The Indestructible Temple
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November 9, 2016. Feast
of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
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Father Steven Reilly, LC
John
2: 13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep,
and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of
cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.
He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their
tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out
of here! Stop making my Father´s house a marketplace!" His disciples
remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume
me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing
this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been
under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three
days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was
raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and
they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that You are here with me, and I hope in Your
boundless mercy and love. Thank You for watching over me and keeping me in
Your friendship. Thank You for the precious gift of our Mother, the Church.
Petition: Lord, increase my zeal!
1. The Indestructible Temple: Today we celebrate the dedication of St.
John Lateran Basilica, known as the “mother and head of all the churches.”
Going to Rome and visiting this wonderful church, now some seventeen
centuries old, one gets a sense of the durability of Catholicism. The
Catholic Church has been around for a long time, and it will be around for a
lot longer — until judgment day, to be exact. No matter how hard the world
has tried, it hasn’t been able to destroy the temple of the Church. This
should give us a deep confidence that the Lord is with us as we journey
through history.
2. Purification: Being indestructible doesn’t mean, however,
that the Catholic Church does not need constant purification. When our Lord
arrived to the temple in Jerusalem, he found many things that marred the
spirit of prayer and devotion that was to characterize that sacred building.
His vigorous reaction serves to underline the high vocation of holiness that
God had given to the Chosen People. We Catholics have inherited that call;
yet all too often, the ways of the world creep into our souls. Each one of us
needs to submit to the Lord’s purification. He will challenge us in our
conscience, and sometimes that will sting like the whip of cords. But if we
are sincere in our desires, we accept this with humility, aware that our
souls must be living temples of God’s presence.
3. Consuming Zeal: When the apostles contemplated our Lord’s
action in the temple, “zeal” was the word that summed it all up. Jesus is
zealous because he doesn’t accept the status quo of entrenched mediocrity.
The day he arrives it is no longer business as usual: His Father’s house WILL
be respected. Too often we let the barnacles of laziness and the accretions
of apathy weigh down and extinguish our zeal. Every day we must pray that the
Lord will once again “enkindle in our hearts the fire of his love.” Our zeal
in living the faith is part of the way God works to make this temple of his
Church indestructible. Don’t we want to cooperate with his love, so that the
“gates of hell will not prevail?”
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I love Your Church. I thank You for the priceless gift
of my Catholic faith. Protect the Church from all her enemies and help me to
be an effective apostle filled with authentic zeal.
Resolution: I will offer myself to collaborate in a
parish ministry or other Catholic apostolate out of love for the Church.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
38 In order to purify a soul, Jesus uses whatever
instruments He likes. My soul underwent a complete abandonment on the part of
creatures; often my best intentions were misinterpreted by the sisters,[26]
a type of suffering which is most painful; but God allows it, and we must
accept it because in this way we become more like Jesus. There was one thing
which I could not understand for a long time: Jesus ordered me to tell
everything to my Superiors, but my Superiors did not believe what I said and
treated me with pity as though I were being deluded or were imagining things.
Because of this, believing myself to be deluded, I resolved to avoid God interiorly for fear of these illusions. But the grace of God pursued me at every step, and God spoke to me when I least expected it.
41 On one occasion I saw a servant of God in the immediate
danger of committing a mortal sin. I started to beg God to deign to send down
upon me all the torments of hell and all the sufferings He wished if only
this priest would be set free and snatched from the occasion of committing a
sin. Jesus heard my prayer and, that very instant, I felt a crown of thorns
on my head. The thorns penetrated my head with great force right into my
brain. This lasted for three hours; the servant of God was set free from this
sin, and his soul was strengthened by a special grace of God.
47 In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord
Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand [was] raised in the gesture of
blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath the
garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating two large
rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze fixed on the Lord;
my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a while, Jesus
said to me, Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the
signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated,
first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world.
48 I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory.
49 When I told this to my confessor,[29]
I received this for a reply: "That refers to your soul." He told
me, "Certainly, paint God's image in your soul." When I came out of
the confessional, I again heard words such as these: My image already is
in your soul. I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this image,
which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday
after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy.
50 +I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of
Mine towards souls of sinners. Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me.
The flames of mercy are burning Me - clamoring to be spent; I want to pour
them out upon these souls.
Jesus complained to me in these words, Distrust on the part of souls is tearing at My insides. The distrust of a chosen soul causes Me even greater pain; despite My inexhaustible love for them they do not trust Me. Even My death is not enough for them. Woe to the soul that abuses these [gifts].
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.
113 And again, I would like to say three words to the soul
that is determined to strive for sanctity and to derive fruit; that is to
say, benefit from confession.
First word-complete sincerity and openness. Even the holiest and wisest confessor cannot forcibly pour into the soul what he desires if it is not sincere and open. An insincere, secretive soul risks great dangers in the spiritual life, and even the Lord Jesus Himself does not give Himself to such a soul on a higher level, because He knows it would derive no benefit from these special graces. Second word-humility. A soul does not benefit as it should from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery. Third word-obedience. A disobedient soul will win no victory, even if the Lord Jesus himself, in person, were to hear its confession. The most experienced confessor will be of no help whatsoever to such a soul. The disobedient soul exposes itself to great misfortunes; it will make no progress toward perfection, nor will it succeed in the spiritual life. God lavishes His graces most generously upon the soul, but it must be an obedient soul.
114 +Oh, how pleasing are the hymns flowing from a
suffering soul! All heaven delights in such a soul, especially when it is
tested by God. It mournfully sings out its longing for Him. Great is its
beauty, because it comes from God. The soul walks through the jungle of life,
wounded by God's love. With one foot only it touches the ground.
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.
116 My Jesus, You know what my soul goes through at the
recollection of these sufferings. I have often marvelled that the angels and
saints hold their peace at the sight of a soul suffering like that. Yet they
have special love for us at such moments. My soul has often cried out after
God, as a little child who cries as loudly as he can when his mother covers
her face and he cannot recognize her. O my Jesus, honor and glory to You for
these trials of love! Great and incomprehensible is your mercy. All that You
intended for my soul, O Lord, is steeped in Your mercy.
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.
121 +There is a series of graces
which God pours into the soul after these trials by fire. The soul enjoys
intimate union with God. It has many visions, both corporeal and
intellectual. It hears many supernatural words, and sometimes distinct
orders. But despite these graces, it is not self-sufficient. In fact it is
even less so as a result of God's graces, because it is now open to many
dangers and can easily fall prey to illusions. It ought to ask God for a
spiritual director; but not only must it pray for one, it must also make
every effort to find a leader who is an expert in these things, just as a
military leader must know the ways along which he will lead [his followers]
into battle. A soul that is united with God must be prepared for great and
hard-fought battles.
+After these purifications and tears, God abides in the soul in a special way, but the soul does not always cooperate with these graces. Not that the soul itself is not willing to work, but it encounters so many interior and exterior difficulties that it really takes a miracle to sustain the soul on these summits. In this, it absolutely needs a director. People have often sown doubt in my soul, and I myself have sometimes become frightened at the thought that I was, after all, an ignorant person and did not have knowledge of many things, above all, spiritual things. But when my doubts increased, I sought light from my confessor or my superiors. Yet I did not obtain what I desired.
178 Today we are beginning the third probation. All three
of us met at Mother Margaret's, as the other sisters were having their
probation in the novitiate. Mother Margaret began with a prayer, explained to
us what the third probation consists of, and then spoke on how great is the
grace of the perpetual vows. Suddenly I began to cry out loud. In an instant all
God's graces appeared before the eyes of my soul, and I saw myself so
wretched and ungrateful toward God. The sisters began to rebuke me, saying,
"Why did she break out crying?" But Mother Margaret came to my
defense, saying that she was not surprised.
At the end of the hour, I went before the Blessed
Sacrament and, like the greatest and most miserable of wretches, I begged for
His mercy that He might heal and purify my poor soul. Then I heard these
words, My daughter, all your miseries have been consumed in the flame
of My love, like a little twig thrown into a roaring fire. By humbling
yourself in this way, you draw upon yourself and upon other souls an
entire sea of My mercy. I answered, "Jesus, mold my poor
heart according to Your divine delight."
+ For the Greater Glory of God.
The Eight-day Retreat before Perpetual Vows.
218 I am beginning the retreat today. Jesus, my Master,
guide me. Govern me according to Your will, purify my love that it may be
worthy of You, do with me as Your most merciful Heart desires. Jesus, there
will be just the two of us during these days until the moment of our union.
Keep me, Jesus, in a recollected spirit!
478 O my Jesus, You know, You alone know well that m heart
knows no other love but You! All my virginal love is drowned eternally in
You, O Jesus! I sense keenly ho Your divine Blood is circulating in my heart;
I have no the least doubt that Your most pure love has entered m heart with
Your most sacred Blood. I am aware did You are dwelling in me, together with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, or ratherIam aware that it is I who it living
in You, O incomprehensible God! I am aware that I am dissolving in You like a
drop in an ocean. I am aware that You are within me and all about me, that
You are in all things that surround me, in all that happens to me. O my God,
I have come to know You within my heart, and I have loved You above all
things that exist on earth or in heaven. Our hearts have a mutual
understanding, and no one of humankind will comprehend this.
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.
483 O God, how I desire that souls come to know You and to
see that You have created them because of Your unfathomable love. O my
Creator and Lord, I feel that I am going to remove the veil of heaven so that
earth will not doubt Your goodness.
Make of me, Jesus, a pure and agreeable offering before the Face of Your Father. Jesus, transform me, miserable and sinful as I am, into Your own self (for You can do all things), and give me to Your Eternal Father. I want t become a sacrificial host before You, but an ordinary wafer to people. I want the fragrance of my sacrifice be known to You alone. O Eternal God, an unquenchable fire of supplication for Your mercy burns within me. I know and understand that this is my task here and in eternity. You yourself have told me to speak about this great mercy and about Your goodness.
492 Eternal God, Goodness itself, whose mercy is
incomprehensible to every intellect, whether human or angelic, help me, your
feeble child, to do Your holy will as You make it known to me. I desire
nothing but to fulfill God's desires. Lord, here are my soul and my body, my
mind and my will, my heart and all my love. Rule me according to Your eternal
plans.
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.
770 As for myself, I received this grace for
the first time, and that for only a brief moment, in the eighteenth [149] year of my life, within the octave of Corpus Christi [June
18-25, 1925], during Vespers, when I made to the Lord Jesus the vow of
perpetual chastity. I was still living in the world, but I entered the
convent soon afterwards. The grace lasted for a very brief moment, but its
power was great. After this grace, there was a long interval. It is true that
I received many graces from the Lord during this interval, but they were of a
different order. It was a time of trials and purification. The trials were so
painful that my soul felt as though it was being totally abandoned by God and
it was steeped in profound darkness. I became aware and understood that no
one would be able to bring me out of those torments or even understand me.
There were two occasions when my soul was
plunged into despair, once for half an hour, and the second time for three
quarters of an hour. Just as I cannot describe the greatness of the graces,
so too with these ordeals sent by the Lord; whatever words I might use, they
are only a pale shadow [of the reality]. However, just as the Lord plunged me
into these torments, so too He brought me out of them. Only this lasted for a
few years, after which I again received this extraordinary grace of union
which has continued to this day. Still, during this second period of union,
there also have been short interruptions. But for some time now, I have not
experienced any interruption at all; on the contrary, I am more and more
deeply steeped in God. The great light which illumines the mind gives me a
knowledge of the greatness of God; but it is not as if I were getting to know
the individual attributes, as before no, it is different now: in one moment, I
come to know the entire essence of God.
Eighth Day
1226 Today bring to Me the souls who are in the prison
of Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of
My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved
by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to
bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church
and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they
suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay
off their debt to My justice.
1227 Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You
desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the
souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make
retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed
forth from Your Heart put out the flames of the purifying fire, that in that
place, too, the power of Your mercy may be praised.
From the terrible heat of the cleansing fire Rises a
plaint to Your mercy, And they receive comfort, refreshment, relief In the
stream of mingled Blood and Water.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls
suffering in Purgatory, who are
enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg
You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness
with which His most sacred Soul was flooded, manifest Your mercy to the souls
who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way than through
the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that
there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion.
1611 + When the chaplain [Father Theodore]
brings me the Lord Jesus, there are moments when I am pervaded with a very
vivid presence of God, and the Lord gives me to know His holiness. At such
times, I see the smallest speck on my soul, and I would like to purify my
soul before every Holy Communion. When I asked the confessor, he said there
was no need to confess before every Holy Communion. Holy Communion takes away
these tiny things and it is a temptation to think about confession when
receiving Holy Communion. I did not go on to explain the condition of my soul
in any greater detail, because he was not my director, but the confessor.237 This knowledge does not take up my time, because it is faster
than lightning; it enkindles my love, leaving me with a knowledge of
myself...
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-41, 47-50, 113-117, 121, 178)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-478, 482-483, 492, 497, 770)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1226-1227)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1611)
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Nobyembre 09, 2016
The Indestructible Temple-Divine Mercy Miracles Meditations
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