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Dec 26
12/27 FEAST DAY OF ST. JOHN
12/27 Feast Day of St. John
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
To St. John we owe a Gosple, three Epistles and the Apocalypse, with the most beautiful pages on the Divinity of the Word made flesh; for this reason he is symbolized by the eagle which soars in the heights. On the Cross Our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted His Most Holy Mother Mary to St. John: “Woman, behold thy son.”
St. John only escaped a violent death by the special protection of God, and which made many believe that the beloved disciple would not die. Actually he did not depart this life until all the other apostles had passed away.
The following selections are from the EWTN website on St. John the Apostle and Evangelist (click here to view it in its entirety):
The great love which St. John bore to his God and Redeemer, and which he kindled from his Master’s Divine breast, inspired him with the most vehement and generous charity for his neighbor. Without the sovereign love of God no one can please Him. “He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is charity.” [I John 4: 8] “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us.” [I John 4: 19] This is the first maxim in a spiritual life, which this apostle most tenderly inculcates. The second is that our fidelity in shunning all sin, and in keeping all God’s commandments, is the proof of our love for God, [I John 3, 4, etc.] but especially a sincere love for our neighbour is its great test. “For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” says St. John. [I John 4: 20]
St. John teaches us that to attain to this heavenly and Christian disposition, to this twofold charity towards God and towards our neighbour for His sake, we must subdue our passions and die to the inordinate love of the world and ourselves. St. John’s hatred and contempt of the world was equal to his love of God, and he cries out to us, “My little children, love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If anyone loves the world the charity of the Father is not in him.”
BOOK OF HEAVEN
From the Writings of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta,
the Little Daughter of the Divine Will
Volume 4
December 4, 1902
Jesus manifests the reasons of His operating.
I was thinking in my mind about this obedience, saying: ‘They are right in commanding me this way; besides, it is not such a great thing that the Lord would allow me to obey in the way wanted by them. So they say: either He should let you obey, or He should tell the reason why He wants the confessor to come to make you come round from that state.’ While I was thinking of this, my adorable Jesus moved in my interior, telling me: “My daughter, I wanted them to find the reason of my operating by themselves, because in my life, from the moment I was born up to my death, everything can be found, since the life of the whole Church is enclosed in it. When compared to some step that can be conformed to my life, the most difficult matters are solved, the most tangled situations are unraveled, and in the most obscure and abstruse ones, such that the human mind almost becomes lost in that obscurity, one finds the clearest and brightest light. This means that they do not have my life as the rule of their operating, otherwise they would have found the reason. But since they have not found the reason themselves, it is necessary that I speak and manifest it.”
After this, He stood up and with empire – but so much that I became fearful – He said: “What is the meaning of that ‘ostende te sacerdoti’ [‘show yourself to the priest’]?” Then, becoming sweeter, He added: “My power extended everywhere, and from any place I was I could operate the most sensational miracles; yet, in almost all my miracles I wanted to be personally present. As for example, when I resurrected Lazarus, I went there, I had them remove the sepulchral stone, then I had him released, and then, with the empire of my voice I called him back to life. In resurrecting the young girl, I took her by the hand with my right hand, and I called her back to life; and in many other things which are recorded in the Gospel, and which are known to all, I wanted to be there with my presence. This teaches the way in which the priest must behave in his operating, since the future life of the Church was enclosed in mine. And these are things that pertain to you, though in general; but your specific circumstance they will find on Calvary. I, priest and victim, lifted up on the wood of the cross, wanted a priest to be present, to assist Me in that state of victim – and he was Saint John, who represented the nascent Church. In him I saw everyone – Popes, bishops, priests and all the faithful together; and while assisting Me, He offered Me as victim for the glory of the Father and for the good outgrowth of the nascent Church. The fact that a priest assisted Me in that state of victim did not happen by chance, but everything was a profound mystery predisposed ab aeterno [from eternity] in the divine mind, intending that when I choose a soul as victim for the grave needs present in the Church, a priest must offer her to Me, assist her for Me, help her and encourage her to suffer. If these things are understood – fine, they themselves will receive the fruit of the work they offer; just like Saint John: how many goods did he not receive for having assisted Me on Mount Calvary? If then they are not understood, they do nothing but put my work amid continuous contrasts, diverting my most beautiful designs.
In addition to this, my Wisdom is infinite, and when It sends some cross to a soul for her sanctification, It does not take that soul alone, but five, ten… as many as I please, so that not one alone, but all others together may be sanctified. In fact, on Calvary I was not alone; in addition to having a priest, I had a Mother, I had friends and also enemies, and on seeing the prodigy of my patience, many of them believed in Me as the God I was, and were converted. Had I been alone, would they have received these great goods? Certainly not.”
But who can say everything He told me, or explain the most minute meanings? I said this the best I could – the way I was able to say it in my roughness. I hope that the Lord will do the rest, by illuminating them so that they may comprehend what I have not been able to manifest well.
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Dec 25
12/26 Feast of St. Stephen – The First Martyr
| SAINT STEPHEN—THE FIRST MARTYR—C. 35 |
Feast: December 26 |
All that we know of the life, trial, and death of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is found in the Book of Acts, chapters vi and vii. In the long chronicle of Christian martyrs, the story of Stephen stands out as one of the most moving and memorable. Although his name is Greek (from Stephanos, meaning crown), Stephen was a Jew, probably among those who had been born or who had lived beyond the borders of Palestine, and therefore had come under the influence of the prevailing Hellenistic culture. The New Testament does not give us the circumstances of his conversion. It would seem, however, that soon after the death of the Messiah he rose to a position of prominence among the Christians of Jerusalem and used his talents especially to win over the Greek-speaking residents of the city.The earliest mention of Stephen is when he is listed among the seven men chosen to supervise the public tables. We recall that these first Christians held their property in common, the well-to-do sharing what they possessed with the poor; and at this time, as always in the wake of war, there were many “displaced persons” in need of charity. We read in Acts that the Hellenists, as the Greek-speaking Christians were called, thought that they, particularly the widows among them, were being discriminated against at the public tables. The Apostles were informed of these complaints, but they were too busy to deal with the problem. Therefore seven good and prudent men were selected to administer and supervise the tables. The seven, on being presented to the Apostles, were prayed over and ordained by the imposition of hands. Associated in these charitable tasks with Stephen, whose name heads the list as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” were Philip, known as “the Evangelist,” Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas-all Greek names. The title of deacon, which came to be linked with their function, derives from the Greek verb meaning “to minister.” These men served the Christian community in temporal and charitable affairs; later on they were to assume minor religious offices.Stephen, already a leader, now began to speak in public with more vigor and, “full of grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people.” By this time a number of Jewish priests had been converted to the new faith, but they still held to the old traditions and rules as laid down in Mosaic law. Stephen was prepared to engage in controversy with them, eager to point out that, according to the Master, the old law had been superseded. He was continually quoting Jesus and the prophets to the effect that external usages and all the ancient holy rites were of less importance than the spirit; that even the Temple might be destroyed, as it had been in the past, without damage to the true and eternal religion. It was talk of this sort, carried by hearsay and rumor about the city, and often misquoted, intentionally or not, that was to draw down upon Stephen the wrath of the Jewish priestly class.It was in a certain synagogue of Jews “called that of the Freedmen, and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and the province of Asia” that Stephen chiefly disputed. Perhaps they did not understand him; at all events, they could not make effective answer, and so fell to abusing him. They bribed men to say that Stephen was speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God. The elders and the scribes were stirred up and brought him before the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish tribunal, which had authority in both civil and religious matters. False witnesses made their accusations; Stephen defended himself ably, reviewing the long spiritual history of his people; finally his defense turned into a bitter accusation. He concluded thus:“Yet not in houses made by hands does the Most High dwell, even as the prophet says…. Stiff-necked and uncircumcized in heart and ear, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; as your father did, so do you also. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers, you who received the Law as an ordinance of angels and did not keep it.”Thus castigated, the Jews could contain their anger no longer. They rushed upon Stephen, drove him outside the city to the place appointed, and stoned him. At this time Jewish law permitted the death penalty by stoning for blasphemy. Stephen, full of “grace and fortitude” to the very end, met the great test without flinching, praying the Lord to receive his spirit and not to lay this sin against the people. So perished the first martyr, his dying breath spent in prayer for those who killed him. Among those present at the scene and approving of the penalty meted out to Stephen was a young Jew named Saul, the future Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles: his own conversion to Christianity was to take place within a few short months.In the fifth century the priest Lucian writes of the discovery of the relics of Stephen, which now, it is believed, repose in the church of St. Lawrence in Rome.Saint Stephen, The First Martyr. Scriptural Saint. Celebration of Feast Day is December 26. |
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Dec 24
12/25 A BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS IN THE MOST HOLY DIVINE WILL!
December 25, A.D. 2016 – Feast of Christmas
As it’s the celebration of Christ’s Incarnation, the mood of Christmastide is of humble, grateful, joyous celebratration. This season lasts from Vespers of 24 December to 13 January (the Octave of the Epiphany) inclusive (19 calendar days in terms of liturgical calculations). The Feast of Christmas itself lasts 12 days (“The Twelve Days of Christmas”), but the spiritual focus of Christmas doesn’t end truly until Candlemas on 2 February. Its color is white or gold.
Book of Heaven – December 25 A.D. 1932
The birth of the little Infant Jesus was universal; He was born in everything and in everyone. How, in order to keep us safe, He came to cover us with the garment of His Humanity. Example of the sun.
My abandonment in the Fiat continues. Today, on the day of Holy Christmas, I spent the whole night without seeing my Celestial Baby, and I felt a pang in my heart without the One who forms my life and my all. Ah! to live without Him is like living as if one had no life – tortured, without strength, without supports, which forms the most terrible of deaths for my poor and little soul. And amid the anxieties and the fear, I prayed the Supreme Volition to unveil to me the One who loved me and who formed my hard martyrdom. Then, while in this state, my mind remained as though captivated by an immense light which filled Heaven and earth; and – oh! marvel, I saw the little Divine Baby reborn in each created thing, in each heart, in everything; the little Infant Jesus, multiplied, bilocated, reborn in the infinite manner, in everything and in each one. So, all had the good of feeling within them, being born, the Celestial Baby. Oh! how beautiful it was to see Him, tiny little One, in the sun, in the stars, in all the elements, in all creatures; and all sang His praises and had the great honor, the immense good, of His being reborn in each one, and of possessing, as their own, the sweet pledge of little Baby Jesus. Then, between amazement and stupefaction, I saw that the One whom I was looking for with so many sighs and anxieties, was born in me also, and I squeezed Him so very tightly in my arms; and He let me do it – even more, He enjoyed my doing that; and, all tenderness, told me: “My daughter, love Me, love Me. I am born to love and to be loved; and to do it as God, my birth is universal. I would not have acted as God had I not been born in a universal manner, in a way that all can say, with facts: ‘The Celestial Infant is born for me, He is mine; and this is so true, that I already possess Him.’ My love would remain hampered had I not been able to be reborn for all; my power would have been limited, my immensity restricted, if my re-birth were not universal. And this is no wonder: since my Divinity filled Heaven and earth, in the same way, by incorporating Itself into my little Humanity, It multiplied It and bilocated It, in such a way as to make Me be reborn in all and in each one. These are Our divine and infinite ways that We have, such that all must take the good that We do, and be pregnant with Our works. More so since, having descended from Heaven to earth, I wanted to take on human flesh in order to glorify completely the glory of the Celestial Father, to make up for all that man had not done. Here, then, my little Humanity wanted to be reborn also in the created things, because man had not given Us the glory, the requital of the love for Our having created a heaven, a sun and many other things; and my Humanity, being reborn in them, glorified my Celestial Father completely for the whole work of Creation. Man, by rejecting my Divine Will, had rendered himself impotent to everything; and I came to be his Savior, Repairer, Glorifier, Defender, and I covered him inside the garment of my Humanity, to keep him safe, and to answer for him, I Myself, in each thing, before my Celestial Father. My love was so great, that my Divinity, in order to give vent to my love, led Me to be born in each heart and in all things; and this is so true, that the first to recognize Me and sing my praises were the created things, because, feeling my birth in them, they exulted with joy and made feast for Me. But do you know who the ones are who make feast for Me as I am born in their hearts? Those who possess my Divine Will. These immediately perceive that I am born in their hearts, and they make perennial feast for Me; while the others make Me cry, give Me sorrow and, by sin, prepare for Me the knife with which to wound Me, or to kill Me.”
After this, I remained all immersed in His love. The moving scene of the birth of the Celestial Baby, so universal and in each one, made me comprehend who knows how many things. But I believe it is better to let them pass in silence, because, incapable of saying them well, I might speak nonsense. Then, to make feast to the Celestial Infant, I abandoned all of myself in the Divine Will; and He, coming back again, was so very graceful, of a beauty so rare, such that no other can be found similar to it. And, all love, enclosing Himself in my heart as the place of His birth, He repeated in me His baby crying, the loving moans, His repeated sobs. Oh! how touching it was to see Him now crying, now sobbing, now wailing. He made His first entrance of re-birth in each one and in everything, with the weapons of His tears, with the stratagems of His sobs, with the pleas of His wailing. By this, He rendered Himself captivating, and by dint of captivating with the strength of a God that He possessed, He entered into the hearts to form His new re-birth. Oh! Heavens – bow down and, together with me, love and adore the Celestial Infant. But while my mind was wandering in a mystery so great, the sweet little Baby, amid tears and sobs, mixed with a celestial attitude of smile, added: “Blessed daughter, not only was my birth universal – since, as God, I could not do otherwise – but I found Myself in the condition of the sun, such that, whether they want it or not, all created things, the whole Creation and all creatures must receive its light, its heat. From the height where it descends with its empire of light and with its supremacy, which it holds over everyone and over everything, in its muteness, yet more loudly than if it were speaking, the sun seems to say: ‘Either you receive me with love, or I will invest you with the rights that I possess to give you light. And if you do not want to receive me, I will surround you from all sides, in such a way that you will not be able to escape my light, and I will have the great glory that I have given my light to all.’ The sun, symbol of my birth, since it too is reborn every day for everything and for each one; and I, not only am I reborn in a universal way, but, while being reborn, I make an invasion – not only am I reborn in the heart, but I invade the mind with my thoughts, the eyes with my tears, the voice with my wailing, in such a way as to make the universal invasion of all creatures. I take her from all sides, that she may not be able to escape Me. If they receive Me with love, my life is not only reborn in them, but grows in a surprising way; but if they do not receive Me with love, I am reborn in them with my rights of God that I possess, but I do not grow in them, I remain small and lonely, and I stay there in reserve, waiting that, who knows, with my wailing and tears, they might be induced to love Me. And if I do not succeed, my life changes into justice for them; and – oh! how tortured is my little Heart in seeing my birth, all love, changed into justice for the poor creature. So, since I am born in you, give Me the good of letting Me grow; in this way you will change my tears and my wailing into joys.”
Fiat!!!
11
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Dec 24
12/24 The Feast That the Little Daughter ( Luisa) Prepares for Baby Jesus
Volume 25
December 25, 1928
The feast that the little daughter (Luisa) prepares for Baby Jesus; how she renders Him happy.
I was thinking about the birth of Baby Jesus, and I prayed Him to come to be born in my poor soul. And in order to sing His praises and form a cortege for Him in the act of His birth, I fused myself in the Holy Divine Volition, and flowing in all created things, I wanted to animate the heavens, the sun, the stars, the sea, the earth and everything with my “I love You.”
I wanted to place all created things as though in waiting, in the act of Jesus’ birth, so that all would say to Him, “I love You,” and “We want the Kingdom of Your Will upon earth.”
Now, while I was doing this, it seemed to me that all created things would come to attention in the act of Jesus’ birth, and as the dear Baby came out of the womb of His Celestial Mama, the heavens, the sun, and even the tiny little bird, as though all in chorus, were saying, “I love You,” and “We want the Kingdom of Your Will upon earth.”
My “I love You” in the Divine Will flowed within all things in which the Divine Will had Its life, and therefore all sang praises to the birth of their Creator; and I saw the newborn Baby who, flinging Himself into my arms, all shivering, told me: “What a beautiful feast has the little daughter of My Will prepared for Me; how beautiful is the chorus of all created things saying to Me, ‘I love You,’ and wanting My Will to reign. One who lives in It can give Me anything, and can use all stratagems in order to render Me happy and make Me smile, even in the midst of tears. Therefore, I was waiting for you, to have a surprise of love of yours by virtue of My Divine Volition.
“In fact, you must know that My Life on earth was nothing but suffering, operating and preparing everything that was to serve the Kingdom of My Divine Will, that must be Kingdom of happiness and of possession; therefore, it is then that My works will have their full fruits and will change for Me and for creatures into sweetnesses, into joys and into possession.”
Now, while He was saying this, He disappeared from me; but after a little while He came back, inside a little cradle of gold, clothed with a tiny little garment of light.
And He added: “My daughter (Luisa) , today is My birthday, and I have come to render you happy with My presence. It would be too hard for Me, on this day, not to render one who lives in My Divine Will happy, not to give you My first kiss and tell you, ‘I love you’ as a requital of yours, and, clasping you tightly to My little Heart, make you feel My heartbeats that unleash fire, and would want to burn everything that does not belong to My Will, while your heartbeat, echoing within Mine, repeats for Me your pleasant refrain: ‘May Your Will reign on earth as It does in Heaven.’ Repeat it always, if you want to render Me happy and calm My baby crying. Look—your love has prepared for Me the gold cradle, and the acts in My Divine Will have prepared for Me the little garment of light. Aren’t you happy?”
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