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Archive for the ‘01 Daily Meditations’ Category

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“The greatest revolution of all times”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/30 at 9:01 AM

If we Christians really lived in accordance with our faith, the greatest revolution of all times would take place. The effectiveness of our co-redemption depends on each one of us. You should meditate on this. (Furrow, 945)

You will feel completely responsible when you realize that, before God, you have only duties. He already sees to it that you are granted rights. (Furrow, 946)

Here is a thought to help you in difficult moments. “The more my faithfulness increases, the better will I be able to contribute to the growth of others in that virtue”. How good it is to feel supported by each other. (Furrow, 948)

You run the great risk of being satisfied with living, or thinking that you have to live, “like a good boy”, who stays in a cosy and neat house, with no problems, and knowing only happiness. That is a caricature of the home in Nazareth. Because Christ brought happiness and order, he went out to spread those treasures among men and women of all times. (Furrow, 952)

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“The peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ’”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/24 at 9:11 AM
“The peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ’”

Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offence that you can suffer from them is as nothing compared with what God has pardoned you. (The Way, 452)

A clear mark of the man of God, of the woman of God, is the peace in their souls: they have peace and they give peace to the people they have dealings with. (The Forge, 649)

Get used to replying to those poor “haters”, when they pelt you with stones, by pelting them with Hail Marys. (The Forge, 650)

Holy Mary is the Queen of peace, and thus the Church invokes her. So when your soul or your family are troubled, or things go wrong at work, in society or between nations, cry out to her without ceasing. Call to her by this title: Queen of peace, pray for us.” Have you at least tried it when you have lost your calm? You will be surprised at its immediate effect.  (Furrow, 874)

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“People who are perfect are found only in heaven”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/23 at 9:09 AM

You say that he is full of defects. Very well … but, apart from the fact that people who are perfect are found only in Heaven, you too have defects, yet others put up with you and, what is more, appreciate you. That is because they love you with the love of Jesus Christ had for his own, and they had a fair number of shortcomings. Learn from this. (Furrow, 758)

You complain that he shows you no understanding. I am certain he does as much as he can try to understand you. But what about you? When will you make a bit of an effort to understand him? (Furrow, 759)

All right, I agree. That person has behaved badly; his behavior has been reprehensible and unworthy; he shows no merit at all. Humanly speaking he deserves to be utterly despised, you added. I understand what you mean, I can assure you, but I do not share this concluding view of yours. That life which seems so mean is sacred. Christ has died to save it. If He did not despise it, how can you dare to? (Furrow, 760)

It is true that life, which by its nature is already rather narrow and uncertain, sometimes becomes difficult. But that will help you to become more supernatural and to see the hand of God. Then you will be more human and understanding with those around you. (Furrow, 762)

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“You have failings – and such failings!”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/23 at 9:01 AM

“You have failings – and such failings!”
Do not become alarmed or discouraged to discover that you have failings – and such failings! Struggle to uproot them. And as you do so, be convinced that it is even a good thing to be aware of all those weaknesses, for otherwise you would be proud. And pride separates us from God. (The Forge, 181)

Oh, Jesus, if only we who are united in your Love were truly persevering! If only we could translate into deeds the yearnings you yourself awaken in our souls! Ask yourselves often, ‘What am I here on earth for?’ It will help you in your efforts to finish all your daily tasks perfectly and lovingly, taking care of the little details. Let us turn to the example of the saints. They were people like us, of flesh and bone, with failings and weaknesses, who managed to conquer and master themselves for love of God. Let us consider their lives and, like bees who distil precious nectar from each flower, we shall learn from their struggles. You and I shall also learn to discover so many virtues in the people about us, who teach us by their hard work, their self‑denial, their joy, and we shall not dwell too much on their defects; only when it is absolutely necessary, in order to help them with fraternal correction.

(Friends of God, 20)

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“May I never cease to practice charity”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/16 at 9:11 AM

It is impossible to love God with perfection, and at the same time to let yourself be ruled by selfishness – or by apathy – in your dealings with your neighbor. (Furrow, 745)

True friendship also means making a heartfelt effort to understand the convictions of our friends, even though we may never come to share them or accept them. (Furrow, 746)

Never allow weeds to grow on the path of friendship. Be loyal. (Furrow, 747)

Let us make a firm resolution about our friendships. In my thoughts, words and deeds towards my neighbor, whoever he may be, may I not behave as I have done up to now. That is to say, may I never cease to practice charity, or allow indifference to enter my soul. (Furrow, 748)

Your charity must be adapted and tailored to the needs of others, not to yours. (Furrow, 749)

Being children of God transforms us into something that goes far beyond our being people who merely put up with each other. Listen to what the Lord says:  We are friends who, like him, give our lives for each other, when heroism is needed and throughout our ordinary lives. (Furrow, 750)

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“God is continuously leading us forward”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/16 at 7:47 AM

As long as there is struggle, ascetical struggle, there is interior life. That is what Our Lord is asking of us: the will to want to love him with deeds, in the little things of every day. If you have conquered in little things, you will conquer in big ones.  (The Way of the Cross)

I ought to put you on your guard against a trick that Satan does not hesitate to use in order to rob us of our peace. He never takes a holiday! A time may come when he sows doubts in our minds, tempting us to think that we are slipping sadly backwards and are making scarcely any progress. The conviction may grow upon us that, in spite of all our efforts to improve, we are getting worse. I can assure you that normally this pessimistic judgement is mere fantasy, a deception that needs to be rejected…It is good to remember that God in his providence is continuously leading us forward and he spares no effort, whether in the form of portentous signs or of tiny miracles, to make his children progress.

Man’s life on earth is warfare, and his days are spent under the burden of work. No one escapes this law, not even the easygoing who try to turn a deaf ear to it. They desert the ranks of Christ, and then take up other battles to satisfy their laziness, their vanity, or their petty ambitions. They become enslaved to their every whim…

Renew your decision each morning, with a very determined  I will serve you, Lord! Renew your resolution not to give in, not to give way to laziness or idleness; to face up to your duties with greater hope and more optimism, convinced that if we are defeated in some small skirmish we can overcome this setback by making a sincere act of love. (Friends of God, 217)

 

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“Let us try never to lose our supernatural outlook”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/11/16 at 7:45 AM

There is a remedy for those anxieties of yours. Be patient, have rectitude of intention and look at things with a supernatural perspective. (Furrow, 853)

Let us try, therefore, never to lose our supernatural outlook. Let us see the hand of God in everything that happens to us: both in pleasant and unpleasant things, in times of consolation and in times of sorrow, as in the death of someone we love. Your first instinct always should be to talk to your Father God, whom we should seek in the depths of our souls. And we cannot consider this a trivial or unimportant matter. On the contrary, it is a clear sign of a deep interior life, of a true dialogue of love. Far from being psychologically deforming, constant prayer should be for a Christian as natural as the beating of his heart. (Friends of God, 247)

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“The greatest gift of God to man”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/09/15 at 1:01 AM
When you receive him, tell him: Lord, I hope in you: I adore you, I love you, increase my faith. Be the support of my weakness: You, who have remained defenceless in the Eucharist so as to be the remedy for the weakness of your creatures. (The Forge, 832)

I will not surprise anyone if I say that some Christians have a very poor concept of the holy Mass. For them it is a purely external rite, if not a mere social convention. This is because our poor hearts are capable of treating the greatest gift of God to man as routine. In the Mass, in this Mass that we are now celebrating, the most Holy Trinity intervenes, I repeat, in a very special way. To correspond to such great love, we must give ourselves completely, in body and in soul. We hear God, we talk to him, we see him, we taste him. And when words are not enough, we sing, urging our tongue — Pange, lingua! — to proclaim to all mankind the greatness of the Lord.

To “live” the holy Mass means to pray continually, and to be convinced that, for each one of us, this is a personal meeting with God. We adore him, we praise him, we give thanks to him, we atone for our sins, we are purified, we experience a unity with Christ and with all Christians. (Christ is passing by, 87-88)

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‘He made Himself food, He became Bread”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/09/08 at 1:11 AM
He was the greatest madman of all times. What greater madness could there be than to give oneself as he did, and for such people? It would have been mad enough to have chosen to become a helpless Child. But even then, many wicked men might have been softened, and would not have dared to harm him. So this was not enough for him. He wanted to make himself even less, to give himself more lavishly. He made himself food, he became Bread. Divine Madman! How do men treat you? How do I treat you? (The Forge, 824)

Think of the human experience of two people who love each other, and yet are forced to part. They would like to stay together forever, but duty — in one form or another — forces them to separate. They are unable to fulfil their desire of remaining close to each other, so man’s love — which, great as it may be, is limited — seeks a symbolic gesture. People who make their farewells exchange gifts or perhaps a photograph with a dedication so ardent that it seems almost enough to burn that piece of paper. They can do no more, because a creature’s power is not so great as its desire.

What we cannot do, our Lord is able to do. Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man, leaves us, not a symbol, but a reality. He himself stays with us. He will go to the Father, but he will also remain among men. He will leave us, not simply a gift that will make us remember him, not an image that becomes blurred with time, like a photograph that soon fades and yellows, and has no meaning except for those who were contemporaries. Under the appearances of bread and wine, he is really present, with his body and blood, with his soul and divinity. (Christ is passing by, 83)

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“Off to a fresh start!”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/09/07 at 1:11 AM
We are continually experiencing our personal inadequacies. Moreover, there are times when it seems as if all our failings come together, as if wanting to show themselves more clearly, to make us realize just how little we are worth. When that happens, what are we to do?

Hope in the Lord.1  Live by hope, full of faith and love, the Church says to us. Be of good heart.2  What does it matter that we are made of clay, if all our hope is placed in God? And if at a certain moment you should fall or suffer some setback (not that it has to happen), all you have to do is to apply the remedy, just as, in the normal course of events, you would do for the sake of your bodily health. And then: off to a fresh start!…

When we are faced with weaknesses and sins, with our mistakes even though, by God’s grace, they be of little account — let us turn to God our Father in prayer and say to him, ‘Lord, here I am in my wretchedness and frailty, a broken vessel of clay. Bind me together again, Lord, and then, helped by my sorrow and by your forgiveness, I shall be stronger and more attractive than before!’ What a consoling prayer, which we can say every time something fractures this miserable clay of which we are made. (Friends of God, 94-95)

[1] Ps 26:14
[2] ibid