I know you are feeling it….we all are. Remember….

Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Father Jacques Phillipe

The first obstacle is that, as long as we have not experienced concretely the fidelity of Divine Providence to provide for our essential needs, we have difficulty believing in it and we abandon it.

We have hard heads, the words of Jesus do not suffice for us, we want to see at least a little in order to believe!

Well, we do not see it operating around us in a clear manner. How, then, are we to experience it?
It is important to know one thing: we cannot experience this support from God unless we leave him the necessary space in which he can express himself. I would like to make a comparison.

As long as a person who must jump with a parachute does not jump out into the void, he cannot feel that the cords of the parachute will support him, because the parachute has not yet had the chance to open.

One must first jump and it is only later that one feels carried. And so it is in the spiritual life: “God gives in the measure that we expect of Him,” says St. John of the Cross.

And St. Francis De Sales says: “The measure of Divine Providence acting on us is the degree of confidence that we have in it.”

This is where the problem lies.
Many do not believe in Providence because they’ve never experienced it, but they’ve never experienced it because they’ve never jumped into the void and taken the leap of faith.

They never give it the possibility to intervene.
They calculate everything, anticipate everything, they seek to resolve everything by counting on themselves, instead of counting on God.

The founders of religious orders proceed with the audacity of this spirit of faith. They buy houses without having a penny, they receive the poor although they have nothing with which to feed them. Then, God performs miracles for them. The checks arrive and the granaries are filled.

But, too often, generations later, everything is planned, calculated. One doesn’t incur an expense without being sure in advance to have enough to cover it. How can Providence manifest itself?

And the same is true in the spiritual life.

If a priest drafts all his sermons and his talks, down to the least comma, in order to be sure that he does not find himself wanting before his audience, and never has the audacity to begin preaching with a prayer and confidence in God as his only preparation, how can he have this beautiful experience of the Holy Spirit, who speaks through his mouth?

Does the gospel not say,… Do not worry about how to speak or what you should say; for what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it will not be you who will be speaking, but the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you (Matthew 10:19)?

Let us be very clear. Obviously we do not want to say that it is a bad thing to be able to anticipate things, to develop a budget or prepare ones homilies. Our natural abilities are also instruments in the hands of Providence!

But everything depends on the spirit in which we do things.

We must clearly understand that there is an enormous difference in attitude of heart between one, who in fear of finding himself wanting because he does not believe in the intervention of God on behalf of those who lean on Him, programs everything in advance to the smallest detail and does not undertake anything except in the exact measure of its actual possibilities, and one who certainly undertakes legitimate things, but who abandons himself with confidence in God to provide all that is asked of him and who thus surpasses his own possibilities.

And that which God demands of us always goes beyond our natural human possibilities!

“We must live in the present moment. This is the only moment within our hands, the only one that can make us happy. The past exists no more; let us leave it to the Divine Mercy. And, though it does not yet exist, let us entrust the future to God’s loving Providence and live happily in the present.” -Fr. Narciso Irala, S.J., Achieving Peace of Heart http://amzn.to/2soEBXz (afflink) Painting by Thomas Danthony

The past three days Rosie and I spent some days of recollection at the Benedictines of Mary at Gower, Missouri….Praying for our nation especially. It was a beautiful time.

The nuns are well aware of what is going on in our country and lifting everything up in prayer through their holy, sacrificial lives.

Mother Abbess has a message for us all…Please share.

Dear Friends,

Many have asked our prayers during these days, and many propose earthly solutions. There is one that was given from heaven centuries ago: the Most Holy Rosary. Our Lady came to remind us of this at Fatima, and asked for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. In the last century, anticipating the fulfillment of this request, the Bishops and families of Portugal consecrated themselves and their nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They were thus spared from both the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Many Consecrations have been neglected in the past, and freedom has consequently suffered.

On this First Saturday, or as soon as possible, let all heads of households Consecrate themselves and our Nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; all others present need only say the ejaculation “Jesus, Mary, I trust in you,” and then follow the Solemn act with the recitation of the Rosary.

As the Angel of Peace told the children at Fatima, “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplication.” May their Hearts grant us peace, and bless and strengthen each one of us.

In the Heart of Mary,
Mother Cecilia, Abbess

 

 

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