The Real Christ
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June 19, 2016. Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Father Edward Hopkins, LC
Luke 9:18-24
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with
him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They said in
reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ´One of the
ancient prophets has arisen.´" Then he said to them, "But who do
you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Messiah of God."
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He said,
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the
chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be
raised." Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
will save it."
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe
in You and in Your love. I trust in You as the way for me to live. I hope in
the power of your cross to free me from all that is not You. I love You and
want my love to be more real so that I may imitate Your pure and total love.
Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to know You so intimately
that I will lose myself and follow You with a real love.
1. What People Say: Today more than ever we care what
people say and think of us. However, human respect could find no place in the
mind of Christ. He cared only for the Father’s will. How are we to
understand, then, that precisely during a moment of quiet prayer we find Jesus
inquiring about “what people say” of him? He wants to know what the thoughts
and worries of his disciples are. Jesus makes them see that their awareness
of and interest in what others say of him (and of them) is out of proportion
with what counts. They need to recognize just how limited the opinions of the
crowd are, how far short they fall. The disciples know better; more than a
prophet, he is THE Messiah. What matters is not what people think, the
“perception” that others have, but rather the truth of Jesus’ identity. This
is what they believe in and have been following. Do I put too much importance
in what people think and say?
2. “Who Do You Say I Am?” Not only do the opinions of the
crowds leave much to be desired, but the disciples themselves are far from
understanding who “the Messiah of God” is. The understanding of their faith
is immature and shallow. So, Jesus insists that he must “suffer greatly and
be rejected … and be killed.” How clouded and toned down is our understanding
of Christ! Suffering and pain seem foreign to God’s goodness. If we are good
we expect no cross, no contradictions, no conflict. Why does Jesus forbid
them to spread the news that he is the Messiah? Would it be that others, even
more than they, might fail to understand his cross?
3. “Whoever Loses His Life…” The question “Who is Christ?” is
better answered by Jesus’ life than by the name “prophet” or “Messiah.”
Likewise, my faith is better expressed by how I live than by what I say. “Who
he is” determines who we are called to be. To know Christ is to know the way
of his discipleship. To know him is to know God’s love expressed in human
life. Practically speaking, “Messiah” means “giving oneself for others.”
Salvation happens by self-giving, by giving away for others the life we have
been given. So if I believe in him and wish to follow him, I must accept what
only faith can grasp––that only by dying to self in this life can I know and
share God’s truth and life. Do the little sacrifices of my daily life give
testimony to my faith in who Christ really is?
Conversation with Christ: Dear Lord, help me not to worry
about what others might think or say. May my only concern be to know and love
You. Open my soul to embrace the real You, the Christ of the cross, of
sacrifice and self-giving. Help me rid my life of a soft, unreal love, which
reflects a false Christ. Grant me the grace to die to myself in the details
of fulfilling Your will each day with joy.
Resolution: Rather than complain the next time I encounter
disappointment or contradiction in my life, I will try to offer it gladly to
Christ as a testimony of my love for him.
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. O My God 2 When I look into the future, I am frightened, But why plunge into the future? Only the present moment is precious to me, As the future may never enter my soul at all. It is no longer in my power, To change, correct or add to the past; For neither sages nor prophets could do that. And so, what the past has embraced I must entrust to God. O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire. I desire to use you as best I can. And although I am weak and small, You grant me the grace of your omnipotence. And so, trusting in Your mercy, I walk through life like a little child, Offering You each day this heart Burning with love for Your greater glory.
79 O Mary, my
Mother and my Lady, I offer You my soul, my body, my life and my death, and
all that will Follow it. I place everything in Your hands. O my Mother, cover
my soul with Your virginal mantle and grant me the grace of purity of heart,
soul and body. Defend me with Your power against all enemies, and especially
against those who hide their malice behind the mask of virtue. O lovely lily!
You are for me a mirror, O my Mother!
80 O Jesus,
Divine Prisoner of Love, when I consider Your love and how You emptied
Yourself for me, my senses fail me. You hide Your inconceivable majesty and
lower Yourself to miserable me. O King of Glory, though You hide Your beauty,
yet the eye of my soul rends the veil. I see the angelic choirs giving You
honor without cease, and all the heavenly Powers praising You without cease,
and without cease they are saying: Holy, Holy, Holy.
Oh, who will comprehend Your love and Your unfathomable mercy toward us! O Prisoner of Love, I lock up my poor heart in this tabernacle, that it may adore You without cease night and day. I know of no obstacle in this adoration, and even though I be physically distant, my heart is always with You. Nothing can put a stop to my love for You. No obstacles exist for me. O my Jesus, I will console You for all the ingratitude, the blasphemies, the coldness, the hatred of the wicked, the sacrileges. O Jesus, I want to burn as 'a pure offering and to be consumed before the throne of Your hiddenness. I plead with You unceasingly for poor dying sinners.
81 O Holy
Trinity, One and Indivisible God, may You be blessed for this great gift and
testament of mercy. My Jesus, to atone for blasphemers I will keep silent
when unjustly reprimanded and in this way make partial amends to You. I am
singing within my soul an unending hymn to You, and no one will suspect or
understand this. The song of my soul is known to You alone, O my Creator and
Lord!
82 I will not
allow myself to be so absorbed in the whirlwind of work as to forget about
God. I will spend all my free moments at the feet of the Master hidden in the
Blessed Sacrament. He has been tutoring me from my most tender years.
83 Write this: before I come as the just Judge, I am coming
first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be
given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens
will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth.
Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings
where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great
lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take
place shortly before the last day.
84 O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You
248 The words of the Bishop [Rospond[73]], spoken at
the ceremony of the taking of perpetual vows: "Accept this candle as a
sign of heavenly light and of burning love." While giving the ring:
"I betroth you to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father Most High; may He
keep you unblemished. Take this ring as a sign of the eternal covenant you
are making with Christ, the Spouse of Virgins. May it be for you the ring of
faith and the sign of the Holy Spirit, that you may be called the bride of
Christ and, if you serve Him faithfully, be crowned [as such] for all
eternity.
267 Jesus told me that I please Him best by meditating on His
sorrowful Passion, and by such meditation much light falls upon my soul. He
who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus.
When I meditate upon the Passion of Jesus, I get a clear understanding of
many things I could not comprehend before. I want to resemble You, O
Jesus,-You crucified, tortured and humiliated. Jesus, imprint upon my heart
and soul Your own humility. I love You, Jesus, to the point of madness, You
who were crushed with suffering as described by the prophet [cf. Isaiah
53:2-9], as if he could not see the human form in You because of Your great
suffering. It is in this condition, Jesus, that I love You to the point of
madness. O eternal and infinite God, what has love done to You?...
482 O my God, I am
conscious of my mission in the Holy Church. It is my constant endeavor to plead
for me mercy for the world. I unite myself closely with Jesus and stand
before Him as an atoning sacrifice on behalf of the world. God will refuse me
nothing when I entreat Him with the voice of His Son. My sacrifice is nothing
in itself, but when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes
all-powerful and has the power to appease divine wrath. God loves us in His
Son; the painful Passion of the Son of God constantly turns aside the wrath
of God.
525 O Holy Trinity, in whom is contained the inner life of God, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, eternal joy, inconceivable depth of
love, poured out upon all creatures and constituting their happiness, honor
and glory be to Your holy name forever and ever. Amen.
When I consider Your greatness and beauty, O my God, I rejoice exceedingly that the Lord I serve is so great. With love and joy I carry out His will, and the more I come to know Him, the more I desire to love Him. I burn with the desire to love Him ever more and more.
588 On one
occasion, I heard these words within me: Every movement of your heart
is known to me. Know, My daughter, that one glance of yours directed at
someone else would wound Me more than many sins committed by another person.
589 Love casts
out fear. Since I came to love God with my whole being and with all the
strength of my heart, fear has left me. Even if I were to hear the most
terrifying things about God's justice, I would not fear Him at all, because I
have come to know Him well. God is love, and His Spirit is peace. I see now
that my deeds which have flowed from love are more perfect than those which I
have done out of fear. I have placed my trust in God and fear nothing. I have
given myself over to His holy will; let Him do with me as He wishes, and I
will still love Him.
590 When I
receive Holy Communion, I entreat and beg the Savior to heal my tongue, that
I may never fail in love of neighbor.
591 Jesus, You
know how ardently I desire to hide so that no one may know me but Your
sweetest Heart. I want to be a tiny violet, hidden in the grass, unknown in a
magnificent enclosed garden in which beautiful lilies and roses grow. The
beautiful rose and the lovely lily can be seen from afar, but in order to see
a little violet, one has to bend low; only its scent gives it away. Oh, how
happy I am to be able to hide myself in this way! O my divine Bridegroom, the
flower of my heart and the scent of my pure love are for You. My soul has
drowned itself in You, Eternal God. From the moment when You yourself drew me
to yourself, O my Jesus, the more I have known You, the more ardently I have
desired You.
592 I learned in
the Heart of Jesus that in heaven itself there is a heaven to which not all,
but only chosen souls, have access. Incomprehensible is the happiness in
which the soul will be immersed. O my God, oh, that I could describe this,
even in some little degree. Souls are penetrated by His divinity and pass
from brightness to brightness, an unchanging light, but never monotonous,
always new though never changing. O Holy Trinity, make yourself known to
souls!
593 O my Jesus, nothing is better for the soul than humiliations. In
contempt is the secret of happiness, when the soul recognizes that, of
itself, it is only wretchedness and nothingness, and that whatever it
possesses of good is a gift of God. When the soul sees that everything is
given it freely and that the only thing it has of itself is its own misery,
this is what sustains it in a continual act of humble prostration before the
majesty of God. And God, seeing the soul in such a disposition, pursues it
with His graces. As the soul continues to immerse itself more deeply into the
abyss of its nothingness and need, God uses His omnipotence to exalt it. If
there is a truly happy soul upon earth, it can only be a truly humble soul.
At first, one's self-love suffers greatly on this account, but after a soul
has struggled courageously, God grants it much light by which it sees how
wretched and full of deception everything is. God alone is in its heart. A
humble soul does not trust itself, but places all its confidence in God. God
defends the humble soul and lets Himself into its secrets, and the soul abides
in unsurpassable happiness which no one can comprehend.
598 Oh, how
ardently I desire that every soul would praise Your mercy. Happy is the soul
that calls upon the mercy of the Lord. It will see that the Lord will defend
it as His glory, as He said. And who would dare fight against God? All you
souls, praise the Lord's mercy by trusting in His mercy all your life and
especially at the hour of your death. And fear nothing, dear soul, whoever
you are; the greater the sinner, the greater his right to Your mercy, O Lord.
O incomprehensible goodness! God is the first to stoop to the sinner. O
Jesus, I wish to glorify Your mercy on behalf of thousands of souls. I know
very well, O my Jesus, that I am to keep telling souls about Your goodness,
about Your incomprehensible mercy.
599 On one
occasion, after a person had asked me for prayer, when I met the Lord I said
to Him, "Jesus, I especially love those souls whom You love." And
Jesus answered, And as for Me, I bestow special graces on those souls
for whom you intercede.
600 How wondrously Jesus defends me; truly this is a great grace of
God which I have experienced for a long time now.
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.
697 Jesus, You
know that I love suffering and want to drain the cup of suffering to the last
drop; and yet, my nature experienced a slight shudder and fear. Quickly,
however, my trust in the infinite mercy of God was awakened in all its force,
and everything else had to give way before it, like a shadow retreating
before the sun's rays. O Jesus, how great is Your goodness! Your infinite
goodness, so well known to me, enables me to bravely look death itself in the
eye. I know that nothing will happen to me without God's permission. I desire
to glorify Your infinite mercy during my life, at the hour of death, in the
resurrection and throughout eternity.
+ My Jesus, my strength, my peace, my repose; my soul bathes daily in the rays of Your mercy. There is nota moment in my life when I do not experience Your mercy, O God. I count on nothing in my whole life, but only on Your infinite mercy. It is the guiding thread of my life, O Lord. My soul is filled with God's mercy.
698 + Oh, how sorely Jesus is hurt by the ingratitude of a chosen
soul! What a martyrdom it is for His unspeakable love! God loves us with the
entire infinite Being that He is; and imagine, a miserable particle of dust
scorns that love! My heart bursts with pain when I see this ingratitude.
699 On one occasion, I heard these words: My daughter, tell
the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of
Mercy [139] be
a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that
day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of
graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that
will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete
forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates
through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me,
even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it
of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.
Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender
mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy
throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of
tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first
Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount
of My Mercy.
1433
Two days before Christmas, these words were read in the refectory:
"Tomorrow is the Birth of Jesus Christ according to the flesh."[221] At
these words, my soul was pierced by the light and love of God, and I gained
deeper knowledge of the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. How
great is the mercy of God contained in the Mystery of the Incarnation of the
Son of God!
1437 + Christmas
Eve [1937]. After Holy Communion, the Mother of God gave me to experience the
anxious concern she had in Her heart because of the Son of God. But this
anxiety was permeated with such fragrance of abandonment to the will of God
that I should call it ' rather a delight than an anxiety. I understood how my
' soul ought to accept the will of God in all things. It is a pity I cannot
write this the way I experienced it. My soul was plunged in deep recollection
all day long. Nothing could tear me away from this recollection, neither duties,
nor the business I had with lay people.
The Goodness of
God.
1485 The mercy of God, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, the voice of
the Lord who speaks to us from the throne of mercy: Come to Me, all
of you.
Conversation of the Merciful God with a Sinful Soul. Jesus: Be not afraid of your Savior, O sinful soul. I make the first move to come to you, for I know that by yourself you are unable to lift yourself to me. Child, do not run away from your Father; be willing to talk openly with your God of mercy who wants to speak words of pardon and lavish his graces on you. How dear your soul is to Me! I have inscribed your name upon My hand; you are engraved as a deep wound in My Heart. Soul: Lord, I hear your voice calling me to turn back from the path of sin, but I have neither the strength nor the courage to do so. Jesus: I am your strength, I will help you in the struggle. Soul: Lord, I recognize your holiness, and I fear You. Jesus: My child, do you fear the God of mercy? My holiness does not prevent Me from being merciful. Behold, for you I have established a throne of mercy on earth-the tabernacle-and from this throne I desire to enter into your heart. I am not surrounded by a retinue or guards. You can come to me at any moment, at any time; I want to speak to you and desire to grant you grace. Soul: Lord, I doubt that You will pardon my numerous sins; my misery fills me with fright. Jesus: My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart. Your misery has disappeared in the depths of My mercy. Do not argue with Me about your wretchedness. You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace. Soul: You have conquered, O Lord, my stony heart with Your goodness. In trust and humility I approach the tribunal of Your mercy, where You yourself absolve me by the hand of your representative. O Lord, I feel Your grace and Your peace filling my poor soul. I feel overwhelmed by Your mercy, O Lord. You forgive me, which is more than I dared to hope for or could imagine. Your goodness surpasses all my desires. And now, filled with gratitude for so many graces, I invite You to my heart. I wandered, like a prodigal child gone astray; but you did not cease to be my Father. Increase Your mercy toward me, for You see how weak I am. Jesus: Child, speak no more of your misery; it is already forgotten. Listen, My child, to what I desire to tell you. Come close to My wounds and draw from the Fountain of Life whatever your heart desires. Drink copiously from the Fountain of Life and you will not weary on your journey. Look at the splendors of My mercy and do not fear the enemies of your salvation. Glorify My mercy. Conversation of the Merciful God with a Despairing Soul. 1486 Jesus: O soul steeped in darkness, do not despair. All is not yet lost. Come and confide in your God, who is love and mercy. -But the soul, deaf even to this appeal, wraps itself in darkness. Jesus calls out again: My child, listen to the voice of your merciful Father. -In the soul arises this reply: "For me there is no mercy," and it falls into greater darkness, a despair which is a foretaste of hell and makes it unable to draw near to God. Jesus calls to the soul a third time, but the soul remains deaf and blind, hardened and despairing. Then the mercy of God begins to exert itself, and, without any co-operation from the soul, God grants it final grace. If this too is spurned, God will leave the soul in this self-chosen disposition for eternity. This grace emerges from the merciful Heart of Jesus and gives the soul a special light by means of which the soul begins to understand God's effort; but conversion depends on its own will. The soul knows that this, for her, is final grace and, should it show even a flicker of good will, the mercy of God will accomplish the rest. My omnipotent mercy is active here. Happy the soul that takes advantage of this grace. Jesus: What joy fills My Heart when you return to me. Because you are weak, I take you in My arms and carry you to the home of My Father. Soul (as if awaking, asks fearfully): Is it possible that there yet is mercy for me? Jesus: There is, My child. You have a special claim on My mercy. Let it act in your poor soul; let the rays of grace enter your soul; they bring with them light, warmth, and life. Soul: But fear fills me at the thought of my sins, and this terrible fear moves me to doubt Your goodness. Jesus: My child, all your sins have not wounded My Heart as painfully as your present lack of trust doesthat after so many efforts of My love and mercy, you should still doubt My goodness. Soul: O Lord, save me yourself, for I perish. Be my Savior. O Lord, I am unable to say anything more; my pitiful heart is torn asunder; but You, O Lord... Jesus does not let the soul finish but, raising it from the ground, from the depths of its misery, he leads it into the recesses of His Heart where all its sins disappear instantly, consumed by the flames of love. Jesus: Here, soul, are all the treasures of My Heart. Take everything you need from it. Soul: O Lord, I am inundated with Your grace. I sense that a new life has entered into me and, above all, I feel Your love in my heart. That is enough for me. O Lord, I will glorify the omnipotence of Your mercy for all eternity. Encouraged by Your goodness, I will confide to You all the sorrows of my heart. Jesus: Tell me all, My child, hide nothing from Me, because My loving Heart, the Heart of your Best Friend, is listening to you. Soul: O Lord, now I see all my ingratitude and Your goodness. You were pursuing me with Your grace, while I was frustrating Your benevolence. I see that I deserve the depths of hell for spurning Your graces. Jesus (interrupting): Do not be absorbed in your misery-you are still too weak to speak of it-but, rather, gaze on My Heart filled with goodness, and be imbued with My sentiments. Strive for meekness and humility; be merciful to others, as I am to you; and, when you feel your strength failing, if you come to the fountain of mercy to fortify your soul, you will not grow weary on your journey. Soul: Now I understand Your mercy, which protects me, and like a brilliant star, leads me into the home of my Father, protecting me from the horrors of hell that I have deserved, not once, but a thousand times. O Lord, eternity will hardly suffice for me to give due praise to Your unfathomable mercy and Your compassion for me. + Conversation of the Merciful God with a Suffering Soul 1487 Jesus: Poor soul, I see that you suffer much and that you do not have even the strength to coverse with me. So I will speak to you. Even though your sufferings were very great, do not lose heart or give in to despondency. But tell Me, my child, who has dared to wound your heart? Tell me about everything, be sincere in dealing with Me, reveal all the wounds of your heart. I will heal them, and your suffering will become a source of your sanctification. Soul: Lord, my sufferings are so great and numerous and have lasted so long that I become discouraged. Jesus: My child, do not be discouraged. I know your boundless trust in Me; I know you are aware of My goodness and mercy. Let us talk in detail about everything that weighs so heavily upon your heart. Soul: There are so many different things that I do not know what to speak about first, nor how to express it. Jesus: Talk to Me simply, as a friend to a friend. Tell Me now, My child, what hinders you from advancing in holiness? Soul: Poor health detains me on the way to holiness. I cannot fulfill my duties. I am as useless as an extra wheel on a wagon. I cannot mortify myself or fast to any extent, as the saints did. Furthermore, nobody believes I am sick, so that mental pain is added to those of the body, and I am often humiliated. Jesus, how can anyone become holy in such circumstances? Jesus: True, My child, all that is painful. But there is no way to heaven except the way of the cross. I followed it first. You must learn that it is the shortest and surest way. Soul: Lord, there is another obstacle on the road to holiness. Because I am faithful to You, I am persecuted and suffer much. Jesus: It is because you are not of this world that the world hates you. First it persecuted Me. Persecution is a sign that you are following in My footsteps faithfully. Soul: My Lord, I am also discouraged because neither my superiors nor my confessor understand my interior trials. A darkness clouds my mind. How can I advance? All this discourages me from striving for the heights of sanctity. Jesus: Well, My child, this time you have told Me a good deal. I realize how painful it is not to be understood, and especially by those whom one loves and with whom one has been very open. But suffice it to know that I understand all your troubles and misery. I am pleased by the deep faith you have, despite everything, in My representatives. Learn from this that no one will understand a soul entirely-that is beyond human ability. Therefore, I have remained on earth to comfort your aching heart and to fortify your soul, so that you will not falter on the way. You say that a dense darkness is obscuring your mind. But why, at such times, do you not come to Me, the light who can in an instant pour into your soul more understanding about holiness than can be found in any books? No confessor is capable of teaching and enlightening a soul in this way. Know, too, that the darkness about which you complain I first endured in the Garden of Olives when My Soul was crushed in mortal anguish. I am giving you a share in those sufferings because of My special love for you and in view of the high degree of holiness I am intending for you in heaven. A suffering soul is closest to My Heart. Soul: One more thing, Lord. What should I do when I am ignored and rejected by people, especially by those on whom I had a right to count in times of greatest need? Jesus: My child, make the resolution never to rely on people. Entrust yourself completely to My will saying, "Not as I want, but according to Your will, O God, let it be done unto me." These words, spoken from the depths of one's heart, can raise a soul to the summit of sanctity in a short time. In such a soul I delight. Such a soul gives Me glory. Such a soul fills heaven with the fragrance of her virtue. But understand that the strength by which you bear sufferings comes from frequent Communions. So approach this fountain of mercy often, to draw with the vessel of trust whatever you need. Soul: Thank You, Lord, for Your goodness in remaining with us in this exile as the God of mercy and blessing us with the radiance of Your compassion and goodness. It is through the light of Your mercy that I have come to understand how much You love me. 1488 Conversation of the Merciful God with a Soul Striving after Perfection. Jesus: I am pleased with your efforts, O soul aspiring for perfection, but why do I see you so often sad and depressed? Tell Me, My child, what is the meaning of this sadness, and what is its cause? Soul: Lord, the reason for my sadness is that, in spite of my sincere resolutions, I fall again into the same faults. I make resolutions in the morning, but in the evening I see how much I have departed from them. Jesus: You see, My child, what you are of yourself. The cause of your falls is that you rely too much upon yourself and too little on Me. But let this not sadden you so much. You are dealing with the God of mercy, which your misery cannot exhaust. Remember, I did not allot only a certain number of pardons. Soul: Yes, I know all that, but great temptations assail me, and various doubts awaken within me and, moreover, everything irritates and discourages me. Jesus: My child, know that the greatest obstacles to holiness are discouragement and an exaggerated anxiety. These will deprive you of the ability to practice virtue. All temptations united together ought not disturb your interior peace, not even momentarily. Sensitiveness and discouragement are the fruits of self-love. You should not become discouraged, but strive to make My love reign in place of your self-love. Have confidence, My child. Do not lose heart in coming for pardon, for I am always ready to forgive you. As often as you beg for it, you glorify My mercy. Soul: I understand what is the better thing to do, what pleases You more, but I encounter great obstacles in acting on this understanding. Jesus: My child, life on earth is a struggle indeed; a great struggle for My kingdom. But fear not, because you are not alone. I am always supporting you, so lean on Me as you struggle, fearing nothing. Take the vessel of trust and draw from the fountain of life-for yourself, but also for other souls, especially such as are distrustful of My goodness. Soul: O Lord, I feel my heart being filled with Your love and the rays of Your mercy and love piercing my soul. I go, Lord, at Your command. I go to conquer souls. Sustained by Your grace, I am ready to follow You, Lord, not only to Tabor, but also to Calvary. I desire to lead souls to the fount of Your mercy so that the splendor of Your mercy may be reflected in all souls, and the home of our Father be filled to overflowing. And when the enemy begins to attack me, I shall take refuge behind the shield of Your mercy.
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-1-2, 79-84, 248, 267,
482)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-525, 588-593, 598-600,
666, 697-699)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1433, 1437, 1485-1488)
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