Surprise!

Thought I'd share...

Friday, March 27, 2009
By: Fr. Joseph, MIC
Readings: Wis 2:1, 12-22; Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

"When the Messiah comes, no one will know where He is from." Jn 7:27

A young man was living a very dangerous lifestyle — you know, the party life including drugs, alcohol, and sex outside of marriage. Then, one day, he had a dream that he was struck by lightning. He woke up in tears and phoned his mother, saying, "Mama, please come and get me. I want to come home." He wanted forgiveness. He wanted to live right by God.His mother was surprised by the conversion of her son who had languished in the dark, dead-end corridors of a dangerous lifestyle. She had prayed for him, but she was still surprised by the grace of his conversion.

As God did with this young man, He often surprises us by grace. In today's Gospel, the people of Jesus' home region of Galilee were surprised that He claimed to be the Savior of the world. Let's listen in on their conversation. They might be saying, "How can this man claim to be special? He's the son of Joseph the carpenter. How can He, this man we know, be the Son of the living God?" These people were not open to the surprises of God's grace that visited them in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ.

What about us? Do we think that we already know it all when it comes to the spiritual life? Do we have the eyes of faith to recognize God's visitation in our lives? Let's put away our preconceptions about Jesus and how He can act in our lives. Let's humble ourselves before Him — and give Him permission to surprise us this Lenten season. This attitude of heart will lead us to deeper conversion in the ways of the Gospel.

O Lord, grant me clarity of vision and humility, so I will not miss the surprises that You have planned for me this Lent. May I be attentive every day to the wonders of Your love. Amen.

† Jesus I trust in You †

Maria Faustina

From the diary of Saint Faustina:

Jesus, fortify the powers of my soul that the enemy gain nothing. Without You, I am weakness itself. What am I without Your grace if not an abyss of my own misery? Misery is my possession (Diary, 1630).

Although my misery is great, and my offenses are many, I trust in Your mercy, because You are the God of mercy; and, from time immemorial, it has never been heard of, nor do heaven or earth remember, that a soul trusting in Your mercy has been disappointed (Diary, 1730).

† Jesus I trust in You †

For those of you who don't know...

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was born in Poland in the year of 1905. She was born to a poor and religious family of peasants, the third of ten children. From a young age she stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience, and also her sensitivity to the poor. At the age of sixteen she left home and went to work as a housekeeper in order to find the means of supporting herself and of helping her parents.

She was given a vision of the Suffering Christ and was called to become a part of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925 and she then took the name Sister Mary Faustina. She lived in the Congregation for thirteen years and lived in several religious houses. Externally nothing revealed her rich mystical interior life. She zealously performed her tasks and faithfully observed the rule of religious life.

It is the mystery of the Mercy of God which she contemplated in the word of God as well as in the everyday activities of her life that forms the basis of her spirituality. The process of contemplating and getting to know the mystery of God's mercy helped develop within Sr. Mary Faustina the attitude of child-like trust in God as well as mercy toward the neighbors. "O my Jesus, each of Your saints reflects one of Your virtues; I desire to reflect Your compassionate heart, full of mercy; I want to glorify it. Let Your mercy, O Jesus, be impressed upon my heart and soul like a seal, and this will be my badge in this and the future life" (Diary 1242).

The years she had spent at the convent were filled with many extraordinary gifts, such as: revelations, visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Passion of the Lord, & the gift of prophecy to name a few. In spite of being so richly endowed with extraordinary graces, Sr. Mary Faustina knew that they do not in fact constitute sanctity. In her Diary she wrote: "Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God" (Diary 1107).

Misunderstood and persecuted by many of her fellow nuns, Sister led a hidden life of humility, suffering and prayer. The Lord Jesus chose Sr. Mary Faustina as the Apostle and "Secretary" of His Mercy, so that she could tell the world more about His great message. "In the Old Covenant — He said to her —I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart" (Diary 1588).

I write today to share pieces of her diary. Jesus instructed Sister Faustina to write everything that He told her. In it, she recorded faithfully all of the Lord Jesus' wishes and also described the encounters between her soul and Him. "Secretary of My most profound mystery — the Lord Jesus said to Sr. Faustina — know that your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about My mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me" (Diary 1693).

Sister Mary Faustina, consumed by tuberculosis and by innumerable sufferings which she accepted as a voluntary sacrifice for sinners, died in Krakow at the age of just thirty three on October 5, 1938 with a reputation for spiritual maturity and a mystical union with God.

I hope when you read this you get as much from it as I did. Pray for me as I pray for you!

Thanks to the Vatican website and to faustina.org for words and information...

Recovering The Essential

From the pages of the Lenten Magnificat...


Sunday, March 1st:


Fasting can reduce our sense of well being, lower our energy, and make it so that we are able to get less done, or have to suffer more to get it done. How can this be good? Besides all that can and must be said about voluntary sharing in the sufferings of Christ, fasting is also about recovering an awareness of the essential. As a young man I spent two years living without much money in a poor city in a third world country, where I was often sick. I gained something through this poverty. Having been able to do less, it made me more aware of what was truly necessary in life, "Repent, and believe in the gospel." Fortified by his fasting against the human tendency to lose track of the essential, he urgently sets before us the one necessary thing: reconciliation with our merciful Father. Knowing what is essential, we know how to choose and are helped in our freedom. May we accept to join him in that lenten wilderness of fasting, embracing its poverty, to return to the essential.


Reflection based on Mark 1:12-15
Father Vincent Nagle, F.S.C.B.


Father, my mind and heart are barraged with solicitations, Show me what to choose, show me the essential by showing me your Son, who gives me reconciliation with you.


Today's suggested penance: Spend ten minutes reading the Bible.