell me to come to breakfast and said she was
worried that I would miss my train. The Mother of God told me many things. I
entrusted my perpetual vows to Her. I felt that I was her child and that She
was my Mother. She did not refuse any of my requests.
264 +O my Jesus, keep me near to You! See how weak I am! I
cannot go a step forward by myself; so You, Jesus, must stand by me
constantly like a mother by a helpless child-and even more so.
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 indulgenced 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!
God, One in the Holy Trinity.
283 I want to love You as no human soul has ever loved You before; and although I am utterly miserable and small, I have nevertheless cast the anchor of my trust deep down into the abyss of Your mercy, O my God and Creator! In spite of my great misery I fear nothing, but hope to sing You a hymn of glory forever. Let no soul, even the most miserable, fall prey to doubt; for, as long as one is alive, each one can become a great saint, so great is the power of God's grace. It remains only for us not to oppose God's action.
284 O Jesus, if only I could become like mist before Your
eyes, to cover the earth so that You would not see its terrible crimes.
Jesus, when I look at the world and its indifference towards You, again and
again it brings tears to my eyes; but when I look at a cold soul of a
religious, my heart bleeds.
295 +At that moment Jesus asked me, My child, how is
your retreat going? I answered, "But Jesus, You know how it is
going." Yes, I know, but I want to hear it from your own lips and
from your heart. "O my Master, when You are leading me, everything
goes smoothly, and I ask You, Lord, to never leave my side." And Jesus
said, Yes, I will be with you always, if you always remain a little child
and fear nothing. As I was your beginning here, so I will also be your end.
Do not rely on creatures, even in the smallest things, because this
displeases Me. I want to be alone in your soul. I will give light and
strength to your soul, and you will learn from My representative that I am in
you, and your uncertainty will vanish like mist before the rays of the sun.
296 +O Supreme Good, I want to love You as no one on earth
has ever loved You before! I want to adore You with every moment of my life and
unite my will closely to Your holy will. My life is not drab or monotonous,
but it is varied like a garden of fragrant flowers, so that I don't know
which flower to pick first, the lily of suffering or the rose of love of
neighbor or the violet of humility. I will not enumerate these treasures in
which my every day abounds. It is a great thing to know how to make use of
the present moment.
297 +Jesus, Supreme Light, grant me the grace of knowing
myself, and pierce my dark soul with Your light, and fill the abyss of my
soul with Your own self, for You alone [...]
298 O my Jesus, the Life, the Way and the Truth, I beg You
to keep me close to You as a mother holds a baby to her bosom, for I am not
only a helpless child, but an accumulation of misery and nothingness.
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.
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.
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I- 1, 27, 55, 69, 76-77, 97, 102, 116)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-148, 184, 209, 219, 220, 227-230)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-240, 242, 244-245, 260, 264)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska
Notebook-I-274-275, 283-284, 295-298, 306, 497)
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Disyembre 09, 2014
There’s No Shepherd like the Good Shepherd-Divine Mercy Miracles Meditations
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