Items filtered by date: Sunday, 28 March 2021

Sunday, 28 March 2021 20:33

The invitation – anamnesis

The invitation – anamnesis

April 2021

The Eucharist – Source and Summit of History

The same words of the introduction – “Come closer, my children” and “I am here to tell you great news” – are on the part of the Beautiful Lady, an invitation to remember what God had planned from the beginning of time: namely, that God wants to have us all close to Himself, in Heaven. This is practically the task of man on earth: first of all to desire for himself, and then to support others in their desire to discover this plan of God and to accept it as their own. There is no one among men who cares so much about fulfilling it as the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all believers in Him.

Mary points us to the concrete places and times where we can discern this plan and experience God’s personal support in the grace that comes from Her Son, Jesus. It is first of all a question of Holy Mass, through which Jesus Christ wishes to bestow his gifts upon us; it is also a question of prayer and the time devoted to it, which Mary is not afraid to reduce to the recitation of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. For some, these prayers have already become something unknown, because they are not taught by their parents, who today more and more often do not even feel the need to baptize their children. Lent, too, is no longer a time of preparation for the Sacred Easter Triduum, but is treated like normal weekdays, without any special significance.

Mary did not fail to mention that our deteriorated relationship with God is also reflected in our damaged crops and ruined harvests. We always forget the connection between God’s commandment, “Subdue the earth and rule over it,” and Mary’s words, “If they are converted, the stones and rocks will turn into piles of grain and potatoes will spring up on their own in the fields.” We can only subdue the earth satisfactorily then, when we ourselves allow ourselves to be subdued by God. Mary reminds us of this truth already at the beginning of the French part of her Message: “If my people do not want to submit…”. She herself wants to show herself as the first to submit to God and is proud of this choice. Nothing builds inner peace so strongly as adherence to the Will of God, and the Immaculate Virgin is a constant example of this for us. Therefore, speaking of us, she says “my people”, because she hopes that, as within herself, so too in each of us there is this natural desire for God and the desire to please Him out of love, and not out of calculation or hidden malice.

If something does not go according to our plans, then we swear distracted: either against drivers, or against pedestrians, against unpleasant people, against state authorities, against public services, against health care, against drought, against the coronavirus pandemic and the speculation connected with it, against damaged crops, against the prices of services and products, against evildoers and against failures and setbacks of all kinds. Mary reminds us that all this requires God’s intervention. Jesus is ready to help us, but our behavior and indifference to our eternal relationship with God require ever stronger means of reparation.Mary appeals to Jesus - to whom she mentions with tears - to use more delicate solutions. But she too is aware that by our behavior, we are faced with a choice between the loss of eternal life and the heavy intervention of Jesus’ arm, which is no longer possible to restrain even by Mary, even though she is full of grace. He does not want to punish. Punishment is the name we give to the wrath of God. The wrath of God, in the words of the prophets, means the zeal of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to put everything in order, as God had willed from the beginning of the world.

Let us follow this invitation of Mary to submit to God and obey Him in all that is written in the Decalogue. Let us then remember that God is merciful in the worldly time and always wants to help us. But when this time is over, He unfortunately has to be just, something we forget.

And Mary at La Salette suffers precisely because we forget this.

Karol Porczak MS

Published in MISSION (EN)
Sunday, 28 March 2021 20:05

Reflection - April 2021

The invitation – anamnesis

April 2021

The Eucharist – Source and Summit of History

The same words of the introduction – “Come closer, my children” and “I am here to tell you great news” – are on the part of the Beautiful Lady, an invitation to remember what God had planned from the beginning of time: namely, that God wants to have us all close to Himself, in Heaven. This is practically the task of man on earth: first of all to desire for himself, and then to support others in their desire to discover this plan of God and to accept it as their own. There is no one among men who cares so much about fulfilling it as the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all believers in Him.

Mary points us to the concrete places and times where we can discern this plan and experience God’s personal support in the grace that comes from Her Son, Jesus. It is first of all a question of Holy Mass, through which Jesus Christ wishes to bestow his gifts upon us; it is also a question of prayer and the time devoted to it, which Mary is not afraid to reduce to the recitation of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. For some, these prayers have already become something unknown, because they are not taught by their parents, who today more and more often do not even feel the need to baptize their children. Lent, too, is no longer a time of preparation for the Sacred Easter Triduum, but is treated like normal weekdays, without any special significance.

Mary did not fail to mention that our deteriorated relationship with God is also reflected in our damaged crops and ruined harvests. We always forget the connection between God’s commandment, “Subdue the earth and rule over it,” and Mary’s words, “If they are converted, the stones and rocks will turn into piles of grain and potatoes will spring up on their own in the fields.” We can only subdue the earth satisfactorily then, when we ourselves allow ourselves to be subdued by God. Mary reminds us of this truth already at the beginning of the French part of her Message: “If my people do not want to submit…”. She herself wants to show herself as the first to submit to God and is proud of this choice. Nothing builds inner peace so strongly as adherence to the Will of God, and the Immaculate Virgin is a constant example of this for us. Therefore, speaking of us, she says “my people”, because she hopes that, as within herself, so too in each of us there is this natural desire for God and the desire to please Him out of love, and not out of calculation or hidden malice.

If something does not go according to our plans, then we swear distracted: either against drivers, or against pedestrians, against unpleasant people, against state authorities, against public services, against health care, against drought, against the coronavirus pandemic and the speculation connected with it, against damaged crops, against the prices of services and products, against evildoers and against failures and setbacks of all kinds. Mary reminds us that all this requires God’s intervention. Jesus is ready to help us, but our behavior and indifference to our eternal relationship with God require ever stronger means of reparation.Mary appeals to Jesus - to whom she mentions with tears - to use more delicate solutions. But she too is aware that by our behavior, we are faced with a choice between the loss of eternal life and the heavy intervention of Jesus’ arm, which is no longer possible to restrain even by Mary, even though she is full of grace. He does not want to punish. Punishment is the name we give to the wrath of God. The wrath of God, in the words of the prophets, means the zeal of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to put everything in order, as God had willed from the beginning of the world.

Let us follow this invitation of Mary to submit to God and obey Him in all that is written in the Decalogue. Let us then remember that God is merciful in the worldly time and always wants to help us. But when this time is over, He unfortunately has to be just, something we forget.

And Mary at La Salette suffers precisely because we forget this.

Karol Porczak MS

Published in INFO (EN)
Sunday, 28 March 2021 15:45

The path of conversion

The path of conversion

March 2021

Letting oneself be guided by God

Conversion does not necessarily mean just turning away from evil and toward good. This can be called a conversion that saves eternal life.

There can also be another conversion, consisting in renouncing the good that depends on our will, which in its own way discovers a beautiful and good vocation in life, and follows the vocational path indicated by God’s decision.

As religious we should be aware of our natural vocation to family life, to marriage and to paternity, but we have chosen to live the religious vows, inspired by the Message of the Beautiful Lady or by the example of life of the members of La Salette. In this way, we have interpreted God’s will for each of us; that is, we have converted to another vocation, more demanding than the natural one. And Mary, did she also experience a conversion?

In the first sense - never, because she is an immaculate person.

In the second sense - yes, and many times.

She already had her plans for a virginal life in her marriage to Joseph. She was to become a wife and housewife in the house of Nazareth. This is how she had interpreted her vocation in life. At the Annunciation of the Angel, God changed this plan and Mary immediately “converted” her will, making her obedient to the will of God. Asking the Archangel Gabriel, the question: “How is this possible? I do not know any man”, she practically wants to know who should participate in the conception, since with Joseph she had already established the pact not to be joined carnally. The Virgin Mary immediately points to the concrete. As we know, Gabriel explains to her the role of the Holy Spirit in this act. Her famous fiat voluntas tua is a decision to abandon her own (very noble) plans and to involve herself fully in God’s unexpected plan.

Similarly in Jerusalem, having found Jesus after three days, she does not understand Jesus’ explanations, but she keeps all these things in his heart. She does not allow herself to be tormented by thoughts about not paying attention to Jesus, but she imprints this fact in her memory: she converts (turns) her thoughts to God and expects explanations from Him. She recognizes that she will receive explanations at the right time, when God wills it. Perhaps that experience of the three days of separation helped her to sustain the three days of waiting for the resurrection of her crucified Son. There is yet another trait of conversion in Mary’s life.

When people began to judge Jesus, believing him to be insane, the family wanted to defend his reputation and sent for the Mother. When Jesus learns that His Mother and brothers are waiting for Him, He replies, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And turning to those sitting around him, he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” (cf. Mk 3:20-21.30-35).

In this event, Jesus did not fail to mention doing the will of God. Why is this an occasion of conversion for Mary? She understood at that moment that her role as Mother, Educator and Friend of Jesus had ended. From then on, she became the disciple of her Son in doing the will of God. Maintaining the authority of the Mother of the Savior, she follows the example of humiliation and obedience to her Heavenly Father, following the model of Jesus, in her journey of faith.

Karol Porczak MS

Published in MISSION (EN)
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