MARY, OUR MOTHER: From Mark Mallett: Just Today

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

From Mark Mallett: Just Today

Just Today

GOD wants to slow us down. More than that, He wants us to rest, even in chaos. Jesus never rushed to His Passion. He took the time to have a last meal, a last teaching, an intimate moment of washing another’s feet. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He set aside time to pray, to gather His strength, to seek the will of the Father. So as the Church approaches her own Passion, we too should imitate our Savior and become a people of rest. In fact, only in this way can we possibly offer ourselves as true instruments of “salt and light.”

What does it mean to “rest”?

When you die, all worrying, all restlessness, all passions cease, and the soul is suspended in a state of stillness… a state of rest. Meditate on this, for that should be our state in this life, since Jesus calls us to a state of “dying” while we live:

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it…. I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. (Matt 16:24-25; John 12:24)

Of course, in this life, we cannot help but wrestle with our passions and struggle with our weaknesses. The key, then, is not to let yourself be caught up in the rushing currents and impulses of the flesh, in the tossing waves of the passions. Rather, dive deep into the soul where the Waters of the Spirit are still.

We do this by living in a state of trust.

JUST TODAY

Imagine Our Lord speaking to your heart something like this…

I have given you “just today.” My plans for you and your life involve also this day. I foresaw this morning, this afternoon, this night. And so My child, live just today, for you do not know anything about tomorrow. I want you to live today, and live it well! Live it perfectly. Live it lovingly, peacefully, purposely, and without any worry.

What you have to “do” is really irrelevant, is it not child? Does not St. Paul write that everything is irrelevant unless it is done in love? Then what brings meaning to this day is the love with which you do it. Then this love will transform all your thoughts, actions, and words into power and life that can penetrate souls; it will transform them into incense that rises to your Heavenly Father as a pure sacrifice.

And so, let go of every goal except to live in love just today. Live it well. Yes, live it! And leave the outcome, the results—good or bad—of all your efforts to Me.

Embrace the cross of imperfection, the cross of not completing, the cross of helplessness, the cross of unfinished business, the cross of contradictions, the cross of unforeseen suffering. Embrace them as My will for just today. Make it your business to embrace them surrendered and in a heart of love and sacrifice. The outcome of all things is not your business, but the processes in between are. You will be judged on how you loved in the moment, not on the results.

Think of this child: on Judgment Day, you will be judged for “just today.” All other days will be set aside, and I will look only at this day for what it is. And then I will look at the next day and the next, and again you will be judged for “just today.” So live each day with so much love for Me and those I place in your path. And perfect love will drive out all fear, for fear has to do with punishment. But if you live well, and do well with the single “talent” of this day, then you will not be punished but rewarded.

I do not ask for much, child… just today.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part… (Luke 10:41-42)

Be watchful that you lose no opportunity that My providence offers you for sanctification. If you do not succeed in taking advantage of an opportunity, do not lose your peace, but humble yourself profoundly before Me and, with great trust, immerse yourself completely in My mercy. In this way, you gain more than you have lost, because more favor is granted to a humble soul than the soul itself asks for… —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 1361

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Quotes from 'The Glories of Mary':

‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head.’

(Gen. 3:15)

“Since the devil is the head of original sin, this head it was that Mary crushed: for sin never had any entry into the soul of this Blessed Virgin, which was consequently free from all stain.”

Saint Augustine

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PSALM 71 SPEAKS TO MY HEART

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!

Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

I have been as a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.

For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who watch for my life consult together
and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”

O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.

But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.

With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.

And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

From Mark Mallett: Just Today

Just Today

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