Lourdes Pinto
POVERTY I
2/11/21 Cenacle
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
Poverty brings forth chastity, and chastity brings forth obedience, which is the essence of Love. (Simple Path #66, p.204)
I. 1/14/21 Aspire to be Poor in the World
My ways are not the ways of the world. Meditate on My life and the life of the Holy Family. We were rich in the graces of ABBA, our Father but always poor in the things of this world. You cannot aspire in your hearts for both; that is why to follow Me, you must leave everything. You must aspire to be poor in the world and rich in virtue.
· Luke 12:13-21 Parable of the rich fool
• “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (12:21)
• Catechism of the Catholic Church
2547 The Lord grieves over the rich, because they find their consolation in the abundance of goods.340 “Let the proud seek and love earthly kingdoms, but blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” 341 Abandonment to the providence of the Father in heaven frees us from anxiety about tomorrow. 342 Trust in God is a preparation for the blessedness of the poor. They shall see God.
• Luke 12:29-31
“Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (12:33-34)
• Luke 8:3 “and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.”
• Luke 11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
• “True poverty should be an expression of faith in God and a sign that the heart is not satisfied with created things and aspires to the Creator; that it wants to be filled with the love of God so as to be able to give this same love to everyone.” (Interview with Saint Josemaria Escriva on the virtue of poverty)
II. DESIRES
• 1/30/18 Diary of a MOC, “Mission of the 12”, Mathew 10:1-24
A victim soul must fix his eyes on Christ, must desire with all his being to become one with his Master, must be willing to learn from Him and imitate Him. He must be willing to fight against all his disordered desires.
Do I truly desire with all my being to become one with my Master, one with Love crucified? What other desires are in the way?
The mortification of the passions of our flesh is not enough in and of itself. This desire to mortify our disordered desires is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, awakening in us the desire to grow in holiness, which is good and important, but our hearts still lack PURE LOVE.
Our desires must be purified in the fire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus until our desires are one with His—the burning desire for the Cross solely for love of God and the salvation of souls. This ONE DESIRE—The Cross—is the perfection of all the virtues because it is pure love.
Luke 12:49-50 “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!”
Example: MOC moving close to her parents….
63. THE PURIFICATION OF YOUR DESIRES —DIARY OF A MOC. P.187
The purification of your desires is the first stage of purification in My Sacred Heart. You begin to move only according to My desires and not yours. You no longer do what you want to do, nor go where you want to go, but now, you go only where I take you. You choose to live each day according to what is most difficult, not what is easiest. This will require a greater discipline of your will, greater silence, and stillness of soul in Me.
•HW- What are the desires of my heart?
Examination of Conscience – Love
1/30/18 Diary of a MOC, “Mission of the 12”, Mathew 10:1-24
My little one, I have chosen you to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God on earth. The mission is not easy, for the ways of God are never the ways of the world. All who are chosen by God to fulfill His plan on earth are hated by some, rejected by others, ill-treated, persecuted, for I came upon the earth to set one against another, for the ways of God will never be accepted nor appreciated by those who live for the things of this world. You have been asked by God to bring Him victim souls. A victim soul must fix his eyes on Christ, must desire with all his being to become one with his Master, must be willing to learn from Him and imitate Him. He must be willing to fight against all his disordered desires. This requires certain disciplines for my disciples:
1) “take no gold, nor silver, nor copper”- that means detached from the riches of this world, trusting that God will provide.
2)” no bag for your journey,” which means that My disciples must allow My spirit to detach them from all disordered attachments. (My Lord, how do we know what a disordered attachment is?) Anything that weakens your desire for Me distracts you from loving Me, takes your gaze from Me.
3) “nor two tunics”- My disciples must live simply as I did, poor, never in excess.
4) “nor sandals”- a life dedicated to sacrificial love, penance, renunciation.
5) “nor a staff”- My disciples lean on Me; I become their support; I lead the way.
My disciples wear My yoke-the wood of the Cross, united to Me. I am their All. My disciples are the men and women consumed in love and desire for Me. They choose to live this way of life for love of Me and the consuming desire to be made perfect- which is to become Love. Only in this way will My disciples reflect the face and light of God in the world. These are my victim souls that possess the power of God on earth.
