Available from: Marian Helpers Center Stockbridge, MA 01263 Prayerline: 1-800-804-3823 marian.org Orderline: 1-800-462-7426 shopmcrcy.org IMPRIMI POTEST: Very Rev. (2) Write out or print up the Prayer of Consecration to Merciful Love or Thereses own text so you can sign it after youve recited it if youd like, you can visit ShopMercy.org for a certificate or prayercard with the Prayer of Consecration to Merciful Love. And the Lord gave me to know who it is that upholds the existence of mankind: it is the chosen souls (ibid., 926). Well hear about that terrible trial tomorrow. So, this book truly is a consecration to Divine Mercy but in the style of St. Therese of Lisieux. Moreover, such a martyrdom is very sweet171 and purifies the soul completely, leaving no trace of sin or punishment, which means it will not have to pass through the fire of purgatory. No. DAY 28 Therese's Darkness (Part Two) Before yesterday, we may have thought that we couldnt relate to St. Therese because she lived in a convent and had no difficulties believing in God and heaven. (More on this later.) But the problem is we forget. I always feel, however, the same bold confi dence of becoming a great saint because 1 dont count on my merits since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness. And he goes on to make God look jealous, selfish, and conniving: For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God . In short, Satan casts doubt on Gods goodness, making him look evil and untrustworthy. Thats largely because of a popular and terribly rigorist book on Carmelite spiritualin- called The Treasure of Carmel. 'Nevertheless, her trust in God's mercy during that time, and God's faithfulness to her, became the confirmation of her Little Way. Those who have done so are amazed at how powerfully Jesus takes them up on their offer. Now, lest we think that Therese is alone in boldly speaking about not fearing God and being so familiar with him, we read the following from St. Faustina: Even if I were to hear the most terrifying tilings about Gods justice, I would not fear Him at all, because I have come to know Him well (Diary, 589). 1. What about something that we can easily memorize and pray anytime during a busy day? Mother Agnes recalled the occasion during an interview: When she asked me this, her face was all lit up, as ifshe were on fire with love. Obscured text at back cover due to sticker. 33 Days to Merciful Love is the stirring sequel to the international sensation, 33 Days to Morning Glory. (See Appendix One.) 110 Cited in ibid. In fact, she believed that such talk hurts the Lord. DAY 23 The Blindness to Sin Living the Little Way requires that we recognize our littleness. However, be aware of what you are. While the focus of this retreat is Therese of Lisieux, well deal with different subject matter each week. o o O O O xo o O u O O O bro bro bro o o O o O o 0 O O O o o O o u o o o . After all, the very definition of compassion is to suffer with. But this kind of suffering is not so scary. 33 Days to Merciful Love (Retreat Coordinator's Guide) - Read online for free. And why, as John Paul II put it, does doing so highly respect us and ennoble us? On her deathbed she said to me one day: T often repeat my act of consecration. How so? 114 Saint Therese seems to have made a similar prayer: Yes, my God, every thing that you will, but have pity on me! (Story ofa Soul, p. 270). He asked the Lord, Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then destroy' the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? (Gen 18:24). Let me begin to explain this by saying something about a seemingly unrelated topic: conscience. May the blood and water that flows forth from your Heart always be upon us! I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. One more thing regarding the last objection: When we take the graces that others dont want, were actually giving them a second chance to receive those graces. May they show us that in the light of Gods Merciful Love, the darkness of sin (repented sin) is not so dark after all. He celebrated! DAY 1 Eve of Darkness4 We begin in the beginning with Eve and the fall of humanity, the Eve who reveals the opposite of trust, the Eve who caused die time of darkness. I let her do it.82 Next, when asked ifTherese had made the Offering just once and forgotten about it. In other words, may it help us to trust Gods promises and even to hope against hope. Michael Gaitley and based on his bestselling book The Second Greatest Story Ever Told. Because she knew it was her littleness that at tracted Gods Merciful Love. Finally, the obituary also includes the following statement from Sr. Marie, which she uttered in the midst of her mortal agony: I am bearing the harshness of divine Justice divine Justice! So, youll want to go over the daily reading each morning or the night before. Its the Good News that Gods love is like water, which always goes to the lowest place. When Mary said, Let it be done to me, she was allowing the Incar nation of the Word to take place in her immaculate soul. Hes well aware that the child wdll often fall back into the these same faults, but hes always ready to forgive him, provided the boy always grasps him by the heart. So, there you have a way to live the Offering to Merciful Love and renew it with every breath as a spiritual communion of Merciful Love. The Good Samaritan, as it says later, is the one who showed mercy (v. 37). 258-59. So, if youre feeling maybe too weak to make the Offering, thats a good thing. 9781596143456. eBay Product ID (ePID) 219649082. 33 Days to Merciful Love: Retreat Companion by Michael E. Gailey, Miscellaneous Items, Statues, and Fonts, Olive Wood items from the Holy Land (Jerusalem, Is, RCIA - The Right of Christian Initiation of Adults. Although the reality' of Gods mercy for sinners is beyond the power of words to express, St. Faustina does try to lift the veil of the mystery in the following passages from her Diary. For instance, God had called Abraham (who was then named Abram) from lais home country: Go from your country and 30 33 DAYS TO MERCIFUL LOVE your kindred and your fathers house to die land that I will show you. There, Marys Immaculate Heart was pierced with a sword as she beheld the agony of her Son. But what is trust? Let the light of Gods Merciful Love shine into the darkness of my sin. Its to ignore the thieves of hope and to believe in Gods promise of mercy. Okay, so youre ready to make your consecration. For instance, it means going to Mass and Confession regularly, taking time to pray, and doing little tilings with great love. Mercy. 33 Days to Merciful Love Group Retreat goes even deeper than the book alone and explores new material on the heart of St. Thrse of Lisieux's Little Way, uncovering the power of trust in the face of . For the simple act of presenting yourself to the Lord as you are, sinfulness and all, is itself an act of trust. Put differently, we just need to remember to do three things: (1) Recognize, (2) Trust, and (3) Try. Specifically, we learned that shes a prophet of mercy who an nounces Gods desire in the present time of mercy to work the amazing miracle of mercy of forming us into great saints through the Little Way. You can, then, in one instant prepare me to appear before You. While Week Three of the retreat will go into much more detail about St. Thereses Offering, here Ill just summarize its three most basic points. Actually, according to Therese, God doesnt just want us to bypass purgatory; he wants us to stop talking about it as if it were nearly impossible to avoid. Actually, I think we need more dian just a statement. Francis choice of poverty affected rhe way his conscience judged him. (See chart on pages 22-23 for other recommended feast days.) Dont worry. After all, that cuts right to the heart of the Little Way, which is really all about heaven. [emailprotected] Yes. 181. Krailsheimer [London: Penguin Classics, 1966], 136). In other words, they may be saying, Look, I like the Divine Mercy message and devotion and everything, and I thought Td do a nice little consecration. The P first friend is Fr. Well, its not. But there arc other days that have a special connection to Divine Mercy diat would also be appropriate as 33 DAYS TO MERCIFUL LOVE 22 consecration days. I mean, proper conscience formation and learning to see through the lens of mercy doesnt just happen. After all, I figured that only the quickest and easiest path could help someone like me to become a saint. that the more Ton want togive, the more You make us desire. So whether you want to deepen your love of Divine Mercy or have a devotion to St. Thrse, 33 Days to Merciful Love is the book for you. 198 Catechism, 467. o o CD O o O o o o S. O o O o o O CD O p O 2. o O o o Cfq p O O O CJq o . But what was die nature of this suffering? Help me to live my ordinary life with an extraordinaryfaith, hope, and love. Yes, well simply need to embrace the promise that God will clothe us with his own divine love in his own time and in his own manner, even if we have to wait until the very end. From Gods perspective, though, the truly great souls are the little souls, because they allow Gods greatest attribute, his mercy, to shine forth most fully. Of course, this does not mean that little souls can never be successful in the practice of virtue, but when they are, Therese describes what their attitude should be: To be little is also to not attribute to oneself the virtues that one practices, believing oneself capable of anything, but to recognize that God places this treasure of virtue in the hands 180 33 DAYS TO MERCIFUL LOVE of His little child, to be used when necessary; but it remains always Gods treasure (ibid., p. 228). Well, its as simple as breathing sort of. Trust Recognizing our weakness, brokenness, and sin can be a difficult thing. I want only to sing of Your mercies. Make the Sign of the Cross 2. Specifically, would you pray the following prayer of St. Therese for us? I suggest that we can do so by living our lives with the one purpose of consoling Jesus through our attitude of trust, which means praising and thanking God in all things and in all circumstances. We tell her shes forgiven but in vain. God Doesn't Need Us. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. Of course, Im still no saint, but at least I have hope that its possible. 144 33 DAYS TO MERCIFUL LOVE Look at it like this: From our perspective, the great souls are, well, thegreat souls'. It focuses on the twin and mutually complementary themes of love and luminosity- the core of Islamic mysticism. Because while the sins of the world are finite, the mercy that flows from the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is infinite. Theyre die important and accomplished people. You have too much fear before the good God. Mark said, No problem. After all, I figured that only the "quickest and easiest" path could help someone like me to become a saint. Finally, it is to he worried about nothing, and not to he set on earning our living. And so, in diis way, God manifests His infinite grandeur. In other words, when the Lord stoops down to litde souls, it makes his glory shine even more. But for that very reason, in a sense, God is giving us unprecedented grace. This blind hope in your mercy, O Lord, is my only treasure. God made himself vulnerable in Jesus Christ he put himself in need of our love and mercy for the sake offriendship. 61 Diary, 723. 71 Story ofa Soul, p. 256. Yet despite the fact that Therese lived beitind the protective walls of a convent, God decided not to shield her from the dark and terrible sadness of the modern world. 189 In my opinion, the best translation of St. Thereses autobiography Story ofa Soul is by John Clarke, OCD. Moreover, she explains, God who is all gentle ness would moderate to excess the temporal punishment due to sin, because of our love.104 So, love carries us along the way, making everything, in a certain sense, raw.105 Its the way our loving and merciful God intended for us. It is to their hearts that God deigns to lower Himself. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. We console Jesus Heart when we go to him just as we are it breaks his Heart when we dont. Congratulations! And we should listen to Pope Francis, who said, The Lord never tires of forgiving, never! The latter kind of sin is what I mean by deliberate venial sin, the kind of sin that is chosen after some reflection and with awareness that it is displeasing to God. 29 every little thing. These words moved me deeply, and although I pretended not to hear them, I understood them very well and had no doubt about them (429). Mary' said, Behold (Ecce), I am the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38). In her Letter 197, she powerfully expresses this idea: [T]he weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more suited one is for the workings of this consuming and transforming Love [B]ut we must consent to remain always poor and without strength, and this is die difficulty Ah! Amazon. The retreat book, 33 Days to Morning Glory, is . 167 We can develop this wise capacity by continuing what weve been doing all along, namely, pondering in our hearts (see Lk 2:19), but now with a more refined focus. As far as I can tell, it is only Sr. Genevieve who expands on this (in the aforementioned citations), which puts little souls at ease. His brother, on the contrary, throws himself into his fathers arms, protesting that he is sorry for hurting him, that he loves him, and that to prove it he will be good from now on. Chris Alar, MIC, a priest in my community, die Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. 348.) A must-read for all those who desire to bear witness to the mercy of God . On die other hand, when we stub our toe or have a terrible headache, its hard not to focus on ourselves, and then we really notice the pain. 174 Letters of St. Therese ofLisieux, vol. What a sweet joy it is to dtink that God is Just, i.e., dtat He takes into account our weakness, that He is perfectly aware of our fragile nature. The Church has to do this, when there is someone not only wait for them, but go out and find them! After all, such a luxury would have gone against his ideal of follow ing the poor Christ, who had nowhere to lay his head. (Of course, for others, accepting such an inheritance would not necessarily be sinful.) We entered the nine-domed Temple of Kali, where the figures of the Divine Mother and Shiva rest on a burnished silver lotus, its thousand petals meticulously chiseled. Connecting the Dots Consecration to Divine Mercy St. Therese-style. 75 Pope Francis, address to the priests of the Diocese of Rome, March 6, 2014. Maybe we want people to have to pay more for their sins. Wonderful. Yes, she rediscovered the very heart of the Gospel, the Good News that God lifts up the lowly: We are living now in an age of inventions, and we no longer have to take the trouble of climbing stairs, for, in the homes of the rich, an elevator has replaced these very successfully. 180 Ibid. Its a choice to walk the path of spiritual childhood. If we live this attitude of presenting our wretchedness to the Lord (ecce), receiving his mercy (fiat), and then praising and thanking him for his saving mercy (magnificat/ we can be assured that we wont seriously be wounding the Lord by our lack of trust for trust is not only praise and thanks, its also to receive Gods mercy- Remember how Fr. Therese had responded, Yes! 36 Ibid. I shared in the introduction that when I first learned about the Little Way, it filled me with hope that maybe even someone like me could become a saint. I offer them to You with gladness, begging You to look upon me only in the Face of Jesus and in His heart burning with Love. (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996), p. 174. How you grieve me! Perhaps its to have a business meeting, a celebration, or simply to get die furnace fixed. And so, as I said, and I am ever more convinced of it, this is a kairos, our era is a kairos of mercy, an opportune time (p. 6). Rather, its based on the judgment of Almighty God, who alone is truly great. Let it be a sign for you. So, in a way, you might say diat die Image of Divine Mercy is Jesus own heart medication. My first recommendation is to read books about mercy from people who have chosen the path of mercy, who have done the work of mercy, and who saw through the lens of mercy. 1,1877-1890. how I would like to be able to make you understand what I feel! Mark was referring to my book 33 Days to Morning Glory, which is an updated and easy-to-use preparation for making a total consecration to Jesus through Mary. 87 Cited in ibid. 86 33 DAYS TO MERCIFUL LOVE Thereses boldness in relying on the merits not only of God but of the saints and angels reaches new heights after she reminds the Lord of his promise in Scripture to grant whatever we ask. 98-99). I love you! We thought that was the end, when, suddenly, she raised her eyes, eyes that were full of life and shining with an indescribable happiness surpassing all her hopes. [That] sublime gaze lasted for the space of a Credo. Then she closed her eyes and the whiteness of her face, which had become more accentuated during the ecstasy, returned to normal. It is a long, slippery slope that cannot be iden tified simply as a series of sins. But today is a day for rejoicing! Susan Conroy (New York: Alba House, 1998), p. 12. Youre nothing." And then well remember I hope well remember Marys example of faith at the foot of the Cross. Hail Mary 5. Maybe we think Therese is being too indulgent. Spiritual blindness extends even to those w'ho recognize that theyre sinners. 166 Cited in Gaucher, p. 191. It is a consignment that he gave us, but which comes from on High.75 So, were in a time of mercy, and we have that on the authority of the Pope. Copyright 1988 by Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites ICS Publications 2131 Lincoln Road, N.E. Fill me with Merciful Love so that, through it, I may see all of God's perfections, including his justice, as clothed in love. 7. Welcome to WEEK 1 of our 33 Days to Merciful Love Retreat!What is Trust?? 186 Ibid. are nothing-, they are not what give me the unlimited confidence that I feel in my heart. I thank You, O my God! But perhaps we moved on too quickly from the worlds darkness to the light of mercy. 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