Thursday of the Second Week of Advent
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10th Mt. 11:11-15 “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
CALL TO HOLINESS by St. Louis de Montfort
Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next.
It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake must lead you toward that end. Otherwise you are resisting God in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being.
What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature being taken up into Creator! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.
Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the Saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to Divine Providence and obedience to the will of God.
Let us reflect on these means to be saved and attain perfection, or at least work toward perfection. At first, they may seem unattainable, but nothing is impossible with God!
1. Sincere Humility: I know I am little and can do only little things to please my Heavenly Father. Even if the world were to think I was great, I know I am not. Whatever good I do is God’s grace. Of myself, I can do nothing.
2. Unceasing Prayer: My intention is to offer all that I am and all that I do each day for the honor and glory of God.
Morning Offering Prayers:
Prayer of Consecration to Mary: “Mary, my Queen and my Mother, I give myself entirely to you. To show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my entire being without reserve. Dear Mother, as I am your own, keep me and guard me as your property and possession. Amen”
Morning Offering: “O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the needs of all those I pray for daily, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen”
Other Essential Daily Prayers:
- Daily Holy Hour
- Daily Rosary
- Participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion on Sundays and as often as possible on weekdays (actual or virtual).
- Other prayers I am inspired to pray.
Evening Prayer—Ignatian Examen Prayer
Five steps: 1) Thanksgiving to God for His abundant blessings; 2) Beg for the grace to review my day objectively; 3) See where my heart has been during the course of the day; 4) Humbly admit my failures; 5) Renewal/Proposal for the following day as a result of self-knowledge so as to avoid falling into the failures of the past.
3. Complete Self-denial: There are Acts of Self-denial and then there is the act of Complete Self-denial—both should be practiced daily.
Acts of Self-denial are called penances. The penance chosen varies from person to person, but generally I give up something I like, or do something I know I should do, but don’t like to do. The idea is to order the disorder in my life. It could be related to eating, sleeping, working, recreation, interpersonal relationships, etc. Helpful hint: which sins do I confess frequently? It stands to reason that is where to begin by practicing the opposite virtue!
Complete Self-denial is total surrender: I do all for the honor and glory of God!
- First, as I go through my day I check myself: Am I where God wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do—be it prayer, work, study, recreation, being available to others, etc. If I am faithful to my daily Holy Hour, the Holy Spirit will guide me by means of my interior thoughts, movements of my heart, people He places in my path, etc., to know what God is asking of me at any given time.
- Second, I accept each moment as it happens as God’s permissive will for me, whether good or bad. An example, interruptions are God’s way of showing me His plans for my day! For this reason, I hold everything loosely in my hands, so God can rearrange things, take something out, put something else in, and in this way He leads, and I follow. When it involves the cross, I beg for the grace to surrender and walk the thorn-strewn path He has chosen for me.
- Third, when in doubt, I don’t act; I wait for clarity. I ask myself what would Jesus and Mary do? If I am still in doubt, I seek counsel from my Confessor or Spiritual Director and I am obedient to the counsel I receive.
- Lastly, God honors my desire, my intention, and my will to obey perfectly, even if I cannot reach such perfection in this life.
4. Abandonment to Divine Providence and Obedience to the Will of God…
- In Jesus’ own words: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mt. 6: 31-34)
- According to Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, God is so good, that 1) He could only permit evil in order to bring a greater good out of the evil, 2) a greater good that would not exist without the evil, 3) so that we when we look back, we will thank God even for the evil that brought us so great a good.
- Without the sin of Adam and Eve, there would be no Jesus, Son of God made man, and no Mary, Mother of God and our own dear Mother! Do we not say, “O happy fault that brought us so great a Savior”? If we accept and then give everything that happens in our life to Jesus, including our sins and failings, He will turn all into the gold of salvation for ourselves and others as well. Do you believe this?
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
