First Little Visit to Jesus & Mary

For me, I know no other perfection than that of loving God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.  (St. Francis de Sales)

Prayer Before Visit

THE FOUNTAIN OF GRACE 

Here is the fountain of everything good―Jesus in this Sacrament. It is He who says: "Let him who is thirsty come to me." From this Fountain of the Most Holy Sacrament the Saints have always drawn the wonderful waters―God's great favors. There Jesus gives us all the merits of His Passion just as the Prophet foretold: "You will draw waters from the fountains of the Saviour." (Isaias,12). 

The Countess of Feria, a devoted follower of the Venerable Father Avila, and a nun of the Society of Poor Clares, was sometimes called "The spouse of the Most Holy Sacrament"―this was because she remained before it long and frequently. When asked what she did for so many hours spent in the presence of Our Divine Lord, she answered: "For all eternity I could remain there. Is not the very Essence of God there?―the nourishment of the Blessed. God is here. What do you do in His presence? What do you not do? You love; you praise; you thank; you ask. What does a poor man do when he approaches one who is rich? What does a sick man do when he goes to see his physician? What does a thirsty man do when he goes to the limpid spring? What does a hungry man do when he goes to a table where there is an abundance of food?"   

O my lovable Jesus, most sweet and most delightful; my Life, my Hope, my Treasure―the one love of my soul! Oh! How great was the price that it cost you to remain with us in this Sacrament? To remain in the Sacrament on our altars you had to die; and after that how great were the wrongs you had to suffer in this very Sacrament in order to help us with your own Presence! It is your love and the longing you have to be loved by us that have conquered everything.  

Therefore, my Master, come. Come and place yourself within my very heart. Close up the gate of it forever, so that no created thing shall enter there any more to take away any part of that love which is due to you, and which I want to give all to you. You alone, my dear Redeemer, will have full ownership of me. You alone will rule me now; and if at any time I should disobey you, even in the smallest way, give me some severe punishment, so that in the future I may be on my guard to act only in the way that gives most joy to you.     
   
See that I no longer wish for, or seek for, any other pleasure except to give pleasure to you; to visit you often at the altar; to spend my time with you; and to receive you in Holy Communion. Others, if they wish, may seek for other good things; but I neither love nor wish for anything except for the treasure of your love. This alone is my wish―to seek for you at the foot of the altar. See that I may become forgetful of myself so that I may remember only your goodness. 

O blessed Seraphim, I do not envy you because of your glory, but I envy you for the love that you have for your God and mine. Teach me what I am to do in order to love Him and to give Him pleasure.

Aspiration―My Jesus, I wish to love but you alone; I wish to give pleasure only to you.    

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION 

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY 

THE SECOND FOUNTAIN 

"Never will I rest until I have obtained a tender love for my mother."

Another fountain a―well-spring of very great happiness for us, a spring rich in good things and graces―is our Mother Mary. St. Bernard says that there is not a person in the world who does not draw some good thing from it, "Of its fullness we have all received." Mary Most Holy was filled with grace by God, for the angel saluted her, "Hail, full of grace." St. Peter Chrysologus adds that it was not only for herself, but also for us that her soul was like a deep abyss filled with grace; so that from its depths she should draw gifts for everyone who is devoted to her. "It was to pour out salvation through all the ages that the Blessed Virgin received this store of grace."

Aspiration―Fountain of all our joy, pray for us.

Prayer After Visit

The End of The Day

At the end of the day "We believe it because the Son of God has said it. "Than the Word of Truth, there is naught more true."

Pray Your Rosary Every Day

Page 70 - The Little Way

Little Saint Thérèse - Old Postcard 

In Love With The Divine Outcast
"A Page a Day Keeps the Devil Away!"

We here touch the vital point of Spiritual Childhood. What the heart is to the body in the physical life, love is to the soul in the spiritual life. It is the heart which vivifies all the members and all the organs of the body; it is love which from the supernatural point of (P.70) view vivifies all the powers and all the faculties of the soul. The spiritual life, thus understood, is truly a life of holy childhood, modeled on that of little children, in whom nothing is of any worth, nothing operates but love. The child is love only; he is all love. And is it not that which gives him so many charms in the eyes of those who cannot resist the attraction of childlike smile?

And it is that, too, which in St. Little Thérèse has so gently ravished the Heart of the Good God that He has become, as it were, incapable of resisting her desires and her prayers. She herself was persuaded of this, and it was certainly her intention to convince us of it, when a few days before her death, she said:

"I want to give my little way to souls. I want to make known to them the simple means that have so perfectly succeeded for me, to tell them that there is but one only thing to do here below: to cast down before Jesus the flowers of little sacrifices, to win Him by caresses! That is how I have won Him, and that is why I shall be so well received."

"My griefs, my joys, my sacrifices small―Behold my flowers, my caresses! All!" 

(P.71) Coming tomorrow!

Start at the Very Beginning! 

Page 68 of In Love With the Divine Outcast

About the Picture

  The reason we have not yet become saints is because we have not understood what it means to love. We think we do, but we do not. To love means to annihilate oneself for the Beloved. The self-sacrifice (P.68) of a mother for her child is only a shadow of the love wherewith we should love the Beloved of our soul. To love is to conform ourselves to the Beloved in the most intimate manner of which we are capable; to have no views but His views; no desires but His desires; no thoughts but His thoughts; no likes but His likes; no wants but His wants; no hopes but His hopes; no will but His Will. It is to have no joy but in suffering for Him; no life but in dying for Him; no death but in living for Him; it is to have no consolation but in ministering to Him; no desolation but in grieving Him; no reward but, as the least of the least, in serving Him.

Yes, we who have answered the call of the Divine Outcast must sell all and follow Him. We have no right to hold back anything which would debar Him from being established as the one and rightful owner of our whole being, body and soul. We have no right, we who are called to perfection, to be satisfied with imperfection. We have no right either in our own name, or in that of others, because we may not say to God on the Last Day, "Am I my brother's keeper?" We have assumed the responsibility in the acceptance of the garb we wear―and how gladly and impatiently we awaited it!

Every single soul that God ever created or will create is His own precious jewel, (P.69) His treasure. Then what of those whom He has selected from among the millions of His favorites. His Spouses?

(To be Continued)

Start at the Very Beginning! 

Page 67

About the Picture

The saints did but one thing―the Will of God. But they did it with all their might. We have to do only the same thing; and according to the degree of intensity with which we labour shall our sanctification progress. We shall attain the height of Glory in Heaven that corresponds to the depth of Humility we have sounded on earth. The harder you hit the ball on the ground, the harder it rebounds. The perfection of Humility is the annihilation of our will, its absolute (P.67) submission to the Divine in the very least detail. That is what made Joan a saint―and Teresa, too. "If thou wilt be perfect" (this is what Joan's voice said to her, and Teresa's visions revealed), "go, sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and come, follow Me."For the Maid it meant the renunciation of her home and kinsfolk; the voluntary acceptance of the hard and unpleasant life of the soldier; difficulties and misunderstandings and jibes and jeers, and imprisonment and torture, and the stake. She knew it beforehand.

The call to follow the Master―really to follow―always means Calvary and Crucifixion. But the Maid had her answer ready. It came from her heart, as it had come years before from the heart of another Maid: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done unto me according to Thy word."

We who have vowed to follow a Crucified God must expect crucifixion. It is the sublime end of our vocation. The crucifixion of the will is the perfection of love, for remember always, we love God with the will. Yes, this must occur not simply, now and then, but constantly and perseveringly.

The reason we have not yet become saints is because we have not understood what it means to love. We think we do, but we do not. To love means to annihilate oneself for the Beloved. The self-sacrifice (P.68) of a mother for her child is only a shadow of the love wherewith we should love the Beloved of our soul.

Start at the Very Beginning! 

Page 66

About this Picture

(P.66) "But," you may argue, "Look at the visions seen by Teresa. Who would not be holy with all these extraordinary helps? We cannot measure up to them, it were folly to try."

No, we have not heard the voices that Joan of Arc heard, and the better that we have not. Our ordinary way is much safer for us, and more secure. But we have seen more than Joan had. We have the absolutely safe and always audible voices of our superiors and Our Rule. There is no mistake possible here in knowing the Will of God. Joan easily could have slipped. Did we ever really stop to think that it was not the voices that made Joan a saint, nor the command to do God's Will, but her doing it? Neither will the voices sent by God sanctify us; our persistent, insistent adherence to them, however, will.

The saints did but one thing―the Will of God. But they did it with all their might. We have to do only the same thing; and according to the degree of intensity with which we labour shall our sanctification progress. We shall attain the height of Glory in Heaven that corresponds to the depth of Humility we have sounded on earth. The harder you hit the ball on the ground, the harder it rebounds. The perfection of Humility is the annihilation of our will, its absolute (P.67) submission to the Divine in the very least detail.

Start at the Very Beginning! 

Page 65

About this Picture

Union with God, then is the spiritual height God calls everyone to achieve―"everyone," not only Religious, but "any pearl of great price, who specializes in "yes" constantly to God and the Holy Ghost. Witness Catherine of Sienna, the ecstatic household drudge; and Joan of Arc, the unlettered soldier-heroine, the savior of her people; Elizabeth of Hungary, the (P.65) contemplative of the royal courts; and countless others―beggars, and peasants, and merchants, and princes. If these out in the world have attained this exalted degree of friendship with God, with what greater reason does He not expect the same of us who are specially consecrated for this one end, no matter what the external service may be.

What was it that Our Lord said to Benigna Consolata? "The reason that there are so few contemplates among the Religious is because there are so few mortified souls. I long to pour out My graces upon these My chosen one, My Spouses, but I cannot, for their hearts are far from Me." Is this not about the same thing as He said four centuries previously to Teresa of Avila? "I have travelled all over the world," He said, "seeking souls on whom to lavish My graces, but nobody wants them, so I am going to pour them all out on you." Evidently the world has not changed much. Back in the early fifteenth century Thomas of Kempis wrote "And this is the reason why there are found so few contemplative persons, because there are few who know how to sequester themselves entirely from transitory and created things." (Imit. 3/31). No, the world has not changed since the crushing fall in Eden―it was the same yesterday, is the same to-day, and will be the same till time shall be no more.

Start at the Very Beginning! 

Christ Carries His Cross

Hieronymus Bosch or follower - 1510. Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts.

 The Thunderstorm

Thus in this groaning and in this great pain thou goest out of Jerusalem towards thy death. The city is so great, the people so much, that the folk come running out of each street; then stand up the folk, and great is the reek, that men may wonder that think thereon. With such a procession of worldly wondering, was never thief led to death. Some there were of the common people that sighed sore and wept for thy woe, that knew thee so tormented, and that it was for envy; for the princes and the high-priests, that burdened men with the law, did thee to death for thy true sayings, when thou would reprove them of their errors. They knew it was outrage and wrong that thou suffered, and followed thee weeping and sighing sore. Then thou said a thing that afterwards came to pass: thou bade them weep for themselves, and for the great vengeance that should fall for thy death on them and on their children, and on all the City that afterwards was destroyed, for the vengeance of their own guilt that they should be driven out of their place.

Richard Rolle
For More Click on The Lightning Storm

14th Century

Jesus We Seek

Mary, our Mother dear,

Health of the weak,

Sick are our souls with fear―

Jesus we seek;

Dark lower the clouds around,

Sunshine grows dim;

Safety with thee is found―

Lead us to Him.

Published by the Union Review in 1867

Republished in Carmina Mariana, London - 1897

Ladder of Love

Faith enlightens us, 

Hope supports us, Love draws us.

Some Days are Dark and dreary,

Others are sunny and sweet,

But what are all save a ladder of love

Leading to God's dear Feet?

No matter how deep the shadow

Or how friendless we may stand,

We know our feet will ever be firm

If we trust in God's sure Hand.

And yet on the upward journey

There are dangers hidden from all;

And even from the loftiest height

The unwary feet may fall;

But if faith and love, twin beacon lights,

Shine on us from above,

We shall reach Our Father's home at last

On Life's great ladder of love.

 

In Love with The Divine Outcast

For the power to give up many things―every earthly thing―is at the bottom a power of not being able to do without other things. He to whom honour is P. 49 necessary can do without money. He who must have God's communion can do without the sweet companionship of fellow-men. He who cannot lose his eternity, can easily cast aside time and the body which belongs to it, and by the martyr's slow or sudden death exchange the visible for the invisible, the symbol for the reality; nay, he who values most intensely his friend's or his child's life, can, easily, but still not grudgingly, let go the joy and daily comfort of his friend's or his child's hourly presence, and see him die that he may enter into life.

On these two ladders, the order of human character mounts up―the power to do without, and the power not to do without. As we grow better, there are some things that are always growing looser in their grasp upon us; there are other things that are always taking a tighter hold upon our life. We sweep up out of the grasp of money, praise, ease, distinction. We sweep up into the necessity of truth, courage, virtue, love and God. The gravitation of the earth grows weaker, the gravitation of the stars takes stronger and stronger hold upon us. And, on the other hand, as we grow worse, as we go down, the terrible opposite of all this comes to pass. The highest necessities we let go, and the lowest necessities take tighter hold on us. Still, as we go down, we are judged by what we can do P. 50 without and what we cannot do without. We come down at last to where we cannot do without a comfortable dinner and an easy bed, but we can without an act of charity or a thought of God.

The abiding in Christ, then, demands a surrender of all that hinders the union of the soul with Him. Here is no broad rule that can be laid down beforehand; it is an individual matter between each soul and Christ. All possibility of pride or harsh criticism of others is out of the question, for none can judge beforehand of what another ought to give up. Each must follow as he is led, resolving that if need be he will give up all for Him. 

Our Lord said to St. Margaret Mary. "I am looking for a Victim who is willing to sacrifice herself for the fulfillment of My designs. Wilt thou give Me thy heart as a refuge for My suffering Heart Which is despised by men?"

And what response will be made by generous souls? There are offers of help from all sides, such as Our Lord was hoping to receive when He made his pitiful and reiterated appeal. Xavierine de Maistre writes: "My God and my All, I realize Thy mysterious operations in my soul, I have heard Thy appeal, and behold, I am ready. I offer myself to Thee to be Thy victim and the full acceptance of the term. I deliver over to Thee my body, my soul, and my heart, and all that I have, so that Thou mayest sacrifice P. 51 them

Continue with Chapter Five

In Love With the Divine Outcast

Now it is gone, for we have come in sight of what is more worth having. The growth in the spiritual life is thus a constant exchange: first the giving up of what is positively bad for good, then the surrender of things good in themselves for better: "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron." (Isa. 60/17.) Such is the promise in the kingdom of the Messias, and at last  "The sun shall be no more thy light of the day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an Everlasting Light, and thy God thy Glory." (Isa. 16/19.)

This is the meaning of the life of sacrifice; it has ever before it a positive rather than a negative end, and it aims at life, not at death, only as the gateway to a better life. It looks with no puritan eye of contempt at the fair things of the world, nor at those whose lives are less stern; it gives up what it does surrender only to gain something better.

For the power to give up many things―every earthly thing―is at the bottom a power of not being able to do without other things. He to whom honor is P. 49 necessary can do without money. (Continued Here)

In Love with The Divine Outcast - p. 47

As we begin to serve God, let us make one rule― always to give up everything that we feel is a hindrance to our union with Him. As we get to know Him better, He will become more exacting in His demands; we will find that many things which now are harmless and in a measure necessary to us will begin to interfere with our union with God. Resolve that if we find this we will give them up; we will be able to do, in a few years, what it would be absurd to ask us to do now.

Read More Here

Conformity to God's Will

 Chickens near a Catholic Church, France, 1949
                                                                                                                                   

If I could travel back through time!

I would walk up this muddy street, leave my shoes at the door of that Church and Make A Little Visit! 

Index to Older Meditations

He said, "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me" (Matt. xxvi. 39).  We too are allowed to pray for favours and deprecate chastisement, in the hope that God may have so arranged things from the beginning, in prevision of our prayers, as to grant our desires; but we must be prepared to accept a refusal or a delay with contentment and gratitude.    

Continue this Two Page Meditation Below. 

                                                         Click Here  ⬆︎  To Enlarge

In Love With The Divine Outcast P. 44

"Go behind Me Satan." The Gospel affords a truly striking example of this domination of the human over the divine without there being any formal offense against God. It is in an episode in which St. Peter is addressed as Satan by his Divine Master. Our Lord was announcing P. 43 to His disciples all the sufferings of His Passion; Peter taking Him aside, began to rebuke Him saying: "Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee." And Jesus turning said to Peter: "Go behind Me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men." Here Peter is addressed as Satan by the gentle Saviour, although he was the very man whom, a few verses higher up, this Saviour had called 'blessed,' and chosen as the foundation of His Church. What drive, then, can be committed to draw upon himself such a lively rebuke after having merited such a sublime praise? He wanted to show his Master his affection, and he did so sincerely indeed. Peter was a man of reckless generosity. Who is going to bring any accusation against the Apostle for testifying to his Master? And he is addressed as Satan for thus testifying his affection? Yes, just for this testimony. Why? Our Saviour explains: "Thou puttest man," says He, "before God." Man's thoughts before God's thoughts, man's likings before God's. And when thou actest in this fashion, I call thee Satan. Give God His place, keep thine own, go behind Me. Cease to put the human above the divine, and learn that in all things God must be above Man.

These two scenes, which are placed side by side in the Gospel, wherein Peter P. 44 is first of all addressed as "blessed," and then as "Satan," are singularly instructive. On the one hand, Peter acknowledges and confesses the Divinity of Christ, and Jesus says to him; "Blessed are thou." Why blessed? Because thou hast heard and listened not to the voice of flesh and blood, but to the Voice of the Father Who is in Heaven. Here is the divine above the human. On the other hand, Peter, following human likings and not God's Wisdom, goes so far as to run counter to the Passion of the Son of Man, and his Master calls him Satan. Here we see how our Saviour praises and extols faithfulness in reserving the first place to the divine. And here, too, we see how He rebukes the domination of nature's views, affections, and tendencies, even in those manifestations which are free from sin.

"To Him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with Me in My Throne; as I also have overcome, and am set down with My Father in His Throne."

(Apoc. 3/21.)

It is never difficult to know what and how much Our Divine Lord wishes. He speaks in a very clear language. His habitual mode of dealing is to withdraw the soul from external things. The soul apt to resist, and to resist often, finally contents herself with a mediocre existence, resting in the thought that she was never intended for so exalted a life. This P. 45 thought is a great obstacle to progress in the life of union with God.

Go to the BEGINNING!