Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his
Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in
your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on
love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth
and the length, the height and the depths; until, knowing the love
of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the
utter fullness of God. Glory be to him whose power, working in us
can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him
from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus
forever and ever. Amen
Eph. 3:16-19, NJB
You may think that you will be full of determination to resist
outward trials if God will only grant you inward favours. His
Majesty knows best what is suitable for us; it is not for us to advise
Him what to give us, for He can rightly reply that we know not
what we ask. All that the beginner in prayer has to do-and you
must not forget this, for it is very important-is to labour and be
resolute and prepare himself with all possible diligence to bring his will into conformity with the will of God. As I shall say later, you may be quite sure that this comprises the very greatest perfection which can be attained on the spiritual road. The more perfectly a person practices it, the more he will receive of the Lord and the greater the progress he will make on this road; do not think we have to use strange jargon or dabble in things of which we have no knowledge or understanding, our entire welfare is to be found in what I have described. If we go astray at the very beginning and want the Lord to do our will and to lead us just as our fancy dictates, how can this building possibly have a firm foundation? Let us see that we do as much as in us lies and avoid these venomous reptiles for often it is the Lord's will that we should be persecuted and afflicted by evil thoughts, which we cannot cast out, and also by aridities; and sometimes He even allows these reptiles to bite us, so that we may learn better how to be on our guard in the future and see if we are really grieved at having offended Him.
Second Mansion of "The Interior Castle"
\St. Teresa of Avila
"Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire"
The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was intended to commemorate a remarkable grace granted by Mary to the Order of Carmelites and through it to the whole Church.
In the night of July 16, 1251, Simon Stock fervently asked the Blessed Virgin to Protect his Order.
At dawn, Mary appeared to him, accompanied by a multitude of angels, surrounded by light, and dressed in the Carmelite habit. Mary's face was smiling in her hands she held the scapular of the Order. She put it on in front of the saint, saying: "This will be for you and for all carmalites a privilege, that whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire"
The love of our Mother is like a fresh breeze, like the dewfall. It brings peace and gentleness to tormented and restless souls.
"Behold your mother!" After the Eucharist, the Lord could not have bequeathed to us a more precious gift. She is the one who crushed the head of the serpent. She will help you conquer Satan, the flesh and the world. She will grant you the grace to firmly keep the beautiful ideal that God has placed in you.
Francois-Xavier NGUYEN VAN THUAN,
Le Sarment, Fayard 1991, Chapter 35-Our Mother Mary 912 and 913
"Please, Mary, take care of my mom and my children!"
Ingrid Betancourt declared the following in July 2008, in one of the many interviews that she gave at the time of her release from the FARC (The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army):
“During the first year of my detention at the hands of the FARC, I wrestled with God. I was terribly upset with him about my father’s death… Dad had a strong devotion for the Virgin… But at that time in my life, I must admit that I found Mary a little, well…, silly. However, over time I discovered a strong and intelligent Virgin Mary. She has a good sense of humor as well.” (…)
“I thought about her suffering as a mother, and I continually asked her: ‘Please, Mary, take care of my mom and my children.’ And asking her that, I knew she was listening and I really felt at peace.”
We are each called and equipped by God not only to survive our personal Calcutta, but to serve there--to contribute to those around us whose individual Calcutta's intersect our own, just as Mother Teresa did, if on a different scale. If she could face the worst of human suffering in such immense proportions-and do so despite bearing her own pain-then there must be a way that we can do the same in the lesser Calcutta that is ours. We must never forget, distracted by the demi-problems of our routine existence, just how important our life is in the plan of God, and the great amount of good we can yet contribute.
How important can our one small, unspectacular life be? Consider this: the good that each of us can accomplish, even with limited resources and restricted reach, not even a Mother Teresa could achieve. The family, friends, and coworkers whom we alone can touch, with our unique and unrepeatable mix of gifts and qualities, not even Mother Teresa could reach. No one else on the planet, and no one else in history, possesses the same network of acquaintances and the same combination of talents and gifts as each one of us does-as you do.
There is no need, then, to travel to far-off lands to contribute to Mother Teresa's mission, or to follow her example. Wherever we are, with whatever talents and relationships God has entrusted us, we are each called not to do what a Mother Teresa did, but to do as she did-to love as she loved in the Calcutta of our own life.
Mother Teresa's SECRET FIRE, Joseph Langford
4. How wisely didst Thou forewarn us to beware of men and that a man's enemies are they of his own household and that we are not to believe, if any one should say, "Behold here, or behold there."
I have been taught to my cost, and I wish it may serve to make me more cautious, and not to increase my folly.
"Be wary," saith one, "be wary, keep to thyself what I tell thee." And whilst I hold my peace, and believe the matter to be secret, he himself cannot keep the secret which he desires me to keep, but presently betrays both me and himself, and goes his way.
From such tales and such incautious people defend me, O Lord, that I may not fall into their hands, nor ever commit the like.
Give to my mouth truth and constancy in my words, and remove far from me a crafty tongue.
What I am not willing to suffer I ought by all means to shun.
My Imitation of Christ Chapter 45
