A Just Settlement
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September 23, 2019. Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, priest
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Luke 8: 16-18
Jesus said to the crowd: "No one who
lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he
places it on a lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light. For
there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that
will not be known and come to light. Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone
who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems
to have will be taken away."
Introductory Prayer: Lord, You dwell in brightness, truth and
love. Nothing makes sense without Your love. Without You, Lord, insipidity
invades people, things and events. I believe that You are my refuge and the
source of my happiness now and forever. I am convinced that Your promises
will be fulfilled sooner or later; this is why I prefer a single day in Your
courts than a thousand elsewhere.
Petition: Lord, enlighten my mind and heart to follow
your path that leads to the endless day.
1. Torch Bearers: There are advantages to carrying a torch in
the dark. This common knowledge informed our Lord’s address and helped him
propose it to his listeners. At night, a torchbearer sheds light so that all
who are with him can walk confidently, without stumbling along a dark path.
Time is not wasted stepping insecurely and hesitantly; rather, the whole
group walks purposefully and goes quickly where it needs and wants to be.
When a group has a torchbearer, all in it are relieved, including the
torchbearer himself. This is the value of my faith to a highly secularized
society. Do I nurture an appreciation for the gift of faith that I have
received from God? Am I afraid to allow its light to shine?
2. Wisdom at its Best: Jesus affirms, “For there is nothing hidden
that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and
come to light.” When I am not praised and recognized by others, I might feel
sad or forgotten. This is when I need to shine a lot of light to get out of
that black hole. Do my good works seem to go unperceived? The Lord himself
will expose them on the judgment day. The more they are hidden from others
now, the more merits I will gain before God. All secrets will be cracked open
in the future. My duty is not to crack them open now, but to keep them hidden
and to be a torchbearer for the journey to that place of eternal reward.
3. A Rewarded Success: “To anyone who has, more will be given, and
from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”
Here Jesus plumbs deeper into what we have already reflected on. “To
anyone who has” obviously refers to the torchbearer who has successfully led
his band of friends. He will be entrusted with more responsibility, or simply
respected by the others. “…And from the one who has not”: The
torchbearer who can’t keep his flame alive will be ousted. He will be taken
away. Do I staunchly live the fire of the faith, or do I hesitate in
witnessing to his love?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me to be a wise torchbearer. Do
not allow laziness and presumption to distract me from the basic task of
keeping my lamp filled with oil at all times. Lord, give me a robust faith!
Resolution: In my conversations today, I will bear
witness to the light by avoiding all slanderous talk, and I will elevate the
topics of conversation by talking about things that could inspire others to
praise God.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
30 +On
one occasion I was reflecting on the Holy Trinity, on the essence of God. I
absolutely wanted to know and fathom who God is. ... In an instant my spirit
was caught up into what seemed to be the next world. I saw an inaccessible
light, and in this light what appeared like three sources of light which I
could not understand. And out of that light came words in the form of
lightning which encircled heaven and earth. Not understanding anything, I was
very sad. Suddenly, from this sea of inaccessible light came our dearly
beloved Savior, unutterably beautiful with His shining Wounds. And from this
light came a voice which said, Who God is in His Essence, no one will
fathom, neither the mind of Angels nor of man. Jesus said to me, Get
to know God by contemplating His attributes. A moment later, He traced
the sign of the cross with His hand and vanished."
67 When
I fell sick [probably the beginning of consumption] after my first vows and
when, despite the kind and solicitous care of my Superiors and the efforts of
the doctor, I felt neither better nor worse, remarks began to reach my ears
which inferred that I was making believe. With that, my suffering was
doubled, and this lasted for quite a long time. One day I complained to Jesus
that I was being a burden to the sisters. Jesus answered me, You are not
living for yourself but for souls, and other souls will profit from your
sufferings. Your prolonged suffering will give them the light and strength to
accept My will.
129
Satan always takes advantage of such moments; thoughts of discouragement
began to rise to the surface-for your faithfulness and sincerity-this is your
reward. How can one be sincere when one is so misunderstood? Jesus, Jesus, I
cannot go on any longer. Again I fell to the ground under this weight, and I
broke out in a sweat, and fear began to overcome me. I had no one to lean on
interiorly. Suddenly I heard a voice within my soul, Do not fear; I am
with you. And an unusual light illumined my mind, and I understood that I
should not give in to such sorrows. I was filled with a certain strength and
left my cell with new courage to suffer.
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.
658 "Know that these are hard
and difficult things. Your principal spiritual director is the Holy Spirit.
We can only give direction to these inspirations, but your real director is
the Holy Spirit. If you yourself have decided to leave, Sister, I neither
prohibit nor order you to do so. You take the responsibility for yourself. I
say this to you, Sister: you can begin to take action. You are capable of
doing so, and therefore you can do so. These things are indeed probable; all
you have told me up to now [before perpetual vows in Cracow in 1933] speaks
in favor of taking action. Still, you have to be very careful in all this.
Pray much and ask that I be given light."
665 Father Andrasz told me to make
a novena for the intention of knowing better the will of God. I prayed
ardently, adding a certain bodily mortification. Towards the end of the
novena, I received an inner light and the assurance that the Congregation
will come into being and that it is pleasing to God. Despite the difficulties
and adversities, complete peace and strength entered my soul from on high. I
understood that nothing could resist or nullify the will of God. I understood
that I must carry out this will of God despite obstacles, persecution and
sufferings of all kinds, and despite natural repugnance and fear.
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.
675 + August 7, 1936. When I
received the article] [136]
about Divine Mercy with the image [on the cover], God's presence filled me in
an extraordinary way. When I steeped myself in a prayer of thanksgiving, I
suddenly saw the Lord Jesus in a great brightness, just as He is painted, and
at His feet I saw Father Andrasz and Father Sopocko. Both were holding pens
in their hands, and flashes of light and fire, like lightning, were coming
from the tips of their pens and striking a great crowd of people who were
hurrying I know not where. Whoever was touched by the ray of light
immediately turned his back on the crowd and held out his hands to Jesus.
Some returned with great joy, others with great pain and compunction. Jesus
was looking at both priests with great kindness. After a while, I was left
alone with Jesus, and I said, "Jesus, take me now, for Your will has
already been accomplished." And Jesus answered, My will has not yet
been completely accomplished in you; you will still suffer much, but I am
with you; do not fear.
1394
Monthly one-day retreat. In the course of this retreat, the Lord has given me
the light to know His will more profoundly and to abandon myself completely
to the holy will of God. This light has confirmed me in profound peace,
making me understand that I should fear nothing except sin. Whatever God
sends me, I accept with complete submission to His holy will. Wherever He
puts me, I will try faithfully to do His holy will, as well as His wishes, to
the extent of my power to do so, even if the will of God were to be as hard
and difficult for me as was the will of the Heavenly Father for His Son, as
He prayed in the Garden of Olives. I have come to see that if the will of the
Heavenly Father was fulfilled in this way in His well-beloved Son, it will be
fulfilled in us in exactly the same way: by suffering, persecution, abuse,
disgrace. It is through all this that my soul becomes like unto Jesus. And
the greater the sufferings, the more I see that I am becoming like Jesus.
This is the surest way. If some other way were better, Jesus would have shown
it to me. Sufferings in no way take away my peace. On the other hand,
although I enjoy profound peace, that peace does not lessen my experience of
suffering. Although my face is often bowed to the ground, and my tears flow
profusely, at the same time my soul is filled with profound peace and
happiness...
1395 I
want to hide myself in Your Most Merciful Heart as a dewdrop does in a flower
blossom. Enclose me in this blossom against the frost of the world. No one
can conceive the happiness which my heart enjoys in its solitude, alone with
God.
1396 Today I heard a voice in my soul: Oh, if sinners knew My mercy, they would not perish in such great numbers. Tell sinful souls not to be afraid to approach Me; speak to them of My great mercy.
1397
The Lord said to me, The loss of each soul plunges Me into mortal sadness.
You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to
Me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, My daughter, that this
prayer is always heard and answered.
1490 +
Jesus, source of life, sanctify me. O my strength, fortify me. My Commander,
fight for me. Only light of my soul, enlighten me. My Master, guide me. I
entrust myself to You as a little child does to its mother's love. Even if
all things were to conspire against me, and even if the ground were to give
way under my feet, I would be at peace close to Your heart. You are always a
most tender mother to me, and You surpass all mothers. I will sing of my pain
to You by my silence, and You will understand me beyond any utterance...
1491 +
The Lord visited me today and said, My daughter, do not be afraid of what
will happen to you. I will give you nothing beyond your strength. You know
the power of My grace; let that be enough. After these words, the Lord
gave me a deeper understanding of the action of His grace.
1499 At
that moment, I saw Jesus, who said, I am pleased with what you are doing.
And you can continue to be at peace if you always do the best you can in
respect to this work of mercy. Be absolutely as frank as possible with your
confessor.
Satan gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter into conversation with him. Continue to act in this way. You gave Me great glory today by fighting so faithfully. Let it be confirmed and engraved on your heart that I am always with you, even if you don't feel My presence at the time of battle.
1500
Today, the love of God is transporting me into the other world. I am all
immersed in love; I love and feel that I am loved, and with full
consciousness I experience this. My soul is drowning in the Lord, realizing
the great Majesty of God and its own littleness; but through this knowledge
my happiness increases... This awareness is so vivid in the soul, so powerful
and, at the same time, so sweet.
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-30, 67, 129)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-654, 658, 665-666, 675)
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1394-1397, 1490-1491,
1499, 1500)
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