Why Holiness Brings Unspeakable Joy to the Soul!

“It is certain that your happiness consists in perfect renunciation of yourself. I will fill you with My grace in the same degree as you empty yourself of your will.”

– The Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena

I die daily, says St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:31).  The death of which he speaks is the death of self-will and self-love. 

Self-will is a form of pride; it elevates our own will above God’s will (which is love, mercy, truth and wisdom itself). By self-will we frustrate (to some extent) God’s almighty plans. We hinder our own happiness. 

Self-love refers to our self-seeking or selfishness, which often taints our actions. A true lover of God seeks God’s glory in all things; she accepts everything as coming from God’s loving Providence, which wills only her sanctification and happiness. Subsequently, the humble soul (one who truly loves God is necessarily humble) bears everything with patience, serernity and love. God is the sole object of her desires.

I die daily. If we are empty of self, God will fill us with Himself. A soul full of selfishness and sinful attachments cannot fully appreciate the joys of union with God, Who is the Source of all joy, all life, all happiness. The saints, who were united intimately with Jesus, experienced His joy as if it were their own. This is a forestaste of Heaven, in which the soul will be united with God like a drop in the ocean.

One day, Mary, the Mother of God, revealed to St. Bridget these beautiful words with which Our Lord addressed a faithful servant of His, upon entering Paradise:  

‘O My friend, you have come to present to Me the vessel of your heart empty of yourself, and you have desired to fill it with Me. Come then and I will fill it with Myself. Be in Me and I shall be in you and your glory and joy will have no end.’

When we seek God above all things, He fills our hearts with peace and joy!

The Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena (speaking of perfect souls): ‘Observe that these souls always possess Me in a sensible manner; the more they have rejected pleasures and desired to suffer, the more they have lost sufferings and found joy.’

Jesus said to St. Jane de Chantal: ‘In all this [humiliations, mortifications and rebuffs] My great design is to make them [souls] progress in My love; and if they did this they would infinitely please Me, and I should always be working to please them. My Heart is filled with sweetness and kindness for the souls that love Me and sincerely give themselves to Me; and I give Myself to them with the abundance of My favours; for they are My spouses whom I love tenderly.’ (p. 235)

The Eternal Father to St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi: ‘Suppose, My child, a man to possess every imaginable riches and to be the idol of every creature. If he does not possess Me who alone am true peace, his heart will never be at rest, for I alone can fill the heart of man, because I am Who am, and I fill up the void of whatever is not, and I fill it all the more when the void is greater and creatures better realise their nothingness.’

The Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena (speaking of those who live by and for God’s will):

‘Even in her mortal life she tastes the delights of immortality, and in spite of her mortal body she becomes as light as spirit… it is a greater miracle for the soul not to leave the body in this union that it is for several dead bodies to be raised to life.’

(This seems to explain why some of the saints levitated during prayer e.g. St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Padre Pio, St. Gemma Galgani etc.)

I could add many similar revelations, but these few are sufficient.

Pax Christi!

 

17 Quotes/Revelations to Inspire Confidence in God’s Love.

God loves us, His beloved creatures. We have been fashioned in His image, and are capable of knowing and loving Him. He desires our love; He desires our union. “Come to Me,” “Love Me,” “Give Me thy heart,” “Speak to Me,” “Console Me,” “Go, seek for souls,” “Take My Cross,” “Give Me your hands,” “Help Me in the redemption of mankind,” “Believe in My love” – each of these words, which were addressed to various mystics, are a reminder of the Gospel message: “I thirst.” Jesus thirsts infinitely for our love.

When we sin, we weaken our union with Him. We cannot go on sinning forever: we must ultimately choose God or sin; the Creator or the creature; Heaven or the World; virtue or vice; eternal beatitude or eternal misery; light or darkness; peace or restlessness; self–will or God’s will. In a word, Our Lord says to each of us: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.” This commandment is to the soul what medicine is to the body.

Here are some quotes to inspire us with confidence in Him Who loves us more than all others, and Who always has our best interests at heart:

1. “You seek Me, indeed, but know that, however ardently you seek Me, I seek you more ardently still. And it is your fears that prevent your progress in Divine love.” – Jesus to St. Margaret of Cortona

2. “The bee does not fly with greater eagerness to the green meadows than do I to thy soul when it calls Me. Now My Heart is thine and thy heart is Mine.” – Jesus to St. Mechtilde

3. “For when anyone exerts himself to overcome his faults for love of Me, he offers Me the same testimony of fidelity and respect as a soldier would do to his captain when he courageously resisted his enemies in battle, overcoming them all, and casting them to the ground with his own arm.” – Jesus to St. Gertrude

4. “… I can wish for no greater joy than to see men return to Me by repentance and love.”– Jesus to St. Mechtilde

5. “My dove, I supply all the defects of thy love by My love, its littleness by the love of the Heart of Jesus, its weakness by My all–powerful goodness; in short, the Heart of Jesus and thine, Benigne, are united.” – Jesus to Sister Jeanne Benigne Gojos

6. “CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY WHICH OPENS THE TREASURE OF MY MERCY.” – Jesus to Sr. Benigna Consolata

7. “God loves us so tenderly, that he not only desires, but is solicitous about our welfare… Let us, then always throw ourselves into the hands of God, who so ardently desires and so anxiously watches of our eternal salvation. ‘Casting all our care upon him; for he hath care of you” (1 Pt. 5:7). He who, during life, casts himself into the hands of God, shall lead a happy life and shall die a holy death.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori

8. “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” – St. Augustine

9. “Benigne must learn that a humble soul rarely falls, because God sustains it by pure love.” – Jesus to Sister Jeanne Benigne Gojos

10. “What more can you desire than to have within you the true source of all good, My Divine Heart? … All these great things are yours, all these treasures and riches are for the heart that I have chosen… Draw as much as you desire of these infinite delights and riches.” – Words of Our Lord to Mother Deleloë, a Benedictine nun

11. “Since thou dost prefer nothing to Me, and desirest ever to submit Thy will to Mine, it is clear that thou art in grace and charity…” – Jesus to St. Gertrude

12. “The will and desire which thou hast to avoid sin with all thy strength and power are bonds which attract and unite Me to thee so that nothing could ever separate us.” – Jesus to St. Mechtilde

13. “Give Me your heart – that heart which creatures do not know and which they slight; it is more than a universe to Me, because I love you.” – Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity

14. “Can someone pardon and offense committed against someone else? No. And yet, the priest says: ‘I absolve you.’ Why can he say that? Because it is Christ who speaks through his mouth.” – Bl. Dom Columba Marmion

15. “Do not fear anything; you will be my true daughter, and I will always be your good mother.” – Mary to St. Margaret Mary

16. “It is not those who commit the least faults who are most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immoderately apprehensive of tripping [a sign of self-love and distrustful pride].” – St. Francis de Sales

17. “I saw that I was created for Heaven, and that by submitting to the commands of God and being tractable to the divine inspirations, I shall enter into that holy city.”

– Sister Jeanne Benigne Gojos