In Truth, Jesus is the Son of God!

Jesus was nailed to the cross at 9 a.m.

From 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. there was darkness all over the land. Jesus was on the cross not for 3 hours, but for 6 hours, after being brutally scourged, and after being beaten and abused by the Temple guards, leaders, and people before being handed over to the Romans.

Some meditations say that from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. was when Jesus experienced the soul torments of hell that come from sin.

These meditations teach us to flee from sin as all sin contributed to the suffering and death of Christ from the original sin to the sins before the Incarnation, to the sins of all those living with the knowledge and understanding of Salvation History. These meditations also teach us to flee from hell by not turning our eyes, understanding and hearts to the right or to the left, but instead everyday, under the guidance, sanctifying grace, and coaching of the Holy Spirit, remaining faithful in prayer, reading and studying the Bible, and taking God's and Jesus's commandments as musts, not guidelines or recommendations for how to live our lives.

Why did Jesus yell out "My God, My God, why have you deserted me?"

I have heard this explained as similar to when a father needs to hold down a son for a necessary but painful medical treatment. He keeps his son from moving through act of will, because he knows it is for his good, but he tends to avert his eyes from looking at the face of his child, because it is more than his father's heart can take.

Maybe God the Father, who did not spare his Son for our salvation, averted his inward gaze away from his Son during this time because while he willed for this atoning sacrifice of his beloved Son so that we might have eternal life, joy, love, and communion with him forever, in this moment where his son was nailed to the cross, abandoning his divine power to escape the agony, and suffering the internal soul torment due to our sins, he looked away as his Father's heart was so pained to see the one he loved so much suffering internally, in addition to his external torments, what no one before or since has suffered. Jesus had never experienced this before, and now here in his worst suffering he doesn't feel the gaze of his father.

It was also Jesus invoking the prophetic words of Psalm 22 written 1000 years earlier by King David.

"But Jesus gave out a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, 'In truth, this man was the Son of God.'" Mark 15:37-39

Fr. John Bartunek in The Better Part in meditations on Mark 15:21-29 reminds us,
The souls of those faithful men and women who had trusted in God, and in God's promise during the centuries before the Incarnation were not yet in heaven. They had died in friendship with God, but the gates of heaven were still closed, because no one had yet atoned for the sin of mankind that had closed them in the first place. Now Jesus comes and achieves the atonement. And the first thing he does is go and announce the good news to the souls who were waiting their redemption. . . . Now the mystery of God's saving love is revealed to them in the piercing, loving gaze of their Savior. Now they can experience what they longed for with vibrant faith and faithful hope, the full presence of God as they await the resurrection of their bodies and the final judgment. . . .

Christ's self-sacrifice on the cross reveals that God's love for weak and selfish sinners has absolutely no limit. . . . Love is self-giving for the good of the beloved. . . . His love has no limits . . . .

Paraphrasing Fr. Bartunek . . . Jesus loved us so much that He:

• Left the Heavenly Glory to become one of us
• He lived among us
• He worked and suffered the grind of ordinary life
• He taught and healed and revealed God's heart
• He founded the Church to extend his presence and grace throughout all time
• He let himself be betrayed, humiliated, condemned, mocked
• He subjected himself to excruciating physical torments
• He hung helpless on the cross in our place
• He took upon himself our sins, suffering internal torments, also in our place
• He the Creator and Lord of all, did not have his life taken from him, he laid it down for us his friends
• His love was completely self-giving
• His love has no bounds

Truly, Jesus is the the Son of God. Truly, Jesus is one of the three persons in one God, one of the Glorious and Holy Trinity.

You need to know:

• Jesus is always with you
• Jesus understands you completely
• Jesus's compassion toward you is more perfect than you can imagine
• Jesus knows that you don't know this
• Jesus longs for you to know this because . . .
• Jesus yearns for you to trust him. He knows this isn't easy for you. It may be easy in a given moment, but how constant are we in this trust?

He has done so much for us.

Lord, please give me the grace to more faithfully pray:

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

Jesus, Son of God, I trust in you.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

"You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same." (Colossians 3:12-13)

The Finger of God

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts become troubled or afraid." John 14:27

I've been meditating on this verse from John for many years now. When God first drew me back to himself I used to beg and plead for his peace daily. God would give it to me but I would lose it again easily as the cares and anxieties of the world set back in.

The Lord's peace... oh, how I craved this. The finger of God upon my heart always.

This is the precious gift I've longed for my entire life...this peace that surpasses all understanding. I reached for it but it kept slipping through my fingers. I could not grasp it, I leaked grace like a broken vessel. Because I was (and am) a broken vessel.

I didn't know that God especially treasures broken things. That He tossed aside his crown and came down to earth to save what was broken.

I didn't understand that He gave his peace to broken men.

 God wants us to have peace during our earthly journey. When Jesus gave his peace to his disciples they were far from perfect so this peace isn't dependent on your "idea of perfection". No, this peace flows from the understanding that God loves us dearly. It's a gift to his beloved sons and daughters. He treasures each and every one of us and knows who we are and who He created us to be. In order to trust in God's picture of us, we first need to throw out all the false pictures that others have painted for us over the years. And the ones we have painted for ourselves.

Toss them out like the garbage they are.

But what if we think that others just may be correct in the way they see us?

They can't be correct because they can only see a tiny piece of who you are.  Without seeing and knowing the deepest part of you they cannot have this kind of understanding of who you are.

You are not who others think you are, no one knows you but God. We become layered with other people's misconceptions of us until we cannot even see ourselves anymore. They form clouds over our hearts blocking out the full light of God's love.

Ask the Lord to reveal your true self. It may be gradual (or not), but God will show you that only His perception of you is the true one. And you are His child. Counterattack your unloving thoughts about yourself with the knowledge that He loves you. He loves you with an infinite love. Believe in this. It is total truth. Let Him love you; you were created to live in this love. This love is the firm foundation of your entire existence. Let your life flow outward from this base of love and things will run much more smoothly. We place in our path so many obstacles to receiving the clear light of the Holy Spirit and this need not be so.

Remember to treat yourself with the same mercy that God treats you with. God is incredibly merciful to us and so, we too, must treat his creation lovingly...which includes ourselves.

May the finger of God be upon you always.

Vultus Christi: Thou hast set Thy Heart on us

Thou hast set Thy Heart on us

From Father Mark Kirby at Vultus Christi:

"This he learned not by searching far and wide,
but by abiding there with Mary near the cross,
there to gaze on the 'one whom they have pierced' (Jn 19:37).
This he learned, John the eagle,
gazing unblinking into the Sun
that rose each day before his eyes
in the Breaking of the Bread.
"This is My Body which is given for you.
Do this for a commemoration of Me.
In like manner the chalice also,
after He had supped, saying:
'This is the Chalice, the new testament in my blood,
which shall be shed for you'" (Lk 22:19-20).

Teach us, John of the seeing heart,
how to gaze with unveiled faces
on the Face here veiled,
that we may discern in the Bread broken and given
the Eucharistic Heart, the water and the blood (cf. Jn 19:34)."

Read the rest here.  Thank you Father Mark.

Teach us, St. John, to abide with Mary near the cross, today in honor of her Immaculate Heart, and all days in His Eucharistic Heart.  In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

Love Him in Them

A prayer from My Other Self, by Clarence Enzler:

Dear Lord, may I always remember:  Whatever I do to them, I do also to You.

May I never forsake Your command, "Love one another as I have loved you."

May my thoughts of others be no longer my thoughts, but Your thoughts.

May my love of others be no longer my love, but Yours.

In my speech with others may my words be no longer my words, but Your words.

May I serve others as You served all men, seeking not to receive but to give.

May I see others no longer, but You in them.

May Your thoughts dwell in my mind, Your love in my heart, Your words on my lips- that I may learn to love all men even as You, dear Lord, love me.

 

 

 

Grace

"It is not enough for me that God has given me grace once, but He must give it always. I ask, that I may receive; and when I have received, I ask again. I am covetous of receiving God's bounty. He is never slow in giving, nor am I ever weary of receiving. The more I drink, the more thirsty I become."
                                                                                                       St. Jerome


Cars run on gasoline, people run on grace. Without God's grace we would stall and break down every single day. Grace is everything and everything is a grace. Every single thing in life can be a stepping stone to the Almighty God if we allow it to be. I have a little booklet that I like to leaf through now and then called The Healing Flame of Love by Brother Leonard and one section of this booklet speaks about how grace works in our lives. The author's words are in italics, mine are in bold.

a. Grace is completely available.
There is not just one thing to do at each moment, or I fail to do God's will; there are a multitude of actions presented to me by grace. Different ways to act are as available as different items in a supermarket - yet appointed for my needs with great care.
This is something that always confused me before I read this book. Was there one "perfect" God-willed thing that I should be doing each minute of the day? Was I doing God's will or my own? Some things are common sense such as taking care of one's family or working, but what about the rest of the day? The idea that there are a multitude of actions presented to me at any given time and that they are in line with God's will for me relieved my heart and mind.

b. Grace gives us the physical ability to do the things necessary for salvation.

c. Cooperation with grace puts me in touch with a tremendous power. If we believe that we are and can do nothing, we must believe there is a power that can do everything. This power is, of course, God. Cooperation with His ideas, acceptance of His plans can make the power available.
Example: You cannot push a freight train, yet a small movement of the throttle and the whole train starts to move.

d. Grace operates below the level of consciousness.
Wonderful things - like the operation of grace, God speaking to us, the Spirit moving us, etc. - are continually causing changes in our soul. We are unaware either of their action or their significance. 
Example: Consider what happens in Baptism, etc., or what happened when the prodigal son said, "I will return..." 
We can't "see" grace, but we can often see the results of grace. It is impossible not to notice the work God has done in me over the years. Were I took look day by day, the effects grace has had on my life may be imperceptible but if I look over a period of ten years they are profound. I shake my head in amazement at God's power. Yes, I have a long way to go, but I have also come a long way.

e. God will not sanctify me against my will, but He can change my will to make it agree with His desires.
Yes, He did this to me. What a tremendous gift!

f. Grace is a receiving.
The really important thing to understand about grace is that we receive it as a gift. We do not earn it or receive it because we seem to have done something to deserve it. If we are at all interested in arriving at a high degree of prayer (in order to increase our output) we must appreciate this function of grace, for in contemplation our activity is a receiving.
I love this one. Grace is unearned and unmerited. It is a pure, free gift given by a loving God. Every single person on this earth is a recipient of God's grace though they may not realize it. 

We live on grace.

Confident of God's Care

Can a woman forget her baby at the breast,

feel no pity for the child she has borne?

Even if these were to forget,

I shall not forget you.

Look I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . . .
(Is 49:15-16a)

I found the following terrific reflection on these verses in The New Jerusalem Bible: Saints Devotional Edition.  It was written by St. John Eudes who lived between 1601-1680.

"To strengthen us in the holy virtue of confidence our kind and lovable savior assumes the most loving titles possible.  He calls himself, and really is, our friend, our advocate, our shepherd, our brother, our father, our soul, our life, and the spouse of our souls.  And he styles us as his sheep, his brothers and sisters, his children, his portion and inheritance, his soul and his heart. 

He assures us in Scripture that his care for us is unceasing (Ws 12:13), and that he himself will always carry us in his heart (Is 46:3).  Again he promises that even though a mother should forget her child, he will never forget us--that he has us written on his hands so as to have us ever in his sight.  And whoever touches us touches the apple of his eye (Zc 2:12).

He tells us that his Father loves us as he, our Lord, loves him, and that he loves us as the Father loves him (Jn 17:26; 15:9); that he desires that we should be with him in the heart of the eternal Father and seated with him on his throne (Rv 3:21)---in a word, that we should be one with him, and perfectly united with him and his Father (Jn 17:23).

And he also promises us that in the event of our having displeased him, if we return to him with humility, sorrow, confidence in his goodness and the resolve to abandon sin, he will receive us with an embrace, forget all our offenses and clothe us with the robe of his grace and love (Lk 15:21).

After this who will not have confidence, and abandon himself entirely to the care of such a friend, brother, father, and spouse who knows what is best for us and in his extreme goodness leads us to our true end, supreme happiness?"

Our Lady of Medjugorje's Monthly Message to Marija Pavlovic

Our Lady of Medjugorje - Message of July 25, 2011 to Visionary Marija Pavlovic 
"Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit, may they be in God’s love. Permit me, little children, to lead you, open your hearts to the Holy Spirit so that all the good that is in you may blossom and bear fruit one hundred fold. Begin and end the day with prayer with the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call."