Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar

Give of your earthly goods and receive eternal ones; give earth and receive heaven. But give to whom? (…) Hear Scripture telling you how you are to lend to the Lord himself: “He who has compassion on the poor lends to the Lord” (Prv 19:17). God most certainly is in no need of you, but another is in need; what you give to the one is received by another. For the poor has nothing with which to pay you back; he would like to but cannot find anything. The only thing he has is a kindly wish to pray for you. But when a poor man prays for you it is as though he were to say to God: “Lord, I’ve received a loan; be my security.” From then on, if the poor man you do business with is insolvent, he has a sound guarantee, for God says to you: “Give with assurance; I stand surety. (…) It is I who will pay back, I who receive, I to whom you give.”       Do you really believe that God would say to you: “It is I who receive and to me that you give”? Yes indeed, if Christ is God – and of that there is no question. For he said: “I was hungry and you gave me food.” And when asked: “When did we see you hungry?”, wanting to prove that he is indeed surety for the poor he answers on behalf of all his members, (…) declaring, “Whatever you did for the least of my disciples, you have done to me” (Mt 25:34 f.).

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

Hear what the Lord is asking: “Even if you fail to recognise my divinity, acknowledge my humanity. See your own body, members, inward parts, your bones and blood in me. If, then, what belongs to God fills you with fear, surely you must love what belongs to you? (…) But perhaps the enormity of my Passion, caused by you, covers you with shame? Don’t be afraid. The cross was not deadly for me but for death. Those nails did not pierce me with pain but with even deeper love for you. Those wounds were not the cause of groaning but let you enter even further into my heart. The spread-eagling of my body did not increase my suffering but opened up my arms to you in shelter. My blood has not been lost to me but preserved for your ransom (Mk 10:45). “Come, then, return to me and recognise your Father as you see him returning good for evil, love for mockery and, for such great wounds, a greater charity.”

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

In my foolish way I had often wondered why the foreseeing wisdom of God could not have prevented the beginning of sin, for then, thought I, all would have been well. (…) But Jesus (…) answered, “Sin was necessary – but all shall be well; and all shall be well; and everything shall be well.” In this simple word “sin” our Lord reminded me in a general sort of way of all that is not good: the despicable shame and utter self-denial he endured for us, both in his life and in his dying. And of all the suffering and pain of his creation, both spiritual and physical. (…) All this I saw, together with all the suffering that ever has been or can be. And of all pain I understood that the passion of Christ was the greatest and most surpassing. (…) But I did not see sin. I believe it has no substance or real existence. It can only be known by the pain it causes. This pain is something, as I see it, which lasts but a while. It purges us and makes us know ourselves, so that we ask for mercy. The passion of our Lord is our comfort against all this – for such is his blessed will. Because of his tender love for all those who are to be saved our good Lord comforts us at once and sweetly, as if to say, “It is true that sin is the cause of all this pain; but all shall be well; and all shall be well; and everything shall be well.” These words were said most tenderly, with never a hint of blame. (…) In these words I saw one of God’s marvellously deep secrets – a secret which he will plainly reveal to us in heaven. And when we know it we will see the reason why he allowed sin to come, and seeing, we shall rejoice in him for ever.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team