*1 JOHN 3: 6-8*
“No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
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*PICCARRETA:*
Mar. 14. “The cause, I believe, of everything you tell me, is lack of union with Jesus in all your things. The enemy finds you alone, without Jesus, and does his own crafting in you, disturbs you, and takes peace away from your heart.”
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*17th Hour, Hours of the Passion, Reflections and Practices*
“Is our mind always empty of any other thought in order to give rise to grace? Many times we do not give rise to grace by keeping our mind filled with other thoughts. Then, since our mind is not completely filled with God, we ourselves cause the devil to bother us, and maybe we even foment temptations.
When our mind is filled with God, as the devil approaches us, not finding the place toward which to direct his temptations, confused, he flees. In fact, holy thoughts have so much power against the devil that, as he is about to approach us, they wound him like many swords, and cast him away.
Therefore, we lament unfairly when our mind is bothered and tempted by the enemy. It is our poor surveillance that pushes our enemy to assault us. He is spying on our mind in order to find little gaps, and attack us.
Then, instead of relieving Jesus with our holy thoughts and removing the thorns from Him, ungrateful, we push them into His head, making Him feel the pricking more sharply. In this way, grace remains frustrated, and cannot carry out the crafting of its holy inspirations in our mind.
Many times we do even worse. As we feel the weight of temptations, instead of bringing them to Jesus, making of them a bundle to be burned by the fire of His love, we worry, we become sad, and speculate on those very temptations. Therefore, not only does our mind remain occupied by evil thoughts, but all our poor being remains as though soaked with them; and so it would almost take a miracle from Jesus to free us.
Jesus looks at us through those thorns and, calling us, He seems to say: “Ah, my child, you yourself do not want to cling to Me. If you had come soon to Me, I would have helped you to free yourself from the bothers which the enemy brought into your mind, and you would not have made Me sigh so much for your return. I asked for help from you in order to be freed from thorns so sharp; but I waited in vain, because you were occupied with the work that your enemy had given you. Oh! how much less tempted you would be, if you came soon into my arms. Fearing Me, and not you, the enemy would leave you immediately.”
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*PRAYER OF THE DAY:*
“My Jesus, may I identify myself with You, making myself one with You. May You become my very life, because Your Will is inside and outside of me. May Your Will be the air that I breathe, which gives life to everything; may it be light that makes me see and understand everything; like heat that warms, fecundates that makes me grow; like heart that palpitates, like hands that work, like feet that walk. May my will unite with Your Volition, so that Your life may be formed in my soul.”
Adapted from
*BOH VOL 11 Oct. 2, 1913*