"I Believe in Love" Day 9 Part Four---Unshakable Confidence

[Dawn Marie]

Excerpts from the book “I believe in love”.

By Father Jean C.J. d’Elbee

DAY 9

PART FOUR

UNSHAKABLE CONFIDENCE

 

 

 DO YOU KNOW WHAT MISLEADS US?  THE FACT THAT THE BEST MEN ARE OFTEN SO HARD.  THEY GROW TIRED OF PARDONING.  THEY DO NOT FORGET THE WOUNDS THEY MAY HAVE RECEIVED.  THE WORLD IS PITILESS IN ITS JUDGEMENTS.  IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE PERVERTED SHOULD BE LESS SEVERE THAN OTHERS, IF ONLY FROM LOOKING AT THEMSELVES.  QUITE THE CONTRARY, BECAUSE MERCY IS A FRUIT OF GRACE.  LISTEN TO THE PHARISEES, BEHIND THEIR WHITEWASHED FACADES, PASSING JUDGMENTS ON THE POOR PUBLICANS. 

WE APPLY TO THE HEART OF JESUS THE MEASURE OF OUR OWN MISERABLE LITTLE HEARTS, SO MEAN, SO NARROW, SO HARD, AND WE DO NOT SUCCEED IN COMPREHENDING HOW GOOD, HOW INDULGENT, HOW COMPASSIONATE, HOW GENTLE, AND HOW PATIENT IS JESUS HIMSELF.

 

WE ARE SEVERE PARTICULARLY THROUGH LACK OF HUMILITY.  THIS LACK OF HUMILITY PREVENTS US FROM GOING TO JESUS WITH THE CHILDLIKE CONFIDENCE WHICH PERMITS HIM TO MAKE OUR HEARTS GENTLE AND HUMBLE LIKE HIS.

YES IT IS REALLY THIS WHICH MISLEADS US.  WE HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED A TRULY MERCIFUL, UNIVERSALLY MERCIFUL HEART, ALWAYS BENEVOLENT AND UNDERSTANDING, WHICH, ATTRACTED BY MISERY, ALWAYS KNOWS HOW TO BEND OVER IT IN COMPASSION.  YET THAT IS WHAT THE HEART OF JESUS IS LIKE.

 

SCRIPTURE IS FULL OF TEXTS WHICH CONFIRM THIS DOCTRINE OF CONFIDENCE IN MISERY---I WOULD SAY OF COMPLETE CONFIDENCE IN COMPLETE MISERY.  “I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE” ST. PAUL WRITES.

HOW CLEARLY WE SEE IN ALL THIS THE WILL OF JESUS TO SAVE US AT ALL COSTS.  THAT WILL MADE HIM SHED ALL HIS BLOOD TO THE LAST DROP, WHEN A GESTURE, AN ABSOLUTION, WOULD HAVE SUFFICED. 

HE WILLED TO PULL JUDAS FROM THE ABYSS BY GENTLENESS AND GOODNESS.  AT THE VERY MOMENT WHEN JUDAS BETRAYED HIM, HE CALLED HIM HIS FRIEND: “FRIEND, DO YOU BETRAY THE SON OF MAN WITH A KISS?”

THE GREAT SIN OF JUDAS WAS NOT HIS GREED, NOR EVEN HIS BETRAYAL: IT WAS HIS FAILURE TO RESPOND TO THIS URGENT CALL FROM THE HEART OF JESUS.  IF AT THAT MOMENT JUDAS HAD FALLEN TO HIS KNEES SAYING, “MY CRIME IS IMMENSE, BUT YOUR MERCY IS EVEN GREATER,” JESUS WOULD HAVE TAKEN HIM IN HIS ARMS.  BUT JUDAS DOUBTED THAT MERCY, OR HE DID NOT WANT IT.  THAT WAS HIS DOWNFALL.

THE GREAT SINNERS CARRIED AWAY BY THEIR PASSIONS, COMMIT THEIR GREATEST SIN, WHICH, IT IS WRITTEN, “SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN”, THE DAY THEY SHAKE OFF REMORSE AND APOSTATIZE THROUGH DESPAIR AND PRIDE, REFUSING MERCY.  THAT IS THE BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST, AGAINST LOVE.

 

WE CAN GO STILL FURTHER. WE CAN BASE OUR CONFIDENCE, NOT ONLY ON THE MERCY OF GOD, BUT ALSO ON HIS JUSTICE, ALWAYS FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF LITTLE THERESE.  “TO ME,” SHE CRIES, “HE HAS GIVEN HIS INFINITE MERCY, AND IT IS THROUGH THIS THAT I CONTEMPLATE AND ADORE THE OTHER DIVINE PERFECTIONS.  THEN THEY ALL APPEAR TO ME RADIANT WITH LOVE.  EVEN JUSTICE ITSELF, PERHAPS EVEN MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, APPEARS TO ME CLOTHED IN LOVE.   WHAT A SWEET JOY TO THINK THAT GOD IS JUST, THAT IS TO SAY, THAT HE TAKES OUR WEAKNESS INTO ACCOUNT, THAT HE KNOWS PERFECTLY THE FRAILTY OF OUR NATURE!  OF WHAT THEREFORE SHOULD I BE AFRAID”?

 

IT IS IN THIS SENSE THAT LITTLE THERESE SAID, “FOR THE VICTIMS OF LOVE, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THERE WILL BE NO JUDGMENT, BUT RATHER THAT GOD WILL HASTEN TO REWARD WITH ETERNAL DELIGHTS HIS OWN LOVE, WHICH HE WILL SEE BURNING IN THEIR HEARTS.”

SHE KNEW THAT “THE FIRE OF LOVE IS MORE SANCTIFYING THAN THAT OF PURGATORY.”

THE “LITTLE ONES” WHO HAVE SURRENDERED THEMSELVES TO LOVE, LIVING HERE BELOW IN THE ARMS OF JESUS, ON HIS HEART, WILL FIND THEMSELVES, AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH, IN HIS ARMS, ON HIS HEART.

AND WHEN JESUS CONCEALS HIMSELF DURING GRIEVOUS INTERIOR TRIALS SUCH AS DRYNESS, ARIDITY, ANGUISH IN DARKNESS, WHEN ALL THE WORDS OF LOVE, CONFIDENCE, ABANDONMENT SAY NOTHING MORE TO US, DO NOT TOUCH US, DO NOT REACH US ANYMORE, WHAT THEN?  WHAT SOUL HAS NOT PASSED THROUGH THESE NIGHTS?

IT IS THEN THAT WE MUST PUSH CONFIDENCE TO THE EXTREME LEVELS.  THESE TRIALS ARE GRACES BECAUSE THEY ARE OCCASIONS FOR PURE FAITH.

 

[AURA CID L F FERREIRA DE BRITTO]

OF WHAT THEREFORE SHOULD I BE AFRAID”?

†Amen†

[Kate Jackson]

Happy 100th anniversary of the miracle of the sun. Amen.

[Flavia Talladen Schott]

Amen. 

[Kate Jackson]

These trials are graces because they are occasions for pure faith. Amen.

[bernadette szczepkowski]

Amen+

[Alley]

With love +

[AnnaMaria]

AMEN

[Michael]

Amen.

[MARIA ESTHER DE VALLE]

Amen

[Kate Jackson]

So distracted! Please supply for my inattention. Amen