MARY, OUR MOTHER

FROM MARK MALLETT:

Raise Your Sails (Preparing for Chastisement)

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. (Acts 2:1-2)

THROUGHOUT salvation history, God has not only used the wind in his divine action, but He Himself comes like the wind (cf. Jn 3:8). The Greek word pneuma as well as the Hebrew ruahmeans both "wind" and "spirit." God comes as a wind to empower, purify, or procure judgment (see The Winds of Change).

I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or sea or against any tree… "Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." (Rev 7:1, 3)

This past Pentecost morning, we prayed:

…send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind… —Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer, Vol II

SHAKEN BY THE WINDS

Whether they are the winds of a personal trial or The Great Stormgathering over the earth, many of you are afraid—shaken by the circumstances in your own life, by the astounding decline in morals, or by what our Lady has warned will come upon an unrepentant world. Discouragement is setting in, if not despair. As I prayed about this, a word came to me:

Each moment—and the Divine Will contained in it—are the wind of the Holy Spirit. In order to sail forward toward your goal: union with God—one must always raise the sail of faith mounted upon the mast of one’s will. Don’t be afraid to catch this Wind! Never be afraid where the winds of God’s Will take you or the world. At each and every moment, trust the Holy Spirit who blows where He wills according to My plan. Even though these Divine Winds may carry you into a great tempest, they will always carry you safely where you need to go for the good and sanctification of your soul or the correction of the world.

This is a beautiful word of assurance! For one, the Spirit is in the wind, even if it bears chastisement. It is the will of God, for the present moment is where God is living, acting, guiding, dwelling, intersecting with the activity of men. Whatever it is, whether it is a great consolation or trial, good health or sickness, peace or temptation, living or dying, all is permitted by the hand of God and ordered to the sanctification of your soul. Each and every moment the Divine Will of God blows in your life within the present moment. All that is required of you is to simply raise the sails of trust into the Winds of the moment and, turning the rudder of obedience, do that which the moment requires, the duty of the moment. Just as the wind is invisible, so too, hidden within this moment is the power of God to transform, sanctify, and make you holy—yes, hidden behind the mundane, the ordinary, the unglamorous; behind crosses and consolations, the will of God is always there, always working, always active. The soul must pull up the anchor of rebellion, and this Holy wind will blow it towards the harbor for which it is destined.

Jesus said,

The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

The Divine Winds can suddenly change, blowing this way one moment, and that way the next. Today, I am sailing in sunshine, tomorrow, I am thrown into a terrible storm.

But whether the seas of your life are calm or whether great waves assail your from every side, the response for you is always the same: to keep your sail raised by an act of the will; to do the duty of the moment whether it is a gentle breeze or a harsh spray of sea salt passing over your soul. For within this divine action is the grace to transform you.

My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. (John 4:34)

The Divine Wind is the necessary force to move your life toward the Harbor of Holiness. What God asks of you is to be docile to this Will, with the trust of a child.

Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 18:3)

AND THE FRUIT WILL COME

Do you lack peace in these times? joy? love? kindness? I asked the Lord once,  

Why? Why have all my efforts in prayer, daily Mass, regular confession, spiritual reading, and incessant begging not born the fruit of conversion I so desire? I still struggle with the same sins, the same weaknesses!

And He answered:

Because you have not embraced Me in the distressing disguises of My Holy Will. You have embraced Me in My Word, in My Eucharistic Presence, and in My Mercy, but not in the disguise of trials, troubles, contradictions, and crosses. You do not bear the fruit of My Spirit, because you do not remain in my commandments. Is this not what my Word says?

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. (John 15:4)

How do you remain in Me?

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love… Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. (15:10, 5)

My commandments are My Holy Will for you hidden each day in the present moment. But when My Will is not agreeable to your flesh, you refuse to remain in it. Instead, you begin to look for Me in the more agreeable forms of My presence, rather than remain in My love, in My commandments. You adore Me in one form, but you despise Me in the other. When I walked the earth, many followed Me when I presented Myself in the form which was agreeable to them: as healer, teacher, miracle-maker, and triumphant leader. But when they saw their Messiah in the disguise of His poverty, meekness, and gentleness, they walked away, looking instead for a powerful political leader. When they saw their Messiah presented to them as a sign of contradiction to their lifestyles, a sign of light and truth and conviction, they would not remain, and looked for one who would applaud their decadence. When they saw their Messiah in the distressing disguise of a sacrificial lamb, bloodied, bruised, scourged, and pierced through as the embodiment of a trial and a Cross, they not only refused to remain with Me, but many became angry, mocked and spit upon Me. They wanted the Man of Wonders, not the Man of Sorrows.

So too, you love Me when My will is agreeable to you, but when My Will appears in the disguise of the Cross, you abandon me. Listen carefully again to My Word if you wish to unlock the fruit of holiness in your life:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness… Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life (James 1:2,-3, 12)

Just as the Lily of Life sprung from the Tomb, so too, the fruit of My Spirit, the crown of life, will spring from the soul who embraces My Holy Will in all its disguises.

Do not be afraid, my dear brother! Do not be anxious, dear sister! The Will of God is blowing this very moment in your life and in the world, and it carries within it all that you need. His Holy Will is your sacred refuge. It is your hiding place. It is the wellspring of grace, the tomb of transformation, and the rock upon which your life will stand when the Storms, which are here and coming, plunge the world into its hour of purification.

At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. (Heb 12:11)

PUBLISHED IN: DAILY JOURNAL, SPIRITUALITY | ON JUNE 2ND, 2009 |