76. First Saturday of Lent
Meditations no. 122 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Godâs love for us demands a pure heart in return.
In todayâs Mass we hear the words of Deuteronomy: The Lord has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honour, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God.
As members of the holy People of God, who have been bought at a great price, called together in his holy Church and chosen for a specific vocation to holiness, we have to give our whole being to God. We belong to God completely, soul and body, flesh and bones, all our senses and faculties. Ask him, confidently: Jesus, guard our hearts! Make them big and strong and tender, hearts that are affectionate and refined, overflowing with love for you and ready to serve all mankind.
Our bodies are holy. They are temples of God, says St Paul. This cry of the Apostle brings to mind the universal call to holiness which our Lord addresses to all men: Estote vos perfecti sicut et Pater vester caelestis perfectus est. (You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. ) Our Lord asks everyone, without distinction of any kind, to cooperate with his grace. He demands that each of us, in accordance with his or her particular state in life, should put into practice the virtues proper to the children of God.
Happy are those who walk in the way of the Lord. God wants us to be happy, and his commandments are meant to enable us to be as happy as is possible on this earth, and to give us the fullness of happiness in heaven. But we need to act, always and in all things, according to Godâs commands: Happy are those who keep his commandments, those who seek him wholeheartedly.
I must remind you that you will not find happiness if you donât fulfil your Christian duties. If you were to leave them aside, you would feel terrible remorse and would be thoroughly miserable. Even the most ordinary things, which are licit and which bring a bit of happiness, would then become as bitter as gall, as sour as vinegar and as repugnant as brimstone.
Let each of us, myself included, put our trust in Jesus, saying to him: âLord, I am ready to struggle and I know that you do not lose battles. I realize too that if at times I lose, it is because I have gone away from you. Take me by the hand. Donât trust me. Donât let go of me.â
You may be thinking: âBut, Father, I am so happy! I love Jesus! Even though I am made of clay, I do want to become a saint with the help of God and his Blessed Mother!â I donât doubt you. I am only forewarning you with these words of advice just in case, just supposing a difficulty were to arise.
At the same time, I would remind you that for Christians (for you and me) our life is a life of Love. This heart of ours was born to love. But when it is not given something pure, clean and noble to love, it takes revenge and fills itself with squalor. True love of God, and consequently purity of life, is as far removed from sensuality as it is from insensitivity, and as far from sentimentality as it is from heartlessness or hard-heartedness.
Let us ask God our Lord now, in the words of the Church: Eternal Father, turn our hearts to you. By seeking your kingdom and loving one another, may we become a people who worship you in spirit and truth.
The virtue of chastity is a necessary condition for interior life and apostolate.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Both the vision of God in heaven and contemplative life on earth require purity of heart. Without it, no one can be on intimate terms with God. St Paul emphasizes this in his Epistle: For this is the will of God, your sanctification ⌠that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God.
God wants us to be holy. This holiness presupposes a life of prayer and close friendship with God our Lord. A necessary condition for this is chastity of body and of spirit, which we wish to practise with Godâs grace. I think of this virtue, our Father writes, as the wings which enable us to carry Godâs teaching, his commandments, to every environment on this earth, without fear of getting contaminated in the process. Wings, even in the case of those majestic birds which soar higher than the clouds, are a burden and a heavy one. But without wings, there is no way of flying. I want you to grasp this idea clearly, and to decide not to give in when you feel the sting of temptation, with its suggestion that purity is an unbearable burden. Take heart! Fly upwards, up to the sun, in pursuit of Love!
At times the fight to practise this virtue may be a hard one. However, we will always be helped by our basic motivation of love, which gives meaning to our life, and also by our Fatherâs words, which bring us firm conviction: Someone who has once seen their vocation clearly, even if they were never to see it again, should hold on to it for ever out of a sense of faithfulness, never looking back once they have put their hand to the plough.
We cannot be surprised that we still have inclinations that try to steer us off our way, temptations that offer earthly consolations. One thing is to feel temptation, quite another to consent. Temptation can be rejected easily with Godâs help. What we must never do is to dialogue with temptation, our Father reminds us. On the contrary, the knowledge that God himself is calling us and asking us to be entirely dedicated to him is a guarantee that we will never lack the grace to be faithful. Godâs Love is worth any love!
Awareness of our weakness, and a thorough determination to be faithful whatever the cost, will lead us to rely on Godâs grace and to use the means available to cooperate with it. God grants chastity to those who ask for it continuously, insistently, with faith and prayers. That is why we have to pray: Lord, may we be renewed by this Eucharist. May we become more like Christ your Son, who is Lord for ever and ever.
The means which help us to live holy purity, especially sincerity.
To become contemplative souls, we have to practise holy purity with great care. Therefore, the means which help us practise it and give it depth and perfection are very important. They are: hard work done with a sense of responsibility; fleeing from occasions of sin; the guard of our heart and our senses; mortification which controls our feelings and our body, giving us the self-mastery of Godâs children; a real relationship with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist; frequent Confession; and devotion to our Blessed Lady. The three Hail Marys we say at night will help us in a special way.
Woven into these means, as something basic to their effectiveness, are humility, and its immediate consequence, sincerity. If the dumb devil gets inside a soul, he ruins everything. On the other hand, if he is cast out immediately, everything turns out well; we are happy, and life goes forward properly. Let us always be brutally sincere, but in a good-mannered way.
I want one thing to be clear, our Father says. I am not as worried about the heart or the flesh as I am about pride. Be humble. If you ever think you are completely and utterly right, you are not right at all. Go to spiritual direction with your soul wide open. Donât close it because, I repeat, the dumb devil will get in, and it is difficult to get him out again.
Remember the poor boy who was possessed by a devil, and the disciples were unable to set him free. Only our Lord could free him, by prayer and fasting. On that occasion the Master worked three miracles. The first enabled the boy to hear, because when the dumb devil gets control, the soul refuses to listen. The second made him speak, and the third expelled the devil.
Tell first what you would not like to be known. Down with the dumb devil! By turning some small matter over and over in your mind, you will make it snowball into something big, with you trapped inside.
Whatâs the point of doing that? Open up your soul! I promise that you will be happy, that is faithful to your Christian way, if you are sincere. Clarity and simplicity: they are absolutely necessary dispositions. We have to open up our souls completely, so that the sun of God and the charity of Love can enter in.
If we speak up about the first sparks of passion, our courageous sincerity helps put them out, or at least dampen them down. This is true humility. It leads us to trust solely in God without giving up the fight. This gift - chastity - was granted to those who asked for it, to those who wanted it, to those who worked for it. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
Our humble petition will be answered through the intercession of our Lady, Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis, Mother of Fair Love.