Daily Rosary Meditations | Catholic Prayers

One of the greatest weapons of the devil is discouragement. He wants to discourage us from actions that will lead to our own transformation, the transformation of those around us and the whole world. We need to resist him firmly, refuse to give into his lies and do what God is inspiring within us! 1) The devil wants to discourage us from daily meditation. He knows that if we persevere in daily meditation, we will, over time, go from good, to better, to great, and become a saint. If we persevere in meditation, nothing can stop us. Therefore, the devil does all that he can to stop us and discourage us from prayer by telling us that “we’re wasting our time, that our prayer isn’t accomplishing anything, and that we have too many more pressing responsibilities. Or, God loves you unconditionally and he won’t mind if you skip meditation today.” Fight this attack of the devil by persevering in daily meditation. 2) The devil wants to discourage us from speaking to others about Jesus. The devil knows the power of the gospel and what will happen if we put people in contact with Jesus. So he has to do everything in his power to keep us from talking to others about Jesus. The lie that he spreads to discourage us is this, “you should have faith, but keep it to yourself. Your faith is personal and needs to be private. If you tell others about your faith then your trying to force it on them. You wouldn’t want to be one of those annoying bible thumpers, would you? So just lead by good example and people will come to Jesus.” This is a lie. Our relationship with Jesus is personal, but it was never meant to be private. In fact, Jesus commanded the apostles and all his followers to make it public. Every time Jesus says proclaim or preach the gospel, the phrase in the original language means to “Make it public.” Don’t give into the lie, when God gives the opportunity to speak about Him to others – do it. 3) The devil wants to discourage us from leaving our comfort zone so that we are never able to reach our fullest potential. This could be regarding starting friendships or in taking a step forward in your profession that you feel could help you, the company, and the clients. The devil has engrained in us the fear of failure. “Why would you risk the failure and the humiliation that follows, you’re good where you are right now. Why risk that?” The devil doesn’t want us to have the chance to ever start up new initiatives that entail risks, possibly a business venture, possibly starting or expanding a family, or possibly even inviting people to your home to pray the rosary with you. 4) The devil wants to discourage us from ending sinful habits and creating virtuous ones. He sows the lie that you can’t live without the sinful habit. The habits become so tied to who we are that we let the devil tell us that these habits are our identity, and losing that habit is losing a part of ourselves. We may fall into the vice of overworking, whether it be in the workplace or at home. Instead of living a balanced life, the devil lies to us and makes us fear losing our identity of a “good work ethic,” convincing us to overwork ourselves. The devil tricks us into tying our entirely identity in moderate things such as work. 5) The devil wants to discourage us from loving unconditionally. He does so by telling us, “You’re always the one that gives, they never give anything in return. If you keep loving unconditionally then you will never get what they owe you.” Jesus doesn’t want us to enable sinful manipulation, but the devil skews this and tries to prevent the power of unconditional love. Saint John of the Cross says, “Where there is no love, put love and you will find love."

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. Because Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, then she is the Queen of the Universe. In the early 700’s in Jerusalem, St. John Damascene sums up the entire Christian tradition when he writes: "When she became Mother of the Creator, she truly became Queen of every creature." Christ is our King not only because He is the Son of God but also because He is the Savior of the World. Instituting this Celebration of the Queenship of Mary Pope Pius XII wrote: if Mary, in taking an active part in the work of salvation, was, by God's design, associated with Jesus Christ, the source of salvation itself, in a manner comparable to that in which Eve was associated with Adam, the source of death, so that it may be stated that the work of our salvation was accomplished by a kind of "recapitulation," in which a virgin was instrumental in the salvation of the human race, just as a virgin had been closely associated with its death; if, moreover, it can likewise be stated that this glorious Lady had been chosen Mother of Christ "in order that she might become a partner in the redemption of the human race"; and if, in truth, "it was she who, free of the stain of actual and original sin, and ever most closely bound to her Son, on Calvary offered that Son to the Eternal Father together with the complete sacrifice of her maternal rights and maternal love, like a new Eve, for all the sons of Adam, stained as they were by his lamentable fall," then it may be legitimately concluded that as Christ, the new Adam, must be called a King not merely because He is Son of God, but also because He is our Redeemer, so, analogously, the Most Blessed Virgin is queen not only because she is Mother of God, but also because, as the new Eve, she was associated with the new Adam. Let all Christians, therefore, glory in being subjects of the Virgin Mother of God, who, while wielding royal power, is on fire with a mother's love. On this Feast of the Queenship of Mary I want to share with you a few key messages from the apparitions of Jesus and Mary to to Sr. Mary Ephrem Neuzil, a Precious Blood sister in Ohio from 1954 and 1984 known as Our Lady of America. In 2007, Cardinal Burke wrote a letter to every bishop of the U.S. verifying the approved status of this apparition and encouraging all bishops to do as Jesus and Mary had requested in their messages…May 22 1954 Jesus said to Sr. Neuzil, if the world is dying, it is because it will not let Me give it life. I am the resurrection and the life, and unless souls seek their life in Me, they will find only death and destruction. They fear man-made destroyers of life, yet destruction is in themselves. Man destroys himself through the evil that is in himself. Implements of war kill only that which is without. Man kills that which is within – his soul. May 29, 1954, O Man, what have I done to you that you should refuse My aid?... do you know what I find most lacking in the world today? It is FAITH. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. They profess their belief and their love, but they do not live this belief. Their hearts are cold, for without faith there can be no love. Pray and sacrifice yourself, my child, that faith may once again find entrance into the hearts of men. July 11, 1954 My daughter I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who are in charge of them have no time or patience to do so. My Heart grieves over My children in the world. Their hearts are being drawn farther and farther away from Me. They will not even listen to My Mother, because they have never been taught to listen. I am a Beggar for love, but how few give to Me the means by which to satisfy My divine hunger. I hunger for the love of My own, and I receive only the crumbs no other would accept. July 12, 13, 14 1954.

I hate limitations! I am not the most intelligent person but I have a strong will and I will work or push through anything to accomplish what I want! Well, I came face to face with my limitations last night and today. My body was destroyed from trying to reach a new summit hiking everyday since last Wednesday. Except for Mass I didn’t leave the house today. I’ve been vanquished by my limitations and I am angry, sad and depressed. I have limitations, I hate that I am finite. This is the very trap the devil fell into. Teresa of Avila writes: I believe His Majesty desires to bring us along this way (the way of suffering, trials, crosses and difficulties) for our own good so that we may understand well what little we amount to. The favors that come afterward are of such great worth that He desires first that before He gives them to us we see by experience our own limitations so that what happened to Lucifer will not happen to us. Life 11:11 Because he has no physical body, the devil did not experience his limitations through suffering. Therefore, he thought he was without limits, that he did not need God, so he did not want God and made no space for God in his life. That is why he is in hell. He made allowed no space for God in his life. 2. If we had no limitations, we would be full of ourselves and there would be no space for God to fill with His divine life. Our limitations therefore may be our greatest asset because it creates a space for us to be filled by God and divinized – that is – made God-like. And when we become God-like we surpass our limitations infinitely! Our limitations are unique. It may be physical, psychological, it may be that your kids are growing up and leaving you behind so to speak – you can go with them or keep them with you – it may be the death of a spouse, old age and infirmity; it may be that you are a gifted professional and you take on too many opportunities, clients, or patients and the weight is now crushing you; or you may just find that you face circumstances you cannot change. These are our limitations. They are a gift. Why? Because you cant do any more to overcome it by your power alone! You cant do it. Oh you can make it worse, that’s for sure, by forcing your will or your way, but you cant remove your limitations by your will power. This is a great blessing and the devil missed it completely. See, you CAN have your limitations removed and obliterated completely by A) accepting them with trust in God B) surrendering them to Jesus C) letting God fill that space of perceived loss or frustration with Himself D) when God fills that Space with Himself he raises you up to a divine level – Divinizes you! 3. This is what God did to St. Faustina and Maximilian Kolbe. God allowed both Faustina and Kolbe to face the limitation of TB. She accepted it with trust and God raised her up to become the Apostle of Mercy around the world for the last 100 years. Kolbe accepted his limiting illness with Trust in the Mother of God and he formed the largest monastery in the world, 700 young men, and then duplicate it in Japan, and produced a daily periodical to evangelize with a distribution of over 1,000,000 copies regularly. Then he offered his life for another man in Auschwitz, they denied him water and food for 14 days at the end of which he was latterly glowing with divine light and he wouldn’t die so they had to give him a lethal injection. Kolbe accepted his limitations, God filled that space with the His divine presence and made Kolbe free and powerful and almost indestructible! 4. The devil wants us to focus on the limitations, the loss, the frustration, fear and sorrow. then the devil wants us to hate God for this. Focus instead on God filling your limitations, the space He is carving out, with Himself, making you God-like, free, powerful, beautiful, and full of His divine life. 5. Develop your gifts, maximize your potential, do arduous things, and live life to the full.

I am with my family, sadly not all at the same time but in waves, Sandy John Sara Grace, Xavier, Teresa and Nick. We get up, go to daily Mass, hike big all day, cook great meals, laugh, have good conversation and pray the Rosary – well, that is whoever hasn’t fallen asleep. This is wonderful vacation. But today I felt a little lost because I am off my normal spiritual routine of spending the first hour of each day in silent meditation with Jesus and Mary. I’ve had lots of time in silence on the mountains but its not my normal routine and place for meditation so I’m off my game. I have a handful of holy nuns that pray for me, and keep my out of prison and probably from hell. One of them texted me today and I share with her how I was a little lost. She gave me a piece of wisdom that should be lived everyday and I share it with you: “The heart of our prayer routine is to fix our gaze on the Heart of Jesus and that our deepest longing is union with Him. With this I should move through the day without ever leaving intimacy with Jesus. What happens exteriorly is just different scenarios where that intimacy love and union unfold.” Great wisdom right – I should live that every day and so should you! God is not only with us when we are at Mass, or in meditation or praying the Rosary. He is present with us at every moment. We just forget this. In the Our Father we pray: Our Father Who art in Heaven. The CCC 2794 says This biblical expression does not mean a place (space), but a way of being; it does not mean that God is distant, but It refers to His supreme majesty, and power His presence in the hearts of the Just Augustine “Our Father who art in heaven” is rightly understood to mean that God is in the hearts of the just, as in his holy temple. Jesus said to St Faustina, My Kingdom on earth is My Life in the human soul Diary 1784 Pope Benedict This is what prayer really is Being in silent inward communion with God This silent presence of God at the heart of our thinking, our meditating and our being is what we mean by prayer without ceasing St Faustina writes: The moments which are most pleasant to me are those when I converse with the Lord within the center of my being. I try my very best not to leave him alone. He likes to be always with us…Diary 1793 531-534 The mysteries of Jesus’ hidden life Jesus spent 30 years in Nazareth living an Ordinary Life of prayer and work, friendship and family Only 3 years of public ministry Jesus spent 10 times more doing what you do day in and day out than he did in his ministry – WHY? 2 Reasons: Remember, Jesus is an eternal person, that means all that he does remains present, never slips into the past. In some way Jesus is still present living an ordinary life and because He is present in that ordinary life you can meet Him there at every moment of your ordinary life and live it together. It is not just the suffering of Jesus that we can participate in through our own suffering. We can participate in the prayer, work, joy and suffering of Jesus. Every moment of our life can be moments united to him if we just have the right desire – the desire to be united to him, present to him. The opening prayer of Mass each day this week says – love him in all things and above all things. CCC 533 tells us to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life The 2nd reason Jesus lived this ordinary life for 30 years was to teach us - we are to live as sons and daughters of God and become Saints through the ordinary events of life Prayer Work – school Friendship, marriage, family Sickness, suffering, trials and conflicts Living a well ordered and balanced life Friendship with Jesus, like any friendship, requires time and our undivided attention. That is why we need time in silent meditation each day with Jesus and Mary – talking, listening and being with them. But when we leave that time – they don't leave us, we should not leave them.

Is your addiction to routine holding you back from encountering others?

Join us for the Rosary and a meditation on this weekend's Gospel.

God created every person to share in his life – to be like God and live like God forever! God’s plan is to bring about a great exchange – he would take on our lowly humanity in order to give us a share in his divinity. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that? St. Peter writes in his 2nd letter that we will become “partakers in the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). And this fact led St. Augustine and St. Thomas to say: God became man so that man could become god. How will we come to share in the life of God? The Holy Spirit and Mary conceive the life of Jesus in our souls through Baptism and then we are to cooperate with God so that Christ is fully formed in us. CCC 520 In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is "the perfect man", who invites us to become his disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate, through his prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way However, If we strive to become like Jesus by imitation alone we will fail. God knew this and He provides a further means: CCC 521 Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us…We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model: St John Eudes: We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus’ life and his mysteries, the events of his life, and often to beg him to perfect and realize them in us and in his whole Church…for it is the plan of the Son of God to make us and the whole Church partake in his mysteries, the events of his life and to extend them to and continue them in us and in his whole Church. This is his plan for fulfilling his mysteries in us. Through the Mass and the Sacraments Jesus makes the Events from His life Present So that what took place in Him can take place in us and transform us CCC 1085 In the liturgy of the Church (the Mass and the Sacraments), it is principally but not only the Paschal mystery, the suffering death and Resurrection that Christ signifies and makes present…When his hour comes he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father “once for all. His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past because…all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all…” Jesus is an eternal Person Eternal means there is no past and no future, only the “Present” Every event from the life of Jesus remains PRESENT So that we can enter into it Take part in it – be conformed to it And become like him The mysteries, meaning the events of the life of Jesus are made present in the Mass and the sacraments So that what took place in Jesus May take place in us And we be conformed to Him How does this happen that the events of the life of Christ are made present and we enter them? CCC 1099 The Holy Spirit Recalls the mystery of Christ In the Liturgy of the Word, the first half of the Mass, the Holy Spirit recalls the saving events from the life of Christ; but it doesn’t end with there; CCC 1104 the Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present. That is why 1370 can say: In the Eucharist the Church is as it were At the foot of the Cross with Mary, united to the offering and intercession of Christ.

The CCC suggests 4 reasons why we need Jesus 457 God became man in Jesus to save us by reconciling us with God. We have all sinned. Romans 6 tells us the consequences of sin is death. Death doesn’t just mean the end of our earthly life. Death as the consequence from unrepented sin means eternal separation from God, but also separation from one another and the complete loss of happiness… Imagine being locked in solitary confinement, completely alone – forever, with no hope that the pain would end. That is Hell That is what Jesus came to save us from Why can’t God just forgive and forget the consequences? B/C God made us free like Himself and with Freedom comes Consequences. Good choices bear good consequences, Bad choices bear bad consequences. If we want him to remove the consequences, Then He would have to remove our freedom We would not be human Imagine Playing a game with young child If every time the child made a wrong move you let him take it back, Then the child was not really playing the game, was he? For God to excuse every bad move I make, He would have to take away my freedom. Rather than destroy our human dignity; God became one of us. He suffered the consequences for us; He suffered our death And rose from the dead. Since Jesus is both God and Man, He could bear the consequences as Man, He could rise from the dead b/c He is God. By His death Jesus fulfilled the consequence of our sin. By His Resurrection He conquered death 2nd Reason we need Jesus… 458 The Word became flesh so that we might know God’s love How do we know God’s love? He died for us At the Last Supper Jesus tells his disciples, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends…” Then He suffered and died for us We should Read the accounts of Jesus’ suffering and death in the Gospel There you will see for yourself: the outstretched arms of Jesus on the Cross, the arms of the God who proved his love for us by dying for you and me this is the Revelation of God’s love 3rd Reason we need Jesus 459 The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness Jesus reveals what God is really like; He also reveals what we should be like Because Jesus was fully human He shows us how to be Fully Human Fully Alive He teaches us how to live by the way He lived He teaches us how to pray By the way He prayed He teaches us to live Mercy Through his own example of Mercy He teaches us how to fight Temptation To be calm in the storms of life To have courage under persecution To deal with rejection, privation and want To be patient in suffering and death A wonderful old Benedictine monk, Fr. Adrian, when we would be in the sacrament of Reconciliation he would turn to a small statue of Jesus and say to me How would Jesus handle these situations? Michael you must live like the Master Read and think about the life of Jesus in the Gospel For we must learn to live like the Master 4th Reason we need Jesus… 460 The Word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature. For this is why the Word became Man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he made man, might make men Gods. The whole point of life is to be Reunited to God Sin had separated us from Him The distance between us was impossible to bridge Imagine Two Shores separated by a body of water no one could swim You would need a bridge to cross over We need a bridge from God to man Where are God and man joined together? In the Body of Christ That is why Jesus gives us the Eucharist! The Body of Christ is the bridge to cross over to God (John 6:54)

The Assumption of Mary is not recorded in Scripture, but we know it is true because the Apostles were present, they are the witnesses to the Assumption of Mary, body and soul into heaven, and they hand down this fact. The Apostles were present at the home of Mary in Jerusalem when her earthly life came to an end, they carried her body and placed it in a tomb near Gethsemane, and the Apostles were witnesses to her bodily Assumption into heaven. St. Germanus of Constantinople in a homily given in the year 720 states that Mary’s Assumption into heaven was witnessed by the Apostles, who could then confirm the truth with their authority. St. Germanus writes: “Your departure did not lack witnesses…Heaven tells the glory of those who ran to meet you then; earth presents the truth about it; the clouds cry out the honor they paid you, and the angels tell of the offering of gifts that was made to you then, when the Apostles were at your side as you passed away above Jerusalem.” The Church has celebrated the Feast of the Assumption in Jerusalem on August 15 since the 400’s St John Damascene, who lived near Jerusalem proposed Consecration to Mary in one of his sermons on the Assumption (Dormition) of Mary in the 700s: We today also remain near you, O Lady. Yes, I repeat, O Lady, Mother of God and Virgin. We bind our souls to your hope, as to a most firm and totally unbreakable anchor, consecrating to you mind, soul, body and all our being and honoring you as much as we can with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles. The First Reading from Mass today is from Revelation 11-12 The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labor, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had made a place of safety ready. From the time the devil rebelled against God and led 1/3 of the angels with him, there has raged a cosmic battle. The devil and his angels were cast out of heaven. Then the devil, the prince of this world pursued the woman, Mary but had no hold on her for she is the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, who is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). Because the devil could not touch Mary he went off to make war on the rest of her offspring – we are the offspring, the children of Mary, she is our spiritual mother. The devil is bent on one thing and one thing only, our destruction. But if we belong to Mary, he cannot touch us. Mary was Assumed into heaven, but she has not left us alone. She is present. I sense her presence. She is the one who crushes the head of Satan in our lives. Belong to her. Practice living under her influence and care. She will protect you from the deceptions of the devil, the destroyer and she will lead you to the calm harbor of the will of God. Since Mary is our Spiritual Mother and she is the one who crushes the head of Satan the Church recommends 3 things: Entrust ourselves to Mary as Jesus did in the Incarnation Live in union with Mary as a little child with his mother Sit at the school of Mary each day in the Rosary We should imitate Jesus and consecrate ourselves to Mary.

In the beginning of his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul makes a statement that I think doesn’t make sense except on the Catholic view of participation: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and my flesh I complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, that is, the Church” (Colossians 1:24). How could Christ’s sufferings be lacking? And if they were lacking, how could we make up for it? Think of it this way: Christ preached the Gospel, but if we don’t participate in preaching the Gospel, Christ’s preaching won’t have its full effect. Christ loved and served the poor, but if we don’t participate in His love and service for the poor, His love for the poor won’t have its full effect. And Christ suffered for souls, but if we don’t participate in His suffering for souls, than His suffering won’t have its full effect. That’s what it means to “make up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings for the good of the Church”: it means Christ makes the full impact of Calvary dependent on our willingness to cooperate with Him. Pope Pius XII puts it starkly: “The salvation of many depends on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention.” He goes on to say, speaking to all the faithful, “Let them all remember that their sufferings are not in vain, but that they will turn to their own immense gain and that of the Church, if to this end they bear them with patience. What kinds of sufferings bring divine aid to other people? In the 2nd apparition of the Angel to the three children of Fatima in the Summer of 1916, the Angel stated that the children had a mission from Jesus and Mary to help them save souls by prayer and sacrifice. Lucy asked the Angel: “How are we to make sacrifices?” "Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners.” “In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you." The most spiritually fruitful you can be is the patient acceptance and endurance of the sufferings, which you did not choose, you do not like and you cannot change, which God in His mysterious providence sends you. Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychotherapist and concentration camp survivor, used to quote Nietzsche’s dictum that a person can endure any “what” as long as he has a strong enough “why.” The idea is that a person can withstand any amount of suffering given an adequate reason, an adequate cause to which their suffering contributes. And our faith tells us that suffering saves souls – ours, and other peoples’ – and consoles the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It’s hard to think of a worthier cause, one that would inspire more courage in whatever situation, than that. Victims or Voluntary Agents? The word “passion” is connected to the word for “passive.” Because our feelings are responses, they’re associated with something happening to us. The word “suffering” has similar connotations of passivity, and in fact one of its definitions is “to put up with.” The idea is that some other force is the agent, maybe a violent agent, and the sufferer is the victim who feels the effects. At one level, Jesus is the supreme victim. Judas, the Pharisees, Pilate and the Romans, Herod and Satan himself work in concert to attack, suddenly, freely and brutally. An innocent man who has done nothing to deserve this kind of hatred or violence, nothing to provoke it, is subject to betrayal, torture, mockery, death. He puts up with it all. He “suffers himself” to be immolated. But of course, that’s only part of the picture. The other part of the picture, the more important part, is that the entire event is orchestrated by God himself.

Yesterday we reflected on four causes sorrow, that if prolonged can lead to depression. We should do all we can to change what is bad. However, if we cannot change our suffering, there is still a way forward; we can unite our suffering and sorrow to Christ. He uses it to bring us to transforming union with God, the goal of life and he uses it to save the souls of others. This is what led St. Paul to say “It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church.” If the suffering of Christ was sufficient to save the world – why would Paul say he wants to make up all that still has to be undergone by Christ? Because God invites us to participate in all he does. This idea of participation is where we get the phrase “offer it up” and it is why Jesus says we cannot be his disciples unless we take up our own cross and follow him every day. Still “offering it up” is a very misunderstood Catholic thing, but once we understand how God has given us a way to participate in his being and action, your suffering can become a powerful force to live with meaning, hope and happiness. Participation in Divine Being and Action To understand how we can help others by our suffering we must grasp one of the most fundamental and neglected ideas in Catholic theology, that of participation. This is the idea that: God has enabled us to share in His being and action in a way that does not add to, subtract from, or compete with His being and action. In the material realm, “sharing” means dividing up limited resources. If you share your pizza with me, I’m subtracting from your pizza. And if we split a pizza, the more you take the less I’ll be able to have. There’s a competition. But sharing or participating in the immaterial or spiritual realm isn’t like that. If I go to a lecture about something I have no knowledge of the professor will share his knowledge with me, but I won’t be taking away or adding to or competing with any of his knowledge about the topic. My knowledge will depend on his, but his won’t depend on mine – so I’m participating in his knowledge in a way that doesn’t threaten his primacy or expertise in any respect. What’s true of this example of teaching and learning is true of all the various ways God wills that we participate in His being and action. God lets us share in His being. On the natural level, our existence is dependent on the existence of God, not vice versa, since He exists in Himself and we exist by sharing in or participating in the existence of God. Moreover, God exists infinitely, so our existence doesn’t so much add to His existence as participate in it: He is the God “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Then, through the staggering generosity and presence of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying grace raises our sharing in God’s being to the supernatural level, such that we become, in the words of St. Peter, “partakers in the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). The fact that we are invited to share in the very nature of God led St. Augustine and St. Thomas to say: God became man so that man could become god. God also lets us share in His action. In particular, the theological virtues allow us to operate at a level above the merely human, since they “adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature.” By faith we know divine truth, by hope we participate in God’s love for ourselves, and by Charity we participate in God’s love for God – which will be the apex of heavenly happiness. So it shouldn’t be surprising that when God became man, and shared in our life, He also opened up new avenues for us to participate in His character and mission. In other words, we participate in Jesus’ being and His action too. We share in His divine sonship, and we look forward to sharing in His death and Resurrection.

Depression can be caused by suffering, pain and sorrow. Let’s recall the difference between evil and suffering. Evil is the absence of a good which should be present, in other words something is missing that should be there. Blindness is a physical evil since the person is missing sight. Vice is a moral evil since the person is missing virtue – the good actions and habits that result in happiness. Suffering is not evil. Suffering is a felt response to something perceived as evil. The purpose of suffering is to alert us that something needs to change. People always mix up suffering and evil, probably because suffering always indicates the presence of some evil. If we suffer, it’s either because we accurately perceive some present evil, or because we mistakenly think something’s evil when it isn’t – and that very mistake on our part is itself a failure in our judgment. Suffering doesn’t happen without evil. But the correspondence between evil and suffering shouldn’t lead to confusion. Only evil is evil. Suffering can be good. It can be the right response to a perceived evil (causing you to take your hand out of the fire); and it can motive change in our behavior from vice to virtue. Like changing from a life of greed to generosity. We must distinguish between pain which begins in the body and sorrow which finds its origin in the soul. Sorrow can cause us to ask the big questions in life and then seek for answers. Sorrow can also motivate us to make a change in the way we live. If we suffer the sorrow of loneliness, we may make the changes to have deep friendships. Sorrow may also help us appreciate happiness even more. Suffering in the form of pain or sorrow is meant to alert us to a problem and motivate us toward change and ultimately to achieve the purpose of our life - union with God. Suffering can awaken the soul from indifference and sloth, causing it to take our relationship with God more seriously. Suffering can also prevent us from becoming distracted on our journey toward union with God because when we become distracted, as we often do in the summer, then we lose the depth of relationship we had with God when we are in our normal routines, and this lose of relationship results in sorrow. Finally, suffering can empty us of all the addictions and disordered attachments we will not let go of on our own that block us from being filled by God. Suffering is not evil. Evil is evil. Evil is the problem – whether physical, psychological, or spiritual. Evil is the thing to eliminate at all costs – not suffering. We eliminate evil by rectifying the absence of the good that ought to be there; not the numbing of the response that motivates positive change. God allows evil out of respect for our freedom and interdependence, and because He can use evil as an opportunity for good. God gives us the gift of human suffering as a perfection of our nature, and as a motive for heroically moving beyond the weaknesses and defects of our condition: “the more one sorrows on account of a certain thing, the more one strives to shake off sorrow, provided there is a hope of shaking it off.” We are not motivated to change until the pain or sorrow outweighs the pleasure or the comfort. However, suffering in the form of sorrow, just like any other good or any other passion, can also become disordered. It can be counter-productive. It can inhibit, instead of inciting, the process of making things better. Such is the case with “excessive sorrow, which consumes the soul: for such sorrow paralyzes the soul, and hinders it from shunning evil...” There is the danger of a suffering that cripples the will rather than empowering it – and this is depression. It’s not necessarily immoral or imprudent to use drugs to help with depression, but before we get to that we need to appreciate the character of depression as a natural response to significant pain

Prior to everyone on the planet having an I-phone ready to record, the only verification of any historical event were the eyewitness accounts. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Paul recounts the many eyewitnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus from dead.Some deny the Resurrection The disciples lied and stole Christ’s body to support their lie What if the disciples just made the whole thing up? What if the whole story of the Resurrection was a fabrication by the apostles? But the main problem with the Deception hypothesis is this: Why would you give your life for a lie? Furthermore, how could you get more than 500 people to conspire and carry out the same lie over 50 years with no earthly benefit? Many of the apostles and first Christians were martyred in horrible, horrible ways. Who on earth would die for something they know isn’t true? You may give your life for something you mistakenly think is true – but we have no case in history of someone dying for something that they know is a hoax. The word “martyr,” as is commonly known, is actually taken from the Greek word for “witness,” and it is precisely the martyrdom of the early Christians that witnesses to the sincerity of their belief. You may think they were wrong, but they sure didn’t think they were. Jesus died and rose from the dead so that He could offer the same possibility to us if we choose to believe and live according to the will of God. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."The Resurrection of Jesus gives us meaning, hope and happiness. If we come from nothing; and we are going toward nothing after death; then nothing really matters which makes a person feel like you don’t matter, your just a random occurrence. There is no meaning, no hope of something to look forward to. Oh sure, I can have some pleasure now but most of my time is work and there is a lot of pain – why endure it? But if Jesus has risen from the dead, then he is God. there is a God who made the world and made me with a design and purpose – to reach heaven and the resurrection – never ending perfect happiness – that is my destination – that is what I hope in. This gives meaning to my life for now my prayer, work, joy and suffering prepare me for eternity and I can help others to eternity by offering up these things. Without the Resurrection of Jesus – there is Nothing! With the Resurrection there is Everything. The Devil wants to obscure the Resurrection The devil wants us to fear, hate one another, cause division, despair and give up and ultimately kill ourselves. This is precisely the path he led Judas down and it’s the way he wants to lead all people. Do not give in to fear hate and despair. You are not alone. Jesus has risen and he lives in your soul. Turn to Him there. Surrender yourself to Him. Then Hope. Hope means to have a firm confidence that Jesus is going to work everything out in Heaven. (Spe Salvi 43). God can’t make what has happened not to have happened. He can’t change the past, that would be a denial of human freedom. Throughout our lives, God is orchestrating everything. Hope says we will place our bets on Christ.

The third reason we believe Jesus is God and one of the most dramatic differences between Jesus and any other religious founder, is that Jesus said He was God. That’s right. The thirty-something carpenter’s son from a small town in Nazareth said he was the Eternal Creator of the Universe. He actually said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (thus giving himself the name of the eternal, all-powerful creator of everything visible and invisible). This is the main reason the Jewish leaders wanted to Jesus put to death: “He made himself God’s equal.” John 5:18. Now what can you do with that? First of all, that’s radically unlike what any religious founder would have said. CS Lewis imagines what other religious founders would have said if you’d asked them, “Are you the creator of the universe?” Socrates would have laughed at you. Buddha would have urged you to seek enlightenment. Confucius would have said something like, “Jokes which are in bad taste should not be made.” And Mohammed would have cut off your head for blasphemy.I once talked to a nonbeliever who said that Jesus was a good guy, had some good insights, but was a little neurotic. But calling yourself the creator of the universe doesn’t qualify you as neurotic: it means you’re a full-blown psychotic. If somebody says “I’m the eternal, all-powerful creator of the universe,” you don’t say, “Well, I disagree with you about that. But I’d still like to hear your views on marriage, family, social justice, and morality in general.” Somebody who thinks they’re God (with a capital G!) is not someone who’s going to give you good moral insights. But everyone agrees that Jesus had some of the most beautiful moral insights the world has ever known. Which means He isn’t a psychotic (and remember, thinking you’re God isn’t the sort of honest mistake a sane person can make). But if He’s not psychotic, then when He says that He’s God, He must be speaking truthfully. Which means He really is God.To give in to the lie that Jesus was a great moral leader but not God is the key to the deception of the Anti-Christ. Here are the 12 deceptions of the Anti-Christ according to Venerable Fulton Sheen: 1) He will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk of peace and prosperity, not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves. 2) He will write books on the new idea of God to suit the way people live. 3) He will induce faith in astrology so as to make not the will but the stars responsible for our sins. 4) He will explain guilt away psychologically as repressed sex, make men shrink in shame if their fellowmen say they are not broadminded and liberal. 5) He will identify tolerance with indifference to right and wrong. 6) He will foster more divorces under the disguise that another partner is “vital for happiness.” 7) He will increase love for love and decrease love for persons. 8) He will invoke religion to destroy religion. 9) He will even speak of Christ and say that he was the greatest man who ever lived. 10) The mission of Christ, he will say, will be to liberate men from the servitudes of superstition and Fascism, which he will never define. 11) In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one; he will not believe in God. And because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. 12) He will set up a counter-Church, which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God…In desperate need for God, he will induce modern man, in his loneliness and frustration, to hunger more and more for membership in his community that will give man purpose, without any need of personal amendment and without the admission of personal guilt. These are days in which the devil has been given a particularly long rope. Why is it so important that Jesus is God? Because you and I are weak. But Christ can fix the mess.

Before we get on a flight for which we have a reservation, we’re asked to show some form of ID. They want to make sure we’re who we say we are. Jesus Christ has his proof of identification as well. It’s not a photo ID; it’s his miracles. Jesus performs dozens of miracles, and he uses them as evidence that He’s who He says He is. He goes so far as to challenge people: “Believe in me because of the works that I do.” Here are a few remarkable but often overlooked characteristics of Jesus’ miracles: He never did a miracle for His own advantage (i.e., when He was hungry He didn’t turn the stones into bread)He never did a private miracle. He never did a miracle to satisfy curiosity or popular demand. He never did a miracle that was denied, even by his enemies. Even those who hated him had to admit that his actions were supernatural. The only solution they could come up with was that he was doing his miracles with the help of Satan!Compare that to other religious founders. Mohammed worked no public miracles. Nor Socrates, nor Confucius. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism got tarred and feathered because he said he could do miracles and then failed to deliver. But if God is going to send someone to earth with the message of truth for the world, you’d think He’d give that person the credentials necessary for people to be sure that this was the real deal.Some people will say, “There could never really be a miracle, because a miracle goes against the laws of nature.” But if you believe in God, then a Law of Nature just means the way God usually does things. And a miracle just means when God is doing something unusual. Usually God makes it so that people can’t walk on water, but if on occasion He wants to make it so that people don’t sink when they walk on water, what’s to stop Him? That’s why it’s very important that we Christians not under-emphasize the miracles of Jesus’ life, because if we do we’ll be undermining His claims to being really sent from God. When Jesus physically heals the paralyzed man, it so that we might know “that the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins”? If Jesus can’t do physical miracles, what reason is there to think that he can do spiritual miracles? After all, spiritual miracles (healing our broken souls and corrupt minds) are a lot more difficult than just multiplying a few loaves of bread. If it weren’t for his miracles, we might despair of ever becoming whole.In Mark chapter 1 Jesus heals all the sick brought to him in Capernaum, then he cures the leper. After which the Centurion comes to Jesus telling him his servant is paralyzed. Jesus offers to come to his house but the Centurion responds “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Immediately the servant is cured. Jesus has power over physical illness. Then Jesus gets in a boat with his disciples and falls asleep while a violent storm breaks out, about to sink their tiny ship. He has power over the forces of nature. Jesus also has power over demonic forces and he even has power over death, raising Lazarus.Jesus has power over sickness, power over the forces of nature, power over the forces of hell, even power over death. Who is this guy? He is God. His Miracles bear witness that he is the Son of God. He is the one to whom we can entrust our entire life. Jesus I surrender to you, take care of everything. Say that 10 times and you will experience a difference.You might be thinking – I’ve prayed for a miracle and nothing’s happened. The goal of life is not physical, emotional or mental healing. The purpose of life is to be emptied of all that blocks us from being filled by God: pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. Suffering is the most effective means to accomplish this. If you are suffering, it means God is there, he is working to empty you so that He might fill you with Himself. (CCC 549)

In your average Comparative Religions course at your run-of-the-mill college, Jesus Christ will be presented in a lineup of major religious founders. He’ll be there with the likes of Zoroaster, Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, and maybe Martin Luther. And the similarities between all these people will be emphasized. They were all persons of strong character, who presented a world-view and preached a moral system. Many suffered for their beliefs, and all of them urged people everywhere to unite in serving a Higher Cause. The problem is, emphasizing similarities is sometimes more misleading than emphasizing dissimilarities. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, milk and urine are similar in that both come from a cow, but you wouldn’t really want to make too much of that similarity when the differences are so much more striking and important. So too with Christ. It’s an enormous mistake to emphasize the similarities between Himself and other religious founders when the differences between Him and them are so much more extreme. What is so special about Jesus? Why do we believe Jesus is God? There are four reasons. We will meditate on the first reason today.Jesus was the only person ever pre-announced for centuries If someone is planning on coming to your house for supper, you’d probably be grateful if they didn’t just drop in unannounced. That is doubly true for someone important: My wife hates it when I invite the Archbishop without giving her some advance notice. If God were coming to earth, wouldn’t be nice to have a little heads up – some advance notice. Jesus Christ is the only person in human history to be preannounced. Quite a few details were known about Him before he came like: How he would be born (Isaiah 7:14), where he would be born (Micah 5:2), when he would be born (Daniel chapters 2 and 7), when His public Ministry would begin (Daniel 9:2-27), and that he would work specific miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6 ). Isaiah 53, written 500-700 years+ before Jesus describes in an uncanny way how the Messiah would suffer and die to save many from their sins: Isaiah 53:3 He will be a thing despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering…; he was despised and we took no account of him. And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried…Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and Yahweh burdened him with the sins of all of us. Harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers never opening its mouth… They gave him a grave with the wicked, a tomb with the rich, though he had done no wrong and there had been no perjury in his mouth. Yahweh has been pleased to crush him with suffering…By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself. The first reason we know Jesus is God is that he is the only person ever to be announced for centuries in advance down to every detail of his life. When the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus were in confusion and despair about the identity of Jesus, he approached them and brought them out of their confusion by showing how he had been predicted and prophesied. And they believed: Luke 24:44 Then Jesus told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled'. He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, 'So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.

Evil and sin are the enemies, not people.

The Feast of the Transfiguration (Matthew 16:24). The event of the Transfiguration is a Diamond placed within a setting of 5 predictions of the suffering of Jesus (16:21; 24; 17:9; 17:12; and 17:22). We just heard the first of the five predictions at the end of which Peter tries to stop Jesus and Jesus responds 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God's way but man's.' Why does Jesus call Peter Satan? Because Peter what Satan is always trying to do – turn Jesus away from the will and mission of the Father. That Jesus would save souls from hell by his suffering, death and Resurrection is the will of the Father. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What get if we are followers of Jesus is to be Agents of Change – Jesus goes before us, saving souls by taking up his Cross, then he invites us to help him save souls by taking up our own crosses. If we do, then our suffering will help to save souls and we will share in his glory – which he revealed in the Transfiguration. At Fatima Mary said, God wishes to establish in the World Devotion to My Immaculate Heart, wanting to save souls by this means.What does devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary mean? For one it means to imitate the Heart of Mary. What was the response of the Immaculate Heart of Mary during the suffering of Jesus? What did she do? She traveled through all the human emotions of a mother – she experienced fear, anger, helplessness, darkness, discouragement, the deepest sorrow She Prayed She accepted the Will of the Father with Trust She offered Her Sacrifice with Love For what Purpose? For the conversion of sinners – to save souls from Hell – that is why her Son suffered and died. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means to be Consecrated or Dedicated to live in imitation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to do what She did Face our Cross Go through all the human emotions that come with suffering Accept with Trust what you can’t change Offer your sacrifice with love Joining it to the sacrifice of Christ For the conversion of souls Why should we do this? Because Jesus and Mary are inviting us to help them save the world and sous from self-destruction by taking up our cross.Think of what Christ suffered in this life, and then arm yourselves with the same resolution that he had: anyone who in this life has bodily suffering has broken with sin, because for the rest of his life on earth he is not ruled by human passions but only by the will of God. Everything will soon come to an end, so, to pray better, keep a calm and sober mind. My dear people, you must not think it unaccountable that you should be tested by fire. There is nothing extraordinary in what has happened to you. If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. The Problem with suffering is that We feel like helpless victims of unjust suffering But we are not the victim of a random senseless forces We are the Agents of Change Christ was not a Victim in His Passion and Death He was the Agent of Change His Sacrifice Changed the World I am not a victim when I suffer and die I am an Agent of Change I am a co-Redeemer with Jesus and Mary This is where I make my greatest impact! This is where we prove our love for God and help Jesus save souls God says – I want you help me save souls I say, “Yes, I want to help you!” Ok - here is your Cross

Today, August 5, is the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow. It commemorates a powerful intervention of the Mother of God in the world. In 352 AD, there was a Roman aristocrat named Giovanni. He and his wife, having no children, made a vow to donate their possessions to the Virgin Mary. They prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honor. Mary appeared to Giovanni in a dream on August 4 and told him to build a church on the site where he would find snow the following morning. Bewildered, he went immediately in the morning to tell Pope Liberius of his dream. But that same night, Mary had also appeared to the pope and told him he would find snow on the Esquiline Hill, and there he was to outline the dimensions of a new church. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, snow fell during the night on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary that they had the same night, the Pope outlined the size of the Church and the couple built the basilica of St. Mary Major in honor of Mary on the very spot that was covered with snow. Everything in the Old Testament was a preparation for something in the New Testament. The manna or bread from heaven that fed the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land is fulfilled by the Eucharist, the True Bread from heaven. Mary is the fulfillment of Noah’s Ark. Mary is the New and Eternal Ark where we are to find refuge from the flood of evil that is swamping the world today. From October 13, 1983 to February 11, 1990, Jesus and Mary appeared in San Nicolas, Argentina. This apparition has become fully approved by the Church. On December 30, 1989, Jesus said to the visionary: “Formerly, the world was saved by the ark of Noah. Today the Ark is My Mother. Through her, souls will be saved, because she will lead them to me. He who rejects My Mother rejects Me! Many are letting the grace of God pass by in these days.” The Flood is a good image because we all may experience or are experiencing a Flood that appears to be on the verge of swamping our lives. It come in the form of tackling a major investment or business venture; it may be the stress of your job; seemingly unresolvable difficulties with a child be it physical, mental, or emotional; maybe your own chronic illness; maybe an addiction that that has you on the brink of drowning. Or maybe it’s just the onslaught of evil in the world and, well sadly, even within the Church that has you feeling like you’re are sinking…It really doesn’t matter what form the flood takes in your life, what matters is that just as God told Noah to build and get into the Ark, so now God has given us the Ark, Mary our Mother, refuge of sinners and Our Most Merciful Mother. Go into the Ark by Consecrating yourself, your family, your profession and your country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Give yourself and all the things you cannot control to Mary and she will save you from drowning in the Flood. St. Maximilian Kolbe is a particularly close friend of mine. What I love most about him is his indefatigable (isn’t that a great word – it means untiring) confidence in Mary. Kolbe was convinced only one thing was necessary – belong entirely to Mary and she would help you to know and do the will of Jesus. Just as Mary worked out all the details for the bride and groom at Cana, Mary will work out all the details of our lives – if we go into the Ark, if we entrust everything to Mary. In a letter of his from May 8, 1938, Kolbe writes: The concern is over, isn’t it? But you were worried…I am not surprised my friend that sometimes in weakness your hands fall. My hands also fell. In such case the best thing to do is to commit the matter to the Immaculata, to greatly restrain oneself, and not to interfere with the Immaculata, for difficulties which we have turned over to her are no longer our concern. I see Mary everywhere. I see difficulties nowhere.

vil is evil and suffering can result from evil, but suffering is not evil. The purpose of pain and suffering can only be understood within the overall context of the purpose of the human person. The ultimate purpose of the human being is union with God. Suffering can be, is meant to be, something that moves us forward towards the divine destination, and it plays a crucial role at every stage of that journey. Pain and suffering can rouse us from our spiritual sloth and indifference so that we take our relationship with God and way we are living seriously. Once we are on the right path, suffering can prevent us from standing still, it keeps us moving forward toward God. Finally, suffering can empty us of all that has blocked God from filling our soul with himself. Therefore, the last leg of the journey, as St. John of the Cross describes it, is the Dark Night. Not Batman, but the Dark Night of the soul. (Sirach 2). We don’t have to wait until after death and purgatory to reach heaven. Heaven is transforming union with God and we are designed for transforming union here. At every moment God wants to flood our souls with His Divine Life. The problem is that we have BLOCKAGES! We have filled our soul with everything but God, things that need to be emptied out so that we may be filled perfectly by God. John of the Cross says The more he wants to give, the more he makes us de sire - even to the point of leaving us empty in order to fill us with goods. You will be repaid for the goods…that you leave behind… Since the immense blessings of God can only enter and fit into an empty and solitary heart, the Lord wants you to be alone. For he truly loves you with the desire of being himself all your company. Our soul is emptied of disordered attachments to be filled by God through two things: The Active purification; and the Passive purification We do our part to empty our soul of disordered loves and attachments by: Daily meditation and resolution, living a balanced life, frequent sacramental life, and meeting with a spiritual director. If you want to reach Heaven, do your part. We can only carry ourselves so far on this journey up the mountain to God. There is only so much we can do to purify our soul on our own from our disordered attachments. They are too deeply rooted, too hidden from our sight. But God Our Father knows exactly what we need to be purified and emptied so that we can be flooded by His life and be perfectly happy. This is when he allows the Passive Purification. If something occurs in your life that you did not choose, do not like, and cannot change, say yes to God even if you don't feel like it. This is where God, by heavy trials, particularly interior ones, perfects and completes what the soul has begun on its own but cannot complete on its own. That is why it is Passive but not In-Active b/c we cooperate by saying yes to God and by not escaping through any means available. John of the Cross describes the purification of The Dark Night using two images: In the purification of the senses, God is likened to a loving mother who first nurses her child, carries and caresses it in her arms, but who then must wean it, teach it both to walk on its own and to put aside the ways of childhood. In the other, the purification of the spirit, God's action is likened to fire working on and transforming a log of wood. In this process of purification which is painful we must allow God to lead. Our job is to say yes, and to accept the Lord's work with all its consequences. Our temptation will be to escape. The pain of body and soul is so great in the Dark Night that we would do almost anything to stop it. Resist this temptation. Keep your eyes fixed on the good you want – transforming union with God and the bliss of heaven on earth. Certainly do what is reasonable and moral to change what is evil or broken or diseased in your life, but do not try to escape those things you did not choose, do not like and cannot change.

Our meditation yesterday and today has been adapted from the draft of a book called, the Morality of Drug Use by John Mark Miravalle The Purpose of Suffering and Pain Suffering itself is not an evil. Evil is evil. Evil is the problem. Evil – whether physical, psychological, or spiritual – is the thing to eliminate. Salvation from evil is the main objective of God. Salvation from suffering is not the goal. If it were, we would just create a government office that distributes freely morphine, opioids, pot and meth. Or we could just organize a concerted drop of nukes on as many human habitations as possible – we’d all die instantly and painlessly and no one would ever suffer again. Within the broader category of suffering, it’s helpful to distinguish between pain, which begins in the body, and sorrow, which begins in the soul. Pain motivates people not to harm themselves, not to stick their hands in the fire or poke forks into their eyes. People who can’t feel physical pain tend to hurt themselves much more regularly, even if they’re aware that their activities are objectively damaging their bodies. Pain is a basic response system for which there is no substitute. And the same goes for sorrow. Sorrow, for instance, can cause us to reconsider what we think about everything. Where do we come from, what happens after death and what is the meaning of life? Do you think you came from nothing, and that you’ll just dissipate back into nothingness after death? The sorrow provoked by that empty outlook should prompt a more careful assessment. If you don’t know what the meaning of life is, and you’re unhappy about that, good – you ought to be! Victor Frankl, the Austrian psychologist and Holocaust survivor suggests, we should not numb the pain, the pain is good, it has a purpose, to motivate us to go in a search for meaning that will lead us to union with God. If we just numb the pain then we never seek or find God. Sorrow Sorrow can motivate us to change from a bad to a good person, from vice to virtue. If you find yourself deprived of some good, your spiritual dissatisfaction may make you reflect on how you’ve either neglected that good, or, worse, discouraged that good by directly acting against it. Loneliness, for instance, might make you realize that you haven’t put enough effort into friends and family, or that your habits of greed and envy and lust and anger are consistently cutting you off from other people. When the sorrow becomes great enough, you will be motivated to change. But as long as the pleasure of the vice outweighs the sorrow, you will never change. Sorrow, like pain, has a purpose. Leading Us to God The purpose of pain and suffering can only be understood within the overall context of the purpose of the human person. The ultimate purpose of the human being is union with God. Suffering can be, is meant to be, a spur that drives us forward towards the divine destination, and it plays a crucial role at every stage of that journey. To begin with, suffering wakes the soul from spiritual sluggishness, and demands that we take the question of our own existence seriously. CS Lewis writes: We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but SHOUTS in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Suffering will not let us rest content, because it is itself discontentment. It demands we seek an answer, a solution to the human question. Before we even begin our journey to God, suffering motivates us to search for a path to a better mode of being. Once we’ve found the path – the one road to God, the one way, the one Mediator, Jesus Christ – suffering may prevent us from idling, from procrastinating.

Over the next few days, we will meditate on truths that I hope will begin to transform the way you see suffering and help you see the way that God sees our suffering. CCC 412 concludes the section on Original Sin by asking "Why did God not prevent the first man from sinning?" Evil exists because angels and humans abused their freedom. To prevent evil, it would be necessary for God to take away our freedom. But then we would not be persons, and we wouldn't be able to love. Love requires freedom, and God wants lovers, not pets. I speak often of offering up suffering and suffering is closely related to evil, but they are not the same thing. People always mix up suffering and evil, probably because suffering always indicates the presence of some evil. If we suffer, it’s either because we accurately perceive some present evil, or because we mistakenly think something’s evil when it isn’t – and that very mistake on our part is itself a failure in our judgment. So suffering doesn’t happen without evil. But the correspondence between evil and suffering shouldn’t lead to confusion. Only evil is evil. Suffering can be good. It can be the right response to a perceived evil, the sign and substance of a healthy emotional life. More than that, it can motivate change, and so improve both our understanding of reality (the intellect’s attainment of truth) and how we live our lives (the will’s attainment of goodness). Still, only evil is evil and suffering can be good. We need to define the word evil. Since all existence comes from God, and God is all-good, it follows that evil cannot come from God or be a form of existence. Evil, consequently, is a specific form of non-existence. It’s a privation, that is, the absence of a good which should be present. If something is bad, it’s because it’s missing something it should have. It’s bad to be blind because it means you don’t have sight; it’s bad to have cancer because the cells lack the proper harmony with the rest of the body in their process of replicating; and it’s bad to do poorly on a test because it means that your test suffers from an absence of the right answers. Finally, it’s morally bad to be wicked, because it means you lack the virtue – the honesty and prudence and love – you ought to have. To repeat, evil, is the absence of a good which should be present. What then is suffering as distinct from evil? Suffering is the felt response to something perceived as being evil. Different evils are all unpleasant in different ways, and the crucial point is that they should be unpleasant to motivate us to change things. We ought to be repulsed by evil. We should be disgusted at the thought of eating rat poison, …It’s not enough just to know abstractly that these things are bad; it’s a sign of human excellence to feel a concrete emotional repugnance for them. Indifference, callousness, nonchalance in the face of evil – these aren’t strengths, but defects of character. We ought to dislike evil But if we dislike evil then when we experience evil we’ll suffer. And that’s as it should be. St. Leo the Great writes, "Christ inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy has taken away." Suffering is the felt response to something perceived as evil. If I lack something I ought to have such as health or a relationship, I do what I can to change it. If I can’t change it, then God is allowing it to bring about a greater good. I can choose to believe this which changes my emotional response and therefore I suffer less. Another powerful way to transform our suffering is to thank God for everything even if we don’t like it or can’t see good from it yet. In this way we stop living by the feelings that say - this feels bad therefore it is bad. Instead we begin to live by the reality that God works all things for good for those who love him.

As a consequence of original sin the powers of our soul have been wounded. Our passions, feelings and desires now propel us toward sin rather than toward God and our intellect has become darkened and confused while the will is weak. As a result, we desire and choose things that are not good for us, we sin, we turn away from God and toward the devil, even if unknowingly. (1 John 3:7-8, CCC 407). Even though Jesus conquered the devil by his death and Resurrection, tragically, people still choose sin which keeps them under the influence of the devil. That is why the devil is the Ruler of this world. People choose to serve him under the guise of all the idols of our age. You are I are not immune to his influence. There are vices, temptations and sins we are powerless against. Do you know the ones you cannot root out? (CCC 410). Revelation chapter 12 describes the cosmic battle between the Woman, Mary, and the great Red Dragon, Satan. The Catechism then connects this prophecy with the Antichrist who will usher in a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers, causing them to turn away from Christ and the Catholic Church. There is a universal spiritual battle raging right now Not between the US and Russia, Christians and Islam, but between the Woman (Mary) and Satan Mary stands on the battlefield, inviting her children to fight with her to save souls from hell and to bring about the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart The weapons she offers are Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Rosary and by taking up our cross and following Jesus. At Fatima in 1917 Mary revealed to the three children that God wanted to save the world through devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Devotion means to consecrate oneself to Mary. Consecration is an unconditional gift of self to Mary so that the Holy Spirit and Mary may form Jesus within you. This is not a one-time event. We must live the consecration, moment to moment, day after day, by living in imitation of Jesus’s relationship with Mary as he grew up under her influence and care. Practice living in the presence of Mary. Do this especially when you are plagued by some spiritual storm, temptation, sin, doubt, weakness or fear. Turn to Mary and say, “Mary, I surrender to you, take care of everything!” Or simply say, “Mary.” I say Ya Adhra – The Virgin Pray the Rosary every day At the approved apparition in San Nicolas Mary said: “The weapon that has the greatest influence on evil is to say the Rosary." Sister Lucia of Fatima The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new power to the praying of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether earthly or spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. Take up your cross and follow Jesus Lourdes, Fatima and every approved Marian apparition emphasizes the power of uniting our sacrifices and sufferings to Jesus to save souls. The Angel of Portugal said to the visionaries of Fatima: "Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country…Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you." What you did not choose, do not like and cannot change Accept it with trust and unite it to the Cross of Jesus to bring about the final defeat of Satan and the salvation of souls. Your own cross is a T-bar, a lever to move the world and souls Archimedes: “If I had a lever long enough and a place to stand, I could move the whole world.” Do not waste the gift and power of your suffering; Leverage your cross for Souls and help Our Lady crush the head of Satan.

God created the world and humans in four-fold state of harmony Harmony or good relationship between God and mankind in which God literally dwelt in their souls as in a Temple Harmony between men and women – I have no idea what that could have been like so I can’t describe it. Harmony between Man and creation – there was no sickness, no disease, no natural disasters, no death for the human person – we were created immortal with all of creation serving us. Finally, there was a harmony within the human soul. The intellect, will and passion worked in a perfect accord As a consequence of original sin, CCC 400 states, The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject "to its bondage to decay". Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will "return to the ground", for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history. To understand what happened to our soul we must remember from a few days ago the way the powers of the soul were originally designed to work. The Intellect is designed to know reality – how things really are. Once the intellect grasps reality it has the truth. Then it must make a judgment: this is good or this evil. Our passions are designed to respond to the truth perceived by the intellect and Motivate the will to choose the good and avoid evil. Through my intellect I know coffee is good for me. My passions respond to this truth by moving me by my desires to make a pot of coffee as soon as I get up. This is the case of the powers of my soul working as they should. The intellect perceives reality, then give this info to the passions that respond to the truth perceived by the intellect which then motivate the will to choose some good In our fallen state, it goes more like this: I get up in the morning after a very restless night sleep; I feel rotten, this passion or emotion causes me to treat myself and everyone around me rotten (I could have substituted others adjectives here). The point is, I let my feelings of pain, fear, frustration and despair determine how I choose to live. We were designed to live according to reality and truth not fallen and disordered passions and emotions. Is your life based on feelings or on reality? Almost all people say reality or truth. Almost no one lives according to reality. If they did then they would live continuously in a state of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control; the fruits of the Holy Spirit which are the results of living according to truth rather than disordered passions. Which passions, feelings or emotions control you? How do we reintegrate and heal the soul? I get up in the morning feeling rotten. Now what should I do? Think, the way I am feeling is going to lead to a lot of destructive choices today. I don’t want that. Plus – the way I am feeling – is it reality. Is everything terrible and is all hope lost? No, that is not reality. The reality, even if I don’t feel this way and don’t particularly like it right now is that suffering brings us closer to God and it brings us the grace to accomplish great things. That is good. Since God works all things for good for those who love him, then this suffering has meaning – God is using it to bring about some good. Therefore I can choose and even like the good God will bring about by this suffering. Furthermore, I can be thankful for suffering that God uses to bring about the good. Gratitude then sets me free from destructive feelings. Simply stated – I replace the wrong feeling with the right thoughts that begin to change my feelings which motivate good actions.

Today we meditate on the nature of the Fall and Original Sin Genesis 2:15-17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil signifies the power to determine what is good and what is evil God alone has this power God created the world; he gave angelic and human persons their design. Something is good for us when it helps us fulfill our design, it is bad for us, it is evil when it frustrates our design. But we do not have the power to change our God given design, therefore we cannot determine what is good and what is evil We have Intelligence and Freedom – we must use our intelligence to learn what is good and evil and then choose But we cannot make something evil good and good evil. Even though we make something legal – that doesn’t make it good because we can’t change reality, God’s design for the world. Genesis 3:1-7 The serpent said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent… ‘God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." St John Paul II “This is truly the key for interpreting reality” The Devil seeks to destroy the Fatherhood of God by spreading a lie that sows doubt in His Goodness. The devil says: You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, determining good and evil. The implication is this: God is keeping you from happiness by his moral law. God is not a loving Father. He is a Master and you are his slaves. God told you not to eat of the Tree b/c He does not want you to become like Him. It’s God’s laws that are keeping you from Freedom and Happiness.” The devil sows doubt in the Goodness of God. We have all given in to the lie and we distrust Him In the Diary 300 of Faustina Jesus said: Oh, how much I am hurt by a soul’s distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness. How many of you would be comfortable praying this prayer? My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you. No way! I’m not going to pray that and mean it – are you crazy! God will do it! He’ll take from me things I like that aren’t good for me He’ll give me things I don’t like that are good for me CCC 397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command…All subsequent sin would be: And a lack of trust in His goodness Disobedience toward God How can we grow Trust with God? Spend time with Him every day in prayer. You can’t trust someone you don’t know. You can’t get to know someone without spending time with him. Spend time with God in silence and solitude, meaning, put away the distractions. Read the Scriptures and reflect on what God is saying to you through them Then make the Resolution to remember and live out what you meditated upon in prayer We grow in trust by gratitude and thanksgiving At the beginning or end of each day, think of all the things for which you are grateful to God. These are the concrete manifestations of his love and care for you. We tend to focus on the negative but if we consciously think about all God has and is doing.

THE FALL OF THE ANGELS 391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil". The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing." 392 Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. This "fall" consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter's words to our first parents: "You will be like God." The devil "has sinned from the beginning"; he is "a liar and the father of lies". If Satan was originally created as a good angel, why did he fall, why did he reject God? Teresa of Avila writes: I believe His Majesty desires to bring us along this way (the way of suffering, trials, crosses and difficulties) for our own good so that we may understand well what little we amount to. The favors that come afterward are of such great worth that He desires first that before He gives them to us we see by experience our own limitations so that what happened to Lucifer will not happen to us. Life 11:11 The devil, because he has no physical body, did not experience his limitations through suffering He thought he was without limits Therefore, he thought he did not need God So He did not want God Why is Lucifer in Hell? He did not want God Christianity is declining in first world countries, they are turning away from God, because they have everything so they think they do not need God and therefore do not want God and never set out to pursue friendship with God in prayer. This is pride which can only be overcome by grace and humility. Humility is recognizing two things I have limits I have a divine potential I need God, therefore I want God, so I pursue a deep friendship with God in prayer. CCC 393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death." This seems pretty harsh or frightening that the angel’s sin is irrevocable and there is no repentance for us after death. However, we must realize we create a reality by our choices that cannot be undone at some point. Because their knowledge was complete and because there was no material component to their person, the angel’s decision was definitive immediately. Our choices forge our character and destiny over time, bit by bit. In giving you a soul, God has given you a lump of clay that you are forming, choice by choice into either a God-like or demonic statue. As time goes by that clay, your statue, your soul, gets harder to change. The more you chose good actions that become good habits or virtues the more the statue becomes God-like. The more we make bad choices that become bad habits or vices the more the statue become demonic. At some point it cannot be changed for good or for evil. Even now it is getting harder to change. What kind of statue are you shaping? CCC 394 Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father. Likewise, the devil wants to divert you away from the mission you have received from God, the devil wants to turn you away from doing the will of God. The greatest weapon we have to help us stay focused on the will of God is to go back to meditation each day, beginning with a brief examination of conscience – did I do the will of God yesterday. Do I want to do the will of God today? Yes, ok, now do your meditation, reflect and think about the Word of God, then make a simple concrete resolution.

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them…‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants. ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’ The most important motivation to spend time with God in prayer is that we all want to be happy. Happiness consists in possessing those good things we need to fulfill our human nature. In general we need physical goods, food, shelter, ect., we need family and friends, meaningful work and achievement, knowledge, beauty and so on. But even if we had all these we would still not be perfectly happy because nothing in this world is perfect, its not lasting and it can never be enough. We were made for more. We were made for union with God. Nothing less will satisfy the infinite longing of the human heart. Prayer is precisely where we go to drink in God and become happy. Jesus said, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me! Let him come and drink…From my heart will flow fountains of living water. He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.’” It is a consolation to learn that the Great Teresa of Avila, Universal Doctor of Prayer, struggled for 18 years with distraction in prayer until she read the Confessions of St. Augustine which made her realize her problem in prayer was that she thought her prayer depended on her. She learned that Prayer is more about what God wanted to do in her more than what she was doing in prayer. If you want to grow in prayer; abandon yourself-reliance; learn to depend entirely upon Jesus; and just spend time with Jesus in friendship. As Teresa writes: Meditation in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends: it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. Finally, just persevere Teresa of Avila says we need to add courage and determination to our perseverance Have great confidence, for it is necessary not to hold back one's desires, but to believe in God that if we try we shall little by little, even though it may not be soon, reach the state the saints did with His help. For if they had never determined to desire and seek this state little by little in practice they would never have mounted so high. His Majesty wants this determination, and He is a friend of courageous souls if they walk in humility and without trusting in self. I have not seen any cowardly soul or any of these who under the pretext of humility remain along the bottom of this path who do not take many years to advance as far as these courageous ones do in a few. I marvel at how important it is to be courageous in striving for great things along this path. For though the soul is not yet strong enough, it nonetheless takes flight and goes very high although like a little fledgling it soon tires and stops. Teresa of Avila, Life, 31:3

Responding to the Truth and Motivating Pursuit of the Good We have been meditating on the powers of our soul: the intellect, the free-will and the passions and their purpose. King Solomon had an amazing intellect, may be the smartest guy who ever lived. He also had a strong will – he got a lot accomplished. But his passions were totally out of control. Solomon never harnessed his passions and feelings which led him to be enslaved to his desire for power, wealth and women – 700 wives and 300 concubines. These turned his heart away from God to the worship Satan hidden behind the pagan gods Molech and Ashteroth, to whom he offered child sacrifice and burned his sons. In the end Satan always demands human sacrifice in the form of abortion, infanticide, suicide and war. The point is, Solomon made a train-wreck of his life because the powers of his soul were not integrated. It must not be so for us! The Intellect is designed to know reality – how things really are. Once the intellect grasps reality it has the truth. Then it must make a judgment: this is good or this evil. The Intellect then tells the will to choose what it perceives as good and to avoid what is evil. Our passions are designed to: 1. Respond to the truth perceived by the intellect 2. Motivate the will to choose the good and avoid evil The passions are situated between intellect and will, and they’re supposed to originate from the intellect and prompt a right choice of the will. Through my intellect I know fish and vegetables are good for me. My passions respond to this truth by moving me by desire to prepare and eat them. This is the case of the powers of my soul working as they should. This is not always the case…too often, my passions propel me to choose something that is not good for me which causes harm to my body and even more to my soul. The better we understand this, the more able we are to cooperate with God’s grace to get the powers of our souls working as we should. There are three ways we regularly screw up the way the powers of the soul should work and make a mess This happens first of all when our intellects and wills don’t do their jobs. If we don’t know the truth, our passions will be responding to a faulty picture of reality. If you have a wrong perception of things, your feelings will be correspondingly imbalanced. If you think the world is a brutal, senseless place, or if you think you yourself are worthless, you’re going to feel pretty lousy about everything – even though you shouldn’t, and these lousy feelings about the world or yourself will propel you to make the wrong choices. Often our thoughts and feelings are not in tune with reality, with God’s design for things. Catch yourself; think – what does God want; chose that. Are my feelings and desires in line with reality, with God’s design? If not, then I must choose to live according to reality as God made it and not according to how I feel or what I desire. The second way we screw up our soul is when we make a habit of the wrong choices. Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny. Do something bad enough and you get used to it, and then you get to like it, and then you get to need it. And at that point your emotional life will be all out of joint. One act of pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony or lust is bad. But if you do any one of these actions enough, they become habits, they become second nature. Now we have a vice, a bad habit. Vices change our nature and make it vicious. Even worse, the more we do what is bad the more we desire it and the more our passions propel us toward what is bad. This is how we form addictions. We have a routine of choosing something bad for so long that we have malformed our passions to desire it and propel us toward it without even consciously thinking about it. Do you know which of these deadly sins you have made a second nature?

Today we reflect on what the soul needs to live. Just as the body needs food, water and oxygen to live, the soul needs reality. Specifically, the intellect needs to be nourished by reality in the form of truth and the will needs reality in the form of goodness. Without food and water, the body will die. Without reality in the form of truth and goodness, the soul begins to die from a sense that life is meaningless. The intellect receives reality in the form of truth. Therefore, the soul needs to feed on truth to thrive. When the intellect grasps reality accurately – it possesses truth and then the mind is satisfied and can rest. That is why we are restless when we can’t understand something. The intellect rests when it possesses, locks in the truth it wants to understand. The intellect needs to be nourished on reality in the form of truth. We can know reality or truth through our experiences, that is, through science, and we can know reality through reason. But we cant know the answers to the most important questions in life by science and reason alone, such as, where did all the matter in the world come from in the first place, what is the purpose of life, what is the meaning of suffering and what happens after death? These questions go beyond what science and reason can tell us. To know the answers to these things God must reveal them to us, and thankfully he has through His Son Jesus Christ. His teaching is handed down infallibly through the Catholic Church so that we can know with certainty the answers to the most important questions in life. The question is – do you take the time to think about the most important questions in life and to seek the truth through what God has revealed? Goodness The intellect needs to be nourished by reality as truth. The second power of the soul, the will needs and desires reality as goodness. In general we need a number of good things to be fulfilled and happy: food, drink, shelter, safety and security; relationships and friendships, meaningful work, knowledge, beauty, etc… These things – all these realities – are “good” for us, because they help us become “good” (that is, they fulfill us). This is the proper need and desire of the will: realities which are good/complete in themselves and which enable us to become good/complete. But even if a person had all these good things – would we be perfectly happy? No. Because no good thing, and no amount of good things on earth are perfect, they are not lasting, and they can never be enough. We were made for more we were made for union with God. God is the ultimate reality, and the ultimate goal of the human soul. He is the source of all truth and goodness. Created things are really true and good because God made them, and following the trail of created goods and truths leads to God because He’s where they all come from. We need to pursue and possess food, drink, achievement, relationships and the like. But they are like cups and God is the Living Water. We need the cups to drink but without God, the Living Water, the cups are empty and unfulfilling. We’re supposed to pursue the good things of this world in such a way that it leads us towards the ultimate Truth and Good, God, who alone can give unending nourishment to the soul. “Whoever drinks the water I will give will never be thirsty again” (John 4:14). Our problem is that we try in vain to find all our happiness and identity in the truth and goodness of this world and we become addicted to these things, making them into idols. The goal of life is to be filled and transformed by God. In this process we need to pursue and possess what is true and good and beautiful. But allow God to strip and empty you, that He might fill you with himself – the ultimate Good. We are not talking about giving up things, because that does not strip the soul of the desires that remain set on them. We are talking about stripping away the craving for gratification in those things.

Matthew 20:17-28 Then the mother of James and John came with her sons to make a request of Jesus, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’ When the other ten heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers. You may be tempted to accuse James and John of vain ambition, especially since the other Apostles were indignant, but I believe, with St. John Henry Cardinal Newman that this was not vain ambition, rather Noble Ambition, Magnanimity, the virtue to desire and do great things for the love of God and souls. They asked to reign with Christ. He in answer told them: Not that they were guaranteed of it But that they must venture for it, strive after it St Jerome says, “Jesus said not, ‘You shall not sit there,’ that He might not discourage the two brothers; neither did He say, ‘You shall sit there,’ that He might not stir the others to anger; but by holding up the prize before all, He might encourage all to strive for Him. So a just king presiding over a contest instituted by him, if his relatives and friends should come and say, ‘Give us the prize,’ gives this answer, ‘It is not mine to give the prize to you, but to those for who it is prepared, namely, to those who strive in the contest and gain the victory.’” “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink…? They said to Him, “We are able.” Here then a great lesson is impressed upon us, that our duty as Christians lies in this, to take a risk to do something great for the love of God and the good of others without the absolute certainty of success. James did risk all for the love of Christ…Our Lady of the Pillar - On January 2, 40 AD James had made it as far as Zaragoza Spain, where he was preaching the Gospel but with little success. Feeling very defeated he sat down on the bank of the Ebro River, dejected. At this time, Mary, the Mother of God appeared to St. James, standing on a pillar of Marble and she said to him, “James, the faith you establish here will be more firm and last longer than the pillar I stand upon.” Do not be discouraged and do not give up. I am with you and will help you.” James arose, preached the Gospel, won many converts to Christ and the faith he established in Spain endures to this day. To remember the visit and promise of the Virgin Mary, the first Marian shrine was built around the pillar. And James began to convert the pagans of early Spain. This was the first Marian Apparition known as Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragossa Spain in 40 AD. Ten years before Mary was assumed into heaven. In whatever ways you feel defeated, dejected or just simply bored with life, entrust to Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Pillar and she will strengthen you to go on an be victorious. Jesus asked James, Can you drink the cup that I drink? James responded, “I can” and he did. In the year 42 James had returned to Jerusalem and King Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, as Luke tells us, “laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the Church. He had James, the brother of John beheaded, killed by the sword.” The gift Christ offers to us is that of eternal life and to reign with Him forever, which came at the price of His precious Blood Should we not respond in the most generous manner possible to such a great gift? Should not I be willing to give and risk everything in return for so great a gift as Christ is giving to me simply out of love and gratitude? Think of what He has done for us, Shouldn’t we try to give as much as we can in return?

Yesterday we reflected in the creation of the invisible world and better understanding of the Angels. Today, the visible world and a better understand of who we are as human persons. CCC 355, 1700, As human persons we were created “in the image of God.” This means we were endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul… To have direction in life we need to know the purpose of the soul To know the purpose of the soul we need to know the purpose of the powers of the soul There are Three Powers of the Soul: intellect, will, and passions. In the beginning, God designed the powers of the soul to work in harmony: The job of the intellect is to know reality and make a judgement – this is good, that is evil. The passions respond to the intellect’s perception of reality and prompt the will to go toward what is good for me or away from what is bad for me. Led by the intellect and propelled by the feelings, the will chooses what is good or rejects what is evil. Tragically Original Sin damaged the powers of the soul: We are born with a darkened Intellect - subject to Ignorance + Confusion about right and wrong, good and bad We now have a weak Will so that even when we know what is right we have a hard time choosing it We have Strong Passions or feelings inclined toward selfishness and use Our desires have become dis-ordered We have become slaves to our disordered desires Manifest in the 7 Deadly Sins Pride, envy, anger, greed, gluttony, sloth and lust The Vices that make us vicious They Destroy the good things we need to be happy Which 2-3 deadly sins are habits in your life? At the beginning of each day, the beginning of your time in prayer, or at the end of the day, take a few minutes for an examination of conscience which consists of three things: Gratitude, Acknowledgment of our wrongs A practical game plan to go forward Start with Gratitude – call to mind all the things from which you are you thankful to God? Then think back over the last 24 hours and admit where you have sinned in your thoughts, words or actions. Ask, why did I do these things? What was at the root? Was it Pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony or lust? Then make a practical game plan to live differently today.

In the Creed we profess that we believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is visible and invisible. Well, what is the invisible? It is the spiritual creatures God has made, the Angels, one third of which rejected God, but that is for another time. These fallen angels became Satan and the demons. They were originally good angels who refused to love and serve God and share in His life. Angles and demons are a whole civilization of persons, pure spirits without bodies, who day in and day out which we ignore. It is a civilization that is far more intelligent, powerful and numerous than the human civilization. One key mission the angels have is to help us make it safely home, while Satan and demons do all in their power to destroy our souls in hell. We must start tapping into the supernatural power of our Guardian Angels. We are in a spiritual war. We pray to St. Michael, “Defend us in battle…” if you don’t see the battle, that’s the problem. We are in a spiritual battle between good and evil, a battle between God’s greatest creature, Mary and the most heinous creature, Satan. We need to recognize the reality of Angels and demons and develop a powerful collaboration and friendship with our Guardian Angel. CCC 330 As purely spiritual creatures, angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness. God is the first cause of all things and He works through secondary causes. The first of these secondary causes are the angels. There are nine groupings or Nine Choirs of Angels according to Scripture and Tradition. Colossians 1:15-16 Christ is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers - all things were created through him and for him. 1st Order of Angels is focused on adoration and contemplation of God – they are the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones 2nd Order of Angels assigned to the Government of the Cosmos – the operation of all material things: planetary bodies and the courses of nature – the Dominions; the Powers, whose role it is to give us aid against Satan; and the Virtues – strengths against temptations. In Latin, virtus means strength. 3rd Order – Principalities, responsible for human government; Archangels, whose special task is to direct humanity; and the Guardian Angels CCC 336 From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God. God has created and given you a Guardian Angel whose principal mission is to help get you to heaven. This spiritual person knows you far better than you know yourself – they have a supernatural knowledge of you, your strengths, weakness and all you have ever done. God wants us to tap into the help of our Guardian Angel. We don’t have to fight this spiritual battle alone. By the way, your Angel is far more intelligent and powerful than you are. The Angelic intellect is immediate. Your Angel does not need time to think things over. He knows exactly what you should do – so why not develop a close collaboration with him. We can do this by developing a friendship with them. Pray to your angel, talk to him regularly, pay attention to his guidance and follow his inspirations. For more about Faustina and angels read her Diary, section 630.

Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? 309 If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist?... Why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better. But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection…With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection. 311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, must journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can, therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. And because of the Original Sin of the first two humans, the harmony with creation is broken. Human sin brought sickness, disease, natural disasters and death into our world. The only way God could change this would be to remove free will from angels, Satan, and humans. But this would make us pets rather than persons capable of sharing in the Life of God forever. Better to suffer the stuff of this life than be a pet for a short time. Yes, the troubles which are soon over, though they weigh little, train us for the carrying of a weight of eternal glory which is out of all proportion to them. 311 God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it: (St. Augustine writes) “For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself. St. Catherine of Siena said to "those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them": "Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind." 312 In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: "It was not you", said Joseph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive." From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that "abounded all the more", brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. 313 "We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him." Romans 8:28 The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth: St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: "Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best." St. Julian of Norwich: "Here I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly keep me in the faith. . . and that at the same time I should take my stand on and earnestly believe in what our Lord shewed in this time – All shall be well, and all shall be well. All manner of things shall be well.” 324 What God has revealed gives us the certainty that He would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life. What should we do when we face something that appears bad or very difficult? Pray, Think and Do all you can to change it. If you cannot change it, then God has willed it or is allowing it. It is not senseless. It has meaning God is allowing it and using it to bring about a greater good Trust him Accept it Offer it up in love Then it is meritorious for you – for we are rewarded according to our love And our suffering offered up helps save others - especially our loved ones and friends. Col 1:24

Heaven is the goal of life. Heaven is transforming union with God. Why wait, why put it off? Nothing less than union with God can satisfy the deep longing of your heart. Five simple steps to achieve union with God: Do and accept the will of God; flee from sin; develop a deep friendship with Jesus; have a profound interior life; belong to Mary. If we want to be united to God, then we must strive to do His will in everything. But just saying I want to do the will of God is too general, too vague. There are areas in your life you know you are not bringing God into because you are not thinking about it or because you don’t want Him in there. It could be work, relaxation, family, friends, your summer, vacation…You know what you are doing wrong. What are you going to do the make a change? If we want to be united to God then we must flee from every sin, both serious and small sins, and flee from every occasion of sin. Be intentional about identifying and rooting out the deadly vices: pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust. we are scandalized by the way other so-called Christians acct; yet we excuse our own bad behavior – or we don’t even notice it. This is case of plank eye. Take the plank out of your own eye before you call out the speck in my eye. Don’t be discouraged, these things are a reminder of our personal powerlessness and the need for constant surrender to and reliance on Jesus and Mary. The point is not to live a mediocre, lukewarm life. Be determined to reach union with God here! Our Goal is Heaven and Heaven is transforming union with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. We want to say, like St. Paul. “I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me.” Therefore, we seek to know and do the will of Jesus because we want to be united to Him. We accept our own crosses as a way to help Jesus carry His cross and save souls. We flee from sin because sin is a personal offense to Jesus and I don’t want to offend Him. I become virtuous so that I may love Jesus better. I want to go to Mass to enter into the sacrifice and thanksgiving of Jesus and to receive Him in the Eucharist, the closest possible union with Him this side of death. I see prayer as friendship with Jesus; talking to him from the heart, listening to him and thinking about him by reading Scripture and just being with Him. And as my friendship with Him grows, I want others to experience the same happiness meaning and fulfillment, so I act to help others to friendship with Jesus. To reach heaven we need a profound interior life. Things in this world a good; but nothing is perfect, its not lasting and it can never satisfy our longing for God. And where do we find God? He dwells in your soul. But we never look for him there because we are too busy doing things or too busy with entertainment. We don’t find God in our soul because we are addicted to work, kids, entertainment, news…on and on it goes. Stop – put away the excuses and distractions. Go into silence. Talk to God from the heart. Read the life of Jesus in the Gospels. Think about him. Be with Him. At first you will go crazy as you suffer withdrawal from your addictions. But don’t escape back into the addictions. Admit to Jesus you are powerless, surrender to Him and beg Him to do it for you. I you want to reach heaven, then give yourself to Mary. The Holy Spirit brings us into union with God and the Holy Spirit works through Mary. The more you belong to Her, the more the Holy Spirit will unite to Jesus. Develop a personal relationship with Mary – a real concrete friendship and dependence upon her. St. Maximilian Kolbe said: I see Mary everywhere, I see difficulties nowhere. Live continuous friendship with Mary; have complete confidence in her.

Thank you for joining us for our daily meditation!

If we respond to the Message of Our Lady we can change world events and save souls Mary is asking for Five things Faith and Conversion A greater faith in Jesus Christ as the one mediator to the Father Conversion flowing from a frequent reception of the Sacrament of reconciliation- at least once a month Consecration to Mary Accept Mary as your spiritual mother, Give yourself to her as her child, so that the Holy Spirit and Mary may form Jesus in you. Live the consecration -live in imitation of Jesus’ relationship with Mary as a little child depending upon his mother, moment to moment, day after day. A greater quality and quantity of prayer Moving from vocal prayer, talking to God and saying prayers, to listening, to meditation through the Rosary and with the Word of God At San Nicolas Mary said: “The weapon that has the greatest influence on evil is to say the Rosary." Penance and Sacrifice by taking up your cross and following Jesus Offer Sacrifice What you did not choose, do not like and cannot change Accept it with trust and unite it to the Cross of Jesus to bring about the final defeat of Satan and the salvation of souls. Fast on bread and water on Wednesday’s and Fridays Mary is asking for peace.

In the book the Ascent of Mt Carmel, St John of the Cross says “the ascent to God…lies in keeping the soul empty, naked and purified of every disordered desire. The only desire should be to fulfill the will of God and to carry the Cross of Christ.” The question for us is: are we doing the will of God; and are we carrying the cross? What criteria do we use to judge whether we are doing the will of God? Too often men measure their success or their impact based on their profession and their ability to provide financially for their family alone. This is not universal but often women judge their success or impact based on the health and well-being of their children and their relationships. How do you judge how you are doing in life? Secondly, how would you judge yourself in the sense of doing the will of God? How does God measure our success or impact? Let me suggest eight criteria that reflect whether we are doing the will of God: Am I changing from a life of bad habits, vice, to a life of good habits, virtue; Am I living a deep friendship with Jesus in prayer, especially daily meditation and a resolution; Do I love and honor my spouse (if you live with your parents do you honor your father and mother); Are you doing all you can to help your children reach not only their human but even more their divine potential; am I fulfilling my work responsibilities outside the home and inside the home; Am I helping others to a deeper friendship with Jesus by living authentic friendship; do I accept with joy the will of God in the things I cannot change; finally, do I accept the Cross in my life and offer it up to save souls? As we do an honest evaluation of each area of our life, we will see that in many ways we have made progress, we have grown and there is much for which to give thanks. However, if we are honest, we must admit there is more in my life that I cannot change or fix and more that is out of my control than within my control. If we are honest, we see clearly our limitations: I cant seem to change myself any further from vice to virtue. I confess the same sins over and over. I cant heal my broken body or soul. I cant fix this or that relationship or person. I cant fix the problems in the world or in the Church – heck I cant even change the problems within myself. This may seem to be a recognition of defeat, but it is the moment of triumph. It is the moment of triumph because if I am to make any real progress, I must admit I am powerless to transform myself from a sinner to a saint – that my life has become unmanageable. But there is Someone greater than me Who can restore me to sanity. I make the decision to turn my life and my will over to the care of Jesus and the Holy Spirit through Mary. Then I make a thorough examination of my life and go to Confession. Now I am entirely ready to have God remove all the defects of my character, so I humbly ask God to remove my shortcomings. Then I make a list of all the persons I have harmed, and I am willing to make amends to them all whenever possible except when it would injure them or others. Finally, I commit to a daily examination of conscience, to daily meditation and a resolution and to go out through authentic friendship to help someone else to a deep friendship with Jesus. As we go forward, striving to do will of God and carry the Cross Christ we must resist the temptation to give into frustration anger gluttony lust ect. When you experience the temptation to any of these, immediately turn it over to Mary, the principle instrument of the Holy Spirit, wait for her to act, hold fast, don’t give up because God always provides a way forward.

CCC 302 Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created "in a state of journeying" toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call "divine providence" the dispositions by which God guides all his creatures with wisdom and love to their ultimate end. One passage of Scripture captures the reality of Providence: Romans 8:28 All things work for good for those who love God. CCC 303 The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the care of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history. The Scriptures powerfully affirm God's absolute sovereignty over the course of events…CCC 304 And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes. This is not a "primitive mode of speech", but a profound way of recalling God's primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him. St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter with these words: "Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best." CCC 305 Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children's smallest needs: 'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. For life means more than food, and the body more than clothing. Think of the ravens. They do not sow or reap; they have no storehouses and no barns; yet God feeds them. And how much more are you worth than the birds! Can any of you, for all his worrying, add a single cubit to his span of life? If the smallest things, therefore, are outside your control, why worry about the rest?... But you, you must not set your hearts on things to eat and things to drink; nor must you worry. It is the pagans of this world who set their hearts on all these things. Your Father well knows you need them. No; set your hearts on his kingdom, and these other things will be given you as well. Providence comes from the word pro-videre which means “to see”. In His providence God sees all things before you; in place of you and in your favor. What do we mean by this? God sees all the things you will experience long before you, in fact from all eternity. Nothing is a surprise to him, nothing catches him off-guard. Second, even if you do not understand what you are going through, God does. God sees it, he understands it for you, He can make sense out of it for you – trust him. Finally, God will see all things in your favor – He’s got your back. God providentially guides all things to good through His Wisdom, that is, through the Holy Spirit. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Wisdom chapter 8:1 states “She (the Holy Spirit) reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well.” Mary, as the human expression of the Spirit, participates in this providential care of the Holy Spirit as the Spiritual Mother of all people. Mary watches over every aspect of the Christian life and home as she did for Jesus and Joseph in Nazareth. Therefore, Christians have called Mary, Our Lady of Providence. I have attached an image of Gaetano's Madonna gazing lovingly upon her two-year-old Son. This image of Mary as "Queen of the Home" has been enshrined over the fireplace of countless homes throughout the world. Maybe someone will place it over their mantle.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. What this is about and what it has to do with our lives is the theme of our meditation today. The Holy Spirit has a maternal mission to form Christ in you. The Holy Spirit carries out this maternal mission through Mary. When you turn to Mary, you are turning to the Holy Spirit that Christ may be formed in you. On July 28, 1935 Kolbe wrote: And what about the Holy Spirit? He is in the Immaculata…as the Son of God is in Jesus, but of course, with this distinction – in Jesus Christ, one divine person, two natures, the divine and the human, are united. In the Immaculata, her nature and person are distinguished from the nature and person of the Holy Spirit. However, the union between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculata is so inexpressibly perfect that He conducts His activity through her only. Therefore, she is the mediatrix of all graces flowing from the Holy Spirit…In honoring the Immaculata, we honor in a special way the Holy Spirit. (p. 473-474 Foster) In this feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, we must be reminded that the Holy Spirit works through Mary, our Spiritual Mother to bring to completion our union with God. Sometime between the year 1247 and 1265, St. Simon Stock, the head of the Carmelites, prayed to Mary, asking for a special privilege from her for the Carmelites. Mary appeared to him with a multitude of angels, holding in her hands the Scapular of the Order. She said, “This will be for you and for all Carmelites the privilege, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.” Mary promised that the grace of final perseverance will be granted through her intercession to all those who, by means of the Scapular, dedicate themselves to her and wear it until death out of devotion to her and to the teachings of Christ. The scapular (from Latin scapulae, "shoulders") is a garment worn by men and women of religious orders to serve as a reminder their commitment to live a Christian life. Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock and gave him the promise that all those who wear the scapular and live true devotion her will be saved. The Carmelites then invited lay people to wear a much smaller version of the scapular and benefit from the same promise. There is nothing magical about wearing a brown scapular or some Marian Medal. Wearing it should signify and serve to remind us to live true devotion to Mary. The saving power comes from the Holy Spirit and our response to the grace of the Spirit – not the wearing of this or that thing. What matters is living Devotion to Mary which is to live in Imitation of Jesus relationship with Mary, so that the Holy Spirit and Mary may form Jesus within us. Devotion to Mary has three essential elements: To consecrate oneself entirely to Mary as Jesus did in the Incarnation; To live a personal relationship with Mary, moment to moment, day after day, in imitation of Jesus’ relationship with her as he grew up under the direction and care of Mary in Nazareth; finally, to Sit in the School of Mary each day in the Rosary. These three practices keep us close to Mary, through whom the Holy Spirit will form Jesus in us. Those who do this will be saved. It is not about wearing this or that scapular or medal. It is about a deep personal and lived relationship with Mary and Jesus. Am I living a personal relationship with Mary, my Spiritual Mother in such a way that it causes me to be more virtuous, more pure, more courageous and more charitable? In a word – more like Jesus Christ. If not, why not? I wear the Miraculous Medal rather than the Brown Scapular. We will learn about the Miraculous Medal on Thursday. Every time I take the medal off and put it back on it is a reminder of my identity: I am the son of Mary, She is my Spiritual Mother, I belong entirely to her. I can rely on her for everything just as Jesus did when he was a small boy growing up under her care and influence. It is a reminder to me that I am not alone and I don’t have to go it alone

Where do we come from? Where are we going? What is the meaning of life? These are the questions taken up in CCC 282-301, the answers to which we will meditate upon today in the Rosary. The lie the devil has spread is that we do not come from an All-Good, All-Powerful and Loving Father. Instead, all the matter in the universe was smooshed into an incredibly hot, infinitely dense subatomic speck of matter. Then, resulting from random chance, the universe and human sprung into being and developed. This ultimately means, you come from nothing, nothing more than random chaos and there is nothing after death. You come from nothing, you are going toward nothing and your life has no meaning. God’s answers to these questions are quite different. With infinite wisdom, power and love, God created the world and you so that you could share in the very life of God and live with him and your family and friends forever. The truth is so much better than the lie. Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” There exists but one God. . . he is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the giver of order. He made all things by himself, that is, by his Word and by his Wisdom", "by the Son and the Spirit" who, so to speak, are "his hands." God is perfect and complete in the Trinity. He needs nothing at all. So why did God create the world and us? Because God is Love and Goodness itself. Love is a gift of self for the good of others. God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness: “Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand.” We came from love and we are invited to enter fully into the love of God and we journey by way of love. John of the Cross says: At the evening of life we shall be judged by our love. The World was created for the Glory of God. What is the Glory of God? The CCC and St Irenaeus teach that The Glory of God is man fully Alive! To be fully alive means to reach all our human and divine potential by becoming an adopted son or daughter of God. This means that the purpose or meaning of life is our transformation to be like God and live like God forever. This transformation come by emptying ourselves of all disordered desires, then longing for God above all things, seeking to do his will, allowing him to purify and finally to fill us completely with Himself. God creates an ordered and good world CCC 299 Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good", for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. Not only is creation good, so too every person is fundamentally good. To every person God says: “It is good that you exist, how wonderful you are!” Tragically, many people do not know this about themselves. It is our job to make it known to them. Beginning with our spouse, each of our children and the rest of the people in our lives. How will you communicate this to someone today! God upholds and sustains creation. 301 With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. This means that if God was not thinking of you, right at this moment, you would cease to exist. God holds you in existence at every moment and he enables you to do all you do. Jesus said to the Apostles at the Last Supper: Apart from me you can do nothing. Recognizing this utter dependence upon God should lead us to see that the most important thing, the most productive thing we could do each day is set aside time to give our 100% attention to God in prayer. Because we depend upon God for everything, prayer is the best investment of our time. But most people don’t pray because they are too busy. The pride this implies!

CCC 268 Of all the divine attributes, only God's omnipotence (that He is All-Powefull) is named in the Creed: "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH." To profess this power has great bearing on our lives. We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God's power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it "is made perfect in weakness. " CCC 269 The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God…If God is almighty "in heaven and on earth", it is because he made them. Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will. He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: As Wisdom 11:21 states "It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm? CCC 270 God is the Father Almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another: God reveals his fatherly power in three ways: by the way he takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that he gives us ("I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"): God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. The power of God is seen most clearly in his mercy and forgiveness. In the face of evil God seems apparently powerlessness 272 Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the death and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. Christ crucified is thus "the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." It is precisely in our weakness that the power of God is manifest. St John Paul writes in his letter on the meaning of human suffering: the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ's Cross. In such a concept, to suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ. In him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man's weakness and emptying of self, and he wishes to make his power known precisely in this weakness and emptying of self. Salvific Dolores 23 CCC 273 Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power. The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God", and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Mary believed the words of the Angel, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Power of the Most Hight will overshadow you…and Nothing will be impossible to God.” Even before it happened and her belief enabled it to happen. Mary continued to believe as she stood beneath the Cross, held her dead Son in her arms and laid him in the Tomb. And God did what seemed impossible – He raised her Son from the Dead. Mary come and be our faith in God the Father Almighty when we are weak. How do we stay faithful when things seem impossible? Keep this in mind at all times and say it over and over: Nothing is impossible to God; and God works all things for good for those who love him. CCC 274 "Nothing is more apt to confirm our faith and hope than holding it fixed in our minds that nothing is impossible with God. Romans 8:28 All things work for good for those who love God.

Faith in God should affect the way we think and live in five ways. First, belief in God should lead us to turn to him alone as the first cause and final goal of all things. Everything that happens, God has willed or allowed for our greatest good. Therefore, abandon yourselves unconditionally to God’s Providence, to the way He guides all things for good. Trust him to work out your purification and holiness as He sees fitting. Try not to resist him but to do his will and accept his will in all things since union with God is our goal. If everything we are and have comes from God and if God works all things for good for those who love him, then we should live in constant thanksgiving. We should begin each day, naming many things for which we are grateful to God. Then, when something wrong or bad happens, pray, ask God what to do and do what you can to change it. If you cannot change it, then thank God for it because God works all things for good for those who love him. Faith in God means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men: everyone is made in the image and likeness of God. Every person comes from God and every person is made for union with God through Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church. Our role is to take the initiative to help them to friendship with God. Our role is also means we must live the Golden Rule: do to others what you would want them to do to you. Faith in God means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him: A prayer of St Nicholas of Flue captures this idea well: My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you. Faith in God means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A prayer of St. Teresa of Avila wonderfully expresses this trust: Let nothing trouble you / Let nothing frighten you Everything passes / God never changes Patience / Obtains all Whoever has God / Wants for nothing God alone is enough.

Thank you for joining us for the Rosary!

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Meditate on the writings of Saint Faustina in our Rosary meditation today.

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Thank you for committing 20 minutes of your day to Our Lord and Our Lady!

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Thank you for joining us for the Rosary meditation.

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