To Believe or Not to Believe
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January 31, 2016. Fourth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Luke 4:21-30
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. They also asked, "Isn´t this the son of Joseph?" He said
to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb, ´Physician, cure
yourself,´ and say, ´Do here in your native place the things that we heard
were done in Capernaum.´" And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet
is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were
many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three
and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It
was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath
in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time
of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the
Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all
filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the
brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down
headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I do believe in You, and I long to open my heart
completely to receive Your Word in total faith and trust. I seek You ardently
in this prayer so as to know You better. I want to know You so as to love You
more completely as my Savior and Lord.
Petition: Lord, grant me the grace of active and total
faith in You.
1. Mixed Opinions
and Emotions: There is a striking
contrast between the question, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” and its
preceding line: “And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words
that came from his mouth.” It seems contradictory that at the same time as
they are praising him, they are doubting him. But the Apostles also
experienced mixed feelings, even during their last encounter with Jesus
Christ before he ascended to heaven: “And when they saw him they worshiped
him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28:17). Don’t we also sometimes find this
same inner shakiness of our faith in Christ, even while we may be professing
it with our lips? Christ knows the weakness of the human heart, but he will
not force himself upon us nor work miracles without our sincere profession of
faith in him. Nevertheless, he is willing to help us if we can only
humbly recognize our weakness and implore his help. We have proof from the
Gospel that he will not spurn the prayer “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief!”
(Mark 9:24)
2. He Only Seeks Our
Happiness: When we look at the
panorama that Christ offers us from the history of Israel, he describes God’s
true motive for encountering man, for seeking him out. Is it to bring him
into submission and lay upon him an unsupportable burden of ‘holiness’? God,
rather, is the healer and has no other purpose than to make these privileged
souls happy. He yearns to lift a burden from their souls. He is there to heal
and to elevate their whole experience of life. Ultimately, all that Christ
needs to make them happy is that they have faith: an active and all-embracing
faith, a faith that is not diluted by rationalistic demands that condition
their acceptance of God’s plan. Do I experience Christ only as trying
to tighten the noose of responsibilities around my neck, or do I see that
through what appears to me as difficult, he seeks only to bring out something
more beautiful in me?
3. Christ is the
Alpha and the Omega: Faith
is not just for the future, not just to recognize Christ as the Omega—the end
point of my journey where I find an explanation for death. Nor is faith just
for when my personal plans have gone awry and I need an explanation for my
moral and spiritual failures. Christ is not simply the caboose, trailing my
life to clean up the disorders that pull my train off the track. Our Lord is
also the Alpha—the beginning point. He is the engine that drives the
whole process and the place from which every new initiative for advancement
must begin. I must acknowledge that he is not just one means among
others to live a good life. He is the source and summit of true life itself,
goodness incarnate, and no effort of mine can have value or merit unless it
is done in total dependence on him. Let my faith reveal this truth to me, so
that my heart may be open more and more to making Christ my reason for
living, my foundation for giving myself day after day.
Conversation with
Christ: Lord, I want to open myself to what You propose
to me in prayer and to eliminate all pride and human calculation at work in
my heart and mind. I trust in You, Lord, for You seek only to make me happy,
never to hurt me. When my own reason becomes darkened and my natural
enthusiasm wanes before the mystery of Your design, help me confide in and
walk by Your holy power and wisdom.
Resolution: Today I will offer an act of faith and trust
in some desire of Christ for me, one that I originally met with fear or
indifference.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
92 Humiliation
is my daily food. I understand that the bride must herself share in
everything that is the groom's; and so His cloak of mockery must cover me,
too. At those times when I suffer much, I try to remain silent, as I do not
trust my tongue which, at such moments, is inclined to talk for itself, while
its duty is to help me praise God for all the blessings and gifts which He
has given me. When I receive Jesus in Holy Communion, I ask Him fervently to
deign to heal my tongue so that I would offend neither God nor neighbor by
it. I want my tongue to praise God without cease. Great are the faults
committed by the tongue. The soul will not attain sanctity if it does not
keep watch over its tongue.
94 O my Lord,
inflame my heart with love for You, that my spirit may not grow weary amidst
the storms, the sufferings and the trials. You see how weak I am. Love can do
all.
95 +A Deeper
Knowledge of God and the Terror of the Soul.
In the beginning, God lets himself be known as Holiness, Justice, Goodness - that is to say, Mercy. The soul does not come to know this all at once, but piecemeal, in flashes; that is to say, when God draws near. And this does not last for long, because the soul could not bear such light. During prayer the soul experiences flashes of this light which make it impossible to pray as before. Try as it may to force itself to pray as it did before, all is in vain; it becomes completely impossible for it to continue to pray as it did before it received this light. This light which has touched the soul is alive within it, and nothing can either quench or diminish it. This flash of the knowledge of God draws the soul and enkindles its love for Him. But this same flash, at the same time, allows the soul to know itself as it is; the soul sees its whole interior in a superior light, and it rises up alarmed and terrified. Still, it does not remain under the effects of terror, but it begins to purify itself, to humble and abase itself before the Lord. These lights become stronger and more frequent; the more the soul is crystallized, the more these lights penetrate it. However, if the soul has responded faithfully and courageously to these first graces, God fills it with His consolations and gives himself to it in a perceptible manner. At certain moments, the soul, as it were, enters into intimacy with God and greatly rejoices in this; it believes that it has already reached the degree of perfection destined for it, because its defects and faults are asleep within it, and this makes it think that they no longer exist. Nothing seems difficult for it; it is ready for everything. It begins to plunge itself into God and taste the divine delights. It is carried along by grace and does not take account of the fact that the time of trial and testing may come. And, in fact, this state does not last long. Other moments will soon come. I should add here, however, that the soul will respond more faithfully to divine grace if it has a well - informed confessor to whom it can confide everything.
96 +Trials sent by God to a soul which is particularly
loved by Him.
Temptations and darkness; Satan. The soul's love [for God] is still not such as God would have it. The soul suddenly loses the tangible perception of God's presence. Various defects and imperfections rise up within it, and it must fight them furiously. All her faults lift up their heads, but the soul's vigilance is great. The former awareness of the presence of God gives place to coldness and spiritual dryness; the soul has no taste for spiritual exercises; it cannot pray, either in the old way, or in the manner in which it had just begun to pray. It struggles this way and that, but can find no satisfaction. God has hidden himself from it, and it can find no consolation in creatures, nor can any of these creatures find a way of consoling it. The soul craves passionately for God, but sees its own misery; it begins to sense God's justice; it seems to it that it has lost all the gifts that God had given it; its mind is dimmed, and darkness fills it; unspeakable torment begins. The soul tries to explain its state to the confessor, but it is not understood and is assailed by an even greater unrest. Satan begins his work.
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.
+ The Trial of
Trials, Complete Abandonment - Despair
98 When the soul comes out victorious from the preceding trials, even though it may stumble here and there, it fights on valiantly, humbly calling upon God, "Save me, I am perishing!" And it is still able to fight on. At this point, however, the soul is engulfed in a horrible night. It sees within itself only sin. It feels terrible. It sees itself completely abandoned by God. It feels itself to be the object of His hatred. It is but one step away from despair. The soul does its best to defend itself; it tries to stir up its confidence; but prayer is an even greater torment for it, as this prayer seems to arouse God to an even greater anger. The soul finds itself poised on the summit of a lofty mountain on the very brink of a precipice. The soul is drawn to God, but feels repulsed. All other sufferings and tortures in the world are as nothing compared with this sensation into which it has been plunged; namely, that of being rejected by God. No one can bring it any relief; it finds itself completely alone; there is no one to defend it. It raises its eyes to heaven, but is convinced that this is not for her-for her all is lost. It falls deeper and deeper from darkness to darkness, and it seems to it that it has lost forever the God it used to love so dearly. This thought is torture beyond all description. But the soul does not agree to it and tries to lift its gaze toward heaven, but in vain! And this makes the torture even more intense. If God wishes to keep the soul in such darkness, no one will be able to give it light. It experiences rejection by God in a vivid and terrifying manner. From its heart burst forth painful moans, so painful that no priest will comprehend it, unless he himself has been through these trials. In the midst of this, the evil spirit adds to the soul's suffering, mocking it: "Will you persist in your faithfulness? This is your reward; you are in our power!" But Satan has only as much influence over the soul as God allows him, and God knows how much we can bear. "What have you gotten out of your mortifications," says Satan, "and out of your fidelity to the rule? What use are all these efforts? You have been rejected by God!" This word, rejected, becomes a fire which penetrates every nerve to the marrow of the bone. It pierces right through her entire being. The ordeal reaches its climax. The soul no longer looks for help anywhere. It shrinks into itself and loses sight of everything; it is as though it has accepted the torture of being abandoned. This is a moment for which I have no words. This is the agony of the soul.
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.
107 O my God, I
have come to know that I am not of this earth; You, O Lord, have poured this
profound awareness into my soul. My communion is more with heaven than with
earth, though I in no way neglect my duties.
115 + When a soul has come out of these tribulations, it
is deeply humble. Its purity of soul is great. It knows better without need
of reflecting, as it were, what it ought to do at a given moment and what to
forbear. It feels the lightest touch of grace and is very faithful to God. It
recognizes God from afar and continuously rejoices in Him. It discovers God
very quickly in other souls and in its environment in general. The soul has
been purified by God himself. God, as Pure Spirit, introduces the soul to a
life which is purely spiritual. God himself has first prepared and purified
the soul; that is, He has made it capable of close communion with himself.
The soul, in a state of loving repose, communes spiritually with the Lord. It
speaks to God without the need of expressing itself through the senses. God
fills it with His light.
The enlightened mind sees clearly and distinguishes the various degrees of the spiritual life. It recognizes [that state] when its union with God was imperfect: where the senses were involved, and the spirit was linked with the senses in a manner-exalted and special, to be sure but not yet perfect. There is a higher and more perfect union with God; namely, intellectual union. Here, the soul is safer from illusions; its spirituality is purer and more profound. In a life where the senses are involved, there is more danger of illusion. Both for the soul and for its confessor, prudence must play a greater part. There are moments when God introduces the soul to a purely spiritual state. The senses dim and are seemingly dead. The soul is most closely united to God; it is immersed in the Deity; its knowledge is complete and perfect, not sporadic as before, but total and absolute. It rejoices in this. But I want to say more about those moments of trial; at those times the confessor must have patience with such a soul. But the soul must have even greater patience with itself.
140 Pure love is capable of great deeds, and it is not
broken by difficulty or adversity. As it remains strong in the midst of great
difficulties, so too it perseveres in the toilsome and drab life of each day.
It knows that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest
things out of great love-love, and always love.
Pure love never errs. Its light is strangely plentiful. It will not do anything that might displease God. It is ingenious at doing what is more pleasing to God, and no one will equal it. It is happy when it can empty itself and burn like a pure offering. The more it gives of itself, the happier it is. But also, no one can sense dangers from afar as can love; it knows how to unmask and also knows with whom it has to deal.
200 O Jesus, how deeply it hurts the soul when it is
always trying to be sincere and they accuse it of hypocrisy and behave with
mistrust toward it. O Jesus, You also suffered like this to make satisfaction
to Your Father.
580 On a certain occasion, the Lord said to me, I am
more deeply wounded by the small imperfections of chosen souls than by the
sins of those living in the world. It made me very sad that chosen souls
make Jesus suffer, and Jesus told me, These little imperfections are not
all. I will reveal to you a secret of My Heart: what I suffer from chosen
souls. Ingratitude in return for so many graces is My Heart's constant food,
on the part of [such] a chosen soul. Their love is lukewarm, and My Heart
cannot bear it; these souls force Me to reject them. Others distrust My
goodness and have no desire to experience that sweet intimacy in their own
hearts, but go in search of Me, off in the distance, and do not find Me. This
distrust of My goodness hurts Me very much. If My death has not convinced you
of My love, what will? Often a soul wounds Me mortally, and then no one can
comfort Me. They use My graces to offend Me. There are souls who despise My
graces as well as all the proofs of My love. They do not wish to hear My
call, but proceed into the abyss of hell. The loss of these souls plunges Me
into deadly sorrow. God though I am, I cannot help such a soul because it
scorns Me; having a free will, it can spurn Me or love Me. You, who are the
dispenser of My mercy, tell all the world about My goodness, and thus you
will comfort My Heart.
654 Now I understand that confession is only the
confessing of one's sins, and spiritual guidance is a different thing
altogether. But this is not what I want to speak about. I want to tell about
a strange thing that happened to me for the first time. When the confessor
started talking to me, I did not understand a single word. Then I saw Jesus
Crucified and He said to me, It is in My Passion that you must seek light
and strength. After the confession, I meditated on Jesus' terrible
Passion, and I understood that what I was suffering was nothing compared to
the Savior's Passion, and that even the smallest imperfection was the cause
of this terrible suffering. Then my soul was filled with very great
contrition, and only then I sensed that I was in the sea of the unfathomable
mercy of God. Oh, how few words I have to express what I am experiencing! I
feel I am like a drop of dew engulfed in the depths of the bottomless ocean
of divine mercy.
666 I understood that all striving for perfection and all
sanctity consist in doing God's will. Perfect fulfillment of God's will is
maturity in sanctity; there is no room for doubt here. To receive God's light
and recognize what God wants of us and yet not do it is a great offense
against the majesty of God. Such a soul deserves to be completely forsaken by
God. It resembles Lucifer, who had great light, but did not do God's will. An
extraordinary peace entered my soul when I reflected on the fact that,
despite great difficulties, I had always faithfully followed God's will as I
knew it. O Jesus, grant me the grace to put Your will into practice as I have
come to know it, O God.
1165 Know this, My daughter: if you strive for
perfection you will sanctify many souls; and if you do not strive for
sanctity, by the same token, many souls will remain imperfect. Know that
their perfection will depend on your perfection, and the greater part of the
responsibility for these souls will fall on you.
1293 It so happened that I fell again into a certain
error, in spite of a sincere resolution not to do so-even though the lapse
was a minor imperfection and rather involuntary-and at this I felt such acute
pain in my soul that I interrupted my work and went to the chapel for a
while. Falling at the feet of Jesus, with love and a great deal of pain, I
apologized to the Lord, all the more ashamed because of the fact that in my
conversation with Him after Holy Communion this very morning I had promised
to be faithful to Him. Then I heard these words: If it hadn't been for
this small imperfection, you wouldn't have come to Me. Know that as often as
you come to Me, humbling yourself and asking My forgiveness, I pour out a
superabundance of graces on your soul, and your imperfection vanishes before
My eyes, and I see only your love and your humility. You lose nothing but
gain much...
1566 When I was apologizing to the Lord Jesus for a
certain action of mine which, a little later, turned out to be imperfect,
Jesus put me at ease with these words: My daughter, I reward you for the
purity of your intention which you had at the time when you acted. My Heart
rejoiced that you had My love under consideration at the time you acted, and
that in so distinct a way; and even now you still derive benefit from this;
that is, from the humiliation. Yes, My child, I want you to always have such
great purity of intention in the very least things you undertake.
1584 O inconceivable goodness of God, which shields us at
every step, may Your mercy be praised without cease. That You became a
brother to humans, not to angels, is a miracle of the unfathomable mystery of
Your mercy. All our trust is in You, our first-born Brother, Jesus Christ,
true God and true Man. My heart flutters with joy to see how good God is to
us wretched and ungrateful people. And as a proof of His love, He gives us
the incomprehensible gift of Himself in the person of His Son. Throughout all
eternity we shall never exhaust that mystery of love. O mankind, why do you
think so little about God being truly among us? O Lamb of God, I do not know
what to admire in You first: Your gentleness, Your hidden life, the emptying
of Yourself for the sake of man, or the constant miracle of Your mercy, which
transforms souls and raises them up to eternal life. Although You are hidden
in this way, Your omnipotence is more manifest here than in the creation of
man. Though the omnipotence of Your mercy is at work in the justification of
the sinner, yet Your action is gentle and hidden.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-92, 94-98, 106-107, 115, 140, 200)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-580, 654, 666)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1165)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1293)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1566, 1584)
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