Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Letting God be in Charge


The following is from the meditation of the day in today's Magnificat reading. It gives us much to contemplate.

Jesus, I trust in You!

Let us imagine our confusion when we appear before God and understand the reasons why He sent us the crosses we accept so unwillingly. The death of a child will then be seen as its rescue from some great evil had it lived, separation from the woman you love the means of saving you from an unhappy marriage, a severe illness the reason for many years of life afterwards, loss of money the means of saving your soul from eternal loss. So what are we worried about? God is looking after us and yet we are full of anxiety! We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he knows his business. He orders an operation which involves cutting away part of our body and we accept it. We are grateful to him and pay him a large fee because we judge he would not act as he does unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on his skill. Yet, we are unwilling to treat God in the same way! It looks as if we do not trust His wisdom and are afraid He cannot do His job properly. We allow ourselves to be operated on by a man who may easily make a mistake- a mistake which may cost us our life and protest when God sets to work on us.

If we could see all He sees we would unhesitatingly wish all He wishes. We would beg Him on bended knees for those afflictions we now ask Him to spare us. To all of us He addresses the words spoken to the sons of Zebedee: You know not what you ask - O blind of heart, your ignorance saddens me. Let me manage your affairs and look after your interests. I know what you need better than you do yourselves. If I paid heed to what you think you need you would have been hopelessly ruined long ago. - St. Claude de Colombiere, spiritual director of St. Mary Margaret Alacoque.

SILENCE IS INDISPENSABLE FOR PRAYER


...the Pope explained that the first of these aspects "concerns accepting the Word of God. Interior and exterior silence are necessary in order to hear that Word", he said. Yet, "our age does not, in fact, favour reflection and contemplation; quite the contrary it seems that people are afraid to detach themselves, even for an instant, from the spate of words and images which mark and fill our days"...
You can read the entire article here at VIS.

Monday, March 05, 2012

A FAMILY LESSON FROM THE RATZINGERS

Speaking with Monsignor Georg Ratzinger revealed to Michael Hesemann two critical convictions: There is a family secret that explains something of the impressive trajectory lived by the two Ratzinger sons; and divine providence laid the foundations for Joseph's path to the See of Peter before he was even born.
Read the rest of the Zenit article here


Also read The EXCERPT FROM "MY BROTHER THE POPE"

A Muslim's Remarkable Conversion to Catholicism

The fascinating autobiography of Muhammad Moussaoui, who narrates his conversion from Islam to Catholicism, shows miracles of grace and of human correspondence, on the one hand, and on the other hand the terrible harshness of Islamic mentality and persecution of Christians. The book’s title, The Price to Pay, summarizes well what this elite soul had to go through in order to be faithful to the call of grace. After his conversion, he took the name Joseph Fadelle.
You can read the rest here