"...One must be humble, little, self-disciplined, spiritual and despised by the world to learn the mystery of the Cross..."

[MariaChristi]

1. While waiting for that great day of the last judgement, Eternal Wisdom has decreed the Cross to be the sign, the emblem and the weapon of his faithful people. He welcomes no child that does not bear its sign. He recognises no disciple who is ashamed to display it, or who has not the courage to accept it, or who either drags it reluctantly or rejects it outright. He proclaims, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mt 16.24; Lk 9.23) He enlists no soldier who does not take up the cross as the weapon to defend himself against all his enemies, to attack, to overthrow and to crush them. And he exclaims, "In this sign you will conquer. Have confidence, soldiers of mine, I am your leader; I have conquered my enemies by the cross (Jn 16.33), and by it you also will be victorious."
2. He has enclosed in the cross such an abundance of grace, life and happiness that only those who enjoy His special favor know about them. He often reveals to His friends His other secrets, as He did to His Apostles: “All things I have made known to you,” (Jn 15.15) but He reveals the secrets of the Cross only to those who make themselves worthy by their great fidelity and great labours. One must be humble, little, self-disciplined, spiritual and despised by the world to learn the mystery of the Cross. The Cross even today is a source of scandal and an object of folly not only to Jews and pagans, Moslems and heretics, the worldly-wise and bad Catholics, but even to seemingly devout and very devout people. Yes, the Cross remains an object of scandal, folly, contempt and fear: not in theory, for never has so much been spoken or written about its beauty and its excellence than in these times; but in practice, because people lose courage, complain, excuse themselves, and run away as soon as a possibility of suffering arises. “Father,” said this incarnate Wisdom, when beholding in joyful rapture the beauty of the Cross, “I thank You for having hidden these things – the treasures and graces of My cross - from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed them to the little ones.” (Lk 10.21)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May God grant us His Grace and enable us to be “humble and little”. By His Grace, when we encounter trials today, let us remember that Eternal Wisdom thanked our Father for having hidden these things – the treasures and graces of His cross - from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed them to the little ones. Let us ponder the words of St. Louis de Montfort, asking through Mary to learn from Jesus, as she did.

Jesus Meek and Humble of Heart, make our hearts like Yours. Mary most humble of all the Saints, Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us.

 

[margaret42]

Jesus lived like this, for the sake of the God the Father. Since He showed us “how to live”, then we also are bound to suffer, and be made fun of.

 

[margaret42]

One of the more common questions people ask about religion in general, is that, “If/since God is all-loving, why is there suffering in the world?” Like I said earlier, Jesus suffered, so we must-He being our “role-model”. Also, without suffering and being turned away, there’d be no reason to rely on God. And any reason to use “free will”.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Margaret,

Yes, Jesus lived with sorrow and was willing to suffer in Love for His Father and for us. He was mocked; made fun of, and cruelly treated and so when we are mistreated, then by God’s Grace we are invited to unite our suffering with His.

At each Mass we are also invited to offer ourselves with Him in His Holy Death – the Mass is the same sacrifice as the Sacrifice of the Mass – Christ is the Priest and the Victim. He has given power to His priests to stand in His Place and to say: “This is My Body”; “This is my Blood” and by God’s Almighty Power that bread and wine offered then become the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Church teaches that the “accidents” remain – the bread looks like bread and the wine looks like wine, – but their “substance” has become the Body and Blood of Christ. We receive in Holy Communion the Resurrected Jesus. What a Mystery of Faith! What a Wondrous Gift!

Let stop here – I could go on and on – but truly it is beyond words!

 

[patricius79]

• He welcomes no child that does not bear its sign. He recognises no disciple who is ashamed to display it, or who has not the courage to accept it, or who either drags it reluctantly or rejects it outright… One must be humble, little, self-disciplined, spiritual and despised by the world to learn the mystery of the Cross. The Cross even today is a source of scandal and an object of folly… because people lose courage, complain, excuse themselves, and run away as soon as a possibility of suffering arises .

Thank you, MariaChristi.

These passages are helping me to understand how great a gift suffering is with Christ.

I also hope people are interpreting this in light of the truth that God’s highest attribute is Goodness (Mercy), and that His Mother is always helping us and interceding for us with great compassion.

In the past I would have felt overwhelmed by this quotation from St. Louis about the Cross, given what a weak person I am. But the teachings of St. Therese, a Doctor of the Church, are clear that Jesus is pleased to keep souls–at least some souls–small and helpless like children. I suppose that is what St. Louis means by saying that one must be humble and little.

His teachings about how dependent we are on the help of the Blessed Virgin, the Mediatrix of All Grace, help me to understand these passages better.

Of course we should all strive to embrace our crosses. But Jesus wants us to always turn back to him with trust in His Mercy when we have failed to do so.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

because people lose courage, complain, excuse themselves, and run away as soon as a possibility of suffering arises

When I was a kid, I thought the Cross and the Suffering would be big and spectacular, like for instance St Thomas More standing up to Henry VIII, and after all the dust settles everybody realizes how brave he (Thomas) was.

Or something like that.

But I realize that most suffering inflicted on us is ugly and humiliating and brutish and undignified and incredibly stupid and pretty much no one feels the slightest remorse afterward.

…and part of maturing in the Christian walk is to make peace with undignified suffering for which there is no apology and no do over.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Patricius,

Thanks for your reply. St. Therese of Lisieux is one of God’s “little ones” who shows us what it is to be “child-like” without being “childish”. By her trust in God’s Grace she became strong in His Strength and able to overcome evil bravely. Like St. Paul she learned that when she was weak, she was strong because she was not relying on her self but she relied on God. She obeyed Mary who told the servants: “Do whatever He tells you” and she obeyed Jesus’ words: “Behold your Mother”.

It seems to me, a humble person is one who learns (as our Mother Mary learned) from Jesus Who always did the Father’s will. We can, by God’s Grace, remain “little” when we look to God first, and become self-disciplined by seeking His Will above our own. We need to seek the Spirit of Christ rather than seek the spirit of the world – all the qualities St. Louis lists are possible only by continuing to ask with Faith in our daily prayer to our Father Who knows how to give good gifts to His children.

To be a follower of Christ is not easy, unless we remain in His Love. Jesus tells us His yoke is easy and His burden is light. St. Therese wrote that “love is the willingness to suffer” . Yes, we need to take up our cross and if we fall, then like Him we rise by God’s Mercy, – He gives us His strength to finish well.

 

[MarysLurker]

But I realize that most suffering inflicted on us is ugly and humiliating and brutish and undignified and incredibly stupid and pretty much no one feels the slightest remorse afterward.

Exactly. It used to be no struggle at all to be a Christian, even a Catholic Christian, in the West. Different story today.

Don’t take your everyday suffering for granted. It definitely has value even if you don’t realize it.

 

[patricius79]

I agree, OScarlett.

I think that to fully share in Christ’s Cross there has to be that feeling of pain, confusion, feeling rejected (and like nobody will show us any mercy), and feeling like all is lost (the emotion of despair, not the choice to despair)–all while choosing to trust in Jesus’s Mercy with and through Mary.

 

[patricius79]

Thanks for your reply. St. Therese of Lisieux is one of God’s “little ones” who shows us what it is to be “child-like” without being “childish”. By her trust in God’s Grace she became strong in His Strength and able to overcome evil bravely. Like St. Paul she learned that when she was weak, she was strong because she was not relying on her self but she relied on God.

Yes. And it seems to me that there is a somewhat different emphasis in St. Therese than what we see in St. Louis, though I"m not denying how helpful these passages are.

It’s hard for me to imagine St. Therese writing what St. Louis says here: “He reveals the secrets of the Cross only to those who make themselves worthy by their great fidelity and great labours.”

St. Therese said that her only treasure was her blind confidence in God’s Mercy, and that the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more one is suited for the workings of Divine Love. Of course she’d agree that we need to keep trying to do God’s Will. But there does seem to be more of an emphasis on trusting in God’s Mercy toward our weakness.

But on the other hand, when St. Louis is writing explicitly about Mary there is more of an emphasis on Mercy, it seems to me. As. St. Louis says, Mary is the place where Jesus is most adapted to our weaknesses.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Perhaps you have not yet read the book entitled “The Last Conversations of St. Therese”. It is worth reading, for it chronicles her conversations with her three sisters during the final months before she died. Persons who have only read her Autobiography, can miss the immense strength of “her little way”. I’ve read both of her books more than once, as I have read St. Louis De Montfort’s works, and find in those two saints (as well as all the saints I’ve read) tremendous Love for God.

God is both Love and Mercy. While any saint, moved by God’s Grace, may write about one of God’s attributes more than another of His attributes, at any given time, God is ALL Love, and ALL Mercy, as well as ALL Justice and He expresses in all His attributes all the wonders of Who He is.

Saints are each unique as God has created each person unique and unrepeatable – but all have this in common, by His Grace they attained to the perfection of Divine Love. In the end, as God’s Word tells us in St. Paul’s letter, (1 Cor 13:13):

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

When Jesus tells us to be “perfect” as our heavenly Faither is “perfect” He is urging us on to the perfection of Charity: God is Love and we are called to become one with God in Love.

Mercy is an expression of Love, and it is important to God that we come to a greater knowledge of Him through reading what various saints and doctors of the Church have written, but we need always to go back to God’s Holy Word to verify that we may understand Him correctly and not misunderstand something we’ve read.

Toward the end of her life, St. Therese read only the Gospels. Her last (and to me her most beautiful poem: “Why I love You, O Mary”) is written to show Mary through the Gospel. There may be some who “presume” on His Mercy rather than be “willing” to suffer. Therese wrote that “Love IS the willingness to suffer.” We may not suffer much now or we may be suffering a great deal but — are we “willing” to accept the suffering God permits? Only God can know our hearts fully, but many saints encourage us to ask God for the Grace of true self-knowledge, that we may know our own spirit, to see how closely we resemble Jesus and Mary in mind and heart. Mercy is given those who ask as a child asks…because God is Love and does not refuse any repentant child of His.

His Love expresses His Mercy in His Word often in both Old and New Testaments: (Isaiah 42:3; Mt. 7: 7-11) and we see His Mercy in looking at our Crucifix – and remembering His words : “Behold your Mother.” and His words to the repentant thief: “This day, you will be with Me in paradise.” Hope that helps a bit.

 

[patricius79]

Thank you, MariaChristi,

I think the key is the “receptivity” shown by Jesus and the Blessed Virgin–receptivity which is a choice. I think that female saints may understand a little more easily how we are more receptive in relation to God than active.

I agree that I need to pray to Mary for the grace to receive all the graces which the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit wish to give. To strive to do God’s Will and not my own. To love God and neighbor with all my strength. To repent of and confess my sins with firm resolution to do better. To always depend on Mary. To be willing to suffer out of love, embracing the Cross. But my hope isn’t is my efforts but in God’s Goodness and Mercy.

This is especially important since I have anxiety and scrupulosity, as well as serious physical weakness. So it’s important that I don’t try too hard and exhaust myself, as opposed to relying on God’s help and just doing my part, like a little child.

Oh, and I haven’t read much of Therese’s writings due to my health issues. I’m getting my understanding of her and of St. Faustina more from the books of Fr. Michael Gaitley, such as 33 Days to Merciful Love, which is about St. Therese’s Little Way and her consecration to be a “victim” of Divine Mercy.

 

[adgloriam]

patricius79:

because people lose courage, complain, excuse themselves, and run away as soon as a possibility of suffering arises

When I was a kid, I thought the Cross and the Suffering would be big and spectacular, like for instance St Thomas More standing up to Henry VIII, and after all the dust settles everybody realizes how brave he (Thomas) was.

Or something like that.

But I realize that most suffering inflicted on us is ugly and humiliating and brutish and undignified and incredibly stupid and pretty much no one feels the slightest remorse afterward.

…and part of maturing in the Christian walk is to make peace with undignified suffering for which there is no apology and no do over.

I appreciate this post @0Scarlett_nidiyilii. TY.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Thanks for your reply. My chioce is always to read the Saint’s own words whenever I can. I’ve read Fr. Gaitley’s book , “33 Days to Glory” but prefer St. Louis de Montfort’s book, "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin and his way of describing the 33 days of Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. I’ve not read Father Gaitley’s book on St. Therese.

All of us need to pray for God’s Grace, to make good choices. Striving to know and to do God’s will is so very important but, you are correct in looking to do His Will and being humble enough to recognize any attempt of the evil one who tries to deceive us into wanting our own will more than God’s Will in each choice. The discernment of our own spirit is not easy but the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. The Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit to bring us into all Truth.

Yes, “trying too hard” can be a trap for many of us because we may be putting far too much emphasis on ourselves than on God. One of the comments St. Therese made to her Sister Pauline in the book “The Last Conversations of St. Therese” was to tell Pauline that Therese noticed Pauline put “too much of herself into her work”. It was a very perceptive and loving bit of “counsel” Therese gave her sister.

St. Louis de Montfort wrote his book, “The Love of Eternal Wisdom” after much prayerful reading of the Old Testament Book of Wisdom. I’m so grateful to God fr the graces He gave this saint through Mary for all of his short life of only 43 years! I hope you and I and all who read these threads are continuing to learn from St. Louis de Montfort, as he learned from Jesus through Mary. Thanks again for your replies, questions and comments. I really appreciate them.

 

[patricius79]

Thanks for your response, MariaChristi.

As I read your response, and as I read the quotations you’ve given from St. Louis, I can start to think things like “maybe I’m not doing God’s will” or maybe I’m reluctant to carry my cross like St. Louis talks about. Or maybe I’m on the wrong track because I read Fr. Gaitley’s book about St. Therese, but don’t read many of St. Therese’s own words.

But there’s one thing that is the key: that God is Merciful. So if I ask him to forgive everything I’ve done wrong and show me His Will and help me to do it as I embrace the Cross, He is faithful and will do this.

Whether that means, for example, to get the book you referred to with St. Therese’s conversations, or to not get it, and just continue to read the books I have which seem to be helping me… God will help me do His Will.

I have such a history of getting overwhelmed and confused by interpreting things the wrong way, that I have to be very careful about what I read, even with Scripture, which also can be very easy to misinterpret, especially if one has physical and/or psychological challenges.

I will continue to read your words, and St. Louis’s.

Yes, “trying too hard” can be a trap for many of us because we may be putting far too much emphasis on ourselves than on God

I totally agree with that.

 

[adgloriam]

because people lose courage, complain, excuse themselves, and run away as soon as a possibility of suffering arises .

@MariaChristi

I don’t especially like this approach because “theology of the cross” is much more complex that might seem. I’ve seen human beings in impossibly terrible sufferings. In my experience, this IS SIMPLY TERRIBLE. Chances are the person won’t even understand the situation they find themselves in or what they are supposed to do, how to rationalize it and conduct themselves.

I’ll tell you more: when the cross comes about -looking at Our Lord Jesus- the disciples were the first to abandon Him. So, chances are at that point even priests, faithful laity, “friends”, and most others, will abandon you outright - without thinking twice or looking back.

What’s more: you’ll frequently see “treatise on prayer”…But most of those “treatise” hardly cover the situation when you’re smashed to a point that prayer becomes not “barren” but quasi impossible. (I don’t think this is “dark night of the soul”, but literally “being smashed by the weight of the cross”.)

SO !!! I want to remind you @MariaChristi that it is legitimate for a human person to desire happiness and well being. To desire peace and satisfaction. I see nothing against wanting to be happy, in this life. simple as that.

(These are some of the reasons I’m weary of public “exaltation’s of the cross”, I hope I’ll be able to discreetly help someone -like Simon of Cirene, or Veronica- when a brother passes me by, and I hope I won’t be confused when a cross comes my way, although I’d personally like an easier life…)

 

[adgloriam]

can miss the immense strength of

A Dehonian priest whom I love reminded me that Saint Therese was scared, lost, abandoned, suffering, when she realized she was about to die so young…!!!

And that is the part that should not be forgotten nor overlooked.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Please don’t feel overwhelmed by anything any poor human person like me says! In mentioning my own preference, that is not to suggest you or anyone else needs to do the same. What helps one person may not be as much, if any, help to some other person.

You are correct that we can easily “misinterpret” words but, God knows our needs above all, and so we need to pray for His direction in the choices we make. As our dear Mother Mary told the servants at Cana, so she says the same to us: “Do whatever He tells you”. We can always go to Him with our doubts and fears and He will help us to know how loving and merciful He is, and how much we can trust Him.

My words are unimportant, really, but do remember Our Lady’s words to St. Juan Diego: “Am I not your Mother? Are you not in the Crossing of My Arms?” Mary is always praying for the children Jesus gave her. Mary takes her motherhood very seriously! Thanks again for your reply.

 

[Casilda]

A Dehonian priest whom I love reminded me that Saint Therese was scared, lost, abandoned, suffering, when she realized she was about to die so young…!!!

And that is the part that should not be forgotten nor overlooked.

Of the saints that I have read, to die and be with Christ overshadowed any earthly desire. I myself relish the thought of waking up in heaven and end my pilgrimage on this third rock from the sun.

 

[Casilda]

Toward the end of her life, St. Therese read only the Gospels…

…Only God can know our hearts fully, but many saints encourage us to ask God for the Grace of true self-knowledge, that we may know our own spirit, to see how closely we resemble Jesus and Mary in mind and heart. Mercy is given those who ask as a child asks…because God is Love and does not refuse any repentant child of His.

I had asked a holy priest once about what should I read to know more about God. He said read the Gospels and when I was done, to read them again. I am delighted to learn St. Therese did exactly that. Also a verse that has been repeated to me in numerous Bible studies is Matthew 7:7, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.’ I have asked and received. But I have sought and not found and have knocked but no one answers. So I keep seeking for now, and keep knocking.