Jan 1 Mon - As we begin the New Year, let us celebrate the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Jan 1 Mon
As we begin the New Year, let us celebrate the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and let us adore her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The Church invites us to consider the central mystery of Mary's life: a gift more wonderful than words can describe, that of being the Mother of God. This is the source of all the prerogatives which God in his wisdom bestowed upon our Lady.

Besides being the Mother of God, our Lady is also the Mother of each one of us. She loves us, cares for us, consoles us, and encourages us to return to the Father's house whenever we are far from God.

Mary is always at our side, ready to intercede before her Son when we don't act as we should, provided we take refuge in her motherly affection. We appeal to our Lady in words taken from a hymn which Christians have addressed to her for centuries: “Break the captives' fetters, bring light to the blind, drive away our ills, and ask every blessing for us.”
 
St. Josemaría invites us to “make a personal resolution: not to let anything human bother us, however serious it may appear, as long as we go to God through our Lady. And we do so through the Confession and spiritual “coaching”. The result will be a haven of peace, and our Lord will smile at us, seeing the human way in which we act. And as he forgives us, he will think: this one has learned his lesson: now he'll be more faithful to me."

“If a little child does something wrong, breaking a valuable object, for instance, he sometimes tries to run away from his mother's arms. He doesn't realize that she doesn't always want to catch him to spank him, but she wants to console him, to press him to her heart and smother him in kisses."

“This is what I'm trying to tell you: trust God completely and make up your mind not to run away from him. The best sign that we're not trying to escape is to be sincere in the spiritual “coaching”, and clear in Confession. Don't get all worked up when you have made a mistake –that wouldn't be sorrow, but pride. Keep calm and return to God your Father's house; there we will always find the immense tenderness and understanding of our holy Mother Mary waiting for us."

Thank you, my God –the Father, Son and Holy Spirit– for giving us Mary as our Mother as well. She knows the clay we are made of; she understands our defects; and after we have gone astray, she helps us, in that wonderfully gentle and affectionate manner of hers, to return to your Love.

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Dec 31 Sun - As the year ends, think of the last judgement

 

Dec 31 Sun
As the year ends, let us think that, at the end of the world, there will be the last judgement, when Christ will come to judge all the living and the dead. Then the true worth of our life will be seen by Christ and all humanity.

There will also be the particular judgement at the very moment of death. Then, everything will come to light before Christ's tribunal, even the smallest things we have done: thoughts, words and deeds.

But God will also take into account the words uttered and external deeds we have done for his glory, to draw souls closer to him: How we served others, or were demanding on ourselves, the opportunities that perhaps we let slip because of our comfort-seeking or scant love.

What will we be able to say on that day, when we face our Lord and our Judge? We feel the weight of so many omissions and shortcomings. And so, we ask Jesus now to change our heart, cleanse it, and make it like his own.

The thought of the particular judgement should spur us to contrition, to a renewed eagerness to fulfill God's most lovable will at every moment.

Yet Our Mother the Church encourages us to focus on our daily struggles and respond more faithfully to our Christian vocation, rather than fearing judgment. She wants us to have a clear idea of our end, and to help us strive upwards every day.

Christ will not be an unknown judge for us. We have the immense good fortune of being among the chosen friends of the One who is to judge us. And each day our friendship grows stronger. By fulfilling our norms of piety, our small mortifications, our acts of love, our constant apostolate, we increasingly identify ourselves with him. Despite our faults and offenses, we are more in love with Jesus, and more determined to dedicate ourselves to his service.

“Our Guardian Angel always accompanies us as our principal witness. At your particular judgement, he will remember the kind deeds you performed for our Lord throughout your life. Furthermore, when you may feel lost, before the enemy's terrible accusations, your Angel will present those good desires of your heart –which perhaps you yourself might have forgotten– those proofs of love for God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That is why you must never forget your Guardian Angel, and that Prince of Heaven shall not abandon you now, or at that decisive moment."

We view the moment of our judgement with hope and confidence, trying to please Jesus. Our Mother Mary will be present, providing protection and support, as she always has done, and Saint Joseph too. Our Lady will say good things about us with motherly affection always.

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Dec 30 Sat - Let’s draw new strength from our errors and defeats.

 Dec 30 Sat
As the new year is approaching, let’s draw new strength from our errors and defeats.
Sometimes in our interior life, “as in sports, one has to know how to lose a game and try to win the next one. Whoever gives up because he misses one goal, has missed the point of his efforts. We know we're going to lose sometimes. We, men, may fail, but God doesn't lose battles."

Learning how to lose is another virtue of a good sportsman. It is inevitable that we are going to lose some skirmishes in our daily struggle. But as St. Josemaría said: “learn to draw from your falls a new impulse: from death, life." If we struggle, if we have a spirit of examination and contrition, then our daily mistakes, our unfulfilled resolutions, our lack of love and our insensitivity, can all be turned to good advantage. St Paul exclaims, “I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

God counts on our defects, and gives us his grace to fight against them. If we don't overcome them completely, we should realize that the humble struggle against our shortcomings is a wonderful means to improve. God disposes everything with an eye for our greatest good.

St Augustine says, echoing St Paul: “Everything contributes to the good of those who love God; God directs absolutely everything to their benefit. Even those who stray from the right path can progress in virtue, since they return humbler and more experienced. They learn that, although they are traveling the true path, they should not presumptuously attribute their progress to themselves, nor say in times of prosperity: ‘Now, we'll never fall.’"

The first fruit we draw from our mistakes is greater humility. And then, our sorrow leads us to love, which wipes off any complacency, apathy, or lukewarmness. Our defects lead us to struggle without break.

“My child, God's grace is plentiful. If at times you have not been very faithful, God continues to watch over you lovingly. Just like a mother who puts aside her children's unkindness when the child returns to her affectionately, so too Jesus forgets what we've done badly, when in the end we go to him with love." Our small daily defeats should help us to trust more in God and less in ourselves. They help to make us humbler. “High above the storm clouds, we have the Sun of divine grace, and the smile of our Mother, the Morning Star. And we'll overcome everything, whether in sea or in sky, and we'll be peaceful, happy."

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Dec 29 Fri - Our Lord comes determined to seek us out

 

Dec 29 Fri

Our Lord comes determined to seek us out, after we were lost.

How often we have separated ourselves from God! How often we have failed to hear his voice - the voice of the one who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.

 

We must hasten to meet him, ready to start again and to respond to his never-failing Love.

 

“A day of salvation has arrived for us. Once again, we can hear the whistling of the divine shepherd, his affectionate call: I have called you by name. Like our mother, he calls us by our name, even by our affectionate family nickname. There in the very depths of our soul he calls, and we must answer: Here I am, for you called me. Here I am, determined on this occasion not to let time pass like water over the rocks, without leaving a trace."

 

St. Josemaría tells us that “what we have to try to do is to get to heaven. If we don't, nothing is worthwhile. To reach heaven, faithfulness to Christ's teaching is absolutely essential. And to be faithful, we must strive doggedly against whatever blocks our way to eternal happiness."

 

“I know that the moment we talk about fighting we recall our weakness and we foresee falls and mistakes. God takes this into account. As we walk along, we will inevitably raise dust on our way; we are creatures and full of defects. I would say that they need to be there: they are the shadow which, in our soul, helps to highlight, by contrast, God's grace and our resolve to respond to God's kindness. And this contrast of light and darkness will make us human, humble, understanding and generous."

 

The response is required from us: to begin over and over again; not in a vague manner, but in the main points of our interior struggle, enthusiastically.

“Let's not deceive ourselves: in our life we will encounter excitement and victory along with deprivation and defeat. Such has always been the earthly pilgrimage of Christians, even of those we venerate on the altars. … The true-life stories of Christian heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and lost. And then, repentant, they returned to the fray."

 

To find Jesus, we have to keep starting over and over again. We need to be continually engaged in a struggle to improve. To stand still is to fall back. St Augustine says, “I am still running, I am still advancing. I am still walking. I am still on the way. I am still exerting myself. I have not yet arrived. In the same way, if you are walking, if you are exerting yourself, if you are thinking of the future, then forget the past, do not glance back, or you may remain at the spot where you turned to look back. If you say, ‘Enough,’ you are lost."

 

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Dec 28 Thu - Life after Birth

 Dec 28 Thu
Life after Birth
Twins, a sister and brother were talking to each other inside the womb.
The little sister said to the little brother: ‘I believe that there is life after birth!’

Her brother protested: ‘No, no, this is all there is.’ This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling on to the cord that feeds us.’

But the little girl insisted: ‘There must be something more than this dark place; there must be something else where there is light and freedom to move.’
Still, she could not convince her twin brother.

Then...after some silence, she said hesitantly: ‘I have something else to say, and I am afraid you won’t believe that either, but I think there is a mother!’

Her little brother now became furious: ‘A mother, a mother… what are you talking about? I have never seen a mother and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have, all there is, so let’s accept it.’

The little sister finally said: ‘Don’t you feel this pressure sometimes? It’s really unpleasant and sometimes even painful.’

‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘what’s special about that?’

‘Well,’ the sister said, ‘I think this pressure we fell, is there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face to face! … Don’t you think that’s exciting!
After this, they were born.

Moral: Faith in the Immortality of the soul.
Faith in the afterlife.
Life, and everything in it, is a preparation for eternity

We owe our parents so much, and in human terms we can never repay them. They gave us life. Often, they were the ones who “sowed in our hearts the first seeds of faith, piety and vocation. It is only right that we should try to repay all the vigilance, concern and sacrifices they have made on our behalf." By our prayer, mortification and deeds, we can win for them supernatural riches that will last throughout eternity.

If we live by what we believe, we shall travel along the paths of the earth with our eyes fixed on eternal life, since “we know that, if the earthly tent we live in, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

To reach our heavenly dwelling, we need to use all the human means available, regardless of the cost. There is no possible comparison between the effort required of us - limited, and only for a certain number of years - and the infinite reward which is forever.

“Let us ask Holy Mary, Spes Nostra, our hope, to kindle in us a holy desire that we may all come together to dwell in the house of the Father. … Our Lord will lead us there with his grace, and he will send a good wind to carry our ship to the bright shores of our destination."

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Dec 27 Wed - Sanctity is the one thing that matters

 

Dec 27 Wed
Sanctity is the one thing that matters.
St Josemaría: "I remember, many years ago now, I was going along a road in Castile with some friends, when we noticed something in a distant field which made a deep impression on me at the time and has since often helped me in my prayer. A group of men were hammering some wooden stakes into the ground, which they used to support netting to form a sheep pen. Then shepherds came along with their sheep and their lambs. They called them by their names and one by one lambs and sheep went into the pen, where they would be all together, safe and sound."

"Today, Lord, my thoughts go back specially to those shepherds and their sheepfold, because all of us who are gathered here to converse with you, Lord - and many others the world over - we all know that we have been brought into your sheepfold. You yourself have told us so: ‘I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.’ You know us well. You know that we wish to hear, to listen ever attentively to your gentle whistling as our Good Shepherd, and to heed it, because ‘eternal life is knowing you, who are the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.’"

"If you wish to get close to our Lord through the pages of the Gospels, I always recommend that you try to enter in on the scene, taking part as just one more person there. Like that (and I know many perfectly ordinary people who live this way) you will be captivated like Mary was, who hung on every word that Jesus uttered or, like Martha, you will boldly make your worries known to him, opening your heart sincerely about them all, no matter how little they may be."

"Our Lord said. Only one thing is necessary: personal holiness. This is the secret of the joy we bring to the world, the sowing of peace we carry out in every sector of society." The desire for holiness, seeking the Kingdom of God and his justice, must be first among our intentions. "All that, which is worrying you at present, is of relative importance. -What is of absolute importance is that you be happy, that you be saved."

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Dec 26 Tue - Simplicity in prayer

 Dec 26 Tue
As a fruit of this Christmas, we want to treat Jesus with simplicity, with an intimacy that does not diminish, with much affection in the smallest details, knowing that there, the Lord accompanies us.

Every day, we want to have an intimate conversation with Him, to have a constant presence of Jesus, we want Him to be our King, who longs to reign in our hearts, as we have become children of God.  To say to a person: "you are my King", means to say: "I am at your command". It means that "your wishes are my command"; it means that "I want to do what you want me to do" ...., Today, we want to tell Jesus, in his crib in Bethlehem: “You are my King, and also my physician; let me touch you every day in the Eucharist.”

Bethlehem is an image of the Eucharist; in there, Jesus is born every time he comes to the altar, and to our heart. Let us go to the divine doctor, teacher and friend, and show ourselves without hiding ourselves in anonymity, and open our heart without hiding the symptoms, showing our weaknesses, … and let him do, let him act as a doctor in our soul: "Lord, this is happening to me"....

This sincere encounter with Jesus –recognizing our limitations– is prayer. It is the prayer of spiritual nakedness; it is going directly to the Lord. There, we are not afraid of recognizing ourselves as we are, because, deep down, true prayer is always showing ourselves to him.

To say: "Lord, this happens to me!", means to say: I am not afraid to recognize myself as I am, because I have the fullness of your acceptance. To know that the Lord loves me as I am, makes me feel splendidly, very comfortable; therefore, I want to show myself as I am. He is my Master, with a science that only He possesses. I want to give unlimited love to my God, every day.

Let us turn to our Mother Mary, Refuge of sinners, who stays with Christ at the foot of the Cross, and ask her to remove the obstacles, to fill us with sorrow for our sins. With a serious resolution, let us give ourselves cheerfully, so that we can cooperate in the work of salvation for which Jesus, her Son, died on the Cross.

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Dec 25 Mon - Today, Christ according to His human nature is born at Bethlehem

 Dec 25 Mon
We learn today that Christ according to His human nature is born at Bethlehem, of the Virgin Mary. And that according to His divine nature He is conceived of the Holy Spirit; he is the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity.

We need Him. Since our first parents were cast forth from the earthly paradise the gate has been closed, and a cherub stands guard with flaming sword. The Redeemer alone is able to open this door and enter in. On Christmas Eve we stand before the gate of paradise, and plead: “Lift up your gates, O princes; Open wide, eternal gates; That the King of Glory may enter in…”

God is pleased with his Son. We, through baptism, by welcoming the Lord, can also become children of God, and feel the voice of the Father addressed to us, to you: "You are my son, this day have I begotten you... in you I am well pleased".

Some say that Love is a lack of freedom, since love implies that I need the other. Does God “need” my love?
It is a mutual dependence of God, and of me. Lord, may I learn to accept you, and to be accepted by you. May I transform my dependence into love and thus become free. To be born again, to lay aside pride, to become a child: that is Christmas.  

Ratzinger wrote: "The true tree of life is not far from us, somewhere in a lost world. It has been erected in our midst, not only as image and sign, but in reality. Jesus, who is the fruit of the tree of life, is Life itself. He has become so small that our hands can contain him. He makes himself dependent on us to set us free, to recover us from our chronic ‘sickness of falling’. Let us not disappoint his trust. Let us place ourselves in his hands, as he has placed himself in ours".

Even if Christ were born a thousand times in Bethlehem, as long as he is not born in your heart, you will be lost forever: you would have been born in vain.

Now we know that, with the grace of the Lord, we can and must sanctify all the clean realities of our life. There is no earthly situation, no matter how small and ordinary it may seem, that cannot be an occasion for an amazing encounter with Christ, and a stage on our journey towards happiness, the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Dec 24 Sun - Next to the crib, where God was born, we consider: God has sent his Son into the world to recover what was lost, to save, and to forgive.

 Dec 24 Sun
Next to the crib, where God was born, we consider: God has sent his Son into the world to recover what was lost, to save, and to forgive. This is why his birth is so simple, lest we, filled with wretchedness, be terrified at God's power. Instead, we are won over by his love. We see him in his Mother's arms, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a poor manger.

What are we to do on this day when people celebrate the birth of Christ? First of all, we must pray as God's children.
 
When someone is in Christ, everything dirty, everything old, everything that stains, everything that hurts, all disappear. And tonight God, through his Mother, will send us new graces to help us grow in love as children of God.

“We must ask God for the ability to discern what gives him glory, and what offends him; to know what works for people's good, and what is a damage for them; what will make us happy, and what will destroy our happiness –both eternal happiness and the relative happiness we can attain here on earth."

“How grateful we should be to Jesus, this Brother of ours who made us children of the Father. Have you seen how your own little brothers and sisters, or those tiny children of your relatives, need all kinds of things from everyone? The Baby Jesus is like that. It is good to think of him like that, defenseless. He is the Almighty, he is God, and yet he has made himself a helpless, vulnerable Child in need of our love."

“We have to pray always –always. We must feel the need to go to God, after every success, and every failure in our interior life. Especially in times of failure, let us humbly go back and tell him: ‘In spite of everything, you are still my Father!’ Let us play the role of the prodigal son."

Why should we always pray? Because God will listen to us.

“And how are we going to pray? I give you two good resolutions for tonight. First of all, offer a prayer of THANKSGIVING. Thank God the Father. Thank Jesus, who became a Child because of our sins, and gave himself over to suffering, for us… thanksgiving in spite of our wretchedness and sins."

Then, there is PETITION. What should we request? What does a child ask of his father? - Daddy... the moon! … We asked our parents for everything. Ask God for the moon and he will give it to you. Ask him boldly for everything you want; He will always give it to you, in one way or another. Ask confidently.
But seek first what works for God's glory, and everything that souls have a right to: whatever unites, whatever improves them. Then he will give us everything else in addition
May you have a happy Christmas feast May God bless you.

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Dec 23 Sat - O Antiphons: O EMMANUEL (God-with-us), our Ruler and Lawgiver

 O Antiphons: Dec 23 Sat
O EMMANUEL (God-with-us), our Ruler and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations and the Redeemer of all, come now to deliver us, O our Lord and our master.

At the dawn of creation, when he created man, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. God looked on man with such love that he adopted him as his son, filling him with grace.

But man sinned. He rebelled against God, against his Father. Then that divine work was shattered; and that unity of grace, soul and body, was broken up. Yet God showed that he was not satisfied with re-establishing what sin had undone. He went much further, giving our human nature a dignity it had never had before: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

During Christmas the Church invites us to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation: God-made-man. By taking on human flesh, God shows us how valuable our body is in his eyes, so that we may keep it free from sin.

Christ is the image of the invisible God; looking at him, we become souls of prayer, contemplatives.
“If we want to love Jesus, we have to spend time with him. We don't have two hearts: one for God, and one for the things of this earth. You should spend time with him daily, putting your heart into everything, with the ardor of people in love. God has captured our heart, our whole life. One day, by his infinite goodness, we felt the dart of love that conquered us forever. And we must see to it that this love endures, and becomes more intense and refined every day."

We are sorry for not having kept close enough to Jesus; and for not having made good use of all the riches he has brought us. Therefore, now that Christmas is at hand, let us try to be prayerful souls who seek to live in God's company, since God chose to live among us. That is the very meaning of Emmanuel: "God with us".

This Christmas we resolve to get to know Jesus, to listen to him and talk to him constantly, trustingly, lovingly, tenderly, as did our Lady and St Joseph.

And if you ever find that you don't know what to say, turn to Mary, our Lady, our wonderful Mother, and say: “Teach me to talk and to know your Son."

“Joseph, my Father and Lord, so humble and pure, worthy to carry in your arms, to care for and embrace the Baby Jesus, teach us how to approach our God, how to be humble and pure, worthy to become other christs. And how to live and teach –as Christ did– the ways of God, both hidden and bright, telling all men and women that in their everyday lives here on earth they can attain a wonderful holiness, an extraordinary fruitfulness."

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Dec 22 Fri - O Antiphons: O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of all

 O Antiphons: Dec 22 Fri
O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of all, you are the cornerstone that binds two into one. Come, and save poor man whom you fashioned out of clay.
The Savior is near; he is at the door. Twenty centuries have gone by since the first Christmas, and still there are nations and peoples awaiting the Messiah.

We are the soldiers and messengers of this king. All power in heaven and on earth belongs to him, and he has given us the mission to teach all people and bring them into his kingdom. St. Josemaría writes: “our Lord wants to be placed once more at the summit of all human activities. We are asked in a special way for this service, this help in ensuring that throughout the world there are even more abundant fruits of the Redemption, which is the only true freedom for man. We are working with this hope and this responsibility." The war of peace and love that we are engaged in is certain to be a long and demanding one. Yet victory is assured. God always conquers: He does not lose battles.

Our apostolic hunger must encompass even those who are completely estranged from God. We will bring God's light to those who do not know him, if we feed the flame of our own faith with the oil of charity. “Love everyone, be charitable to everyone, offer friendship to everyone. …Yet we should never speak to anyone about our faith if that person doesn't want us to."

Yet on seeing how you live, these people often ask themselves, and then ask you, about the interior strength that explains our joy. Then you speak to them about God, about your love for Christ, about your own wretchedness, and the wonders of grace that inspire you to be faithful. And you have often seen how God, who guides hearts, has used your words to move their hearts.

Our apostolic activity is always positive. By virtue of our mission, we are “sowers of peace and joy. The members of Opus Dei try to drown evil in an abundance of good. Thus, their work is never negative or "anti-" anything. It is affirmative and optimistic; it is youth, joy and peace."

“And thus, gently but firmly, without yielding in our behavior or in doctrine, the charity of Christ that we try to incorporate into our lives will give us a spirit of conquest, and every day our thirst for souls will increase."

Our apostolic horizons are unlimited. They embrace all people, those who know Christ and those who do not. With this universal perspective, we ask our Lady to kindle an apostolic spirit in our hearts, so that each day we may experience an increase in our hunger to work for souls.

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Dec 21 Thu - O Antiphons: O Rising Dawn, radiance of the light eternal, and sun of justice.

 O Antiphons: Dec 21 Thu
O Rising Dawn, radiance of the light eternal, and sun of justice.
Lord, you are coming bringing light and warmth to our life. When you come, it will be said: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.

As radiance of the light eternal, Christ brings the splendor of truth to the world, and the clarity of supernatural light to our minds.
As the sun of justice, he burns with that fire which –as he told his disciples– he longs to spread through the entire world.

Let us prepare our souls to receive these divine gifts eagerly. The supernatural life which Christ brings is a participation in his own life: a sharing in his knowledge and love. Thus, we become partakers of the divine nature.

Christ's light enables us to see things and events supernaturally, the way he looks at them. How different our life then appears! Unexpected occurrences and changes of plan no longer upset us. Whatever happens is seen in its true dimension and meaning. We discover the reality of the ‘omnia in bonum’, the truth that all things work out well for us. Our outlook becomes more positive; we are no longer tempted to pessimism, since we now discover God's hand in everyone and everything.

“My children, see God behind every event and circumstance. Then, from everything that happens, you will draw more love for God, and greater desires to respond to his grace. He is always waiting for us, and he gives us the chance to renew our eagerness to serve, ‘serviam’, continually."

Christ's supernatural light, which instills peace and calm into our hearts, also brings us a superabundance of love: a warmth, a fire, that enkindles our hearts and enables us to love God and other people for his sake.

Each of us must strive to be light and fire. Our love must be a flame that sets fire to everything it touches, raising the spiritual temperature of our surroundings. No one should be able to say of us: “Your charity is ostentatious. From afar, you attract; you have light. From nearby you repel; you lack warmth. What a pity!"

To avoid this, we need to struggle to practice charity, and truly be friends of our friends. “For a Christian, a child of God, friendship and charity are one and the same thing: they are a divine light giving warmth."

We ask our Lady, Stella Matutina, the Morning Star –who announces the arrival of Christ, the Sun of Justice– to help us grow in supernatural outlook and love.

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Dec 20 Wed - O Antiphons: O Key of David, opening the gates of God's eternal kingdom: free the prisoners of darkness!

Dec 20 Wed

O Antiphons: O Key of David, opening the gates of God's eternal kingdom: free the prisoners of darkness!

From earliest times man has looked to heaven as to his lost home. His heart was made for light, for joy and happiness; yet he remained in sadness and shadows, oppressed by the weight of the sin that brought about his downfall.

 

Whenever man, overcome by his passions, freely and willingly cuts his union with God, he once again brings about this sorry process of corruption in himself. But it is still possible for the sinner to feel the weight of his guilt and seek the freedom and salvation he has failed to find in creatures. He can rebel against the slavery of sin, availing himself of the grace Jesus won for us.

 

St. Josemaría said. “I accept no slavery other than that of God's Love, As I have told you on other occasions, religion is the greatest rebellion of men, who refuse to live like animals, who are dissatisfied and restless until they come to know their Creator, and are on intimate terms with him. I want you to be rebels, free and unfettered, because I want you - it is Christ who wants us! - to be children of God. Slavery or divine sonship, this is the choice we face. Children of God or slaves to pride, to sensuality, to the fretful selfishness which seems to afflict so many souls."

 

Have confidence, the Lord is coming, he is at the door. “God is love. The abyss of malice opened by sin has been bridged by his infinite charity. God does not abandon men."

 

As each day brings us nearer to Bethlehem, we should remain alert, begging God to have pity on us, to come and save us. “Let us tell our Lord: Come, Lord, my Jesus, come to my heart, to the hearts of all Christians. Come especially to the hearts of those who once thought of giving themselves to you but then abandoned the idea, not through bad will, but through weakness. Let us pray for every person of every race and tongue and religion; for those with only a vague idea of religion; and for those who do not know the faith. And our zeal for souls, a self-evident proof that we love Jesus, will ensure that he comes."

 

“God our Lord wants you and me to be holy, so that we may sanctify others. Look at yourself, look at our God, and then look at the world." Only the possession of God can fully satisfy the longings of the human heart. The world still awaits Christ; most people still do not know him.

“We Christians have a supernatural responsibility to cooperate with God's power. For this is God’s plan."

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