Jan 6 Sat - To live for others and forget about ourselves

 Jan 6 Sat
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." This is one of the deepest Christian aspirations of this season, to live in the presence of the Holy Family and contemplate the mystery once again. St Bernard says: “God, to whom the angels are subject and whom the principalities and powers obey, was obedient to Mary, and not only to Mary but also to Joseph for Mary's sake."

During the years of his hidden life, Jesus obeyed our Lady and the holy Patriarch as all good children obey their parents. In the small village of Nazareth, Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived just like any other family –a tradesman's family. The only distinctive mark of that family was the love that reigned in their home.

This consideration sets us on fire with love for God, and for the others. That is what Jesus himself told us to do: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

Fraternal love is not distinct from our love for Christ. The two go so closely hand in hand that we cannot tell whether we are serving God or serving the others with our fraternal deeds. It is serving God twice over!

Also, we must actively seek the holiness of those who are at our side. “This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also." St John tells us. Loving others means loving God, loving Christ who lives in them. And we need to show them not only supernatural affection –through prayer, mortification and fraternal correction – but also human affection, through small things that help make their lives pleasanter. That is what God wants for his children. We look out for their individual preferences, their tastes, what they like to talk about, and so on. We try to please them in simple, natural ways, without their noticing it.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. We can form such a resolution today from contemplating the mystery of Bethlehem. May we serve the others affectionately, helping them in everything. May they always sense the shield of an attentive, considerate charity, the bond of brotherhood, the basis of peace, a firm and enduring unity. May our homes always have the family warmth which Jesus found with Joseph and Mary.

Let us live for others and forget about ourselves. To the extent that we do so, Jesus Christ will live in us. Fraternal charity leads us to holiness. As St John Chrysostom says: “There is no better road leading us to heaven, no better way to imitate Christ and, in some way, to become like God."

Video:

 

Jan 5 Fri - To be happy, start all over again

 

Jan 5 Fri
You have faults, sometimes you may be anxious, and even angry, but don't forget that your life, for you, is the greatest undertaking to accomplish in the world. Only you can prevent its failure. Many people appreciate, admire and love you… alright; but remember that being happy is not having a sky without a storm, a road without accidents, a job without hard work, relationships without disappointments.

To be happy is to stop feeling like a victim, and to become the author of one's own destiny, directing yourself with your choices, always following the star. It is crossing deserts, to be able to find rest in a fleeting oasis deep in your soul. It is thanking God every morning for the miracle of one day of life. It is kissing your children, cuddling your parents, working as usual, experiencing good moments with friends, even when they hurt us.

To be happy is to let the child living inside you live, free, joyful and simple. It is to have the maturity to be able to say, ‘I committed a mistake.’ It is to have the courage to say, 'I'm sorry.' It is to have the sensitivity to say, 'I need you.' It is having the maturity to say, 'I love you.' May your life become a garden of opportunities for happiness ... May you be a lover of joy in spring, and a lover of wisdom in winter.

And when you make a mistake, start all over again; because only then will you be in love. You will find that being happy is not having a perfect life; but using your tears to foster tolerance. Learning from your defeats to train patience.

Use your mistakes with the serenity of the sculptor. Use pain to understand pleasure. Use obstacles to open the windows of your intelligence. Never give up ... Above all, never give up on those who love you...and on those who don't. Never give up on true happiness, for life is an incredible spectacle, a time to accomplish yourself,... a pending task.

Video:

 

Jan 4 Thu - The Eucharist, nothing more desirable, nothing more similar to eternal life

 Jan 4 Thu
After the institution of the Eucharist, the Lord commanded: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Two things should be noted here. The first is Jesus’ command that we should use this sacrament; thus, he says: “Do this.” The second is that this sacrament commemorates the Lord’s dying for our sake.

It is a real order: “Do this.” Certainly, Jesus would demand nothing more useful, nothing sweeter, nothing more beneficial, nothing more desirable, nothing more similar to eternal life. We will look at each of these qualities separately.

This sacrament is USEFUL because it grants forgiveness of venial sins, and bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life. Through Christ’s sacrifice, that is, when he offers himself in this sacrament to the Father for our redemption, he does so for our advantage. I consecrate myself for their sakes. Christ, who through the Holy Spirit offered himself up without blemish to God, will cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

Nor can we have anything SWEETER. For what is sweeter than God showing his infinite sweetness to us? God gives us bread from heaven, not the fruit of human labor, but a bread having all joy, and pleasant to every sense of taste. He revealed his sweetness towards his children, and according to the desire of each recipient, it changed to suit each one’s taste.

He could not have commanded anything more BENEFICIAL, for this sacrament is the fruit of the Cross, the tree of life. Anyone who receives this sacrament with devotion of sincere faith will never taste death. It becomes a tree of life for those who receive it, and blessed is he who clings to it. Whoever feeds on him shall live with him.

Nor could he have commanded anything more DESIRABLE, more lovable, for this sacrament produces love and union. The greatest Love gives Himself as our food. As with the Israelites, “You will know that it was the LORD, when he gives you meat to eat in the evening, and all the bread you want in the morning” (Ex 16:8). This is to say: I have loved you, and you have loved me, I desire so much to be with you, if you wish to receive me, so that you may become my members. There is no more intimate or more natural means for you to be united to me, and I to you.

Nor could he have commanded anything which is more SIMILAR TO ETERNAL LIFE. Eternal life flows from this sacrament because God, the Lord of Heaven and earth, pours himself out, with all sweetness, upon the blessed.

Video:

 

Jan 3 Wed - The Most Holy Name of Jesus

 

 

Jan 3 Wed
The Most Holy Name of Jesus.
During these days we center our lives around the stable at Bethlehem. Everything invites us to come closer to the Child who is God, to open our hearts to him, and to tell him that we love him.

Thus, we should never feel lonely or cut off from God, trying to find solutions or work things out on our own. We should direct everything to God, everything that concerns us. We will see things from his point of view and talk to him trustingly about them. Everything, from the most extraordinary things to the most ordinary, can be a topic of conversation with Jesus, as between two people who love each other, live close together and understand each other perfectly. The fruit of our dialogue with God is love, and a greater likeness to him each day. “In intentions, may Jesus be our aim; in affections, our Love; in conversation, our theme; in actions, our model."

We should try to increase our dialogue with Jesus, so that his most sweet Name may constantly speak to us and be more filled with meaning for us.

“In the breviary, we priests have two very beautiful prayers to St Joseph for before and after Mass. … They are words of praise to the holy Patriarch. One of them, translated a bit loosely, says: ‘Happy are you because it was granted you not only to see and hear God, but also to embrace him, kiss him, clothe him and care for him.’”
The Church praises Joseph, because to men, he was the father of God, the father of the Son of God, who deigned to become his son. Let’s go to St Joseph to learn from him how to call Jesus by name.

St. Josemaría taught an aspiration which will make it much easier for us to achieve that tender, intimate dialogue with the Master: “Jesus, Jesus, be always Jesus for me!" “Iesu, Iesu, esto mihi semper Iesus!" If we say it devoutly it will help us come to the point where He will always be Jesus for us, the same Jesus who called us, and for whose sake we have given up everything to follow his way. It will ensure that our hearts never become hardened, and that our eyes never become so dimmed that instead of Jesus we see only a task to be performed, a job to be done, duties to be fulfilled, or even a mere rule of life. When we invoke Jesus with this aspiration, we will find that we never lose that sense of friendship, or our pleasant and intimate conversation with him. Then Jesus will always be our Life, our Love, and our Way.

“Don't be afraid to call our Lord by his name –Jesus– and to tell him that you love him." Let us ask the most holy Virgin to teach us to pronounce the Name of Jesus with the same tenderness and confidence as she did.

Video:

Jan 2 Tue - The oldest hymn in which her role as Mother of God is proclaimed

 Jan 2 Tue
Sub tuum praesidium… We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin!

This prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary is the oldest hymn in which her role as Mother of God is proclaimed. It appears in a Greek document from the year 250, so it is highly likely that this prayer was already being recited prior to that date. The Greek word Θεοτόκε (Theotóke) leaves no doubt about Mary’s true motherhood.

Those were times of persecution for all Christians. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and burned by the Romans in the year 72, and all of the Lord’s disciples were scattered throughout the known world at that time.

Saint Paul preached the good news in Greece, where there were several thriving communities. He preached to the Corinthians, to whom he wrote two epistles, together with the one he wrote to the Thessalonians, around the year 60.

Before the Constantinian peace in 312 AD, everything was adverse for Christians. It was a difficult time of catacombs, martyrs, and exoduses. These early Christians were communities that had received the message directly from the apostles or from those whom the apostles had converted to Christianity, and they held the message dear.

Their proposals were rejected as scandalous by the Jews and as foolishness by the Gentiles. Nothing seemed to be in their favor, at least on the surface.

It is no wonder that in those circumstances, they turned to Mary. When everything seems to be collapsing… “Sub Tuum Praesidium”… we fly to your patronage. Seeking patronage under Mary’s mantle denotes the assurance that whatever may happen to them is a gift from their Mother; and the confidence that She is the Strong Woman of the Apocalypse who crushes the head of the dragon. The word praesidium has to do with shelter, with that atmosphere of constant struggle in which those early Christians lived.

They addressed her not only as their mother but as the most powerful and kind Mother in all of history, the one who wins battles and welcomes us and embraces us like a mother comforting her frightened child. “Do not be afraid,” she tells us.

The prayer continues. “Do not despise our petitions in our necessities.” This is what a child asks of its mother with the trust that it will obtain what it seeks. “Mom, I’m thirsty. Mom…”.

And like young children, they also ask her to deliver them from all future danger, and they ask with an endearing phrase, with a brief prayer: “Glorious and blessed Virgin!”

What a precious gift those early Christians bequeathed us as they defended the faith with their lives! “We fly to your patronage…” and what inner happiness they received from their Mother to stand firm in the faith.

Video:

 

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.

Video:

 

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.

Video:

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."

Video:

 

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."

 

Video:

 

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."

Video:

 

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."

Video:

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.

Video: