PRAYERS TO OUR LADY

"I Believe in Love" Day Ten, Part Five---Unshakable Confidence

Excerpts from the book “I believe in love”.

By Father Jean C.J. d’Elbee

DAY 10

PART FIVE

UNSHAKABLE CONFIDENCE

PURE LOVE IS REALIZED IN PURE FAITH, AND PURE FAITH IS REALIZED IN DARKNESS IN THE SAME WAY AS “STRENGTH IS PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS”. PROFIT, PROFIT FROM THESE DARK HOURS WHEN YOUR NATURE GRIEVES, WHEN YOUR HEART IS COLD, WHEN YOU BELIEVE, WRONGLY, THAT JESUS IS VERY FAR FROM YOU AND EVEN, PERHAPS, THAT HE IS TURNING HIS EYES AWAY FROM YOU, BECAUSE YOU SEE YOURSELF TO BE SO IMPERFECT AND WRETCHED; PROFIT FROM THEM TO MAKE HEROIC ACTS OF FAITH AND CONFIDENCE OUT OF PURE WILL. THESE ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS ACTS---THEY HAVE IMMENSE MERIT BECAUSE IN THOSE TIMES THEY ARE ACTS OF PURE FAITH, WITHOUT CONSOLATION, AND WITHOUT SENSIBLE AID.

THAT IS THE MOMENT TO SAY TO JESUS, “YOU MAY SLEEP IN MY BOAT; I SHALL NOT AWAKEN YOU. YOU ARE HIDING YOURSELF, BUT I KNOW WELL WHERE YOU ARE HIDDEN: YOU ARE IN MY HEART. I DO NOT FEEL IT, BUT I KNOW IT.”

THROUGHOUT THE LAST YEAR OF HER LIFE, LITTLE THERESE ENDURED THIS TRIAL OF FAITH AND WAS THUS CONSUMED TO THE VERY LAST PARTICLE, IN THE FIRE OF DIVINE LOVE. “I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO EXPRESS WHAT I FEEL,” SHE WRITES, “BUT ALAS! I BELIEVE THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. ONE WOULD HAVE HAD TO TRAVEL IN THIS DARK TUNNEL IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE DARKNESS.

WHEN I WANT TO REST MY HEART, FATIGUED FROM THE DARKNESS WHICH SURROUNDS IT, IN THE MEMORY OF THE MARVELOUS COUNTRY TOWARD WHICH I ASPIRE, MY TORMENT REDOUBLES. I BELIEVE I HAVE MADE MORE ACTS OF FAITH IN THE LAST YEAR THAN DURING THE REST OF MY LIFE.” BUT SHE ACCEPTS NOT BEING ABLE TO ENJOY HEAVEN UPON EARTH, IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE OPENED, FOR ALL ETERNITY, TO THE POOR UNBELIEVERS.

“ALSO,” SHE ADDS, “IN SPITE OF THIS TRIAL, WHICH TAKES ALL ENJOYMENT AWAY FROM ME, I CAN NEVERTHELESS CRY OUT, ‘LORD YOU FILL ME WITH JOY IN ALL THAT YOU DO.’ FOR IS THERE A JOY GREATER THAN TO SUFFER FOR LOVE?”

SHE THOUGHT THAT JESUS WOULD SOONER GROW WEARY OF MAKING HER WAIT THAN SHE OF WAITING FOR HIM.

AND AT DEATH? IT IS SAID THAT AT THE TIME OF DEATH HELL IS LET LOOSE. JESUS CAN PERMIT IT. BUT IS HE NOT NEAR US THEN, MUCH NEARER THAN SATAN? “NOT A SINGLE SOUL FALLS INTO HELL THAT HAS NOT TORN ITSELF OUT OF MY ARMS,” SAID OUR LORD TO A HOLY SOUL.

IF ACCORDING TO THE CURE DE ARS, “IT IS NOT THE SINNER WHO COMES BACK TO GOD TO ASK HIS PARDON, BUT GOD HIMSELF WHO RUNS AFTER THE SINNER AND WHO BRINGS HIM BACK TO HIMSELF,” IT IS CERTAINLY SO AT THE HOUR OF DEATH.

THIS CONFERENCE IS, I THINK, THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE OF THE RETREAT. CONFIDENCE IS THE HEART OF THE DOCTRINE OF ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS SINCE, “IT IS CONFIDENCE AND NOTHING BUT CONFIDENCE WHICH WILL LEAD US TO LOVE,” AND LOVE IS EVERYTHING.

ENGRAVE THIS IN YOUR SOULS AND HEARTS IN LETTERS OF GOLD AND FIRE: IMMENSE CONFIDENCE, UNSHAKABLE CONFIDENCE IN THIS KING OF LOVE, WHO IS CALLED JESUS---SAVIOR!

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Comment by AURA CID L F FERREIRA DE BRITTO on October 13, 2017 at 10:38pm: PURE LOVE IS REALIZED IN PURE FAITH.

IS THERE A JOY GREATER THAN TO SUFFER FOR LOVE?

"NOT A SINGLE SOUL FALLS INTO HELL THAT HAS NOT TORN ITSELF OUT OF MY ARMS."

LOVE IS EVERYTHING.

†Amen†

Comment by AnnaMaria on October 13, 2017 at 7:09pm: AMEN

Comment by Flavia Talladen Schott on October 13, 2017 at 12:34am: Amen.

Comment by bernadette szczepkowski on October 12, 2017 at 7:27pm: Pray for us, Little Flower+