"MAY LOVE
NOT BE WASTED"
Lenten Letter
written by Mother Adela,
Foundress of SCTJM and FPH
February 20, 2010
Feast of Blessed Jacinta and Francisco
© Only
for personal use
Dear brothers and sisters:
The Lord in His infinite wisdom has allowed
that I write this letter precisely on the
feast of Blessed Jacinta and Francisco,
little hearts called to offer themselves as
living sacrifices of love and reparation to
the Hearts of Jesus of Mary. Such a heroic
vocation can only flow from a particular
contemplation of the high price that these
Two Hearts have paid for us. A price that
identifies itself with the singular mission
of each one. The price that the Heart of
Jesus, Redeemer of Men, pays so highly is
the price of the Love of God made Man which
culminates in a visible manner on the Cross,
in the offering of His Blood, of His Body,
of His Life, and of His Heart, to save
mankind, to give back to humanity the
greatness and the beauty of his original
dignity: restore the beauty of the image and
likeness of God in our souls and to open for
eternity the gates of Our Home: the House of
the Father. The price that the Heart of
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, pays so highly
is the price of maternal suffering, is
maternal cross, is maternal piercing….It is
love totally united to the love of the Heart
of Her Son, it is love that in Him and with
Him, is all for the Father and all for
mankind.
The Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Heart of
the Redeemer and the Heart of the Mother of
the Redeemer, have loved us to the extreme,
the extreme proper to the Redeeming love of
God made Man and of the Maternal love of the
only creature conceived Immaculate. They
have loved us to the extreme, and this means
that the redeeming love of Christ, love
whose power is the strength of His Mercy,
and the maternal love of Mary, whose power
is the strength of her immaculate maternity,
has no limits, does not know limits, does
not originate in limits, is not defined by
limits, and does not limit itself when
humanity does not receive their love, or
even when it despises it, rejects it,
ignores it….or simply, it does not treasure
it, does not take care of it, does not
carefully keep it and wastes it. The love of
the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is a love that
“bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things….” (1Cor 13:7). It is
merciful love, it is pure love, it is
unconditional love, it is faithful love, it
is a love that gives itself and gives itself
unreservedly. It is simply and certainly
love.
I think that a grace that the Blessed
Jacinta and Francisco, together with the
Servant of God Sister Lucia, received as a
fruit of the Apparitions of our Lady of
Fatima, was that of profoundly contemplating
this mystery of the love and the suffering
of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The mystery
of love that always pays so high a price for
the beloved, the mystery of love that is not
loved, the mystery of love that is not
received with gratitude and reverence….the
mystery of the thorns that surround these
Hearts representing the sins of humanity,
the hardness, the lightness, the
ingratitude, the rebelliousness, the
arrogance, the insolence, the indifferences,
the superficiality… the abuse of His love
and the wasting of His grace which costs so
much….Oh how much is the love of Their
Hearts wasted! how much is love wasted! how
much each gift which comes from love is
wasted!.
With this sense, with this contemplation of
the love which is wasted, I think that the
Lord himself has introduced us to this Lent.
In the
Cenacle of the 29th of January
we
received a prophetic word, very profound and
painful, at least I can say that it was for
my heart. It was the night when the Lord
guided us to contemplate the force of love
which springs from His Heart each time that
He communicates to us a grace, a word, a
gift, a calling, each time that He plants a
seed in the soil of our hearts…But He also
showed us His suffering when that seed has
not been received with love and
responsibility, when we do not treasure it,
when we do not guard it with care, when we
receive it superficially, when we do not
cooperate with its growth, but rather we let
it asphyxiate amongst the thorns of our
lightness, pride, comfort, slowness, or lack
of generosity. Yes, let us contemplate the
suffering of the Heart of Jesus for all the
gifts of his love that have been wasted,
asphyxiated, drowned, or not developed, for
the lack of responsibility and care for the
soil of the heart. Along with the suffering
of the Pierced Heart of the Redeemer, from
where all the graces and gifts spring, we
could also contemplate the maternal
suffering of the Virgin Mary…How can we not
be deeply moved before the image that we
received of the wounded and bloody hand of
the Virgin Mary, being cut amongst the
thorns of our hearts, trying to preserve the
seed planted by her Son? How can we not be
deeply moved before that maternal love that
pays any cost, that risks everything, does
not spare on suffering and battling “with
her wounded heel,” to preserve all the
graces, the gifts, the seeds that have been
planted in our hearts? How can we not feel
the responsibility proper to one who loves,
of not allowing the seed to be asphyxiated,
oppressed, dried by the superficiality of
the soil, and does not give fruit due to the
lack of fertilizer and fruitfulness of the
soil? Love cannot be wasted! So much love
cannot be taken so lightly! So much love
cannot be used and thrown away! So much love
should be loved and responsibly cared for
and allowed to grow!
It is my profound sentiment in this Lent,
that each one of us according to the demands
of love and responsibility of his/her own
vocation, may dispose ourselves to be a
good, generous, available, deep, and fertile
soil so that no “seed” which comes from the
love of the Heart of Christ falls amongst
thorns, stones, superficial or light
soil….May his Mercy, manifested in a torrent
of continuous graces and words, teachings
and opportunities to serve, be well received
with great gratitude and responsibility.
This Lent should be for us a time to work on
the soil of the heart, eliminating the
thorns, removing the rocks, putting more
soil and fertilizing the soil with virtues
and penances so that it may resemble more
the Heart of our Mother, a soil where the
“seed” was fully received, carefully
treasured, and fully fertile.
I would like to invite you to dedicate
yourselves to work on the soil of your heart
using the following guidelines (you should
seek its personal application and many more
which are necessary for the conversion and
transformation of your soil).
A path of love and responsibility
1. Knowledge of the personal
soil: A profound examination of
conscience based on the full knowledge of
our soil (heart) and how we have taken care
of all the gifts we have received personally
and in the life of the Family.
2. Place 7
Pillars based on this examination: Write
7 concrete virtues (honesty, prudence,
docility, etc.) which will purify the soil
and will demolish the thorns and stones.
Offer them to the Lord, put them into
practice, and keep a small count in writing
of how we live them daily and how we fail
them.
3. Before
the Eucharist, pray for the soil of our
heart: For those whom it will be
possible, at least for 15 minutes, I invite
you to go at least three times a week to the
Blessed Sacrament, to offer our love,
consolation, and reparation to the Pierced
Hearts, particularly for the “seeds” that we
have not taken care of or pondered more
deeply into, and that, therefore, have not
given its proper fruit. Before the
Eucharistic Heart, let us ask the Lord, that
all of us may be a true Marian, pure,
healthy, generous, available, strong, and
fertile soil.
4. Fasting
and penances to remove the stones from the
soil: Fasting, lived with the interior
and exterior dispositions, is a powerful
weapon to purify the heart of bodily
attachments, attachments of the will,
attachments of the appetites and affective
disorders, attachments to the “I”; it also
has a very powerful value of reparation and
protection. There are many seeds, many
graces that have been wasted, there are also
many graces for which we must prepare the
path of own heart. There is much that the
Lord wants to do in each of us and we must
overcome the opposition of the three enemies
of the soul: the devil, the flesh, and the
world… We must fast and go into battle in
order to remove the thorns and the rocks
from our hearts and to be able to give total
liberty for grace in our hearts.
5. Silence
to receive the seed and keep it: In a
world filled with so much noise, beginning
with our own interior, we need some time
where we create a space of silence for God,
his Word, his Voice….I recommend to you and
according to your possibilities, since I
understand that parents with small children
cannot make large scale choices in this
area, that you take some extra time during
the day to have silence. Perhaps it may mean
cutting down a few hours of TV or of
speaking on the phone….Each one of you knows
where your noises are….Try to give
yourselves more silence so that your souls
can learn the powerful language of silence
that forms and transforms the human
language, that purifies it, elevates it,
sanctifies it, and gives it order. The
language that comes from listening to God
speak to our hearts is the language that is
transformed into a fundamental means for the
edification of the civilization of love.
Keep silence and avoid words that do not
edify, that do not elevate, that do not open
the space for sincere dialogue… the vain
words and the words that do not reveal the
dignity of the human person. A silence that
allows us to listen, contemplate and guard
the mystery of love of the Pierced Hearts.
6.
Contemplate the Merciful Love, to treasure
it and not waste it: The Mercy of God,
of which the Virgin Mary is a maternal
reflection, has no limits; thus it is our
responsibility to not waste it, to not play
with it, to not abuse it, but rather to
allow that Mercy to become the greatest
treasure of our hearts and turn us into
channels of Mercy. I would like to invite
you, since this Lent prepares us for the
pilgrimage to the legacy of John Paul II and
to Divine Mercy Sunday, that you have as
spiritual reading for this lent the
Encyclical Dives in Misericordia, by John
Paul II, and the Diary of Saint Faustina.
That way, all of us can walk together
towards the Pierced Heart of Christ,
fountain of Mercy, contemplating the great
price that Mercy costs, and how much the
Virgin Mary knows this great price that her
Son paid.
7. Do not
allow Our Mother to cut her hand as she
protects the seed: I would like to
invite you to renew your consecration to the
Virgin Mary so that you can give her full
freedom to guard, teach, correct, and work
on the soil. Also, I invite you to pray the
Holy Rosary daily in reparation for all of
her maternal sufferings, especially when the
“seed” that her Son plants in our hearts
does not find the soil prepared, the soil
ready to receive it and the soil ready to
give much fruit.
Dear brothers and sisters, my words are
simply a small fruit of a soil that desires
to live so that the Love of the Pierced
Hearts is not wasted….Love cannot be wasted!
It is our gift and our task to make a home
where love is received, is cared for, is
fertile. May we in this Lent console and
repair the love that has been wasted, and
may we do so with love and responsibility,
truly preparing, purifying, and fertilizing
the soil of our hearts.
May we all be an offering of love and
consolation to the Pierced Hearts of Jesus
and Mary.
Mother Adela,
Foundress SCTJM and FPH
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