All has been for God and souls

[Diary 1062]

+ I made an hour of adoration in thanksgiving for the graces which had been granted me and for my illness. Illness also is a great grace. I have been ill for four months, but I do not recall having wasted so much as a minute of it. All has been for God and souls; I want to be faithful to Him everywhere.

During this adoration, I realized the utter care and goodness that Jesus has been lavishing upon me and the protection He has given me against all evil. I thank You especially, Jesus, for visiting me in my solitude, and I thank You also for inspiring my superiors to send me for this treatment. Give them, Jesus, the omnipotence of Your blessing and compensate them for all the losses incurred because of me.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Words of Eternal Life [August 26, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [August 26, 2012]

John 6:60-69

60Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” 61Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? 62What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

66As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Reflection

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?” ~ v. 60

What was “this saying” that the people could not accept? It was Jesus’ words that we needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood. You can understand how, if taken literally, such a statement would turn people away. But Jesus wasn’t speaking about ritual cannibalism. He wasn’t inviting people to take a bite out of his arm. No he was talking sacramentally. He was pointing to the time when they would experience his presence deeply as they gathered to celebrate his death and resurrection. He was pointing to the way he would be present in the bread that they broke and the wine they shared.

Why was this so hard to hear? In part, because the people took him too literally. But it was also hard because Jesus was telling the people how generous God was. There was no “work” that they had to do (John 6:28-29). They didn’t need to go looking for a new Moses. They just needed to come and receive. God would provide for them, just as he – not Moses – led their ancestors with manna in the desert (John 6:32).

This is probably one of the biggest challenges that we all face – the challenge to let go and simply receive from God. It’s never easy to give up control, but God promises that as we do, he will take over and enable us to do things that we could never do on our own. Our fallen nature wants to dictate the terms of our relationship with God, but the Holy Spirit wants to show us how much more exciting and fulfilling it is when we surrender to him and let him lead us.

If you are finding it hard to let go of something right now, just remember the one who is asking for this surrender: Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God (John 6:69). He won’t lead you astray.

Prayer Response

Lord, you are the Bread of Life. Teach me to be a generous receiver of your grace. Help me, also, to be generous in giving away all that you want me to let go of.”

Reflection Credits: the WORD among us

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

A Deeper Knowledge of God and the Terror of the Soul

[Diary 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.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Living Bread [August 19, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [August 19, 2012]

John 6:51-58

51I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” 52The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Reflection

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” ` v. 51

Saint Augustine of Hippo once said that God is everything for the human being: if a person is hungry, God is bread; if one is thirsty, God is water; if in darkness, God is light; if naked God is a robe of immortality.

In becoming “flesh,” a human being, Jesus has become like us in all things except sin. He has also become all things to all. The evangelist John points out in his Gospel: to the “searcher” Nicodemus, Jesus reveals heavenly things (3:13); to the thirsty Samaritan woman, he offers a spring of water welling up to eternal life (4:14); to the woman caught in adultery, he is the personification of Mercy (8:11); to those in darkness, he is Light of the world (8:12); to the lost, he is the Good Shepherd (10:11); and to the dead Lazarus, he is the Resurrection and the Life (11:25).

Today’s Gospel reading points to Jesus as food or nourishment. This is the high point of John’s presentation of Jesus as the Bread of Life. It began with the feeding of the multitude on the mountain and Jesus’ subsequent invitation to the crowd not to be content with food that simply satisfies physical hunger. Just as Jesus had invited the Samaritan woman to ask for water that would quench her spiritual thirst, so Jesus asks the crowd to ask for the “bread from heaven” that would satisfy their deeper hunger. A human being, after all, does not live on bread alone. He has a “life with God” and for this spiritual life he is to be nourished by another kind of bread, which Jesus alone can give.

The evangelist presents Jesus as the Bread of Life under two aspects. First, Jesus is bread as the Word of God, as the rabbi who reveals the mystery and the will of the Father. Jesus is like the personified Wisdom who offers a rich banquet for those who lack understanding (First Reading). We know that the food and drink offered by “Lady Wisdom” are none other than the Torah, God’s revelation to the chosen people. And Jesus is this definitive revelation.

But Jesus is also bread in the sense of his declaration in today’s Gospel: his flesh is real food and his blood is real drink. And he invites everyone to partake of himself, if they want to have eternal life.

The Jews take his words literally and so they are aghast: “How can he give his flesh to eat?” Jesus does not say here how this true food and this true drink will be given. But neither does he say that he was misunderstood. Indeed, his flesh is real food and his blood real drink. And yet those who partake of him do not become cannibals. The “sign” will come at Jesus’ “hour,” during the last meal when he takes the bread and turns it into his body, and when he takes the wine and turns it into his blood. In so doing, those who share the bread and wine in the Eucharist truly partake the body and blood of the Lord. Saint Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, points this out clearly: “The reality of his flesh and his blood leaves no room for doubt, both according to the Lord’s teaching and our faith. We are speaking of true flesh and true blood. When we receive and absorb these substances, they put us in Christ and put Christ in us. Is this not the truth? Perhaps it is not true for those who do not recognize the true God in Christ. But he is in us, through his flesh, and we are in him; and with him, what we are is in God.”

Reflection Credits: Fr. Gil A. Alinsangan, SSP, On the Way to the Cross

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy

[Diary 1577]

Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to My mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Bread from Heaven [August 12, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [August 12, 2012]

John 6:41-51

41The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Reflection

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” ~ v. 51

Elijah is disheartened and wants to die, but an angel comes to him and feeds him again and again so that he can make his journey to Horeb; the mountain of God. (1st Reading) Today we are told to do nothing to sadden the Spirit and rid ourselves of bitterness, anger, harsh words, slander and malice and imitate God in loving each other. Jesus feeds us the bread of life that sustains us daily, that is the bread of justice, of hope and freedom, to be shared around with all. We are fed food that enables us to live forever and to live even now as those taught by God (Scripture) and with Jesus’ own life (Eucharist). We do not dare despair or grow weary. We are sustained.

Reflection Credits: Megan McKenna, Theologian, Tasting the Word of God

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

The ingratitude of souls especially chosen by God

[Diary 384]

When I stayed for adoration from nine to ten o'clock, four other sisters stayed; too. When I approached the altar and began to meditate on the Passion of the Lord Jesus, a terrible pain immediately filled my soul because of the ingratitude of so many souls living in the world; but particularly painful was the ingratitude of souls especially chosen by God. There is no notion or comparison [which can describe it]. At the sight of this blackest ungratefulness I felt as though my heart were torn open; my strength failed me completely, and I fell on my face, not attempting to hide my loud cries. Each time I thought of God's great mercy and of the ingratitude of souls, pain stabbed at my heart, and I understood how painfully it wounded the sweetest Heart of Jesus. With a burning heart, I renewed my act of selfoblation on behalf of sinners.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Bread of Life Discourse [August 5, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [August 6, 2012]

John 6:24-35

24When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” 28So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” 29Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” 30So they said to him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? 31Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

Reflection

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” ~ v. 35

Among other things, today’s story tells us about the importance of signs. When Jesus fed the people with only a few loaves of bread, they accepted him as a kind of king. But then their enthusiasm wore off. When they meet him the second time, they no longer thought of him as anyone special but merely as a kind of magician who could work magic and give them food. In other words, because their faith was weak, they were unable to see beyond and recognize Jesus as the Son of God.

God is always giving us signs. Every day he tries to show us that he is our Father and that he loves us. He does this through other people. And he does this through what we experience. However, we need faith and wisdom. We need faith in order to recognize the many signs of love God gives us each day. This is why we must be very alert, looking beyond our immediate experiences to see God’s love for us in the signs he gives us. In the same way, we too must be signs for others. Like Jesus, we become bread for others, nourishing them by showing them signs of love.

Reflection Credits: Fr. John Seland, SVD, New Reflections on the Sunday Gospels

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

God and Souls

[Diary 5]

Be adored, O Most Holy Trinity, now and for all time. Be adored in all Your works and all Your creatures. May the greatness of Your mercy be admired and glorified, O God.

[Diary 6]

I am to write [3] down the encounters of my soul with You, O God, at the moments of Your special visitations. I am to write about You, O Incomprehensible in mercy towards my poor soul. Your holy will is the life of my soul. I have received this order through him who is for me Your representative here on earth, who interprets Your holy Will to me. Jesus, You see how difficult it is for me to write, how unable I am to put down clearly what I experience in
my soul. O God, can a pen write down that for which many a time there are no words? But You give the order to write, O God; that is enough for me.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".