Nothing
But the Truth
May 4, 2016 -
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Father
John Doyle, LC
John
16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "I have
much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the
Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are
coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare
it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you
that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."
Introductory Prayer: Lord, as I begin this prayer I offer You
my whole self: my thoughts, desires, decisions, actions, hopes, fears,
weaknesses, failures and petty successes. I open my entire being to You, aware
that you know everything already. I’m certain of Your mercy and of the
purifying power of Your penetrating, loving gaze.
Petition: Lord, allow me to be sincerely and truthfully
yours.
1. My Truth Before God: Jesus tells his apostles he has many more
things to tell them, but it seems that they are not yet ready to accept the
truth. They were not ready, for one thing, to acknowledge the fact that in a
few short hours all of them would flee before the prospect of the Cross,
leaving Christ quite alone. I, too, may find it hard to see, or to accept, a
realistic picture of my relationship with Christ or my state of soul. I may
justify myself or my indifference with any number of psychological
consolations. I might convince myself that I am not quite as bad off as
so-and-so. Perhaps I put up an excellent external show, living all the motions,
but with little true conviction and sincerity.
2.
Cheap Deceptions:
In our consumer-oriented world, first impressions often seem to count more than
the goodness or evil of a thing. Opinion polls appear to set the standard for
right and wrong, and a false idea of tolerance is a highly held ideal. Truth
can be seen as bluntly offensive, and so it is repackaged in a more appealing way.
However, none of these attempts by the “spirit of the world” can ever succeed
in the end, just as no amount of darkness can ever stop the smallest beam of
light. The Holy Spirit is at work in the world declaring the truth loud and
clear in the depths of the human soul. Only the truth -- which comes from
Christ -- has the power to bring true peace and joy to the human heart when all
illusions are shown up as such.
3.
Living in the Truth:
As Christians we must be on guard against the spirit of insincerity. No one who
lives outside the truth can claim to be a disciple of Christ. Little falsehoods
in our lives are utterly destructive to the action of the “Spirit of Truth” in
our souls. Our Savior never spoke out so strongly against anything as he did
against the pretended righteousness of the leaders of his time. How many things
have I done recently just to be praised by others? How many good things have I
done which are known to God alone? Am I capable of standing firm to my
convictions in the face of misunderstanding or ridicule?
Conversation with Christ: Jesus, the example of Your life and
death is one of complete honesty. Empower me through the “Spirit of Truth” to
be sincere in all that I do before God and others.
Resolution: I will ask forgiveness in the sacrament of
reconciliation at the first available opportunity for any insincerity in my
life.
Excerpts from the
DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
66 O inexhaustible treasure of purity of intention which
makes all our actions perfect and so pleasing to God!
O Jesus, You know how weak I am; be then ever with me;
guide my actions and my whole being, You who are my very best Teacher! Truly,
Jesus, I become frightened when I look at my own misery, but at the same time I
am reassured by Your unfathomable mercy, which exceeds my misery by the measure
of all eternity. This disposition of soul clothes me in Your power. O joy that
flows from the knowledge of one's self! O unchanging Truth, Your constancy is
everlasting!
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.
O Divine Sun, in Your rays the soul sees the tiniest
specks of dust which displease You.
72 O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and
I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity
and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart,
Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the
entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your
own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a
price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of
Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been
enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness
and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equaled. Therefore, let
every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy.
God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy
will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I
contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all
sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages.
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.
180 +During Advent, a great yearning for God arose in my
soul. My spirit rushed toward God with all its might. During that time, the
Lord gave me much light to know His attributes.
The first attribute which the Lord gave me to know is His
holiness. His holiness is so great that all the Powers and Virtues tremble
before Him. The pure spirits veil their faces and lose themselves in unending
adoration, and with one single word they express the highest form of adoration;
that is-Holy... The holiness of God is poured out upon the Church of God and
upon every living soul in it, but not in the same degree. There are souls who
are completely penetrated by God, and there are those who are barely alive.
The second kind of knowledge which the Lord granted me
concerns His justice. His justice is so great and penetrating that it reaches
deep into the heart of things, and all things stand before Him in naked truth,
and nothing can withstand Him.
The third attribute is love and mercy. And I understood
that the greatest attribute is love and mercy. It unites the creature with the
Creator. This immense love and abyss of mercy are made known in the Incarnation
of the Word and in the Redemption [of humanity], and it is here that I saw this
as the greatest of all God's attributes.
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.
410 O eternal and incomprehensible Love, I beg You for
one grace: enlighten my mind with light from on high; help me to know and
appreciate all things according to their value. I feel the greatest joy in my
soul when I come to know the truth.
428 But I could no longer get to sleep; my mind became
exhausted by thinking about the things I had seen. O human souls, how late you
learn the truth! O abyss of God's mercy, pour yourself out as quickly as
possible over the whole world, according to what You yourself have said.
455 When some suffering afflicts me, it no longer causes
me any bitterness, nor do great consolations carry me away, I am filled with
the peace and equanimity that flow from the knowledge of the truth.
How can living surrounded by unfriendly hearts do me any
harm when I enjoy full happiness within my soul'? Or how can having kind hearts
around me help me when I do not have God within me? When God dwells within me,
who can harm me?
456 On the evening of the introductory day of the
retreat, as I listened to the points for the meditation, I heard these words: During
this retreat I will speak to you through the mouth of this priest to strengthen
you and assure you of the truth of the words which I address to you in the
depths of your soul. Although this is a retreat for all the sisters, I have you
especially in mind, as I want to strengthen you and make you fearless in the
midst of all the adversities which lie ahead. Therefore, listen intently to his
words and meditate upon them in the depths of your soul.
464 During a meditation on humility, an old doubt
returned: that a soul as miserable as mine could not carry out the task which
the Lord was demanding [of me]. Just as I was analyzing this doubt, the priest
who was conducting the retreat interrupted his train of thought and spoke about
the very thing I was having doubts about; namely, that God usually chooses the weakest
and simplest souls as tools for His greatest works; that we can see that this
is an undeniable truth when we look at the men He chose to be His apostles; or
again, when we look at the history of the Church and see what great works were
done by souls that were the least capable of accomplishing them; for it is just
in this way that God's works are revealed for what they are, the works of God.
When my doubt had completely disappeared, the priest resumed his conference on
humility.
Jesus was standing, as He usually did during each
conference, on the altar and said nothing to me, but with His kindly gaze
pierced my poor soul which no longer had any excuse.
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.
511 When my intentions are not recognized, but rather
condemned, I am not too much surprised, for I know that it is only God who
scrutinizes my heart. Truth will not die; the wounded heart will regain peace
in due time, and my spirit is strengthened through adversities. I do not always
listen to what my heart tells me, but I keep asking God for light; and when I
feel l have regained my equilibrium, then I say more.
571 O my Jesus, Eternal Truth, I fear nothing, neither
hardships nor sufferings; I fear only one thing, and that is to offend You. My
Jesus, I would rather not exist than make You sad. Jesus, You know that my love
knows no one but You. My soul is absorbed in You.
688 Jesus, Life and Truth, my Master,
guide every step of my life, that I may act according to Your holy will.
727 Eternal Truth, give me a ray of
Your light that I may come to know You, O Lord, and worthily glorify Your
infinite mercy. And at the same time, grant me to know myself, the whole abyss of
misery that I am.
1103 + The quintessence of love is
sacrifice and suffering. Truth wears a crown of thorns. Prayer involves the
intellect, the will, and the emotions.
1164 My daughter, when I was before
Herod, I obtained a grace for you; namely, that you would be able to rise above
human scorn and follow faithfully in My footsteps. Be silent when they do not
want to acknowledge your truth, because it is then that you speak more
eloquently.
1270 September 10, [1937]. I learned
in the course of meditation that the purer the soul, the greater her communion
with God on the spiritual level. She pays little heed to the senses and their
protests. God is a Spirit, and so I love Him in spirit and in truth.
1411 O Divine Spirit, Spirit of truth
and of light,
Dwell ever in my soul by Your divine
grace.
May Your breath dissipate the
darkness,
And in this light may good deeds be
multiplied.
O Divine Spirit, Spirit of love and of
mercy,
Who pour the balm of trust into my
heart,
Your grace confirms my soul in good,
Giving it the invincible power of
constancy.
O Divine Spirit, Spirit of peace and
of joy,
You invigorate my thirsting heart
And pour into it the living fountain
of God's love,
Making it intrepid for battle.
O Divine Spirit, my soul's most
welcome guest,
For my part, I want to remain faithful
to You;
Both in days of joy and in the agony
of suffering,
I want always, O Spirit of God, to
live in Your presence.
O Divine Spirit, who pervade my whole
being
And give me to know Your Divine
Threefold Life,
Initiating me into Your Divine
Essence,
Thus united to You, I will live a life
without end.
1482 + O my Jesus, You know that I have gotten myself
into a lot of trouble for speaking out the truth. O truth, so often oppressed,
you nearly always wear a crown of thorns! O Eternal Truth, support me that I
may have the courage to speak the truth even if it would come about that I
would pay for it with my life. O Jesus, how hard it is to believe in this, when
one sees one thing taught and something else lived.
1654 O truth, O thorny life,
In order to pass through you
victoriously
It is necessary to lean on You, O
Christ,
And to be always close to You.
I would not know how to suffer without
You, O Christ.
Of myself I would not be able to brave
adversities.
Alone, I would not have the courage to
drink from Your cup;
But You, Lord, are always with me, and
You lead me along mysterious paths.
A weak child, I have begun the battle
in Your Name.
I have fought bravely, though often
without success,
And I know that my efforts have
pleased You,
And I know that it is the effort alone
which You eternally reward.
O truth, O life-and-death struggle,
When I rose to do battle, an
inexperienced knight,
I felt I had a knight's blood, though
still a child,
And therefore, O Christ, I needed Your
help and protection.
My heart will not rest from its
efforts and struggle
Until You Yourself call me from the
field of battle.
I will stand before You, not to
receive a reward,
But to be drowned in You, in peace forever.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-66, 69, 72, 77, 97, 180, 298, 410, 428)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-455-456, 464, 497, 511)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-571, 688, 727)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1103, 1164)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-IV-1270)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1411, 1482)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1654)
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