S. Paul the Hermit| S. Maurus| Daily Meditation| Daily Quote by S. Padre Pio| Divine Mercy Reflection
St. Paul the Hermit
(c. 233-345)
Latin Calendar
It is unclear what we really know of Paul's life, how much is fable, how much fact.
Paul was reportedly born in Egypt, where he was orphaned by age 15. He was also a learned and devout young man. During the persecution of Decius in Egypt in the year 250, Paul was forced to hide in the home of a friend. Fearing a brother-in-law would betray him, he fled in a cave in the desert. His plan was to return once the persecution ended, but the sweetness of solitude and heavenly contemplation convinced him to stay.
He went on to live in that cave for the next 90 years. A nearby spring gave him drink, a palm tree furnished him clothing and nourishment. After 21 years of solitude a bird began bringing him half of a loaf of bread each day. Without knowing what was happening in the world, Paul prayed that the world would become a better place.
St. Anthony of Egypt [January 17] attests to his holy life and death. Tempted by the thought that no one had served God in the wilderness longer than he, Anthony was led by God to find Paul and acknowledge him as a man more perfect than himself. The raven that day brought a whole loaf of bread instead of the usual half. As Paul predicted, Anthony would return to bury his new friend.
Thought to have been about 112 when he died, Paul is known as the "First Hermit." His feast day is celebrated in the East; he is also commemorated in the Coptic and Armenian rites of the Mass.
Comment:
The will and direction of God are seen in the circumstances of our lives. Led by the grace of God, we are free to respond with choices that bring us closer to and make us more dependent upon the God who created us. Those choices might at times seem to lead us away from our neighbor. But ultimately they lead us back both in prayer and in fellowship to one another.
Also in the Latin Calendar, today is the Feast Day of S. Maurus, Abbot. A story about this Feast Day can be found below:
Saint Maurus (Maur) was the son of Equitius, a nobleman of Rome, but claimed also by Fondi, Gallipoli, Lavello etc.; He died 584 of natural causes. He is represented as an abbot with crozier, or with book and censer, or holding the weights and measures of food and drink given him by his holy master.
Saint Maurus was a disciple of Saint Benedict of Nursia at age 12. He studied with Saint Placid. He assisted Saint Benedict at Subiaco, Italy, and at Monte Cassino in 528.
The youth surpassed all his fellow monks in the discharge of monastic duties, and when he was grown up, Saint Benedict made him his coadjutor in the government of Sublaco. Maurus, by his singleness of heart and profound humility, was a model of perfection to all the brethren, and was favoured by God with the gift of miracles. Saint Placidus, a fellow monk, the son of the senator Tertullus, going one day to fetch water, fell into the lake, and was carried the distance of a bow-shot from the bank. Saint Benedict saw this in spirit in his cell, and bid Maurus run and draw him out. Maurus obeyed, walked upon the waters without perceiving it, and dragged out Placidus by the hair, without sinking in the least himself. He attributed the miracle to the prayers of Saint Benedict; but the holy abbot, to the obedience of the disciple. Soon after that holy patriarch had retired to Cassino, he called Saint Maurus thither, in the year 528.
He could heal by prayer, and there are multiple stories of him bringing the dead back to life. At the moment of the death of Saint Benedict, Maurus received a vision of his old teacher travelling a street that led to heaven.
Saint Maurus coming to France in 543, founded, by the liberality of king Theodebert, the great abbey of Glanfeuil, now called Saint Maur-sur-Loire, which he governed several years. In 581, he resigned the abbacy to Bertulf, and passed the remainder of his life in close solitude, in the uninterrupted contemplation of heavenly things, in order to prepare himself for his passage to eternity. After two years thus employed, he fell sick of a fever, with a pain in his side: he received the sacraments of the church, lying on sackcloth before the altar of Saint Martin, and in the same posture expired on the 15th of January, in the year 584. He was buried on the right side of the altar in the same church, and on a roll of parchment laid in his tomb was inscribed this epitaph: “Maurus, a monk and deacon, who came into France in the days of king Theodebert, and died the eighteenth day before the month of February.”
He is the patron of charcoalburners, coppersmiths etc. — in Belgium of shoemakers — and is invoked against gout, hoarseness etc. He was a disciple of St. Benedict, and his chief support at Subiaco. By St. Gregory the Great (Lib. Dialog., II) he is described as a model of religious virtues, especially of obedience.
by Dom Prosper Gueranger:
Saint Maurus — one of the greatest masters of the Cenobitical Life and the most illustrious of the Disciples of Saint Benedict, the Patriarch of the Monks of the West — shares with the First Hermit the honours of this fifteenth day of January. Faithful, like the holy Hermit, to the lessons taught at Bethlehem, Maurus has a claim to have his Feast kept during the 40 days which are sacred to the sweet babe Jesus. He comes to us each January to bear witness to the power of that babe’s humility. Who, forsooth, will dare to doubt of the triumphant power of the poverty and the obedience shown in the crib of our Emmanuel when he is told of the grand things done by those virtues in the cloisters of fair France? It was to Maurus that France was indebted for the introduction into her territory of that admirable Rule which produced the great saints and the great men, to whom she owes the best part of her glory. The children of Saint Benedict by Saint Maurus struggled against the barbarism of the Franks under the first race of her kings. Under the second they instructed, in sacred and profane literature, the people in whose civilisation they had so powerfully co-operated. Under the third — and even in modern times when the Benedictine Order, enslaved by the system of Commendatory-Abbots and decimated by political tyranny or violence, was dying out amid every kind of humiliation — they were the fathers of the poor by the charitable use of their large possessions and the ornaments of literature and science by their immense contributions to ecclesiastical science and archaeology, as also to the history of their own country.
Saint Maurus built his celebrated Monastery of Glanfeuil, and Glanfeuil may be considered as the mother house of the principal monasteries in France, Saint Germain and Saint Denis of Paris, Maimoutier, Saint Victor, Luxeuil, Jumieges, Fleury Corbie, Saint Vannes, Moyen-Moutier, Saint Wandrille, Saint Waast, La Chaise-Dieu, Tiron, Cheza: Benoit, Le Bee, and innumerable other monasteries in France gloried in being daughters of Monte Cassino by the favourite Disciple of Saint Benedict. Cluny, which gave several Popes to the Church —and among them, Saint Gregory the Seventh and Urban the Second — was indebted to Saint Maurus for that Rule which gave her her glory and her power. We must count up the Apostles, Martyrs, Bishops, Doctors, Confessors and Virgins who were formed, for 1200 years, in the Benedictine cloisters of France. We must calculate the services, both temporal and spiritual, done to this great country by the Benedictine monks during all that period, and we will have some idea of the results produced by the mission of Saint Maurus — results whose whole glory redounds to the Babe of Bethlehem and to the mysteries of His humility which are the source and model of the Monastic Life. When, therefore, we admire the greatness of the saints and recount their wonderful works, we are glorifying our Jesus, the King of all Saints.
***** How blessed was your mission, O favourite and worthy disciple of the great Saint Benedict! How innumerable the Saints that sprang from you and your illustrious Patriarch! The Rule you promulgated was truly the salvation of that great country which you and your disciples evangelised, and the fruits of the Order you planted there have been indeed abundant. But now that from your throne in Heaven you behold that fair France which was once covered with monasteries and from which there mounted up to God the ceaseless voice of prayer and praise, and now you scarce find the ruins of these noble sanctuaries — turn towards our Lord and beseech Him that he make the wilderness bloom once more as of old. Oh what has become of those cloisters in which were trained Apostles of Nations, learned Pontiffs, intrepid defenders of the Liberty of the Church, holy Doctors and heroes of sanctity — all of whom call you their second Father? Who will bring back again those vigorous principles of poverty, obedience, hard work and penance which made the Monastic Life be the object of the people’s admiration and love and attracted tens of thousands of every class in society to embrace it? Instead of this holy enthusiasm of the ages of faith, we, alas, can show little else than cowardice of heart, love of this life, zeal for enjoyment, dread of the cross and, at best, comfortable and inactive piety. Pray, great Saint, that these days may be shortened, that the Christians of the present generation may grow earnest by reflecting on the sanctity to which they are called, that our sluggish hearts may put on the fortitude of knowing and doing, at least, our duty. Then, indeed, will the future glories of the Church be as great and bright as our love of her makes us picture them to ourselves — for, all the Church needs in order to fulfil her destinies, is courageous hearts. If our God hears your prayer and give us once more the Monastic Life in all its purity and vigour , we will be safe and the evil of faith without earnestness which is now producing such havoc in the spiritual world will be replaced by Christian energy. Teach us, O Maurus, to know the dear Babe of Bethlehem and to get well into our hearts His life and doctrine, for we will then understand the greatness of our Christian vocation, and that the only way to overcome our enemy the world is that which He, our Master and Guide, followed.
Prayer:
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary,
Pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,
Pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Pray for us.
Holy Abbot Saint Maurus,
Pray for us.
Saint Maurus, first disciple of Saint Benedict,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who from the first dawn of reason didst serve God,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who from earliest youth didst despise the vanity of the world,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who, while yet a child, wast placed under the care of St. Benedict,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who by thy advance in virtue didst gain the particular love of St. Benedict, Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who wast regarded as a model of the monastic life,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, illustrious for obedience,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who didst walk on the water as on solid ground, to rescue Saint Placidus from the waves,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, great lover of fasting,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who in a vision didst perceive the soul of St. Benedict on a path of light ascend to Heaven,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, who for forty years didst govern thy monasteries in great sanctity, and finally yield up thy soul in the hands of thy Creator,
Pray for us.
St. Maurus, great patron of all who invoke thee,
Pray for us.
That we may follow thy example,
Pray for us.
That we may be converted to God,
Pray for us.
That we may know the vanity of the world and fly from all danger of sin,
Pray for us.
That by keeping the commandments of God and His holy Church we may daily increase in virtue,
Pray for us.
That we may give a good example to our neighbor, Pray for us. That we may be obedient to our Superiors,
Pray for us.
That we may despise all earthly good, and practice self-denial,
Pray for us.
That we may, through charity, love and assist our neighbor,
Pray for us.
That we may love fasting,
Pray for us.
That freed from all sloth we may zealously strive to fulfill the will of God,
Pray for us.
That we may attain the spirit of true devotion,
Pray for us.
That we may gain the grade of a happy death,
Pray for us.
That with thee we may love and praise God eternally,
Pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Have mercy on us, O Lord.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father (secretly). [Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.]
Hail, Mary (secretly). [Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.Holy Mary, Mother of God,pray for us sinners,now and at the hour of our death. Amen.]
V. Pray for us, O holy Abbot Saint Maurus:
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. O God, Who through the holy Abbot Maurus didst spread the Order of Saint Benedict throughout. France, and there increase and preserve it: grant us in Thy mercy the grace, that through the merits and intercession of this Thy faithful servant, and all the holy sons of Saint Benedict, the Order may also be spread in our days; and that we may imitate the virtues of Saint Maurus in such a manner, as to gain Heaven, where, in company with the blessed, we may praise Thee for all eternity. R. Amen.
Another Story
Story of St. Maurus - Feast Day - January 15th - Latin Calendar
Life of St. Maurus (Maur) (Order of St. Benedict)
St. Maurus, abbot and deacon, son of Equitius, a nobleman of Rome, was born about the year 510 and died in 584. When he was about twelve years old, his father placed him under the care of St. Benedict at Subiaco, to be educated in piety and learning. When he had grown up, St. Benedict chose him as his coadjutor in the government of the monastery. He was a model of perfection to all his brethren, but especially in the virtue of obedience.
St. Placid, one of his fellow disciples, the son of the senator Tertullus, going one day to draw water, fell into the lake, and was at once carried away by the current. St. Benedict saw this in spirit in his cell and bade Maurus run and draw him out. Having asked and received the holy Father's blessing, Maurus hastened down to the lake, walked upon the waters, thinking he was on dry land, and dragged Placid out by the hair, without sinking in the least himself. He attributed the miracle to the command and prayers of St. Benedict; but the holy abbot, to the obedience of the disciple.
St. Maurus was sent to France in 543 to propagate the order of St. Benedict in that country. He founded the famous abbey of Glanfeuil, over which he ruled as abbot for thirty-eight years. In 581 he resigned the abbacy, built for himself a small cell near the church of St. Martin, so that in solitude and prayer he might prepare himself for his passage into eternity. After two years he fell sick sof a fever: he received the sacraments of the Church, lying on sackcloth before the altar of St. Martin, and in that posture expired on January 15, 584.
Gift of Miracles
St. Maurus was favored by God with the gift of miracles. To show in what high degree the Saint possessed the gift of miracles, it will be sufficient to cite a few examples of how he miraculously cured the sick and restored to health those who were stricken with a grievous affliction. It has already been stated, according to the testimony of Pope St. Gregory the Great, in the Second Book of his Dialogues, how when a youth, St.Maurus rescued St. Placid from drowning.
A few more examples of miracles wrought by the Saint, as related by the monk St. Faustus (Bollandists, Vol. 2), who accompanied St. Maurus to France and later wrote his life, will be given here. They were invariably wrought by means of the sign of the Cross, and the relic of the true Cross, which he had taken along to France.
When St. Maurus, at that time prior of the abbey of Monte Cassino, was returning with the brethren from gathering the harvest in the fields, he met a boy who was mute and crippled, accompanied by his parents. When the father and mother of the boy cast themselves at the feet of the Saint and implored him to cure their child of his maladies, St. Maurus, having for some time given himself to prayer, imposed upon the head of the boy his levitical stole, for he was a deacon, and made the sign of the Cross over him, saying to him: "In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity, and supported by the merits of the-most holy Father Benedict, I bid you to rise, stand upon your feet and be cured." And forthwith the boy arose, walked about, and with a loud voice praised and glorified God.
A certain Vicar, Ardenard, had been sent by Innocent, the Bishop of Mans, to Monte Cassino, in order to petition St. Benedict to send some monks to France. Arriving at a place called Vercella, the Vicar fell down headlong from a high stairway in the place where he was lodging. His body was so crushed by the fall that his life was despaired of. His right shoulder, arm and hand had so swelled with inflammation, that amputation of the arm was deemed necessary. Recourse was then had to their companion, St. Maurus, who was engaged in prayer in the oratory. Moved by the earnest supplications of his brethren, and the misery of the sick man, the Saint cast himself prostrate at the foot of the altar, pouring forth his soul in fervent prayer. Having finished praying, he took from the altar the case of relics which had been sent him by his master, St. Benedict, and went to the bedside of the sick man. Having exposed the relic of the Cross, he made the sign of the Cross over every part of the arm from the shoulder to the fingers, saying:
"O God, the Creator of all things, You ordained that Your only Son should take flesh of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit for the restoration of your people, and You deigned to heal the wounds and infirmities of our souls by the redemption accomplished upon the sacred and glorious wood of the life-giving Cross: do You also vouchsafe through this powerful sign to restore health to Your servant."
His prayer being ended, all the poisoned blood, by which the Vicar's arm had beer inflamed, began to flow off from three different places in his arm, and his arm was cured.
While continuing their journey and reaching the Alps, one of the servants, Sergius, riding on horseback, fell from his horse and struck his leg against a huge rock, and so crushed it that it was but one bruised mass. Whereupon St. Maurus went up to the unfortunate man, seized his crushed leg with his left hand, and with his right made the sign of the Cross over it, saying: "In the name of almighty God, arise and be cured," and immediately, to the joy of all, his crushed leg became whole and sound.
When St. Maurus and his little band came to the church of the holy martyrs Sts. Maurice and his companions, they entered it to pray. At the entrance of the church sat a certain man who was born blind, begging alms from those who entered and left the edifice. He had learned that Maurus, the disciple of the holy man Benedict, had arrived, the fame of his sanctity having already preceded him. When Maurus and his companions had finished their prayers and left the church, they found the blind man lying prostrate on the ground, begging and imploring the Saint to obtain for him by his prayers the light of his eyes. Maurus commanded him to rise, and pressing the fingers of his right hand upon his eyes, he imprinted on them the sign of our redemption. Thereupon the blind man instantly obtained his eyesight.
Maur Rescues Placid
Since St. Maurus miraculously freed many persons from their bodily afflictions through the sign of the Cross and the relic of the true Cross of Christ, in many monasteries of the Order of St. Benedict from time immemorial, after the example of this miracle-worker, the custom of blessing the sick with the relic of the true Cross, has prevailed, in order to restore their health. But until recent years, there was no uniform and approved formula of blessing of the Church. There existed a number of old and new formulas, which were essentially the same, but differed from each other in many details. Some formulas were exceedingly lengthy. In the face of these facts, the Rt. Rev. Dom Maurus Wolter OSB, President of the Beuronese Congregation, petitioned Rome for an approved and authentic formula. A carefully prepared and much abbreviated formula was therefore presented to the Sacred Congregation of Rites for its approval.
This formula was approved by the Sacred Congregation for all priests and deacons, secular as well as regular clerics, to impart the blessing, provided the formula approved by the Sacred Congregation is used.
Nihil obstat: John Eidenschink, OSB JCD, Censor deputatus. Imprimatur: + Peter W. Bartholome, DD, Bishop of St. Cloud, March 3, 1963.
The Blessing of Saint Maurus over the Sick
with a Relic of the True Cross or the Medal of Saint Benedict
Since it is frequently impossible to have a relic of the True Cross, the Sacred Congregation of Rites granted on 6 March 1959, at the request of Benno Cardinal Gut OSB, then Abbot Primate of the Order of St. Benedict, the permission to use the medal of St. Benedict in place of the relic of the True Cross to confer the Blessing of St. Maurus with the approved form as given below.
Efficacy of the Blessing
The blessing of Saint Maurus has its efficacy through the power of the sign of the Cross, the veneration of the relic of the true Cross of our Redeemer, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Benedict and St. Maurus, and the blessing of the Church. Innumerable facts attest that where the blessing of St. Maurus has been received with a lively faith, sincere contrition, and firm confidence in God, persons have been relieved of their bodily ills, sicknesses have been cured, and evident miracles have been wrought.
Form of the Blessing
Before the blessing is imparted, the relic of the true Cross of our Lord or the medal of St. Benedict is exposed, at least two candles having been lit. Acts of contrition and firm confidence should then be excited in the sick person, so that through the merits and intercession of St. Benedict and St. Maurus, if it should please God, health may be obtained. Three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory be's are recited in honor of the Blessed Trinity. Then a priest or deacon, having put on a stole, and with his right hand holding up the relic or the medal of St. Benedict before the sick person, says the following prayers:
V. Benediction and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever.
R. Amen.
V. My foot has stood in the direct way.
R. In the churches I will bless You, O Lord.
Invocation
Through the invocation of the most holy name of the Lord may that faith, in which St. Maurus, by employing the words that follow, healed the sick, and in which I, though an unworthy sinner, utter the selfsame words, restore your health as you desire:
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity and supported by the merits of the most holy Father Benedict, I bid you, N., to rise, stand upon your feet and be cured, in the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen.
Antiphon. Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: by His bruises we are healed.
V. He that forgives the iniquities of his creatures.
R. May He heal your infirmities.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come to You.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with your spirit.
Let us pray
O God, the Creator, of all things, You ordained that Your only Son should take flesh of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit for the restoration of your people and You deigned to heal the wounds and infirmities of our souls by the redemption accomplished upon the sacred and glorious wood of the life-giving Cross: do You also vouchsafe through this powerful sign to restore health to Your servant N.
Through the same Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
Let us pray
Lord Jesus Christ, You conferred upon the master, blessed Benedict, the privilege of obtaining from You whatsoever he might ask in Your name: vouchsafe, through his intercession, to heal all the infirmities of this Your servant: in order that, being restored to health, he (she) may give thanks to Your holy name.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
The Blessing
Through the invocation of the Immaculate Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and the intercession of Saints Benedict and Maurus, may the Power + of God the Father, the Wisdom + of God the Son, and the Strength + of the Holy Spirit free you from your infirmities. Amen.
May God's holy will be done, and may it be done to you as you wish and pray, for the praise and honor of the most holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The priest then blesses the sick person with the relic of the Cross or the medal of St. Benedict saying:
May the blessing of Almighty God, of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit descend upon you and abide with you forever.
R. Amen.
The sick person then kisses the relic or the medal of St. Benedict.
This blessing, if need be, may be repeated three times; also three votive Masses may be celebrated, namely in honor of the Passion, of St. Maurus, Abbot, and for the Poor Souls; otherwise the fifteen decades of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary are to be prayed according to the aforesaid intentions by the sick person, or by others in the person's name.
Devotion to the Cross
The cross of Christ is the symbol of our redemption. By His death on the Cross, Christ redeemed the world and procured for us all blessings. We need not then be surprised to find among the Apostles a great love and veneration for the Cross. St. Paul says: "With Christ I am nailed to the Cross" (Gal. 2:19). And again: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal. 6:14).
This reverence for the Cross was passed on by the Apostles to the early Christians, for whom the Cross of our Savior was the special object of devotion. They carved it on their tombs, marked it on their houses, imprinted it on their clothing, and on household articles. They signed themselves with the sign of the Cross on coming and going, before beginning any work and upon ending it, and in all trials and dangers. They expected to obtain through the instrument of our redemption every blessing from God, especially protection against the assaults of the devil and all dangers of body and soul.
As the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was the chief object of devotion among the early Christians, so it was also with St. Benedict, the Patriarch of Western monasticism, and his disciples. St. Benedict often used the sign of the Cross to work miracles and to overcome the devil and his temptations; and it was this devotion of the Saint to the Cross that gave rise to the Cross or Medal of St. Benedict. The sons of St. Benedict have inherited this veneration and love of the Cross from their spiritual Father. We see this especially exemplified in the life of St. Maurus, a disciple of St. Benedict, who cherished a great devotion to the Cross of Christ, and who employed it as powerful means for curing the sick.
Nihil obstat: John Eidenschink, OSB JCD, Censor deputatus. Imprimatur: + Peter W. Bartholome, DD, Bishop of St. Cloud, March 3, 1963. HTML version: Tom Gillespie OSB; graphic: Placid Stuckenschneider OSB. Copyright 1963 by The Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.
Daily Meditation
Becoming Better:
When we approach any problem in the right way we become better versions of ourselves. This is true for individuals, but it is also true for marriages, families, business, nations, and the Church.
Quote by S. Padre Pio:
When Jesus, in His goodness, puts your faithfulness to the test, show at all times great prompitide in observing your duties, without neglecting any of the practices you perform in times of consolation...
Divine Mercy Reflection
Reflections on Notebook One: 11-111
The first notebook of Saint Faustina begins her private revelations given from the Heart of Jesus to her. She writes in a beautiful and simple way. Though, as mentioned in the introduction, her actual words are not quoted in these reflections that follow, the messages that she received and articulated are presented.
In truth, her messages are those contained in Sacred Scripture and in the Tradition of our Church. And if you were to read through the lives and teachings of the saints, you would find the same revelations. God has always spoken to us throughout the ages. He speaks the one Message of Truth, and He reveals that Message in love. The revelations to Saint Faustina are one new way that God continues to speak and reveal Himself to us, His sons and daughters.
The reflections based on her first notebook, are intentionally short and focused. They are a way for you, the reader, to slowly and carefully listen to the Heart of God spoken to this great saint. Read these reflections slowly and prayerfully. Ponder them throughout the day and allow the Lord to speak to You the message He wants to give.
Reflection 14: True Satisfaction Only Through Mercy
So often in life we seek satisfaction from the passing things of the world. Be it riches, fleshly pleasure, prestige, or anything else, we must come to discover that one thing and one thing alone satisfies. The Divine Mercy of God is what we seek. Everything else is an illusion of satisfaction. If we try to satisfy our souls with other things, we will be left in interior sadness, anguish and disillusion. The Mercy of God keeps calling out and inflicts a sweet pain until we respond (See Diary #8).
Reflect upon the “sweet pain” inflicted upon your soul every time you try to find satisfaction in something other than God’s Mercy. It’s “sweet” because it’s a rebuke of love from God calling us to trust only in His Mercy. It’s “painful” in that we should allow ourselves to see clearly that attachment to anything not of God does not sit well in our soul. Every attachment to things outside of God’s Mercy will ultimately be experienced as a burden.
Lord, may I allow myself to feel and experience Your Mercy calling me to turn from all that is not of You. Help me to run to Your Mercy in all things and to turn from those things that ultimately weigh me down and are painful and burdensome. Jesus, I trust in You.
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