Mary TV: October 30, 2019 Reflection- And your sacrifices will have meaning...

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Your sacrifices will have meaning.

October 30, 2019
Dear Family of Mary!   

".... Little children, in complete surrender to God, He will take care of everything and will bless you; and your sacrifices will have meaning..." (October 25, 2019)

I am so drawn to these words from Our Lady. She assures us that God can and will take care of every detail in our lives, under one condition. We must surrender to Him in everything. Completely. We have all tried at some point to trust someone in our lives, a mother or father, a teacher or a friend, even a spouse. We long to have someone who is totally trustworthy, and in whom we can entrust ourselves. But this kind of trust is not possible with our fellow humans. Why? Because not one of us is all knowing, all loving and all powerful. Not one of us is capable of covering all the bases. Such surrender and trust are not justified or even healthy.
And so, we have learned not to surrender to anyone. And this makes it hard for us to even imagine surrendering to God. And on top of that, all the saints who have surrendered completely to God still suffered. And that seems to contradict God's ability to manage everything!
But, of course, we know that God has such an infinitely higher perspective than we do, and that He sees suffering and self-denial in a vastly different way. He saw the sacrifice of Jesus and Mary in a way we could not imagine. It was salvation for the whole world that was being won by their sacrifices. And he sees our suffering as part of that work of salvation as well. If we give it over to Him, it becomes so valuable!!! He entrusts us with that suffering because He loves us and trusts us to carry it for Him.  And He also sustains us and heals us with His powerful love, time and time again!
Well, St. Faustina wrote about this mystery of love in a beautiful way. On New Year's Day 1938, she prayed:
Welcome to you, New Year, in the course of which my perfection will be accomplished. Thank You in advance, O Lord, for everything Your goodness will send me. Thank You for the cup of suffering from which I shall daily drink. Do not diminish its bitterness, O Lord, but strengthen my lips that, while drinking of this bitterness, they may know how to smile for love of You, my Master. I thank You for Your countless comforts and graces that flow down upon me each day like the morning dew, silently, imperceptibly, which no curious eye may notice, and which are known only to You and me, O Lord. For all this, I thank You as of today because, at the moment when You hand me the cup, my heart may not be capable of giving thanks.

So today I submit myself completely and with loving consent to Your holy will, O Lord, and to Your most wise decrees, which are always full of clemency and mercy for me, though at times I can (62) neither understand nor fathom them. O my Master, I surrender myself completely to You, who are the rudder of my soul; steer it Yourself according to Your divine wishes. I enclose myself in Your most compassionate Heart, which is a sea of unfathomable mercy. (Diary 1499-50)
Our Lady wants us to imitate St. Faustina, and in our surrender begin to see the meaning of our sacrifices. She wants us to have the lofty and eternal perspective that St. Faustina developed, the perspective that the Father has for all of us, seeing us as co-workers in the fight for souls. She also wants us to trust that the Father will not leave us alone, but instead sustain us and care for us always.
Oh, Jesus, be the rudder of our souls!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2019

 

 

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