Thursday, December 05, 2013

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/5/2013


climbing Krizevac
  
"My children, the Father comes to be know through the cross."
(c)Mary TV 2013

J.M.J.
December 5, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children, with a motherly love and a motherly patience I am looking at your ceaseless wandering and how lost you are. That is why I am with you. I desire to help you to first find and come to know yourself, so that, then, you would be able to recognize and to admit everything that does not permit you to get to know the love of the Heavenly Father, honestly and wholeheartedly. My children, the Father comes to be known through the cross. Therefore, do not reject the cross. Strive to comprehend and accept it with my help. When you will be able to accept the cross you will also understand the love of the Heavenly Father; you will walk with my Son and with me; you will differ from those who have not come to know the love of the Heavenly Father, those who listen to Him but do not understand Him, those who do not walk with Him - who have not come to know Him. I desire for you to come to know the truth of my Son and to be my apostles; that, as children of God, you may rise above the human way of thinking and always, and in everything, seek God's way of thinking, anew. My children, pray and fast that you may be able to recognize all of this which I am seeking of you. Pray for your shepherds and long to come to know the love of your Heavenly Father, in union with them. Thank you." (December 2, 2013)

There is a logic to Our Lady's words that we must explore. She tells us quite plainly that we need to know ourselves. We need to "recognize and admit everything that does not permit [us] to get to know the love of the Heavenly Father, honestly and wholeheartedly." But what are those things that keep us from getting to know the love of the Heavenly Father? She tells us quite plainly. She says, "My children, the Father comes to be known through the cross." So those things that do not permit us to know the love of the Father are those things that make us run from the cross.

If we look at our lives, at our behavior, at our habits and choices, we can see those things that make us run from the cross. We can see them everywhere! They are right there in front of us, very close. Examples abound...How about when we drive. When we get cut off by a thoughtless driver, do we accept the cross? Do we slow down, silently bless the offender, accept that we will have a delay in our plans, and embrace the inconvenience with peace? If we do, we have accepted our cross. If we flare up, say a few choice words at the offender, and then cut off the next car as we try to get ahead, then we have run for the cross. We have lost an opportunity to get closer to the Heavenly Father and His love. The Father would have us love the people we are driving near, and spread peace. He could then fill us with His peace and serenity as we drive, and draw us close to His loving heart. We alone can choose to accept that little cross or reject it. It isn't much in the scheme of things, but it is a moment of choice.

Mother Elvira of the Cenacolo Community has a wonderful way of teaching how to embrace the cross in our lives, those little moments in which we are offered the cross and we must decide whether to accept it or not:
  
We [the Community Cenacolo] have a saying that's applicable to the moment of suffering and provocation. It consists of four main words: 'Be silent! Swallow, suffer, and then smile.' When someone is corrected and justifies himself, the other young men tell him, 'You missed the boat!' They're talking about the boat of maturity, of self-control, of the capacity to be silent and not answer back and to suffer with dignity and in silence.
I teach these things to our young men and women, because . . . they must be prepared. Their boss at work will not admit that he is wrong; their husbands or wives will not want to be at fault; their children will argue and talk back, yet still someone will have to 'lose' so that peace can reign. Yes, peace is more important than anything, and to know how to 'lose' is our security.
It is the mysterious school of the cross, of a God who did not explain it but embraced it, experiencing it in the flesh of His crucified Son. Jesus invites us to gaze upon Him, to ask Him for faith and love, so that our heart will not lose hope because, through the darkness of Good Friday, our eyes see the splendid light of Easter morning. The Risen Jesus is our true hope, for in Him pain and death have been defeated." --Mother Elvira Petrozzi
 

Those little things that come up in our lives that "cross" our wills, humble us, demand patience, throw a wrench into our plans, etc., those things are the gift of the cross for us. They are the things that we need to recognize for what they are, and admit to them. We need to examine our lives and find the ways in which we inflict pain, demand our own way and act with pride. And when we have discovered them, we need to be honest and wholehearted in our repentance. These negative ways of being must be transformed. The moments of trial are truly gifts, as they open the way for us to the love of the Father. Why? Because if we embrace them, we become like Jesus, and the Father is always drawn to His Son. We become like Him, and the Father will embrace us.

Silence, swallow, suffer, smile! This is the way to embrace our crosses. If we react by defending ourselves, rejecting the impact of the offense, refusing the suffering, and expressing our anger, then we have run from the cross, and we have broken with peace and love. We have lost our opportunity to carry our cross like Jesus. And we have turned our back on the Father.

"The Father comes to be known through the cross." Our crosses are signposts to the love of the Father. They can lead us into Paradise.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013







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