MATTHEW 16:24
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”
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PICCARRETA:
July 9. “Each thought of yourself is a little escape from the arms of Jesus.”
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BOH VOL 7 Sept. 2, 1906
Luisa wants to do the accounts with Jesus. Jesus wants her to have no thought about herself.
“Let us do the accounts now, so as not to leave them for the last extreme of my life.”
“Do you want to waste time? Think of doing your things with God.”
I myself do not know the state in which I am – whether I am cold, dry, or warm. And if anyone wanted an account of it, I certainly would not be able to do it. I think I did it wrong. So, let us do the accounts now, that I may remedy it.‟
And after I prayed Him over and over again, He said to me: “My daughter, I keep you always on my knees, and so tightly as to give you no time to think about yourself. I hold you like a father holds his little child on his knees: he gives him now a kiss, now a caress; now he feeds him with his own hands, and now, if inadvertently the little child gets dirty, the father himself takes care of cleaning him.
Now, if the father shows himself afflicted, the little one consoles him and dries his tears; if he shows himself irritated, the little one calms him. In sum, the father is the life of the little one and does not let him have the slightest thought about himself – whether he needs to eat, whether he gets dirty, whether he needs to clothe himself, and not even whether he needs to sleep, because, forming a cradle with his arms, he rocks him to make him fall asleep, and lets him sleep on his own lap.
And the little one is all the relief and the life of the father, while the other grown-up children take care of reordering the house, of cleaning themselves by themselves, and of all the other affairs.
So I do with you: I keep you on my knees like a little daughter, and so intimately united with Me as to not let you feel yourself. I think and take care of all of you – cleaning you if you are stained, feeding you if you need food; in sum, I anticipate you in everything, in such a way that you yourself do not perceive your needs.
And by holding you intimately tight to Me, it is a grace that I give you, because you escape many, many defects, while if you had the thought of yourself – oh, into how many defects you would fall! Therefore, think of doing your office of little daughter toward Me, and have no thought for anything else.”
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PRAYER OF THE DAY:
“My Mama, enclose the thoughts of Jesus in my mind, so that no other thought may enter into me. Enclose the eyes of Jesus within mine, that He may never escape from my gaze; and His hearing in mine, that I may always listen to Him and do His Most Holy Will in everything. Place His Face within mine, so that, by looking at Him so disfigured for love of me, I may love Him, compassionate Him, and repair; His tongue in mine, that I may speak, pray and teach with the tongue of Jesus; His hands in mine, so that each movement I make and each work I perform may have life from the works and actions of Jesus. Place His feet in mine, so that each one of my steps may be a life of salvation, of strength and of zeal for the other creatures.”
Hours of the Passion,
24th Hour