The Mature Disposition of Heart for our Apostolic Life
Total Personal
Availability to the Movements and Gifts of the Holy
Spirit and Total
Availability of the Personal Gifts at the Service of the
Community Mission
Sr. Mary Amanda, sctjm
This thesis will be a discussion of the mature
disposition of heart necessary for apostolic life in the
institute of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of
Jesus and Mary. The dimensions of a mature
disposition of heart are total personal availability to
the movements and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as
total availability of the personal gifts at the service
of the community mission.
The words ‘total availability’ in the title of my thesis
stood out for me as important and to be emphasized. I
believe this total availability can be summed up, in a
large degree, by the words of the Blessed Mother at the
wedding feast at Cana: “do whatever He {Jesus} tells
you.”[1]
For our spiritual life, this is crucial. Hence, the
best example I could think of regarding this maturity of
heart requiring total availability to the will of God is
Our Lady. Thus, after a brief discussion on the meaning
and elements of maturity, I will then concentrate on
what this means for a Servant by primarily focusing on
dimensions of Mary’s total availability. I will focus
on her openness and receptivity, particularly seen in
the annunciation - her fiat to God’s designs for her and
the world - as well as the Marian virtues that are a
necessary part of this mature disposition of heart, and
that are held out for our imitation. There will be a
particular emphasis on the important virtues of humility
and obedience which make this mature total availability
possible, giving as well examples of saints who have
modeled these two virtues in their life. I will next
discuss how the proper disposition of our heart requires
a mature understanding of love – namely that it is a
choice we make and is enduring because it is not based
on emotions. I will next present a reflection on what
role the Holy Spirit and His gifts have in our religious
life, as well a focus on the meaning of what the
personal gifts are and how they are to be at the service
of the community mission. I will then conclude with a
reflection on how love will triumph through the merciful
hearts of Jesus and Mary, whom we are called to imitate,
serve, and love with the totality of our person.
First, I will give a definition of maturity. Maturity
means the quality or state of being mature. To be
mature means to have completed natural growth and
development, and is related to being an older adult - a
condition of full development. It could also mean based
on careful consideration (i.e. a mature judgment).[2]
To be mature is also to be responsible. Responsibility
means being able to answer for ones conduct or actions,
and being accountable for them. It means being reliable
and trustworthy.[3]
Being mature also means to be disposed and ready, and
not being distracted by unimportant things. To do so we
must have our priorities in order. The call to maturity
and responsibility is precisely what the Lord wants from
us following the theme for this year 2009: ‘Family:
home and school of love and responsibility.’ What does
this mean to the spiritual life, and how does this
transfer to the heart?
Maturity I believe is doing the will of God as it is
presented to us. It means saying yes to Him and His
designs. In order to have a mature heart, it is
important to have a deep interiority of prayer. The
best example we have shown of this availability to God’s
will, particularly for our institute, is reflected in
the beauty of our Blessed Mother. Her total
availability to the Lord is seen particularly in her
fiat given to God, which is reflected most clearly in
the awesome event of the Annunciation. Here, she gives
us the best witness of her life consisting of doing
whatever the Lord told her. I will now look more
closely at the event of the Annunciation, in order to
better understand the magnitude of Mary’s openness which
allowed her fiat to be spoken from her heart to God’s.
The magnitude of her yes resounds even today.
Our Lady’s Fiat at the Annunciation
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin
betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he
said, ‘Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But
she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered
what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel
said to her, ‘Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found
favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will
be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and
the Lord God will give him the throne of David his
father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ But
Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have
no relations with a man?’ And the angel said to her in
reply, ‘They holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore
the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of
God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also
conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth
month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be
impossible for God.” Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to
your word.’ Then the angel departed from
her.[4]
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to the Virgin Mary in
Nazareth, who was espoused to, although not yet living
with, St. Joseph.[5]
The angel came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace.”[6]
The Angel’s greeting to Mary literally translated means
“Rejoice, full of grace.”[7]
Grace comes from the same root as the word, ‘joy.’[8] It
is an announcement of Messianic joy, an invitation for
all humanity to rejoice from the innermost depths of
their being. This is because, ultimately, the reason
for our sadness is the power of death and suffering.
With the Incarnation, Jesus will vanquish them both.[9]
The word grace in the proper and deepest sense of the
word is not something God gives but is actually God
Himself. Redemption therefore means that God gives
Himself to us.[10]
“Full of grace” also means that Mary is one who has
opened herself entirely, and has placed herself in God’s
hands without fear for her own fate.[11]
Mary is ‘full of grace’ as announced by the angel, and
her Son is as well, as St. John tells us in the Gospel,
“grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”[12]
He is the light. Additionally, this ‘fullness of grace’
was a preparation for her maternity, as she is the
Mother of Divine Grace who has been especially favored
by God.[13]
The title full of grace is also recognized by the Church
as Mary being conceived without original sin. She who
was the Savior’s Mother had to have a perfectly holy,
completely sinless origin.[14]
Mary is dismayed by the Angel’s greeting, and pondered
or considered what sort of greeting this might be. The
word St. Luke uses for “consider” derives from the Greek
root of the word, ‘dialogue.’[15]
Therefore, Mary enters into an interior dialogue with
the Word in order to explore its depths. We too must
enter into a communication with God in our hearts
through deep prayer. The Angel calmed her fears by
saying, “Fear not, Mary, for thou has found favor with
God.”[16]
With these words, Our Lady must have been able to
perceive immediately that this greeting was in a special
way for her, and that something unusual was about to
happen in her life.[17]
The angel goes on to say that she will conceive and bear
a son. She was well versed in Scripture, and
understood that in God’s plan there would be the coming
of the Redeemer. She wonders how this could take place,
and thus needed clarification:[18]
“The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you . . . the child to be
born will be called holy, the Son of God.”[19]
This moment of illumination was the culminating point of
her entire life.[20]
Mary did not yet understand the whole meaning of the
heavenly message, but she trusted God and replied, “Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me
according to thy word.”[21]
Mary said “Behold I am.” I am. I am who? ‘I am
the servant of the Lord.’ Herein lies Mary’s great
assent – her yes to God, with the totality of her
person, not holding anything back from Him.[22]
Cardinal Ratzinger, now known as His Holiness Benedict
XVI, said that the scene of the Annunciation was like a
marriage proposal from God, to which Mary, on behalf of
the human race, said yes. With this yes, she
represented the whole of humanity.[23]
He also told us: “The Word of God who wills to take
flesh in Mary needs a receptive Yes that is spoken with
the whole person, spirit and body, with absolutely no
restrictions . . .”[24]
Receiving and letting in are not passive – in relation
to God and to faith, they are rather active. Mary was
conceived immaculate, and had an openness to every
disposition of God. Mary’s yes did not contain even a
shadow of hesitation. It is a yes that includes her
whole person, both body and soul.[25]
If everything in Mary rests upon her ‘yes’ to God, this
yes is nothing other than a perfect echo of Christ’s yes
to God: “I have come down from heaven not to do my own
will but the will of Him who sent me.”[26] Mary
was the first to utter this yes, which made the
incarnation possible. Both Christ’s yes and Mary’s yes
are fully interwoven.[27]
It is in God’s designs that the consent of Mary was
essential to our redemption, and many early church
fathers attest to this (St. Cyril, St. Augustine, etc)
as well as many later saints (St. Thomas Aquinas, for
instance).[28]
It does not mean that God in His plans was bound by the
will of a creature, but only that the consent of Mary
was foreseen for all eternity.[29]
He chose her. As Scripture says, “You have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you to go and bear fruit that will
last.”[30] This
is the mystery of God’s election.
It took a lot of faith for Mary to say ‘yes’ to God.
There is a parallel that can be seen between Abraham,
the father of believers, and Mary, the mother of
believers. Benedict XVI says that “faith includes
steadfastness, confidence, and devotion, but also
obscurity.”[31]
Man’s relation to God, the soul’s open availability for
him, is characterized as faith. The parallel between
Mary and Abraham begins in the joy of a promised son,
but continues until the dark hour of the Crucifixion of
Christ. Abraham is the father of faith, and Mary the
mother.[32]
With Our Lady’s assent, Mary welcomes the Holy Spirit
into herself, into her chaste womb. The Word becomes
flesh in her. St. Augustine stated that Mary conceived
first in her heart and then in her womb. He said when
commenting on the Gospel of the Annunciation: ‘The
angel announces; the Virgin listens, believes, and
conceives. Christ is believed and conceived through
faith. The Virgin Mary first conceived in her heart,
and then fruitfulness came to the Mother’s Womb.’[33]
In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It
was in her womb that Christ was formed.[34]
Therefore, the Son of God’s humanity and His
human features came from Our Lady. It is interesting to
the note that Mary’s yes at the Annunciation is a yes
not only to Christ, the God Man, but also to the Holy
Trinity – God Himself. God the Father announces, and
the Son is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.[35]
Maturity Requires Availability: Openness and
Receptivity
What can we learn from this event of the Annunciation?
We can see in Our Lady a perfect receptivity and
availability, her profound openness. Only a heart as
pure and receptive as Our Lady’s could hear and respond
to this message. Her yes is primarily a disposition of
soul and heart. It is essential that we keep our heart
detached from everything but God, and all things in and
through God.[36]
Everyone should accept the will of God as soon as they
know it with an immediate acceptance. Mary did not ask
time to think it over, nor did she need it. Her answer
is ‘fiat.’ It is definite and has a finality to it.
Mother Adela says that Our Lady gave her fiat with the
totality of herself – of her person - at the service of
God and His people. This is how it must be for us as
well. As Servants we must give a total, free fiat to
the Lord.[37]
We are not to give only part of ourselves, but to make a
complete gift of ourselves. We give the uniqueness of
our person to be only for Him. Mother says the strength
of the community is in this personal fiat of each
individual heart, which comprises everything we are and
do.[38]
Yet the Lord does not ever destroy man’s freedom. It is
He who made us free. He wants our decisions to come
from the depths of our heart, which also makes it more
meaningful.[39]
Mary’s heart was fertile soil for the Lord, because it
was open to receive Him. In her heart, the events of
Christ’s life found space to abide, and in this way they
could gradually unveil their depth and fullness of
meaning.[40]
As Mother says: “It is the Marian Heart: totally
available to the will of the Father and to the action of
the Holy Spirit to become a sanctuary; a dwelling Tent;
. . . the sacred soil where the seed of God can be
planted.”[41]
Our own hearts must be like this as well. The seed, the
holy word of God, needs a soil to receive Him, where it
could grow, develop, and blossom. All graces must be
received, treasured, and cared for. As Jesus explains
in the Gospel of Mark, “Some seed fell on rich soil, and
produced fruit, it came up and grew and yielded a
hundredfold.”[42]
This example is the person who hears the Word, accepts
it, and allows it to bear fruit abundantly. They did
not allow the devil to steal the word of God away from
them, or worldly anxieties or cares to choke the word,
or allow it to not take deep root in their souls in
order to persevere lovingly under trial and unto the
end.[43]
Mother Adela states that Jesus was probably alluding to
His Mother when he spoke about the rich soil, as she is
the most perfect, rich and fruitful soil. Her virginal
heart was the fertile soil for the seed, because she was
perfectly receptive.[44]
She had a pure and humble heart that was totally
dedicated to loving God - she was completely available
and generously disposed to His designs. Love that is
pure, total, and unconditional becomes powerfully
life-giving. Mary conceived the Word, the promise to
humanity of God’s love.[45]
The Scriptures tell us that Mary “kept all these things
in her heart.”[46]
She fits the details of Christ’s life into a whole
picture, and then preserves them, so that the outward
event finds a place inside her heart to abide.[47] The
memories of Jesus were always with her leading her to
reflect on the moments of her life spent at Christ’s
side.[48]
Her contemplation is a remembering. Remembrance in the
biblical sense is a making present of the works brought
about by God.[49]
We too should ponder and treasure all the things of God
in our heart. By doing so we protect the soil of
our hearts so that the seed of the word of God can be
deeply planted in them. We must take care of the soil
through internal recollection and mature discernment.
Being careful and mature is to be responsible,
recognizing that the Word is a treasure we must guard.[50]
We are not always going to understand the things of God,
but we try to penetrate them, pondering the action of
God in our lives. For example, when the twelve year
Jesus was lost from Mary and Joseph for three days and
then found in the temple, they did not understand fully
when He replied to them, “Did you not know that I must
be about my Father’s business?”[51]
Benedict XVI says that, “Even for the believing man who
is entirely open to God, the words of God are not
comprehensible and evident right away.”[52]
Where there is no humility to accept the mystery, to
carry it to term, the seed of the word has fallen on
rocky ground and has found no soil. Mary kept all the
things Jesus spoke in her heart and treasured them,
carrying the word to term. By Mary’s enduring attitude
of openness to God’s word, she is able to welcome the
Holy Spirit into herself. She receives the word so
totally it becomes flesh in her.[53]
We have to allow this to happen to us. We should give
the word a home in us in order to enflesh the designs of
God for our lives. We live in trust, confidence, and
abandonment to the one who loves us more than anyone
else, so that we trust Him with our lives.
Total Availability by Imitation of the Virtues of Our
Blessed Mother
John Paul II exhorts us to contemplate the face of
Christ in union with, and at the school of, His most
holy mother.[54]
In the Christian life, we not only imitate Christ, we
also imitate Our Lady. Her virtues are the virtues of
Christ.[55]
We must imitate Mary because she is the model and Queen
of all the saints. In fact, she is the greatest of
saints. It is amazing – this is who we need to imitate
because this is who God chose to be His Mother.
No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of
the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary.[56]
She knew Jesus the best. Where do we see Our
Lady in Scripture? The eyes of her heart were already
turned toward Him at the Annunciation.[57]
She carried him in her womb when she visited her cousin
Elizabeth. When she gave birth to him, her eyes were
able to gaze tenderly on the face of her Son.[58]
Our Lady presented him in the temple, where it was
foretold to her that her Son would be a sign of
contradiction, and that “a sword would pierce your
heart.”[59]
Mary’s gaze would never leave him.[60]
She is seen in virtually all aspects of His life – in
His public ministry, at the foot of the Cross, as well
as being present in the coming of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection.
As Servants, we are called in a special way to reveal
the dignity and presence of Our Lady: her face, her
heart, and her mission to the world. Our life should be
the sweet, pure, and humble presence of Mary.[61] We
should allow our hearts to be molded, transformed, and
totally identified with the virtues of Our Lady’s heart.[62]
In addition, the Church learns concretely what she is
and is meant to be by looking at Mary.[63]
There are many virtues of our Blessed Mother that lead
to her having this totally open, mature, and available
heart for Our Lord. We the Church, as the Body of
Christ, must also learn to look to and imitate the
virtues of our Blessed Mother. Mary is the mirror of
the Church. Like her, we too are called to be holy,
spotless and without wrinkle or any defilement.[64]
“Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her
to sanctify her . . . that he might present to himself
the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”[65]
We, as the body of Christ, are called to live a life
free of sin which is a life of holiness, and to live
according to God’s true purpose for humanity.[66]
Thus, the main reason we should imitate Mary is because
she was conceived without original sin, and never sinned
throughout her entire life. At the Immaculate
Conception, Mary by a singular grace and privilege from
God, was preserved free from any stain of sin from the
first moment of her conception.[67] It
is interesting to note that Eve was conceived immaculate
as well, but she fell into sin. However, the words of
the protogospel (the first good news) reveal the destiny
of the woman who, although yielding to the serpent’s
temptation before the man did, in virtue of God’s plan
later became God’s ally.[68]
There is a new woman foretold in Genesis that would
restore women’s role and dignity, through her maternal
mission. She is Mary . . . and the one who will
definitely defeat the serpent - or the personification
of evil - will be her seed or offspring, Jesus.[69]
His triumph allows us to go to heaven.
What sets Mary apart as the new Eve is that she, by her
own will, maintained her heart free from all personal
sin. The devil never had power over her, and she is the
only creature that has never been under the dominion of
Satan.[70]
Our Lady is the masterpiece of God. Even though we were
conceived in sin, baptism has wiped this original sin
away. We still have the effects of original sin,
concupiscence - or the inclination to sin - but we can
and should fight this by the concrete choices we make to
live without sin. To live without sin is what it means
in essence to live in maturity and total availability to
God’s designs.
We are all called to this righteousness, or holiness. 1
John has a whole section on the supreme importance of
avoiding sin or wrongdoing. “The Son of God was
revealed to destroy the works of the devil. No who is
begotten by God commits sin . . . the children of God
and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who
fails to act in righteousness is begotten by God.”[71]
The letter to the Hebrews says that “in our struggle
against sin we have not resisted to the point of
shedding blood.”[72]
Scripture encourages us to “resist the devil, and he
will flee from you.”[73]
We see this in our charism of love to the extreme,
because to live without sin essentially means to live
our charism of love: to walk in love and unity with God,
and our brothers and sisters. Sin brings only division
and disharmony. Our sins caused the crucifixion of
Jesus – the wounds from the nails and the punctures from
the thorns which not only touched His head but mainly
His heart. However it is also through His crucifixion
and resurrection we have the forgiveness of our sins.
Today, there is still lasting antagonism between the
serpent and the New Eve. We, the children of God, could
succumb to Satan’s seduction to sin, but through
solidarity with Mary we can receive strength to combat
the enemy.[74]
We can put this into practice by our acts of virtue.
Our Mother Foundress tells us that love is the mother of
all virtues we could ever have and the foundation of all
virtue. It is the foundation in which maturity and the
house of human heart can be built.[75]
If love is the foundation, the bricks of the house are
the various virtues. Love gives form, strength, life,
order and elevation to the virtues.[76]
Are all acts true acts of virtue? Virtues are not
called as such unless they are motivated and informed by
love. For example, can one have the virtue of prudence,
without charity? No, because every virtue has to be
informed by love, which is the measure of all our
actions. Love is the mother that conceives all the
virtues.[77]
Exactly how can we live in love, and what are these
choices of virtue that can lead us to closer to God? We
can look at these by seeing the virtues of Mary and
compare them to Satan’s rebelliousness. For example, in
contrast to Satan’s pride we see the humility of Mary;
to rebellion, her obedience; to autonomy, submission; to
confusion, truth; to selfishness, service; from
avoidance of pain, to sacrifice; from self-glory, to the
glory of her son; from infidelity, to fidelity; and from
hatred, forgiveness.[78]
She is a model of all the virtues, but probably one of
the most important virtues she has that especially
nurtures this heart of total availability is her
humility. In order to help us better acquire this
important virtue, I will now discuss in more detail what
this humility consists of which is reflected so
marvelously in Our Blessed Mother.
Total Availability in the Virtue of Humility
Humility is “the virtue that restrains the unruly desire
for personal greatness and leads people to an orderly
love of themselves based on a true appreciation of their
position in respect to God and others.”[79]
Humility is based on truth. A key to not sinning, and
thus living in total availability and receptivity is
recognizing who we are before God. We are totally
dependant on God and should know our equality with our
fellow human beings, also creatures like us. Humility
is recognizing that God is holding our very existence in
being, in His sacred hands.[80]
If He did not, we would lapse back into nothingness,
from which He created us out of. Jesus says, “Without
Me, you can do nothing.”[81]
How true this is. We truly have a complete dependence
on God. God created the stars, the entire universe.
Who are we in comparison? Mere creatures, dust and
ashes before Him.[82]
“God is greater than our hearts, and knows everything.”[83]
St. James tells us, “You are a puff of smoke that
appears briefly and then disappears,”[84] and
that “God gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves
to God.”[85]
Our Mother Foundress says that humility means seeing
myself as a servant who washes the sisters feet.[86] Jesus
Himself is our model, and this is what He, the Master,
did for His friends, the disciples.
To help us live out this humility of Our Lady, we have
the examples of both the book of Job and in the person
of St. Joseph. Job was a pious and upright man who
suffered a complete reversal of fortune. Although he
cursed the day of his birth, Job never cursed God.
Many, even his friends, said that his plight was the
result of personal wrongdoing, or sin. Job rejected
this explanation from them, and called for a response
from God. In response to Job’s plea, God answered by
referring to His omniscience and power. God answered:
Where were you when I founded the earth?
. . . Who determined its size . . . Who stretched out
the measuring line for it? . . . And who shut within
doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb; when I
made the clouds its garment? Have you comprehended the
breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all: Which
is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is
the abode of darkness . . .Can you raise your voice
among the clouds, or veil yourself in the waters of the
storm? Can you send forth the lightnings on their way .
. .
[87]
Job repented, saying ‘I disown what I have said, and I
repent in dust and ashes.’[88]
Job recovered his attitude of humility and trust in God,
which was deepened and strengthened by his experience of
suffering. Simply put, in humility we have to come to a
deeper realization that God is God, and we’re not.
Job’s later years were blessed even more than the
former. The lesson is that even the just may suffer
here, and they shall be rewarded in the end. Even in
suffering and trials we must bless God. “Be humbled in
the sight of the Lord and He will exalt you.”[89] The
problems we encounter can be solved by a broader and
deeper awareness of God’s power and presence.
We also see an example of humility in St. Joseph.
God Himself was His child, so although St. Joseph taught
Jesus many things - for example, in the trade of
carpentry, etc - he also had the humility to recognize
that Jesus was His Creator. How humbling to teach these
things to Christ, the second person of the Blessed
Trinity. I’m sure he must have thought to himself and
realized that it was he who had so much to learn from
his son. This is a lesson for all of us to stay open,
and not prideful, to always be willing to be taught even
by those younger than us who are around us. We must
remember the kingdom of heaven is given to those who are
simple and eager to learn like children.[90]
We may feel unworthy of God’s call, but this in itself
is not humility because it could lead us to trust and
rely more on ourselves, and be afraid to accomplish the
task God has set before us, and that He has given us the
grace to do. It is interesting to see the different
reactions of God’s call in the Scriptures. For example,
Jonah flees from God physically in order to avoid
warning Ninevah to repent lest it be totally destroyed;
Isaiah shudders from the first moment of his vocation,
and Jeremiah makes excuses that he is too young. Moses
wanted to avoid going to the Pharoah in Egypt as God
asked by also claiming he knew not how to speak to
them. Thus, they felt unworthy, but we can learn from
this example that if God is asking it of us, He will
grant us in abundance the means to carry it through to
completion. It is not true humility but a false one to
fail to do what God is asking of us in fulfillment of
His will.[91]
Our Blessed Mother, in contrast, made no excuses to God,
nor was there a shadow of hesitation.[92]
She simply trusted Him. She was totally focused on God,
not herself, and this is where our focus must be. ‘My
soul magnifies the Lord,’ she said.[93] This
is true humility – looking at the greatness of God to
accomplish far more than we ask or imagine, by his power
at work in us.[94]
To Live in Maturity and Marian Availability Requires
Obedience to God’s Will
Importantly, to live in maturity and Marian availability
requires obedience to God’s will. Our Lady’s only
passion was to grasp God’s smallest desires in order to
carry them out. All she wanted was to do the will of
the Father. Mary was there to serve God, because she
was His daughter and also His handmaid. She was linked
with God so closely that she identified herself with His
plans. It is true that delicacy is one of the beautiful
virtues of those who love. When you love, you want to
satisfy even the smallest desires of another’s heart, by
paying attention to the details of love. The book of
Wisdom asks that wisdom be sent from God’s throne, that
“. . . she may be with me and work with me, that I
may know what is your pleasure.”[95]
Even the little details had the full cooperation of Our
Lady with the slightest suggestion from the Holy
Spirit. This is the kind of attitude we should have as
well, as His Servants. In the heart of Our Lady the
Lord’s desires were heard, perceived, and received with
perfect docility, with full openness, and with perfect
obedience.[96]
She lived her docility to the movements of the Spirit in
prayer, and in prayer, her heart was formed into a
servant’s heart.[97]
Mary tells us in Scripture to “do whatever he tells
you.”[98]
We could not receive better advice than this, and from
the voice of Our Lady. These words are profound both in
the fact that they are given by Our Lady, but also in
that this is one of the few times we see Our Lady speak
in Scripture. We see her, for example, speak only
during the annunciation, visitation, and the magnificat,
to name a few. We should value and treasure each of her
words. The most important words I think, probably
arguably in the whole Bible, is her advice to “do
whatever {Jesus} tells you.”[99]
God the Father also says this both in the Lord’s baptism
and transfiguration, telling us “this is my beloved son
with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”[100]
This is how we keep from sin – by doing whatever
he tells us. It is very simple actually.
Obedience is the moral virtue that inclines the will to
comply with the will of another who has the right to
command.[101]
It is ultimately to listen and to do; it is an attitude
of heart before anything else. It is interesting to
note that when we examine the original sin of our first
parents, Adam and Eve, they did not ‘do whatever the
Lord told them.’ This failure on their part was brought
about not through a hurt – and I say this because
sometimes we can make excuses for people and say they
did a wrong action because they were hurt, or because of
this reason or that. The failure was brought about
fundamentally because of a decision to turn their hearts
away from God. This saddens Him greatly, because He
loves us so much, and because He knows that when we sin
we are actually hurting ourselves. Sin does not bring
us true happiness, but only the Lord can. He knows what
will make us happy and fulfill our desires. If Adam and
Eve had loved and trusted God more, I believe they would
not have fallen.
In order to fulfill God’s will we must crush pride from
our hearts. Satan tried to install doubt in the minds
of our first parents by questioning, “Did God really
tell you not to eat from the tree?”[102]
We need to just be simple and listen to God. Jesus
tells us, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine
and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his
house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the
winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not
collapse; it had been solidly set on rock.”[103]
We need to build on this same foundation. We need to be
simple and obedient to God’s word, for “the word of God
is living and effective, sharper than any two edge sword
. . . penetrating even between joint and marrow.”[104]
Doing God’s will is so important. In Scriptures, Jesus
says “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does
the will of my heavenly father. Many will say to me on
the day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do
mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them
solemnly, ‘. . . depart from me, you evil doers.”[105]
Even though their actions seemed pious and good, they
did not ultimately fulfill the will of the Heavenly
Father. “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire . .
. holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in .
. . then I said, ‘Behold, I come to do your will, O
God.”[106]
An example of the power of obedience in Scripture is
when, after the apostles had worked hard in their own
strength all night fishing, the Lord told them to “cast
their nets to the starboard side.”[107] When
they did so and were obedient, they caught an
overwhelming amount of fish. The Lord sees our hearts,
and they must be sincere in our desire before Him: “Let
us approach with a sincere heart and absolute trust.”[108] This
is what Peter attempted when Jesus commanded him to do
what seemed humanly impossible – come out of the boat
and to walk on water in order to come towards Christ who
was also on the water. Peter had a sincere intention to
obey and was able to do so, but when he began to doubt
and lose trust he started to sink.[109]
How can we be obedient and ‘do whatever He tells us?’[110]
First of all we must be people of prayer, looking to God
and asking the intercession of Our Lady and the saints
for help in knowing and carrying out the will of God.
Mother Adela says that we accede with the obedience of
faith to the revealed Word of God, because this word is
not something abstract, but is something very near to
us, and is often manifested through tangible
expressions: the Holy Scriptures, the teaching
authority of the Church through the Magisterium, the
community, my superiors, etc. We should accede in the
deepest part of our minds and our hearts to respond to
his will, saying: “Let it be done!”[111]
We also should try to follow our consciences as well as
listening and obeying the Magisterium or teaching
authority of the Church.
The Will of God is often perceived through His
creatures, who can and should reflect the heart of God.[112]
For example, we often see angels portrayed in the bible
as messengers carrying out the will of God, as we saw in
the Annunciation. The Pope is the head of the Church
and Christ’s vicar, and we give him as such our
obedience. In the religious life, the will of God is
manifested through legitimate superiors. This takes
faith on our part. For religious, as St. Therese would
say, superiors are the ‘visible Jesus’ on earth.[113]
I have seen how this is true: this trust we have to
have that what our superiors say is for the best. I
have seen this is my own life.
In the Gospels we see Jesus consistently following the
will of His Father, and He was obedient to the will of
God shown through His intermediaries - Mary and Joseph.
As Scriptures says, “he was obedient to them.”[114]
Incredibly, we also see Jesus humbly obeying His priests
in the words of consecration – “this is my body, given
up for you.”[115]
Jesus then becomes flesh in the Holy Eucharist.
St. Joseph is
an example of a just man, who although he had original
sin, lived in obedience to God’s desires. He followed
the will of God as he came to know it – step by step.
The will of God was manifested to St. Joseph four times
that we know of through dreams. He did not look too far
into the future, but simply did what he was told to do
at that moment, and then trusting God each step of the
way. We too must love God above everything – above our
every desire and every creature on earth. St. Joseph
deeply loved Our Lady, but as I was reflecting on it the
thought occurred to me that he was able to love Our
Blessed Mother by first loving God and putting Him as
his priority. We see Our Lady doing the same, putting
God first. This is important because there is a
tendency in human nature to want to earn the praise of
others. This should be rooted out in the sense that we
do not put others respect of us above what God wants of
us. We should therefore follow the noble example we
have in St. Joseph.
Love is a Mature Decision of the Heart
Just as sin is a decision, also love is fundamentally
first and foremost, a decision. As it states in our
charism, it is a decision to choose in all things the
perfection of love. 1 Corinthians gives us this
beautiful definition to ponder: “Love is patient, love
is kind. Love is not jealous, love is not pompous, it
is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its
own interests, it is not quick-tempered . . . Love bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Love never fails.”[116]
St. Paul says
that love is manifested in unity and the building up of
community. Additionally, love is not only saying words,
although that is part of it. Fundamentally we see love
demonstrated through our actions. Mother says it is
often easy for us to say ‘I love’ but in reality love
can only be manifested in the concrete choices we make.
Our actions are how we say we love our vocation and the
congregation, because love is the response of our will.[117]
It is important to learn to suffer with maturity and
generosity.[118]
This means to be before difficulties, and even perhaps
martyrdom, and declaring that nothing will stop me -
that I am willing to do whatever He asks of me.[119]
Love must be courageous and persevering, no matter what
happens in my life. Mother says Jesus needs our
determination.[120]
This means saying ‘I will go after the Lamb even if in
the middle of the road I’m whipped and stoned to
death.’ It means not counting the cost.[121]
These are the qualities of a mature disposition of heart
and mind. It is a heart that is profound . . . serene
not impulsive, a heart that is mature and not led by any
wind.
John Paul tells us that love is demanding, and is the
foundation able to “endure all things.”[122]
He says that love is not able to endure all things if it
yields to “jealousies” or is “rude.” At work within it
is the power and strength of God himself, who is love.[123]
Fidelity to the love embraced and to the love offered
is a mature decision of the heart that moves us to
forever remain constant to the fiat we have given. To
be able to do this we need to learn from the Virgin
Mary’s faithful heart.[124]
Only if we share in the love of God can we love unto the
end.[125]
Pope John Paul II spoke of dimensions of Our Lady’s
faithfulness in his visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe
in Mexico in 1979:
What does the faithfulness of Mary mean? The first
dimension is called seeking. Mary was faithful first
of all when she began to seek God’s plan in her
and for the world. “How shall this be?” she asked the
angel at the annunciation. The second dimension is
called reception, or acceptance. Mary says ‘fiat.’ I
accept. This is the crucial moment of fidelity, the
moment in which man perceives that he will never
completely understand the ‘how,’ and that however he may
try he will never completely understand it. It is then
that man accepts the mystery, and abandons himself to it
. . . with the availability of one who opens up to be
inhabited by something – someone – greater than his own
heart. This acceptance takes place through faith, an
adherence of the whole being to the mystery revealed.
The third dimension of faithfulness is consistency.
This means to live in accordance with what one
believes. It is to adapt one’s life to the object of
one’s adherence. It is to accept misunderstandings and
persecutions rather than a break between what one
practices and what one believes. Consistency is the
deepest core of faithfulness.
However faithfulness must pass the more exacting test of
duration. The fourth dimension therefore is constancy.
It is easy to be consistent for a day or two. It is
difficult and important to be consistent for one’s whole
life. It is easy to be consistent in the hour of
enthusiasm; it is difficult to be so in the hour of
tribulation. And only a consistency that lasts
throughout the whole life can be called faithfulness.[126]
Total Availability to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit for
the Building Up of the Body of Christ
As Servants we must have total availability to the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. Firstly, who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is third person of the Holy Trinity, and
is the communion of love between the Father and the
Son. The Spirit knows man’s heart, “. . . for the
spirit of the Lord fills the world, is all-embracing,
and knows what man says.”[127]
For God’s “. . . imperishable spirit is in all things!”[128]
The Holy Spirit is also importantly the Spirit of
Wisdom. The book of Wisdom tells us, “I prayed . .
. I pleaded, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me . . . I
deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I
liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in
view of her, is a little sand,”[129]
and “. . . with {God} is wisdom, who knows your works
and was present when you made the world; who understands
what is pleasing in your eyes and what is conformable
with your commands.”[130]
We should ask for this wisdom in abundance.
The Spirit is also the interior teacher who leads us to
the full truth in Christ.[131]
In Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out in
great power upon the apostles after the death and
Resurrection of Jesus. Just as Christ had been born of
the Holy Spirit, so now the Church is born by the
workings of this same Holy Spirit.[132]
Mary was among those who waited with the other apostles
for the Holy Spirit. A sound as of a rushing wind could
be heard, and tongues as of fire came to rest upon the
heads of all the disciples, as they were overshadowed by
the power of the Holy Spirit. In our own lives, if the
Holy Spirit has come in, like a strong rushing wind as
it did with the Apostles and Mary,[133] then
the buildings or walls that we put up in our hearts that
act as blocks should be broken down, so that our hearts
are thus transformed and changed by His power.[134] We
saw that when the Holy Spirit came He changed the hearts
of the apostles. They were filled with the love of God,
as the Scripture says that “the love of God has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has
been given to us.”[135]
This love of the Holy Spirit filled them with strength,
power, boldness, and ardor. He changed their hearts.
In fact, as Scripture tells us, “We are being
transformed from glory to glory by the Lord who is the
Spirit.”[136]
Whether or not the Holy Spirit is present in our lives
should be manifested by its fruit. “The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
gentleness, and self control.”[137]
These are evidence of the authenticity of His presence
working in us and bearing fruit.
We should ask the Holy Spirit to fill us completely,
asking for His divine help. We know that the Holy
Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.[138]
We should rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, and ask
for His gifts, being open to any gift that the Holy
Spirit wants to give us. John Paul II tells us that we
should all sit at the school of the heart of Mary,
because she teaches us by obtaining in abundance the
gifts of the Holy Spirit.[139]
What are these gifts? They include: wisdom, knowledge,
piety, counsel, understanding, fortitude, and fear of
the Lord.[140]
St. Paul tells us that the Spirit distributes the gifts
individually to each person as He desires, and although
we are many members, we are all one body.[141]
St. Paul tells us, “there are different kinds of
spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different
forms of service but the same Lord; there are different
workings but the same God who produces all of them in
everyone.”[142] We
use our gifts for the primary purpose of the building up
of the body of Christ, given mainly not to help
ourselves, but to help others.
Total Availability of the Personal Gifts at the Service
of the Community Mission
As Servants, just as we should have a total availability
to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we should also have
this total availability of our personal gifts for the
building up of the community, and at the service of the
community mission.[143] We
must live with responsibility what is given and
entrusted to our care. The Lord will ask us to be
accountable for what we have done with all the gifts He
has given us. Our gifts are to be utilized with love
and responsibility, following the theme of the family
for this year: Family, Home and School of Love and
Responsibility.[144]
The gifts of God are to be received, treasured, and
lived responsibly, which are the dispositions of a
mature heart shaped by responsible love.[145]
I believe that the greatest gift and treasure we have is
our salvation. This is the ultimate goal or destination
of our life here on earth – to reach heaven. Therefore,
we have to set our sights on our heavenly destination,
and prize heavenly riches above everything. Jesus tells
us that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls, and when one of great worth
is found he sells everything in order to buy it.[146]
We have to be willing to give up everything to obtain
this treasure. Heaven is an important reason why we
should be totally available and also responsible for
this gift we have received from the Lord. We have to be
willing to give up everything, especially our sins – but
any attachment that keeps us from loving the Lord with
all our heart – which is all done for the Lord and for
our salvation.
An example that comes to my mind of an example of a lack
of responsibility is the story in the book of Genesis of
Jacob and Esau, who were brothers. Esau was the elder,
and Jacob the younger brother. Esau returned one day
from hunting very hungry, and wanted some of the stew
that Jacob was cooking. Jacob offered to give his
brother some food in exchange for his birthright, which
was a special honor that Esau possessed qualifying him
to receive his father’s blessing as the older son. Esau
agreed, because he said he was starving and even on the
point of dying from hunger. He cared little for his
birthright, and in so doing he put his temporary,
physical needs over this blessing that he would have
received as the eldest.[147] His
birthright was a treasure, but he did not care enough
for it. He later came to regret his actions. We should
learn a lesson from this to always carefully guard our
treasures, and not take them lightly, but to treasure
with responsibility the God given gifts we have
received. We must not follow Esau’s example and let
temporal goods that are passing replace what should be
our greatest inheritance. For example, our religious
vocation is a great gift and a treasure, which we must
not allow ourselves to take lightly. We also see the
example in the Gospel of the rich young man as well, who
because of his attachment to temporal goods was unable
to follow Jesus. Our vocation is precious. The devil
would love for us to lose it, because through it is our
path to holiness where we give ourselves completely to
Christ, and draw others to Him. The devil is on the
prowl, “like a “roaring lion, looking for someone to
devour.”[148]
It is important to remember during rough times that all
things will pass, including the hard times.
Besides the gift of our salvation and our own vocation,
we also have many other gifts and talents given us by
the Lord. We must diligently use them, and not bury our
talents, as one man did in a parable given by Jesus.[149]
We must use our talents for God’s glory and with
responsibility. However, it is important to also
remember that the gifts are nothing without love. In 1
Corinthians 13, St. Paul says, “I will show you a more
excellent way.”[150]
The more exalted way he is referring to in this passage
is the way of charity. “If I speak in human and angelic
tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or
a clashing cymbol. And if I have the gift of prophecy,
and can comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge . . .
but do not have love, I am nothing.”[151] Our
gifts only have value if they are at the service of
love.[152]
It is a task of maturity to discern in our hearts what
is a movement of selfishness and what is a movement of
love.[153] We
must be responsible for the gifts received, and take
them seriously, while simultaneously keeping in
mind that gifts are not a measure of holiness.
Love brings meaning to and solidifies the virtues and
the gifts.
The fact that our gifts our primarily for others and not
ourselves are seen in the writings of St. Paul. He
tells us to strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, and
to seek to have abundance of them. Why? For the
building up of the church.[154]
He says for us to stop being childish in our way of
thinking, but exhorts that “in your thinking to be
mature.”[155]
When speaking here to the Corinthians he is referring to
the fact that some of them prided themselves on their
gifts as a direct sign of God’s favor. To challenge
them to a more mature appraisal, he says that the gifts
are not because their own specialness, but are
essentially for others.[156]
They are for the building up of the body of Christ,
working in a spirit of love and unity. Love is what
unifies us and the gifts. For example, if we have the
gift of prayer, this is primarily for others. St.
Therese says that a soul is not holy just because God
uses it as an instrument. She then compares herself to
a little brush an artist uses for his work: “Often an
artist is obliged to use a small brush of little value
rather than other more expensive brushes within reach.
The fact that He uses the small brush does not, however,
add anything to its worth.”[157]
We are simply His chosen instrument for souls.
Therefore, “as generous distributors of God’s manifold
grace, put your gifts at the service of one another.[158]
Our gifts are to be used at the service of one another
and for the building up of the body of Christ.[159]
In a special way in our religious community, we are to
put place our charism and our gifts at the service of
the Petrine principle. “We place our Marian charism,
our Marian hearts and wombs, to receive and to nourish,
to guard and to hold, to heal and to elevate . . . the
priestly hearts, to be who they are in the heart of the
Church.”[160]
This is what we are called to do as Servants - to
serve and be totally immersed in the Heart of the
Church. We are called to live love responsibly in the
heart of the Church.
How are we to use our gifts to serve others in the
community? Each of us has our gifts, which are all
valuable, necessary, and make us unique. The gifts are
meant to be used to bring the community into unity,
while at the same time retaining our individual
diversity. Each of our gifts compliment those of the
others, so they all work together. Mother gave us an
example of a sister from a different institute who is
very talented in singing and has become famous
nationwide for it. However, Mother says in our
congregation we would do things differently.[161]
For example, if a sister is very gifted in music, she
would not have that sister sing alone, but with a
choir. This is because everything we do is to be a
reflection of the whole community - of what it means to
live our charism of love and to be a Servant. When
people see us as individuals they should see what it
means to be a Servant. For example, if only one sister
sang, people tend to remember that sister and her name,
but not so much the name of the community.[162] Additionally,
it is important to keep in mind that our gifts never
come before a vocation. It is important that all of our
gifts are submitted to authority, especially in the
religious life.[163]
Our gifts our not really our own, but are at the service
of God and the community.
Therefore, the spirit of detachment is so important,
especially when it comes to our personal gifts. We can
be so attached to our good intentions, our plans, and
our visions of the mission entrusted - precisely because
they are so good and oriented towards the Gospel - that
we often do not notice that it can become all about our
self love.[164]
We tend to want to protect things – for example, this is
my gift, etc. However, it is a gift given by God
and entrusted to us from Him to be utilized through the
community’s discernment. We should have the freedom of
spirit necessary to entrust the mission to another if
the community desires us for another mission. We need
to ask the Lord for the grace to leave things behind if
necessary, or to accept the sustaining of a mission.[165]
We could ask the Lord to move our wills towards what He
wants, and thus what is best and good both for ourselves
and for others that will cross our path. If we
surrender to the Lord, even if He gives, for example,
our gifts back to us, we will use and live them in a
truly spiritual way, in a spirit of detachment and for
His glory. The focus is then not on us – my
mission, etc. It is rather, on God’s. All of our gifts
come from Him anyway, and are at His service through the
community.
The Merciful Hearts of Jesus and Mary
As we have discussed, to be totally available is to live
free of sin. However, it also means more than that. We
have to believe that love will ultimately triumph
– despite our sins, failures and weaknesses. The
Scriptures give us hope that God can do the impossible,
and as the book of Isaiah says, He will make a way for
us, even making rivers in the desert.[166]
The Holy Father tells us that we see in the book of
Genesis the Lord’s first reaction to sin was to offer
man the hope of salvation, showing His generosity
towards those who had offended Him.[167] It
is true that the further away we go from God, the more
He seeks us. In the Lord’s mercy, He is always
forgiving us. The book of Hosea says: “I will draw
them to myself with bands of love.”[168]
In Hebrews, we read: “their sins and evil doing I will
remember no more.”[169]
One of Jesus’ seven last words on the Cross were ones of
ultimate generosity and love for those crucifying him,
asking the Father to forgive them.[170]
In the 1600’s Jesus revealed His Sacred Heart to St.
Margaret Mary, inviting her to contemplate His heart
‘which has so loved men and is so little loved in
return.’ The heart of Christ still loves us today in
Eucharist.
With God, we should never despair, and always have
hope. This is the whole meaning of the words may love
triumph! We must believe that love will triumph over
sin, darkness, and death. Simeon gave a prophecy to
Mary that “a sword will pierce your soul.”[171]
The sword will pierce her heart, which foreshadows her
Sons passion. She must complete the yes to God’s will
that made her a mother by also, when the time came,
withdrawing into the background in order to allow Jesus
to fulfill his mission, ultimately leading him to his
death on the cross.[172] Our
Holy Father is reminded of the sword that would not
depart from David’s house as a result of David’s sin:
the sword that hangs over David’s house now pierces
Mary’s heart.[173] In
the true David, Jesus Christ, and in His Mother, the
curse is suffered through and overcome. Love has
triumphed in Jesus, and we have a participation in this
triumph.
Jesus forgives and loves us. However, this love
wouldn’t be true love unless it loved us enough to allow
for our freedom to respond to it. When Our Lady
appeared in Fatima in 1917, she came with a message of
the need for deep prayer and conversion. She pleaded
with us to ‘offend the Lord God no more, for He is much
offended.’ Sin is what offends the Lord. We are
called, as Servants of the Pierced Hearts, in a special
way to make reparation to the heart of Jesus by removing
the thorns that cause pain to His heart by means of our
love, in order to console Him. Just as sin pierces His
heart, only our total availability in our choices of
love for Him and others can remove the thorns embedded
not only in his head, but also in his heart. Our
efforts to console Him by living in perfect love, thus
living without offending Him in imitation of Our Lady is
only a response to His perfect and unconditional love
for us. “We love because He first loved us.”[174]
He gives us His own love, pouring the love of God in our
hearts so that we are empowered to love as God Himself
loves. We give ourselves to the last drop, as He did
for us. The power of His love resides in me to make us
capable of loving in this complete way. We are
participating in the love of God that fills us when we
give our fiat to love as He loves. Love can do
everything, because its origin is not us, but God. St.
Therese explains in her autobiography that the new
commandment Christ issued is that of loving the neighbor
as Jesus has loved them. She says, “I would never be
able to love my sisters as you loved them, unless you, O
Jesus, loved them in me . . . when I am charitable it is
Jesus alone acting in me.”[175]
We are to live as
Servants a very simple life: to live from love and in
love.
[176]
As a congregation we are called to live with the heart,
and to have hearts willing to be pierced to give life.
The piercing is a result of our charism of love to the
extreme. To be pierced means to forget ourselves. It
means letting go of our pride and hardness of heart.
This piercing is essentially a dying to ourselves and
our desires,[177]
and it brings life. The womb is the place where this
life begins. Benedicts XVI says that “the ‘womb’
becomes a term for being with another; it becomes the
deepest reference to man’s capacity to stand for
another, to take another into himself, to suffer for
him, and in this long suffering to give him life . .”[178] As
religious, we give life to so many through our purity
and sacrificial love.
We are called to allow the triumph of love - the triumph
of the merciful hearts of Jesus and Mary through us. In
summary, we see the notion of total availability and
virtue modeled in the person of the Blessed Mother,
especially in her total and unconditional fiat given to
Our Lord at the annunciation. We too must be Marian in
our prayer and in our receptivity. Mother believes we
have been called by Pope Benedict XVI to have this
Marian disposition of heart – pure in its love, having a
profound spirit of prayer, totally available to God’s
will. We must dispose ourselves, with Marian
availability and receptivity to allow the Holy Spirit to
overshadow the tent of our own hearts.
To have this receptivity requires humility and a depth
of maturity of heart in our understanding of what
authentic love means. We must, as Servants, be totally
available to the actions and gifts of the Holy Spirit as
well as having a total availability of our personal
gifts at the service of the community mission.
Availability leads us on the path to holiness, or
righteousness - which is fulfilling not our own will but
the will of God by our open disposition in imitation of
Our Lady’s and, as is part of our charism, our choices
of love to the extreme. This holiness consists
essentially in not sinning – and by the words of Our
Lady to “do whatever {Jesus} tells you.”[179]
However, even if we fall, if we are truly sorry we know
that love will ultimately triumph even through our
faults. For “all things work for the good of those who
love God,”[180] and
“thanks be to God who has given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.”[181] His
love will ultimately triumph through the reign of the
Pierced hearts, and through the victory of Jesus’ death
and resurrection.
May we have open and generous hearts to respond to this
immense love of God for us, so that we may surrender to
Him as Our Blessed Mother did in order to enflesh all of
God’s designs for us . . . We should allow our hearts to
be completely transformed, so that we may become perfect
in love. Fiat: Let it be done!
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