Charity for All
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December 13, 2015. Third
Sunday of Advent
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Father Edward McIlmail, LC
Luke 3:10-18
The crowds asked
John the Baptist, "What then should we do?" He said to them in
reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has
none. And whoever has food should do likewise." Even tax collectors came
to be baptized and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?"
He answered them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed."
Soldiers also asked him, "And what is it that we should do?" He
told them, "Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and
be satisfied with your wages." Now the people were filled with
expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the
Messiah. John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of
his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing
fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into
his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Exhorting
them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.
Introductory Prayer: As Christmas draws near, I desire to learn more deeply Your
example of humility by coming among us as an infant. I pray that this season
rekindles my sense of hope in Your providence.
Petition: Jesus, grant me the grace to grow in the
virtue I need to cultivate most.
1. Within Reach: Charity demands justice, at the very least.
According to the Compendium of the Catechism (no. 381), justice consists in
the firm and constant will to give to others their due. In this passage Saint
John the Baptist points out two levels of justice toward neighbor. In the
first level, he tells the tax collectors and soldiers to be content with the
money that comes their way rightfully. The second level goes further. It
demands that we share our surplus with those in genuine need. That surplus
could be all around us: in our closet, our pantry, our checkbook. What could
I share with the poor? A saintly maxim says: Live simply, so that others can
simply live.
2. Open to All: People of all sorts approach John the
Baptist for advice. He responds to them all. They hunger for meaning. They
want to repent. Those same people are with us today. Maybe they are
fallen-away Catholics, or Evangelicals, or Jews, or Muslims, or even
atheists. They too seek meaning in their lives. All of them, whether or not
they realize it, seek Christ, who "fully reveals man to man himself"
(Gaudium et Spes, 22). Have I been willing to share that "secret"
with others? Are there areas of my life where I shy away from talking about
religion? The office? The mall? The dinner table? John the Baptist wouldn’t
exclude anyone. Would I?
3. Groundwork: By calling for charity and justice John
wants to prepare the people for the arrival of the Messiah. Without hearts
open to others, they would not be able to accept the robust message of
Christ. Charity prepares the heart for the seed of the Gospel. If ever my relationship
with Christ grows cold, I should ask, “How is my charity? The key to finding
myself demands that I look first to serve God and others.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, for You,
charity is the highest value. You even spoke about it the night before your
death. "I give You a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved You,
so You also should love one another" (John 13:34). Christmas should
enkindle charity in my heart. Let me see You in every person I meet today.
Resolution: I will perform a special act of charity
today for someone at home, work or school.
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.
16 It was during
the octave of Corpus Christi [June 25, 1925]. God filled my soul with the
interior light of a deeper knowledge of Him as Supreme Goodness and Supreme
Beauty. I came to know how very much God loves me. Eternal is His love for
me. It was at vespers. In simple words, which flowed from the heart, I made
to God a vow of perpetual chastity. From that moment I felt a greater
intimacy with God, my Spouse. From that moment I set up a little cell in my
heart where I always kept company with Jesus.
25 During the
night, the Mother of God visited me, holding the Infant Jesus in Her arms. My
soul was filled with joy, and I said, "Mary, my Mother, do You know how
terribly I suffer?" And the Mother of God answered me, I know how
much you suffer, but do not be afraid. I share with you your
suffering, and I shall always do so. She smiled warmly and disappeared.
At once, strength and a great courage sprang up anew in my soul; but that
lasted only one day. It seemed as though hell had conspired against me. A
terrible hatred began to break out in my soul, a hatred for all that is holy
and divine. It seemed to me that these spiritual torments would be my lot for
the rest of my life. I turned to the Blessed Sacrament and said to Jesus,
"Jesus, my Spouse, do You not see that my soul is dying because of its
longing for You? How can You hide Yourself from a heart that loves You so
sincerely? Forgive me, Jesus; may Your holy will be done in me. I will suffer
silently like a dove, without complaining. I will not allow my heart even one
single cry of sorrowful
complaint."
106 Though these are
frightening things, the soul should not be too fearful, because God will
never test us beyond what we are able to bear. On the other hand, He may
never send us such sufferings, but I write this because, if it pleases the
Lord to let a soul pass through such sufferings, it should not be afraid but,
insofar as this depends on the soul itself, it should remain faithful to God.
God will do a soul no harm, because He is Love itself, and in this
unfathomable love has called it into being. However, when I was so tormented,
I myself did not understand this.
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.
146 Prayer.-A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of
combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is
pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which
is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a
soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful
soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no
soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul
through prayer.
343 True love is measured by the
thermometer of suffering. Jesus, I thank You for the little daily crosses,
for opposition to my endeavors, for the hardships of communal life, for the
misinterpretation of my intentions, for humiliations at the hands of others,
for the harsh way in which we are treated, for false suspicions, for poor
health and loss of strength, for self-denial, for dying to myself, for lack
of recognition in everything, for the upsetting of all my plans.
Thank You, Jesus, for interior sufferings, for dryness of spirit, for terrors, fears and incertitude's, for the darkness and the deep interior night, for temptations and various ordeals, for torments too difficult to describe, especially for those which no one will understand, for the hour of death with its fierce struggle and all its bitterness. I thank You, Jesus, You who first drank the cup of bitterness before You gave it to me, in a much milder form. I put my lips to this cup of Your holy will. Let all be done according to Your good pleasure; let that which Your wisdom ordained before the ages be done to me. I want to drink the cup to its last drop, and not seek to know the reason why. In bitterness is my joy, in hopelessness is my trust. In You, O Lord, all is good, all is a gift of Your paternal Heart. I do not prefer consolations over bitterness or bitterness over consolations, but thank You, O Jesus, for everything! It is my delight to fix my gaze upon You, O incomprehensible God! My spirit abides in these mysterious dwelling places, and there I am at home. I know very well the dwelling place of my Spouse. I feel there is not a single drop of blood in me that does not burn with love for You. O Uncreated Beauty, whoever comes to know You once cannot love anything else. I can feel the bottomless abyss of my soul, and nothing will fill it but God himself. I feel that I am drowned in Him like a single grain of sand in a bottomless ocean.
383 At the beginning of the retreat, I saw, on the ceiling
of the chapel, Jesus nailed to the Cross. He was looking at the sisters with
great love, but not at all of them. There were three sisters at whom Jesus
looked severely, for what reasons I do not know. I only know what a terrible
thing it is to meet with such a look, which is the look of a severe Judge.
That look was not directed at me, and yet I was paralyzed with terror. I
still tremble as I write these words. I did not dare to say so much as a
single word to Jesus. My physical strength failed me, and I thought I would
not live to the end of the conference. The next day, I saw the same thing
again, just as I had seen it the first time, and this time I dared to speak
these words: "Jesus, how great is Your mercy!"
On the third day, that gaze of great kindness upon all the
sisters, except the three, was
again repeated. I gathered up my courage, which drew its
force from love of neighbor, and I said to the Lord, "You, who are Mercy
Itself, as You yourself told me, I beg You by the power of Your mercy, to
look then with kindness at these three sisters as well. And if this is not in
accord with Your wisdom, I ask You for an exchange: turn to them the kind
look meant for my soul, and let Your severe gaze at their souls be turned on
me." Jesus then said to me these words: My daughter, for the sake of
your sincere and generous love, I grant them many graces although they
are not asking Me for them. But I am doing so because of the promise I
have made to you. And at that moment, He turned a merciful look towards
those three sisters as well. My heart leapt with joy to see the goodness of
God.
458 During the ten-o'clock meditation, Father
[Rzyczkowski [98]] spoke about divine mercy and about God's
goodness to us. He said that as we review the history of mankind, we can see
this great goodness of God at every step. All the attributes of God, such as
omnipotence and wisdom, serve to reveal to us the greatest of His attributes;
namely, His goodness. God's goodness is the greatest of God's attributes.
Many souls striving for perfection, however, are not aware of this great
goodness of God. Everything that Father said in the course of the meditation
about the goodness of God, was exactly what Jesus had said to me concerning
(the Feast of Mercy. I have now come to understand clearly what the Lord has
promised me, and I have no doubt about anything; God's language is clear and
distinct.
552 In addition to
the vows, I see one rule as most important. Although all the rules are
important, I put
this one in first place, and it is silence. Truly, if this rule were to be
observed strictly, I would not worry about the others. Women are very fond of
talking, but the Holy Spirit does not speak to a soul that is distracted and
garrulous. He speaks by His quiet inspirations to a soul that is recollected,
to a soul that knows how to keep silence. If silence were strictly observed,
there would not be any grumbling, bitterness, slandering, or gossip, and
charity would not be tarnished. In a word, many wrongs would not be done.
Silent lips are pure gold and bear witness to holiness within.
+ J.M.J.
742 My daughter, if I demand
through you that people revere My mercy, you should be the first to
distinguish yourself by this confidence in My mercy. I demand from you deeds
of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to
your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to
excuse or absolve yourself from it.
I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first-by deed, the second-by word, the third-by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy. Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy, and I demand the worship of My mercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through the veneration of the image which is painted. By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works. O my Jesus, You yourself must help me in everything, because You see how very little I am, and so I depend solely on Your goodness, O God.
885 Jesus, give me the strength and wisdom to get through
this terrible wilderness, that my heart may bear patiently this longing for
You, O my Lord! I always remain in holy
amazement when I sense that You are approaching me, You,
the Lord of the awesome
throne; that You descend to this miserable exile and visit
this poor beggar who has nothing but misery! I do not know how to entertain
You, my Royal Prince, but You know that I love You with every beat of my
heart. I see how You lower yourself, but nevertheless Your majesty does not
diminish in my eyes. I know that You love me with the love of a bridegroom,
and that is enough for me. Although we are separated by a great chasm, for
You are the Creator and I am Your creature, nevertheless, love alone explains
our union. Without it, all is incomprehensible. Only love makes it possible
to understand these incomprehensible intimacies with which You visit me. O
Jesus, Your greatness terrifies me, and I would be in constant astonishment
and fear, if You yourself did not set me at peace. You make me capable of
communing with You before each approach.
990 I know well, O
Lord, that You have no need of our works; You demand love. Love, love and
once again, love of God-there is nothing greater in heaven or on earth. The
greatest greatness is to love God; true greatness is in loving God; real
wisdom is to love God. All that is great and beautiful is in God; there is no
beauty or greatness outside of Him. O you sages of the world and you great
minds, recognize that true greatness is in loving God! Oh, how astonished I
am that some people deceive themselves, saying: There is no eternity!
1030 + O my Jesus, give me wisdom, give me a mind great
and enlightened by Your light, and this only, that I may know You better, O
Lord. For the better I get to know You, the more ardently will I love You,
the sole object of my love. In You my soul drowns, in You my heart dissolves.
I know not how to love partially, but only with the full strength of my soul
and the total ardor of my heart. You yourself, O Lord, have enkindled this
love of mine for You; in You my heart has drowned forever.
1456 + O most gracious Lord, how merciful it is on Your
part to judge each one according to his conscience and his discernment, and
not according to people's talk. My spirit delights and feeds more and more on
Your wisdom, which I am getting to know more and more deeply. And in this,
the vastness of Your mercy becomes more and more manifest to me. O my Jesus,
the effect of all this knowledge on my soul is that I am being transformed
into a flame of love towards You, my God.
1521 The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of
proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which
burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners
will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable
mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who
proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their
words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak.
1682 + May 1, [1938]. This evening,
Jesus said to me, My daughter, do you need anything? I answered,
"O my Love, when I have You I have everything." And the Lord
answered, If souls would put themselves completely in My care, I Myself
would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater
graces on them. There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given
up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, shielding them
with My mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart.
1686 O my Love, my
eternal Master, how good it is to obey; because when obedience infuses the
soul, it brings with it power and strength to act.
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...
1728 Write: I am Thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest
sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents,
there is no limit to My generosity toward it. My mercy embraces and justifies
it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart
rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My
Heart and rejoice at their return.
Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run
away from My Merciful
Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners
that I am always waiting for
them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart...
when will it beat for Me?
Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of
conscience, through
their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms,
through the voice of the
Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin
to be angry with them,
leaving them alone and giving them what they want.
1766 During this reading, my soul was filled with deep
repentance. I saw all the ingratitude of creatures toward their Creator and
Lord; I asked God to protect me from spiritual blindness.
Conference on Sacrifice and Prayer.
1813 5. + Today, I
am not forcing myself to make any special preparation. I cannot think of
anything, though I feel many things. I long for the time when God will come
to my heart. I throw myself in His arms and tell Him about my inability and
my misery. I pour out all the pain of my heart, for not being able to love
Him as much as I want. I arouse within myself acts of faith, hope and charity
and live on that throughout the day.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-1, 16, 25, 106, 117, 146, 343, 383,
458)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-552, 742, 885, 990)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1030)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1453, 1521)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1698, 1686, 1702, 1728, 1766, 1813)
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Disyembre 13, 2015
Charity for All-Divine Mercy Miracles Meditations
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