July 7, 2011 Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children; today I call you to a difficult and painful step for your unity with my Son. I call you to complete admission and confession of sins, to purification. An impure heart cannot be in my Son and with my Son. An impure heart cannot give the fruit of love and unity. An impure heart cannot do correct and just things; it is not an example of the beauty of God's love to those who surround it and to those who have not come to know that love. You, my children, are gathering around me full of enthusiasm, desire and expectations, and I implore the Good Father to, through the Holy Spirit, put my Son - faith, into your purified hearts. My children, obey me, set out with me." (July 2, 2011) I want to share something that Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote about purity. It really explains well what Our Lady is getting at in this message. This is an excerpt from his treatise on Christian Perfection (found in the Office of Readings for Tuesday, the 12th week in Ordinary Time):
"The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived. So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words and deeds are controlled by divine ideal, the revelation of Christ. For then our thoughts, words and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications. "What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the name of Christ? Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed toward Christ or are turned away from him. This examination is carried out in various ways. Our deeds or our thoughts or our words are not in harmony with Christ if they issue from passion. They then bear the mark of the enemy who smears the pearl of the heart with the slime of passion, dimming and even destroying the luster of the precious stone.
"On the other hand, if they are free from and untainted by every passionate inclination; they are directed toward Christ, the author and source of peace. He is like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw from him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.
"For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ's purity, however, is the fountainhead; ours has its source in him and flows out of him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought. The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior. As I see it, Christian perfection consists in this: sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ's name, we bring o
ut this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life." St. Gregory, you rock!! There is so much to chew on in his words. My favorite is: "Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought." If we examine our thoughts, words and deeds and find that they are directed toward Christ, we are on the right track. Then Christ's thoughts will be "stamped" on our lives, Christ's beautiful, generous, meek, gentle, loving, forgiving, kind, respectful, hopeful, forbearing, sacrificial, serving, uniting, obedient and blessed thoughts will be our thoughts which will lead to beautiful, generous, meek, gentle, loving, forgiving, kind, respectful, hopeful forbearing, sacrificial, serving, unity, obedient and blessed words which will turn into beautiful, generous, meek, gentle, loving, forgiving, kind, respectful, hopeful, forbearing, sacrificial, serving, uniting, obedient and blessed deeds. If we think like Jesus, we will live like Jesus. This is Our Mother's hope for us. To have Jesus in our hearts. In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2011
Posted via email from deaconjohn's posterous
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