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31 August 2014
The Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 16:21-27)
Today’s Gospel is about the Cross. Jesus reminds us that the only way to follow Him genuinely is by taking up our daily crosses. Earlier in the Gospel He tells that He Himself will suffer much and be killed. And He admonishes Peter for wanting things to be otherwise. He came to lay down His life out of love for us, and nothing will stop Him from going through with His plan.
Suffering helps us to grasp God’s great love is for us--He went through much more pain than anything we could imagine. As He showed us His love by His Cross, we can show Him our love by carrying our much smaller crosses. St. Faustina wrote: True love is measured by the thermometer of suffering. Jesus, I thank You for the little daily crosses, for opposition to my endeavours, for the hardships of communal life, for the misinterpretation of my intentions, for humiliations at the hands of others, for the harsh way in which we are treated, for false suspicions, for poor health and loss of strength, for self-denial, for dying to myself, for lack of recognition in everything, for the upsetting of all my plans (Diary 343).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, thank You for enduring the Cross to save me from eternal death. Give me the grace to pick up my own daily crosses and follow You. By humbly accepting all difficulties and trials, may I show the world that I love You and that I trust in Your power to bring good out of every situation. Amen.
24 August 2014
The Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 16:13-20)
This Sunday Jesus asks each one of us, “Who do you say that I am?” Each person has a unique relationship with the Lord, and so the answer we give to Jesus will be unique to each one of us. But we should reflect a bit, and try to give Jesus an honest answer. St. Faustina wrote in her Diary who Jesus was for her:
“O my Jesus, You are the life of my life. You know only too well that I long for nothing but the glory of Your Name and that souls come to know Your goodness. Why do souls avoid You, Jesus?—I don't understand that. (…) From the moment when You let me fix the eyes of my soul on You, O Jesus, I have been at peace and desired nothing else. I found my destiny at the moment when my soul lost itself in You, the only object of my love. In comparison with you, everything is nothing. Sufferings, adversities, humiliations, failures and suspicions that have come my way are splinters that keep alive the fire of my love for You, O Jesus” (Diary 57).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, like St. Peter, I acknowledge You as Christ, Son of the Living God. And yet I know You want to be more for me than just my Lord and God; You want to be my intimate friend. Draw me into a deeper relationship with Yourself, and reveal to me that longing in my heart which only You can fill. Amen.
17 August 2014
The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 15:21-28)
In this week’s Gospel we see a Canaanite woman interceding with Jesus for her daughter’s healing and deliverance. Although Jesus initially ignores the woman, and then tells her he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the woman persists in her plea for mercy, and in the end Jesus grants her request with the words, “O woman, great is your faith!”
Faith is the key that unlocks the Heart of God when we come to Him with our intercessions. We need to persist in our prayers for those in need, even when it seems like God isn’t listening. There is a very powerful prayer Jesus taught St. Faustina, telling her: Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: "O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You" (Diary 186-87).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, so often I feel like my prayers are never heard, but that is because I do not persevere in asking. From today, I place all my intercessions beneath the Blood and Water gushing forth from Your Sacred Heart. I will make my own that prayer You taught St. Faustina. I trust in You! Amen.
10 August 2014
The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 14:22-33)
Today’s Gospel is about trusting Jesus. When the disciples spot Jesus walking on the sea, they are initially terrified, thinking He’s a ghost. But when He assures them of who He is, and tells them to have no fear, Peter takes the step of faith and begins walking toward Jesus on the sea. We read, “When he saw the wind, he was afraid.” As Peter begins to doubt, he begins to sink. And although Jesus saves Peter immediately, He nonetheless reprimands the disciple for his lack of trust, calling him, “You of little faith.”
When, like the disciples, we acknowledge and worship Jesus as the Son of God, we then ought to behave in a way that shows we BELIEVE He IS the All-Powerful God Who can do all things, Who loves us, and Who will never put us in a situation He cannot get us out of. St. Faustina wrote in her Diary: 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. (Diary 1491).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, allow me to experience more deeply the power of Your grace, so that clinging to You in loving trust, I may be free from all fear and overcome every challenge that comes my way. I trust in You! Amen.
3 August 2014
The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 14:13-21)
In the beginning of today’s Gospel we see Jesus going off to be by Himself after hearing that John the Baptist had been killed. We know He didn’t just want to be alone, but to be alone with His Father. He wanted to submit Himself once again to the Divine Plan and repeat to His Father the words, “Thy will be done.”
Sometimes there is no point in going to people with our pain and sorrow, because they will only tempt us, as Job’s wife did, to “curse God and die.” St. Faustina experienced this, and reflected on the one means to obtain relief in times of sorrow: “I would have liked to hide and rest for a while in solitude, in a word, to be alone. At such moments, no creature is capable of giving me comfort, and even if I had wanted to say something about myself, I would have experienced new anguish. Therefore, I have kept silent at such moments and submitted myself, in silence, to the will of God-and that has given me relief” (Diary 1200).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, how many times have I been let down by people when I shared with them my pain! So often they have looked at my situation through a worldly lens and tried to deny that You ordained things to be this way specifically for my salvation and sanctification. Help me, like You, always to say, “Thy will be done.” Amen.