April 19, 2018
Dear Family of Mary!
"...Apostles of my love, you must pray much and cleanse your hearts so that you may be the first to walk on the way of my Son, that you may be the just who are united with the justice of my Son. My children, as apostles of my love, you must be united in the communion which emanates from my Son, so that my children who do not know my Son may recognize the communion of love and may come to desire to walk on the way of life, the way of unity with my Son. Thank you." (April 2, 2018)
I must admit that I have not quite comprehended what Our Lady is asking in these lines from the April 2, 2018 message. Being cleansed and praying much makes sense. But then she talks about the justice of her Son, and being united in the communion which emanates from Jesus. This has been mysterious to me.
But I was led to a very beautiful passage from St. Faustina's Diary that I think explains it to me. I think Our Lady very much wants us to develop a relationship with Jesus that is a complete surrender to Him. It is a giving of ourselves that makes us sacrifices to His love. We become surrendered in such a way that we live His will out of love for Him, and keep nothing for ourselves. This creates a communion, because Jesus loves us in the very same way, giving Himself completely to us. But let's read St. Faustina's account of this communion between Jesus and herself:
135 During the third probation, the Lord gave me to understand that I should offer myself to Him so that He could do with me as He pleased. I was to remain standing before Him as a victim offering. At first, I was quite frightened, as I felt myself to be so utterly miserable and knew very well that this was the case. I answered the Lord once again, "I am misery itself; how can I be a hostage [for others]?
You do not understand this today. Tomorrow, during your adoration, I will make it known to you. My heart trembled, as did my soul, so deeply did these words sink into my soul. The word of God is living.
When I came to the adoration, I felt within my soul that I had entered the temple of the living God, whose majesty is great and incomprehensible. And He made known to me what even the purest spirits are in His sight. Although I saw nothing externally, God's presence pervaded me. At that very moment my intellect was strangely illumined. A vision passed before the eyes of my soul; it was like the vision Jesus had in the Garden of Olives. First, the physical sufferings and all the circumstances that would increase them; [then] the full scope of the spiritual sufferings and those that no one would know about. Everything entered into the vision: false suspicions, loss of good name. I've summarized it here, but this knowledge was already so clear that what I went through later on was in no way different from what I had known at that moment. My name is to be: "sacrifice."
When the vision ended, a cold sweat bathed my forehead. Jesus made it known to me that, even if I did not give my consent to this, I could still be saved; and He would not lessen His graces, but would still continue to have the same intimate relationship with me, so that even if I did not consent to make this sacrifice, God's generosity would not lessen thereby.
136 And the Lord gave me to know that the whole mystery depended on me, on my free consent to the sacrifice given with full use of my faculties. In this free and conscious act lies the whole power and value before His Majesty. Even if none of these things for which I offered myself would ever happen to me, before the Lord everything was as though it had already been consummated.
At that moment, I realized I was entering into communion with the incomprehensible
Majesty. I felt that God was waiting for my word, for my consent. Then my spirit immersed itself in the Lord, and I said, "Do with me as You please. I subject myself to Your will. As of today, Your holy will shall be my nourishment, and I will be faithful to Your commands with the help of Your grace. Do with me as You please. I beg You, O Lord, be with me at every moment of my life."
137 Suddenly, when I had consented to the sacrifice with all my heart and all my will, God's presence pervaded me. My soul became immersed in God and was inundated with such happiness that I cannot put in writing even the smallest part of it. I felt that His Majesty was enveloping me. I was extraordinarily fused with God. I saw that God was well pleased with me and, reciprocally, my spirit drowned itself in Him. Aware of this union with God, I felt I was especially loved and, in turn, I loved with all my soul. A great mystery took place during that adoration, a mystery between the Lord and myself. It seemed to me that I would die of love [at the sight of] His glance. I spoke much with the Lord, without uttering a single word. And the Lord said to me, You are the delight of My Heart; from today on, every one of your acts, even the very smallest, will be a delight to My eyes, whatever you do. At that moment I felt transconsecrated. My earthly body was the same, but my soul was different; God was now living in it with the totality of His delight. This is not a feeling, but a conscious reality that nothing can obscure.
138 A great mystery has been accomplished between God and me. Courage and strength have remained in my soul. When the time of adoration came to an end, I came out and calmly faced everything I had feared so much before. When I came out into the corridor, a great suffering and humiliation, at the hands of a certain person, was awaiting me. I accepted it with submission to a higher will and snuggled closely to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, letting Him know that I was ready for that for which I had offered myself. (St. Faustina's Diary 135-138)
St. Faustina was invited to make of herself a complete offering to Jesus, so that all of her actions would be from now on subject to His will. She said that when she made that offering, she entered into communion with the incomprehensible Majesty! As Our Lady said: "My children, as apostles of my love, you must be united in the communion which emanates from my Son..." Like St. Faustina, we are being offered a life of surrender to Jesus that creates a communion of love between each of us and Jesus. This communion of love radiates from our souls to others, strengthening them and drawing them to Jesus. This communion is similar to the communion that the Father offered Our Lady at the Annunciation. When she said, "Be it done to me according to Thy word", the communion of love was established in a spectacular way. God's will was for Mary to be the Mother of Jesus. And a communion of love was forged that day between Mary and the entire Trinity that would reverberate throughout history. The love that radiates from that communion has drawn us all to Jesus. Our little communions with Jesus will be extensions of that great communion of love!
Well, St. Faustina said that after her yes to God, "God was now living in [my soul] with the totality of His delight. This is not a feeling, but a conscious reality that nothing can obscure." St. Faustina was totally changed by this communion of love that she received through her yes to Jesus' invitation. She now was conscious of God within her. It was not just a hope or desire but a reality.
I believe that Our Lady is moving us towards this kind of relationship with Jesus, a surrender to Him that will bond us to Him in the deepest of manners. We will become praise! We will become bearers of light and hope, because Jesus will be living within us.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018
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