Showing all posts in 3 Minutes for God the Father

“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Eph 6:10).

These are the opening words of a series of spiritual counsels given by the Apostle Paul for perseverance in the battle entrusted to all who follow the Lord. It is an invitation to rely entirely on God and to leave behind the false security that comes from trusting in one’s own strength and abilities. We must understand and accept that God’s strength is above all in His love. It saves us from all dangers that we could never overcome on our own.

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“Man must not anticipate the Providence that guides him” (St Vincent de Paul).

It is a spiritual art to be “in tune” with Divine Providence, or in other words, to follow in the footsteps of the Holy Spirit.

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“O my Jesus, I know that in order to be useful to souls I must long for the most intimate union with You, Who are eternal Love” (St. Faustina Kowalska).

Our fruitfulness for the salvation of souls depends on the intimacy of our union with God. Every day we are invited to deepen our love for the Lord and thus to be ever more united with our heavenly Father.  In fact, Jesus introduced us to this love, as He makes clear in His priestly prayer in the Gospel of John: “I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (Jn 17:26).

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“Never let yourself be discouraged. Our eyes are on you, and we will not allow more to happen to you than you can bear” (Inner Word).

In our journey of following the Lord, situations may arise in which we need these words especially. Sometimes – or even often – our Father allows things to happen that are difficult to face, whether on a personal level or in the world and in the Church. These are crosses that we have to bear, the meaning of which we find difficult to understand and which we can only overcome through faith. In such circumstances it is easy to become discouraged. But when this happens, temptation has achieved one of its goals. A discouraged soldier of the Lord can easily be dissuaded from doing what those difficult circumstances would allow him to offer for the Kingdom of God. We must therefore accept crosses as coming from the hand of God, learn to bear them and make them fruitful. We can always ask the Lord to teach us.

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“Never hesitate to speak the truth!” (Inner Word).

Truth is an invaluable commodity. Without it, everything is blurred and reality takes on illusory features. As Christians, we have had the joy of knowing the One who is truth itself (Jn 14:6) and who comes to us from the throne of the Father. Before the procurator Pilate, Jesus declared: “For this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (Jn 18:37), that is, to proclaim the Heavenly Father from whom all things come.

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“No one is excluded from my love; all are called and invited. But they must put on the wedding garment that my Son has given to humanity” (Inner Word).

Our Father’s Heart is open to all people, no one is excluded from His love! All are called to approach the throne of His mercy. That is why the Father sends His messengers to make His love known to mankind. But although this love is boundless and inexhaustible, there is a condition for man to be able to receive it and live in it. He must put on the wedding garment of the Lamb, which the Lord acquired for mankind on the Cross, thus fully fulfilling the Will of the Heavenly Father.

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“It is better to burn than to know” (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux).

Saint Bernard, an ardent preacher, proclaims here the primacy of love. He was able to inflame his listeners with the love of God and to present the monastic life to them in such an attractive way, with all the praises imaginable, that mothers began to hide their children from him so that they would not all follow him to the monastery.

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“The bond of love is stronger than the tie with which nature has so strongly bound parents to their children” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).

No doubt St Bernard, the great lover of God, was referring to the bond of love with God. And since this link is stronger than that of blood, it is possible to leave one’s family behind when it comes to responding to one’s vocation and to dedicate oneself entirely to the bond of love with God. Indeed, this bond is indestructible and bears the greatest fruit. It also creates new bonds between those who have put God first and nothing before the love of the Heavenly Father.

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“Love transforms souls and sets them free” (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux).

This is the extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit who has been poured into our hearts and brings about their transformation. We know His seven gifts, which serve our sanctification.

Indeed, it is love that makes us receptive to all that God wants to give us, because “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16b).

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“Shall I tell you why and how we should love God? In a word, the reason for loving God is simply God Himself, and the measure is to love Him without measure” (St Bernard of Clairvaux).

St Bernard hit the nail on the head! Surely we could find countless reasons why we should love God, and we would never finish listing them. But they all boil down to the fact that we love God simply because He is God, and we love our Father for who He is. As we discover this more and more, we will cry out from the depths of our hearts: “O God, I thank you for being our Father and for being as you are”.

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