March 31 Fri
Jesus shows us that in prayer we can obtain the strength needed to align our will with the Will of the Father and to carry it out.
To be a Christian is to share in the life of Jesus, dealing with him just like our Mother Mary did, like the Twelve did.

The Gospels teach us in many places how to pray: your prayer should be constant, humble. and filled with trust.
Authentic Christian life is impossible without prayer.
Prayer is a personal, intimate, and deep dialogue. Vocal prayer, meditation (of mental payer) and contemplation are all expressions of prayer.

We pray to him as God, he prays for us as a servant, Head of his Mystical Body. Himself unchanged, he took to himself our created nature in order to change it, and made us one man with himself, head and body. We pray then to him, through him, in him, and we speak along with him and he along with us.
Do I devote some minutes in conversation with Jesus, alone, every day?

Jesus spent his life doing good, giving hope to those who had lost it. Jesus shares his mission with his apostles and his disciples –with you and me – to spread the message of salvation.
Accompanying Christ means, becoming a “fisher of men,” to bring the Gospel to the entire world, beginning with the persons closest to you.
How can I do apostolate? First is your example, then your “apostolate of friendship and confidence,” authentic friendship that seeks the good of the other person. You should share with your friends your own personal experience of friendship with Jesus.
When was last time I tried to bring a friend closer to Jesus?

 March 30 Thu
God’s love for us led the Son of God to take on a human nature to be able to die, and so, free us from sin. And then, He “divinizes” us by making us sharers in the divine nature. This is the path to heaven. Our faith is not a grand idea but an encounter with a Person: getting to know Christ, falling in love with him, and growing constantly in that love; the greatest Love.

Holiness consists in acquiring Christ’s attitude, living his very life. To truly know and love him we have to deal with him in prayer and in the sacraments. Living the Gospel, reading it and putting ourselves in it “like one more person” in the scene. Who is Jesus for me? Is he my best friend? My elder Brother?

Jesus, “the son of a craftsman,” grew up and lived just like one of us. Jesus saves us, not only when he preaches, when he is on the Cross, but also when he is in the workshop of Nazareth.

To attain sanctity, it is not necessary to do extraordinary things, but to fulfill with love our ordinary daily duties. Do I realize that it is there, in my family, social, and professional duties, that
Jesus comes into the world in a simple and normal family home. “Bright and cheerful homes” are formed by putting Jesus in the center of family life. Do I “invest’ in my family life? Do we do some practices of piety together, perhaps only a few, but regularly?

 March 29 Wed
Christ has overcome death; thus, I should confront it with peace and filial trust. The consideration of the fleetingness of life on earth encourages me to realize that time is a limited gift from God. It is a talent that I have, to produce a return on. What use am I making of my time?
Jesus, I must not fear death because it is the step that brings me closer to what I have sought most in my life: to enjoy total happiness in the fullness of your presence.
Life is short and I must make the most of it, taking advantage of time, to love and serve you, strengthening myself daily with prayer and the sacraments.

After death, there is the particular judgment when our immortal soul receives its eternal retribution. Our judge will be Jesus. We will be examined according to how much we have loved: and our omissions because of lack of love.

We have been created for eternal happiness. This is a gift that God offers to everyone, but accepting it depends on our freedom. What use do I make of my freedom? For God or my egoism?
Hell is a definitive self-exclusion from any kind of happiness, a situation of endless torment.

Purgatory is a purification needed to enter into the joy of heaven. Our Lord invites us to be vigilant; one way of living this loving vigilance is the daily examination of conscience.
We have to reject sin, which takes us away from our destiny: to die in mortal sin without repenting or accepting God’s merciful love means going to hell.

Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of our deepest aspirations; it is completely beyond our understanding. We must trust that we will receive divine help to reach heaven, which is life in God.

 

March 28 Tue

He: "Woman, where are your accusers? No one of them has condemned you? "None, Lord," she answered with great respect, humility, and confusion. "For neither do I condemn you. Go and henceforth sin no more." What wonderful words, coming straight from the heart of God!

 

We all have sinned. Sin is an offense against God; it separates us from God, who is our final end, and our happiness. Sin is the only true evil. Whoever sins mortally is telling Jesus, “You, go back to Calvary! Go back to the Cross to be crucified again!”

 

Jesus has come to show us his Father’s compassion, to save us who were lost.

 

Lord, I want to return to the Father’s house; grant me the grace of conversion. Send me your grace to overcome sin. I should never lose hope. The sacrament of reconciliation is the wonderful remedy.

 

And yet, there is so much lukewarmness in my life! Help me to really hate mortal sin; to struggle against venial sins; to flee from occasions of sin. I want to fight to overcome spiritual mediocrity, reject lukewarmness. I want to always make progress. I know, only my love for God can fill my heart.

 

Pic: The kiss of Judas, by Cimabue (c. 1240 - 1302).

 March 27 Monday
Holy Week is approaching. A time for the conversion of my heart to God. For this reason, during this week, each day, these considerations will follow the pattern of a “spiritual retreat.”
I ask Our Lord for courage to make a sincere examination of conscience, trusting in God’s mercy. Listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, will help me to make some specific resolutions.

The whole universe, and especially human life, are part of the Creator’s plan, an overflowing of God’s Love. God created me, freely, and He introduced me in his plans.

Why did He create me? For what?
This is what each of us must find out specifically.  He created me to be happy, as a child of God, for ever. He could have created me as a dog or a horse, or not at all. Yet, I am here.
Do I live this “sense” of my divine filiation? Do I live as an adopted child of God the Father, which is a vocation to holiness?

Sanctity is the fullness of love: the only ideal that fulfills my heart. Holiness is both a gift from God and an unfinished task. Freely, I want to choose God: “God, who created you without you, will not save you without you” (Saint Augustine).

I should take advantage of the means that God himself, through the Church, has given me: the sacraments and prayer. God wants me to be a saint, yes me, in the specific circumstances of my life.

 March 26
The dead man Lazarus represents mankind, dead by sin. Why did Jesus decide to go to Jerusalem, when it could cost him his life? What moved him? ... His love for his dead friend. God continues loving the sinner, even when he rebels, even when he is dead. Jesus is shaken and cries for the sinner. Jesus has compassion and love for me; he calls me from death to life.

We should not be anxious about our past mistakes, or the possibility of future faults. Let's abandon ourselves into God's merciful hands. Let's show him our desires. He is listening to us. You only have to talk.

Our Lord is always ready to listen to us, but he wants our personal response, shown in the effort we make to get out of any situation which prevents us from following him closely. “In the interior life, there is but one fatal illness, one deadly mistake you can make: to settle for defeat, not to know how to fight with the spirit of a child of God. If this personal effort is lacking, the soul is paralyzed and languishes alone, and is incapable of bearing fruit.” St Josemaría

What a pity if Jesus does not find in you the man or the woman he expects. Let us tell him now, simply and plainly: "Yes, Lord, I want to be healed, I want to be freed from this impediment that separates me from you, and prevents me from living to the full the divine life to which you have called me."

 March 25
The Blessed Virgin is in prayer when she receives the message from the Archangel. I, too, must listen to the voice of God in the midst of my daily concerns. I want to be a contemplative soul: my cell is the street. "In the middle of my work my heart escapes to God, it goes often to the oratory, and I tell him, without anyone hearing me, without doing anything strange: 'My Jesus, I love you.' Don't be afraid to call him Jesus, to call him that often." St Josemaria

The Blessed Virgin listens to the voice of God, and she meditates on His words in her heart. And as soon as she becomes aware of what the Will of God is, she prepares to carry it out. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord": is her disposition to serve. "Be it done unto me according to thy word": is her desire to conceive the Son of God.

In the words of our Lady there is a tone of resolve, of firmness, of something finished, definitive. She does not respond with a mere yes to the divine Will, but with a fiat! – let it be done! – which expresses an active and total conformity to what God is asking of her. It is much more than a mere giving of permission. It is a resolute adherence to the plan of God, a commitment of her whole life without wavering.

Lord, I want to love you, but sometimes I do not know the way well, or I let myself be carried away by my own interest; therefore, like the tax collector, I ask you: Have mercy on me! And hear my prayer.

 March 24
The Lord tells us: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In these few words he gives a command, and he makes a promise. Let us do what he commands so that we may not hear him say on the day of judgement: “I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?”
If you say: “What did you command, Lord?” He will tell you: “I commanded you to follow me. You asked for advice on how to enter life forever.”

Let us do now what he commands. Let us follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Let us throw off the chains that prevent us from following him. Who can throw off these shackles?

You are not being told, “Work hard to find the way by which you can come to truth and life.”
Rather, the Way has itself come to you; it has awakened you from sleep. So, since you have been roused from sleep, get up and walk.

Or perhaps you are trying to walk but cannot do it because it hurts. Why are your feet hurting? Has greed or sensuality caused you to run over rough ground? The word of God heals even the lame. Or perhaps your feet are sound, but you cannot see the way to follow. Even so, he gives sight even to the blind.
Do not be sluggish! Get up! He is waiting to heal you.

 

Today, especially, let us all ATONE for the offenses against the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, praying and meditating of the beautiful hymn “Adoro Te Devote,” composed by St Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century.

 

I devoutly adore you, O hidden Deity,

Truly hidden beneath these appearances.

My whole heart submits to you,

And in contemplating you, It surrenders itself completely.

 

Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgment of you,

But hearing suffices firmly to believe.

I believe all that the Son of God has spoken;

There is nothing truer than this word of truth.

 

On the cross only the divinity was hidden,

But here the humanity is also hidden.

Yet believing and confessing both,

I ask for what the repentant thief asked.

 

I do not see the wounds as Thomas did,

But I confess that you are my God.

Make me believe more and more in you,

Hope in you, and love you.

 

O memorial of our Lord's death!

Living bread that gives life to man,

Grant my soul to live on you,

And always to savor your sweetness.

 

Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,

wash my filthiness and clean me with your blood,

One drop of which can free

the entire world of all its sins.

 

Jesus, whom now I see hidden,

I ask you to fulfill what I so desire:

That the sight of your face being unveiled

I may have the happiness of seeing your glory. Amen.

 

The voice Jesus continues to cry out in the desert of the consciences of so many men, calling them to conversion, attracting them to his love. But the Jews did not understand him. Will we understand him today?

 March 23
I love you, Lord, my strength. You, O God, are my strength. I rest in you! I can't do anything, big or small, if you don't help me –and if I do it for Love, then nothing is small! But if I really do my best, God's strong arm comes to strengthen, to temper, and to carry away sorrow; and then the weight no longer overwhelms me.

The things that apparently don't work out, and that make my life difficult, are far more valuable to me than the ones that seem to go effortlessly.

If I don't have clear ideas about this, when difficulties do arise, they will leave me bewildered and distressed. But, if I learn to see God's will precisely in painful circumstances, even if it is hard, and if I love Jesus Christ, realizing that I am a co-redeemer with him, then I will not lack insight, peace of soul, and the strength to do my duty.

Join me in telling Jesus: Lord, we only want to serve you. We only want to fulfill our duty and to love you deeply and truly. Make us feel your firm steps at our side. Be our only support. Thus, nothing will take away our peace. If we live with this confidence, nothing will be able to take away our joy. No one will be able to disrupt our serenity. In this life everything can be solved except death, and for us death is Life.
And, forgive us –all of us– for the offenses perpetrated against you, who are present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.

 March 22
My God, increase my faith. Each time I approach you, I experience the desire to clearly understand your presence among us. My faith is weak, so help my unbelief not to pass by with distracted ears when you speak to my heart.

Lord Jesus, after meditating at your side on how I can love you through my neighbor, I thank you for teaching me to love the person I love the least, but also to love the one who needs it most.

Jesus, today I offer you my sins and my weakness, because I am your debtor. I know that you want to forgive me. That is why I come with great confidence. I trust in your merits and in your death. I want to be an instrument of your forgiveness. Give me this grace.

It would be wonderful if we could take a few hours one of these days of Lent to make a retreat, in which we could dedicate ourselves without haste to open ourselves to what God wants to tell us. It is a matter of getting used to silencing our own voice to be able to hear God's voice.

 March 21
Temperance. No one is cured or cleansed from the stains of the body except the one who tries to bring it about. For God's favors are not granted to those who sleep but to those who watch. We must respond to divine grace, which means staying alert, and being quick to reject anything that might turn us away from God.

Our senses are like the doors of the soul. Our spiritual powers are fed by what the senses give them. Therefore, we must guard our senses, so as not to admit into our soul anything harmful.

Temperance is self-mastery. Not everything we experience in our bodies and souls should be given free rein. Nor should we to do everything we can do. It is easier to let ourselves be carried away by so-called natural impulses, but this road ends up in sadness and isolation in our own misery.

To achieve happiness, you need a heart which is in love, not an easy life. If we appeal lovingly to our Lady, as her children, we will grow strong in temperance; and our heart, our senses, our whole life, will be filled with God.