Uniting Our Desires to the Desires Jesus Had on the Cross

(According to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska - Diary 1581)

Saint Faustina mentioned 5 desires that Jesus had on the cross. We can pray for
each one with a decade of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, thus truly praying to the 
Father in Jesus’ Name.

1. That God’s Will be done.

God’s Will is Fatherly and loving. No eye has seen or ear heard what God wants for
those who love Him. It is a punishment from God when He gives us over to our own 
desires. The heart of the Divine Mercy message is trust - we should trust in God’s 
Mercy and beg for His Will to be done.

2. The conversion of souls.

Jesus did not come to call the just, but the sinners to repentance. Jesus calls 
all to repentance. The most terrible sin is pride - this can be shown in a 
complacency that rests secure while thinking that only other people have more 
serious sins than we do. But we should remember, God judges each person according 
to the graces they were given - the one with ten talents has more expected of him 
than one with only five. The bad slave who did not know his Master’s Will gets 
less lashes than the one who knew his Master’s Will. Also, we should not be like 
the prodigal son’s older brother, or the workers employed in the morning, 
resenting the graces reserved for other „more serious” sinners on their 
conversion. We should seek to rejoice with our Father as His Heart is consoled 
with the return of His lost children.

3. That God’s Mercy be adored.

Where would we be without the knowledge of God’s goodness? If we truly understand
that „only God is good”, and we realise our own weaknesses and evil, how could we
face each new day without the knowledge that God’s Love for us is infinite and 
eternal and unconditional? How can we take this gift for granted? How can we not 
have hearts overflowing with joy and the desire to spread this knowledge?

4. That the Church’s triumph be hastened.

The Church does not triumph when her enemies are destroyed or her „political 
goals” are met. Her members should not imagine that they will finally call down 
„fire to consume” their enemies. Rather, the Church triumphs in all of our hearts, 
when we hear her message, we take it to heart, we allow our hearts to be broken 
and remade and truly become a people who repent and believe the good news of God’s 
Love. Then our daily witness of joy, one soul at a time, will bring about the 
Church’s true triumph.

5. Sanctity for priests.

Priests’ calling is a very high one. We should not envy their „privilege”, but 
rather fear on their behalf for their great responsibility. We should humbly admit 
our very real need for them - Jesus Himself said that we should pray the Lord of 
the harvest to send labourers to the harvest. Priests are the visible, corporeal 
channel of God’s grace - just like the Blessed Virgin Mary - God chooses people to 
make His presence real and corporeal. Priests DO have a special calling. We should 
thank God for this and beg Him to uphold these „earthenware vessels” that He has 
chosen.

A mnemonic to help remember these intentions is:

Will Sinners Mercy Triumph Priests

Will Someone Make Tea Please

Luminous Mysteries / Today’s Gospel: Finding our place

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Today’s Gospel: Luke 5:1-11

1. Jesus’ Baptism “‘I am baptizing you with water for repentance, but the One Who is coming after me is mightier than I.'”

John knows his place – he proclaims from the start that he is just the herald; he is ready not just to give way to his Lord, but he uses his energy in making a way for Him.

2. Jesus shows His glory at the wedding feast “There was a wedding at Cana, and the Mother of Jesus was there.”

On this day, Jesus and Mary were just guests at the wedding. The couple, even though their names are lost to history, at this time take centre stage. Mary and Jesus quietly ensure that all goes well for the couple. Jesus turns water into wine in humble service, with the result that only His disciples and the servants were aware of the miracle.

3. Jesus proclaims the gospel “‘This is the time of fulfilment.'”

Jesus tells us when the time is at hand. Wherever we are and however we feel, Jesus will make use of us if we let Him. Like Peter in the gospel, who had spent all night unsuccessfully trying to catch some fish, we must be ready, inspite of our own fatigue, and our own “better” judgement, to seize God’s Day, to adopt the role that He has for us, to become “fishers of men.”

4. Jesus’ transfiguration “Jesus took Peter, John and James, and went up the mountain to pray.”

Jesus chose some disciples for higher positions than others. If we are left at the bottom of the mountain, without spiritual consolation or visions, no matter – we must be ready for whatever work the Lord calls us to do. In any case, all is honour for us, for like Peter in today’s gospel we can say, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

5. Jesus gives us Himself in the Eucharist “Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.'”

It was hard for the people at the time to accept Jesus as the Messiah, just as it is hard for us today to accept the office given to Jesus’ ministers in the Church today. No one can come to Jesus except through the sacraments – the Eucharist, and perhaps most difficult for us, confession. And yet, approach Jesus we must, in the Way clearly marked out for us.

Dear Jesus and Mary, help me to find my place in Your plan of salvation. If You choose not to favour me with special messages, please give me the grace to develop a disciple’s ear, always trying to listen, to hear You as Isaiah did on a gentle breeze, and to spend time with You in the humility and silence of the Eucharist. May I be humble and obedient like Peter, ready to go to work at Your call.

Sorrowful Mysteries of Rosary – Opportunities

1. Agony “Friend, do what you are here for.”

Jesus appears to be telling Judas to get the dirty deed over with. But what if He was seeing the potential His FRIEND had to still choose good? Did not Jesus, when talking with the rich young man, “look at him and love him”, and asked Him to give up everything and follow Him? And wasn’t He disappointed then too? He calls Judas “friend”, and we know that Jesus always spoke the truth. Jesus saw that what Judas was really there for, the possible crowning glory of his life, possibly the thing “he was for”, the thing his whole life had been leading up to, this moment of decision, this time when glorious sacrifice was within his reach … but he chose otherwise. Judas did NOT do THE thing he had been created for.

2. Scourging “After he had Jesus scourged, Pilate handed Him over to be crucified.”

Pilate puts off his moment of decision. He tries to wriggle out of the terrible confrontation. He knows Jesus is innocent, and yet tries to pacify His enemies. He wants to do the right thing without any sacrifice. Sadly, the moment comes, and there is no way out – God asks ALL from us. Pilate decided not to give all, and so handed over the innocent Man to die.

 

3. Crowning with Thorns “In the end, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.”

After more delays with Jesus’ humiliation by the soldiers, the result is the same. Jesus’ enemies demand everything. God, at certain times, does not make things easier for us – the price we must pay to do the honourable thing is total – it may demand our time, our career, our life, our good name, our family and loved ones – but we must be ready to give it all up.

4. Carrying the Cross “Whoever would save his life, will lose it; whoever loses his life for My sake, will save it.”

Jesus makes the point perfectly clear – there is NO compromise, either from God or His enemies – they will demand all from us. At some point we will have to make this decision. We are getting ready for this – we must be placing ourselves, all that we have and all that we are, at the service of a great ideal, at the service of Jesus Christ. Everything in the material world is just that, material. We are called to SACRIFICE ourselves for something higher. This question, this demand WILL be made of us at some point. We WILL have to be ready.

5. Crucifixion “They took Jesus’ body, and in accordance with Jewish burial custom, bound it up in wrappings of cloth with perfumed oils.”

Jesus was perfect, perfectly good. He was worthy of the love shown Him, of the honour paid to His lifeless body after His death. When I die, and I look back at those who might be mourning for my departure, will I feel worthy of it? Or will I cringe at any respect or charity that I simply do NOT deserve? Will my loved ones be mourning the loss of a coward? A compromiser? A liar? A failure in the things that really mattered? Will I have to return in anger to take my corpse and fling it into the fires of hell in bitter despair at seeing a life that was wasted, because it wasn’t GIVEN away? Despair at time misspent, because I sought to REST instead of to SERVE?

Dear Jesus and Mary, please help me to love sacrifice, to live in true love, to spend ALL my life in doing good.

 

Stations of the Cross 11 – 14

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When praying the Chaplet of Mercy, I often meditate on 5 of the Stations of the Cross. I have stations 1 – 5 here.

11: Jesus is nailed to the cross.

Jesus has each of His limbs completely immobilised by the nails – He can do nothing, He cannot act. I too am very often immobilised – by worries, fears of failure, temptations, and simply having too many good ideas that I do not know which to choose. May God help me to get moving and be able to do His will before it is too late.

12: Jesus dies on the cross.

Even when dying, Jesus is carrying out His Father’s will. Everything Jesus does is active and powerful. He can say, “It is accomplished.” God’s word accomplishes what He sent it to do: “So shall My word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) How often can I say at the end of each day, “It is accomplished – I did my best – I have bot wasted much / any time today” ? God, please help me to use the time You give me to do Your will effectively.

13: Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed in His Mother’s arms

Mary’s loss, and the realisation of that loss, is total. What loss can compare to this? To lose Her beloved Son at a young age, to see Him murdered with the sanction of the state and His enemies triumphing. What realisation can compare to this? To receive the Corpse Herself, and to prepare the Body for burial Herself. And in all this, to accept, to forgive.

None of my losses compare to this. Nothing could impinge upon my consciousness like this. I have been spared this much.

Dear God, please help me to accept my meagre sufferings and to grow in virtue through the trials You allow for me. But please especially give me the grace to do justice to my Mother Mary, to love Her more, to compassionate Her more, to think of Her more.

14: Jesus is buried in the tomb

The stone is rolled across the entrance – the end is totally final for the disciples. Their loss and humiliation could not have been greater – the Master they had placed all their hopes in was now gone forever, and their guilt in leaving Him at the mercy of His enemies was clear for all to see. Their Master was dead – totally. Their own courage, their illusions of how far they would strive for their dreams, was dead – totally. Nothing was left. God left them in total darkness. God wanted them to be like Him – to strive against the darkness. Just as God, in creation, said “Let there be light”, when all was dark, so the disciples, surrounded by darkness, filled with darkness, had to continue to strive and pray, “Please, let there be light.” Just as a seed, somehow pushes its way through the dark earth and into the light, we must hope against all hope, and keep striving for the light.

Dear God, I am a man who has failed and fallen thousands of times, repeating the same sins again and again, with only a tiresome list of confessions in my favour. With my track record I cannot dare to hope for or promise anything from my own resources. Please help me to keep striving, to keep heading towards You, to keep PRAYING: “Please, let there be light in my life.”

 

Today’s Gospel: Jesus’ Transfiguration on Tabor

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And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. (Matt 17:5)

God the Father shows the glory of His Son Jesus and commands us to listen to Him. Not only that, but the human witnesses, Moses and Elijah, by their presence give testimony to Jesus.

How can we listen to Jesus today? Of course, we can read the Bible and meditate on it. But our pride and selfish desires can distort the Word and we can make It serve our own purposes. The parable of the sower warns us about this (Mark 4:3-9). We need the Church, the community of believers who faithfully transmit the Word of God with the true interpretation. But what if the Church, for whatever reason, no longer interests the common people? Then God raises up extraordinary witnesses to wake us up.

Throughout history, and in our days especially, the extraordinary witness is no less than the Mother of God Herself, in Her numerous apparitions throughout the world, for example La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima, Akita, Quito … etc. The official line of the Church for the apparitions that she accepts as genuine (there are many that are rejected, see here for a comprehensive list of Marian apparitions for the 20th century) is that the faithful may believe, but they do not have to. I think that this is a wise position, one that appears to be cool and that avoids too much fanaticism, because sadly, there appear to many more false claims of visions than genuine ones. However, because of the magnitude of the claim, that it is the Mother of God Herself Who is talking, the veracity of these claims should be a top priority for the Church. If a group of people started blaspheming and lying about Jesus or Mary, surely we would be bound to rectify the situation. In the same way, if someone claims that Mary said this, or said that etc., it is surely a kind of blasphemy if it is untrue, and a source of confusion or scandal to the faithful. At the sharp edge of this problem are the local bishops, whose responsibility it is to investigate all these claims, but in reality it is the responsibility of the whole Church to support their bishops with constant prayer so that these matters can be resolved speedily.

A case in point are the apparitions of Medjugorje. Our Lady is said to have been appearing there constantly since June 24, 1981 – and there are claims on both sides as to the truth or not of this case. I cannot say personally which is correct for sure, and the Church is still investigating. But the point is, how is it possible for a Church that SHOULD believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, that SHOULD hold His Holy Mother in a position of the GREATEST respect and honour, how is it possible that a claim like Medjugorje does not weigh massively on our consciences? Either the MOTHER OF GOD is talking to us, or some people are telling lies about Her – Can we really sit by calmly and let this happen? Should we not pray that this matter, and all of those similar, are resolved speedily, as anything else is a grave dishonour to Our Lady.

Dear Jesus, please help us to pray fervently for the clear transmission of Your Word. May the day come, when Your ministers can clearly identify Your genuine witnesses and say in Your Name: this is My messenger, listen to him / her; this IS My Mother, listen to Her.

 

Stations of the Cross 1 – 5

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When praying the Chaplet of Mercy, I often meditate on 5 of the Stations of the Cross.

1: Jesus is condemned

All the crowds shouted for Jesus’ death. Whenever I complain, or get angry, or curse a situation, ask an angry “Why me?”, or “Why now?”, or whenever I am angry with another person – all of these feelings which I give free expression to and indulge in my thiughts become part of the feelings and aggression of the crowd. I condemned Jesus to death. I do it nearly every day. May God forgive me.

2: Jesus embraces the cross

Jesus did not shrink from the cross –  he walked forward to embrace it, lovingly and manfully. How often do I put off my responsibilities? This can wait till later, or maybe it isn’t necessary at all … May God help me to know what my responsibilities are, and help me to fulfill them well.

3: Jesus falls for the first time

We have seen that Jesus embraced the cross willingly, and so His desire and motivation are without question. Sometimes we think that as long as we want something enough, then we can do anything. Sometimes we feel guilty about our repetitive sins and we are convinced that we do not truly want to be rid of them. But here we see that Jesus was simply physically not up to the job of carrying the cross. He wasn’t faking; He did need help. We must swallow our pride. We must never give up. We must keep wanting to get better. We must ask for help constantly. And the help WILL come. We WILL conquer ourselves.

4: Jesus meets His sorrowful Mother

Jesus has come through the first fall, and despite the humiliation He is undaunted – He still wishes to finish the journey – now His Mother meets Him full of compassion and with the very real power of supportive love. Mary also desires to help us when we strive to do what is right, in spite of all the humiliating falls we experience through our weakness or stupidity. May God help us to become more humble through our falls, to learn a little more with each mistake we make, and to draw closer and closer to Mary and receive the benefits of Her intercession.

5: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus

Jesus physically was not strong enough to finish His mission. His Mother prayed for help and Simon was called upon. We must learn to accept our limitations – Christian perfection does not consist of becoming an independant superman; it rather entails learning to become humble, to find our place amomng our brothers and sisters, relying on their prayers and charitable help. May God help us to accept the humiliation of receiving charity as a necessary medicine for our terrible pride, and so may we be able to accept charity gracefully and make new friends on life’s journey.

 

Joyful Mysteries

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Annunciation: And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to Me according to thy word. And the angel departed from Her. (Lk 1:38)

The angel had given God’s word. Mary responded and gave Her word. The agreement was made, both parties having complete faith in each other. Mary would never go back on Her word, Her complete abandonment to God, come what may. And She merited to receive the Word of God in Her womb.

When we freely give our word, may we always be true to it, come what may.

Visitation: And Mary abode with her about three months; and She returned to Her own house. (Lk 1:56)

Elizabeth, being old and with child, probably needed help. She relied on Mary. Mary stayed with her for three months, ensuring that the delivery was okay. Mary had probably given Her word that She would be there for as long as necessary, and had probably given Her word to Her other relatives back home that She would return to Nazareth after three months – in the days of no telecomms people certainly had to plan in advance and make sure their loved ones would know where they would be and when to expect them – giving one’s word and keeping to it was necessary in the day-to-day activities. Being careless could cause undue worry and inconvenience to one’s relatives in a time of more labour-intensive existence.

May we be generous in giving our word so that people can rely on us, and may God help us always to keep faithful to it.

Jesus’ Birth: And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this Child. (Lk 2:16-17)

The angels had given God’s word to the shepherds and they responded in complete faith. Their faith was not disappointed and they saw the fulfilment of the hopes of generations of people.

May we hold onto our faith and hope, so that even if we are not favoured with extraordinary graces, at least some of our descendants will reap what we have helped to sow.

Jesus’ Presentation in the temple: And the Child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in Him. (Lk 2:40)

Mary remained faithful to Her word, and faithful to the word of Her people, who for generations had kept faith in their religious observance of consecrating their fist-born males to God. With this gesture of giving up their first-born, they gave no doubt as to the place that the worship and trust of God should have in their lives.

Mary offered up Her only Son; She would be faithful to Her and Her people’s promise, come what may – and Simeon had revealed what would come: that Her Child would be contradicted and that a sword would pierce Her heart. And in this exercise of Her faith, “the Child grew and became stronger” – the Word grew and She was able to witness this.

May we so believe and exercise our faith that God’s Word becomes ever stronger in our lives, becoming more and more real, with all the demands that that may entail.

Finding Jesus in the temple: And His Mother kept all these words in Her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.(Lk 2:51-52)

Mary had come through a major trial having lost Her Son for three days, and She kept the memory of this event in Her heart. Keeping faith is a battle, and sometimes the cost is very great – who knows how much Mary suffered in this trial? Mary strove and fought to hold onto Her faith, to seek out God’s will. God could have allowed an easier path for Her, with fewer difficulties, with fewer psychological disturbances, and dare I say less real wounds? Was Mary actually scarred in some way by Her sufferings? She had the memory always in Her heart – did this memory ever cause Her to awake in the night in tears or bathed in sweat? “Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem: terrible as an army set in array.” (Song of Solomon 6:3) – Is Mary so like an army that She also bears real wounds from battle? Do our beautiful statues of Her belie Her victorious humanity – Her humanity Whose victories were won through hard fighting?

As this blog was started with a view to encourage people fighting addiction to pray, it seems relevant to mention the sad passing of the famous singer, Amy Winehouse. The Daily Mail reported “reports emerge suggesting she died because she quit alcohol” (Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2019645/Amy-Winehouse-dead-Family-believe-died-quit-alcohol.html#ixzz1TdTHosns  ) If this is true, then she could indeed have died a martyrs death, fighting for a better life, but sadly sustaining wounds that killed her. Some may say that her wounds were self-inflicted due to her lifestyle etc., but this criticism could be levelled at many civilisations that eventually fell. What is more interesting to me though, is not how the enemies managed to infiltrate the city etc., but on how desperately the defenders tried to fight when they realised that fighting was their only option – and it is this, fighting to the death, throughout whatever remains of our lives, that really counts.

May we be like Mary, ready to bear arms, ready to sustain wounds, ready to die, if only to hold onto our faith and hope – and if we die, may our faith and hope, united to Mary’s, be an inspiration to others who come after us.

 

Todays Gospel: Saturday Week 17, Year 1

Matthew 14:1-12

Herod rashly gives his word, and so is compelled to kill Saint John the Baptist.

We should not treat our word lightly – in many ways it is the thing which reveals us to the world. Our words show who we are and what we think. In a way, it is right that Herod was bound by his word – society has a right to expect that people be true to their word. However, it is hypocritical to keep someone, obviously inexperienced, or carried away by some passion, to their word and force them to commit murder. In this situation the group around Herod insisted that he keep his “honour” by murdering a prophet of God!

The first reading from Leviticus (Lev 25:1, 8-17) shows another area where human bindings are unjust – those of economics. In our capitalist system it is possible for one generation to sign away all their property and so pauperise their descendants unto generations – how different is God’s law of restoration every fifty years! How revolutionary would such a system be – everyone secure in the knowledge of a fair redistribution of all the goods of the earth, with no-one being impoverished to the point of crushing debt and despair. Conversely, in our “civilisation”, the word that God would have as binding, the marriage vow, that protects children and ensures their protection, is taken as of no consequence. The priorities are clear: the word given to a rich man is binding for all time, from generation to generation, but the word given to provide for children has no force at all.

May God help us all.

Parents’ Prayer for their Children

The following prayer is paraphrased from Solomon’s prayer for guidance (I Kings 3:6-9):

Dear God, You have shown mercy to our parents by giving them descendants in us who live today. And now You have made us parents: yet we are but children who do not know how to go out or come in. And now we are given the care of Your children whom You have loved from eternity. Give us therefore understanding hearts to judge them and discern between good and evil. For who shall be able to judge Your children, whom You have created so wonderfully?

 

Ponderous Pondering: Hell

Yesterday I read “A Soul in Hell: The Story of Annette” , and it got me thinking about the existence of hell, which is something I normally try to avoid doing. Anyway, some thoughts came up.

Hell’s eternity is something that I find I would like to doubt, hoping that at the end of all time, we find that it actually had some merciful limit. But this may not be the case, and it would be because people truly are capable of wanting to suffer for ever. By way of analogy, we can consider people with no faith in the afterlife – so for them this life is all there is – and don’t many of them occupy all their time with thoughts of hatred and revenge? Do they treasure very moment? After all, isn’t this life itself all they have? In the same way, it would be easy to see that if we have enough hatred or self-love or pride, we would carry on treasuring these negative feelings for ever.

The nature of hell – how bad can it be? And why does God allow it to be so bad? One explanation I though of is that hell is simply where hateful souls can do what they like, and where they are all-powerful as they are in their own fantasies and dreams. I use the word “they” but I too am sometimes (often) like the hateful character in Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground“, dreaming of exacting revenge for the slightest offences caused by strangers in the street. Imagine a place where everyone had the power to get back at everyone else, non-stop, always wanting to have the last word and always going one up in their efforts to hurt their enemies. The film “Changing Lanes” is a great illustration of this attitude – and there is NO reason to think that just because we die and are born to eternal life, that we suddenly grow up and change into loving people, willing to let go of grudges and our own sense of right.

Also, when I think about the reality of hell, I suppose it could be the start of some wisdom. After all, if we truly do believe in hell, we must see it as an immensely terrible thing that we should use ALL our resources to avoid, and with this attitude, all the passing problems of this life take on a secondary importance. If we then go on to truly try and get to know God and see Him for what He is, the Father Who makes Himself poor to come close to us, to see the immensity of His love, then also detachment from the world would be the logical result.

Can my faith be measured simply by my detachment?