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MEDITATION FOR JANUARY 29
CONTINUATION OF CHRIST’S DISCOURSE AT THE LAST SUPPER
“Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself; that where I am you also may be” (John 14, 1-3).
First Prelude: Enter the Supper Hall reverently, and listen to the words of consolation that Christ addresses to His disciples.
Second Prelude: O my Divine Saviour, let me recognize that true consolation and peace can be found only in the principles of a firm and living faith.
FIRST POINT
CHRIST BASES HIS CONSOLATION ON THE PRINCIPLES OF FAITH
Jesus had told His disciples that He would leave them, and they were sad. To re-animate their courage, and to banish all disquietude, Jesus bade them bear in mind the principles of faith, saying: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also, in Me.”
And, in truth, is not faith in God and in Jesus Christ, a firm support in all the vicissitudes of life, against the onslaughts of the Evil One, in trial and temptation? What consolation in the thought of Divine Providence guiding and ordering all things, never suffering us to be tempted beyond our strength! God’s paternal love will direct all things to a happy issue. We have a Redeemer Who Himself has tasted the bitterness of sufferings, Whose grace is our support in trials and sufferings, and Who incites us to neglect none of the opportunities for sanctification of self.
Nothing happens in the world without the Will, or at least the permission of God. Every moment is an ambassador, as it were, conveying to us God’s mandates. The hand of God is concealed under the veil of even the most ordinary incidents of life and the daily crosses that befall us. This loving hand bears us up and leads us safely on, provided we do not hinder the safe-guidance.
Should we not proceed courageously in all our needs, trials and even the most manifold reverses and disappointments? Should we not raise our eyes above the clouds to look unremittingly at the heavenly light of faith, which is able to illumine the darkest night? In this light all things will appear different from what is viewed with a merely natural eye. Faith is the key to the divine treasures. It directs us incessantly to God, the Fountain-head of graces, and teaches us to pray for grace. What a power faith wields over our hearts! In its light we behold the goodness of a loving Providence in everything. We look upon those who wrong us, as instruments in the hands of God to effect our sanctification. Far from being disheartened, let us say with St. Teresa: “Let nothing disturb thee—Nothing affright thee; Who God possesseth, in nothing is wanting.”
When a sacrifice is demanded of me, am I mindful that God asks it for my sanctification? In all reverses, do I say: “The most high, the most just, and the most amiable Will of God be done?”
SECOND POINT
JESUS PROMISES HIS APOSTLES TO PREPARE A DWELLING PLACE FOR THEM IN HIS FATHER’S HOUSE
Jesus directs the attention of His Apostles to the heavenly mansions, to the place of eternal joy, when He says: “I go to prepare a place for you.” He promises them a place in His own glory, in His Father’s house, in which need and persecution shall forever cease, and sorrow and misery shall be transformed into everlasting bliss. The consolation that Jesus here imparts to His disciples applies equally to us. He knew full well what misery and ills of all sorts weigh down the human heart, and how necessary it is for us to be buoyed up by the thought of heaven, our eternal home, the house of our Father. There is still room in the eternal mansions for millions of souls who have rendered themselves worthy of the fruits of the redemption. There are various dwellings in His Father’s house for every type of virtue, for every degree of merit. Every one can truly say: God in His infinite love has prepared a place for me from all eternity. He has given me countless graces and means of salvation to merit it. He has called me to the religious state to prepare for me this particular dwelling in the heavenly mansions, which surpasses countless others in glory.
Oh, what encouragement in this thought, in this hope! With St. Paul, I am constrained to cry out: “The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8, 18). What an incentive to zeal! If my Saviour shed the last drop of His Precious Blood to secure this place for me, must I not exert all my strength to make myself worthy? The harder it is for me in this life, the greater will be my joy in heaven and the more signal the victories that with the grace of God I shall achieve.
Does the thought of heaven and the everlasting compensation afford me courage and consolation in the sufferings and trials of life? Do I occasionally yearn for my heavenly home? Do I excite and nourish this longing?
Affections: O magnanimous, benign and omnipotent Lord, what gratitude do I owe Thee! Thou hast atoned for my misdeeds, hast shed Thy Precious Blood to reopen heaven and merit for me a never-ending glory. Help me, O my Saviour, to gain heaven with Thy grace. O heavenly home, my heart yearns and languishes for thee and bewails the time of the earthly sojourn! O God, penetrate my heart profoundly with the truths of faith in Thy promises, that nothing shall be able to mar the peace of my soul.
Resolution: When a sacrifice is asked of me, I will seek encouragement in the thought of the glorious recompense our Divine Saviour holds out to me.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Let not your heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you.”
Prayer: O Jesus, living in Mary . . .
CONTINUATION OF CHRIST’S DISCOURSE AT THE LAST SUPPER
“Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself; that where I am you also may be” (John 14, 1-3).
First Prelude: Enter the Supper Hall reverently, and listen to the words of consolation that Christ addresses to His disciples.
Second Prelude: O my Divine Saviour, let me recognize that true consolation and peace can be found only in the principles of a firm and living faith.
FIRST POINT
CHRIST BASES HIS CONSOLATION ON THE PRINCIPLES OF FAITH
Jesus had told His disciples that He would leave them, and they were sad. To re-animate their courage, and to banish all disquietude, Jesus bade them bear in mind the principles of faith, saying: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also, in Me.”
And, in truth, is not faith in God and in Jesus Christ, a firm support in all the vicissitudes of life, against the onslaughts of the Evil One, in trial and temptation? What consolation in the thought of Divine Providence guiding and ordering all things, never suffering us to be tempted beyond our strength! God’s paternal love will direct all things to a happy issue. We have a Redeemer Who Himself has tasted the bitterness of sufferings, Whose grace is our support in trials and sufferings, and Who incites us to neglect none of the opportunities for sanctification of self.
Nothing happens in the world without the Will, or at least the permission of God. Every moment is an ambassador, as it were, conveying to us God’s mandates. The hand of God is concealed under the veil of even the most ordinary incidents of life and the daily crosses that befall us. This loving hand bears us up and leads us safely on, provided we do not hinder the safe-guidance.
Should we not proceed courageously in all our needs, trials and even the most manifold reverses and disappointments? Should we not raise our eyes above the clouds to look unremittingly at the heavenly light of faith, which is able to illumine the darkest night? In this light all things will appear different from what is viewed with a merely natural eye. Faith is the key to the divine treasures. It directs us incessantly to God, the Fountain-head of graces, and teaches us to pray for grace. What a power faith wields over our hearts! In its light we behold the goodness of a loving Providence in everything. We look upon those who wrong us, as instruments in the hands of God to effect our sanctification. Far from being disheartened, let us say with St. Teresa: “Let nothing disturb thee—Nothing affright thee; Who God possesseth, in nothing is wanting.”
When a sacrifice is demanded of me, am I mindful that God asks it for my sanctification? In all reverses, do I say: “The most high, the most just, and the most amiable Will of God be done?”
SECOND POINT
JESUS PROMISES HIS APOSTLES TO PREPARE A DWELLING PLACE FOR THEM IN HIS FATHER’S HOUSE
Jesus directs the attention of His Apostles to the heavenly mansions, to the place of eternal joy, when He says: “I go to prepare a place for you.” He promises them a place in His own glory, in His Father’s house, in which need and persecution shall forever cease, and sorrow and misery shall be transformed into everlasting bliss. The consolation that Jesus here imparts to His disciples applies equally to us. He knew full well what misery and ills of all sorts weigh down the human heart, and how necessary it is for us to be buoyed up by the thought of heaven, our eternal home, the house of our Father. There is still room in the eternal mansions for millions of souls who have rendered themselves worthy of the fruits of the redemption. There are various dwellings in His Father’s house for every type of virtue, for every degree of merit. Every one can truly say: God in His infinite love has prepared a place for me from all eternity. He has given me countless graces and means of salvation to merit it. He has called me to the religious state to prepare for me this particular dwelling in the heavenly mansions, which surpasses countless others in glory.
Oh, what encouragement in this thought, in this hope! With St. Paul, I am constrained to cry out: “The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8, 18). What an incentive to zeal! If my Saviour shed the last drop of His Precious Blood to secure this place for me, must I not exert all my strength to make myself worthy? The harder it is for me in this life, the greater will be my joy in heaven and the more signal the victories that with the grace of God I shall achieve.
Does the thought of heaven and the everlasting compensation afford me courage and consolation in the sufferings and trials of life? Do I occasionally yearn for my heavenly home? Do I excite and nourish this longing?
Affections: O magnanimous, benign and omnipotent Lord, what gratitude do I owe Thee! Thou hast atoned for my misdeeds, hast shed Thy Precious Blood to reopen heaven and merit for me a never-ending glory. Help me, O my Saviour, to gain heaven with Thy grace. O heavenly home, my heart yearns and languishes for thee and bewails the time of the earthly sojourn! O God, penetrate my heart profoundly with the truths of faith in Thy promises, that nothing shall be able to mar the peace of my soul.
Resolution: When a sacrifice is asked of me, I will seek encouragement in the thought of the glorious recompense our Divine Saviour holds out to me.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Let not your heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you.”
Prayer: O Jesus, living in Mary . . .
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