10 March 2012: Motives for penance

On evil which sin has wrought
Recall the past. Quickly review the commandments of God and the Church, the obligations of our commitments, assignments that have been confided to us. How would we see our sins if we saw these sins as God sees them?
For a single mortal sin, Adam and his posterity were condemned to death. For one venial sin, three great friends of God, Moses, David, and Ezechias, were severely punished.
I have committed so many sins and have forgotten them. What could I expect? God forgets nothing; will leave nothing unpunished, even the fault of an ‘idle word’. We have many motives, then, for real and continual penance. In this time of Lent we shall receive special graces which will make it easier.
Each mortal sin is a threefold injury to God. Its malice is infinite because his Majesty is infinite.
By ‘insubordination’ and ‘rebellion’: God commands, we do not obey.
By ‘contempt’: we prefer a fleeting and vile enjoyment, often disgraceful to God and His laws.
By ‘ingratitude’: we use his very gifts to offend and insult him.
Each venial sin is also a threefold injury; a slighter kind certainly. Still its malice is great.
The praises of all humanity could not relieve the injury to God by one venial sin. And our past sins contained such malice. Faith and reason teach us that this malice is proportional to the grace we have received.
This thought ought to overwhelm me with shame -- the times in my life when, in union with the cruel Jews, I cried out, “Let him be crucified” (Lk 23:21); and, “Not this man, but Barabbas” (Lk 23:18).
Not this man, but my passion. There have been times when, in union with the murderers, I ran the nails into my Saviour’s hands and feet.
I have done this every time I committed a mortal sin. And for every venial sin, I have added fresh suffering to the open wounds of Jesus.
Thoughts like these armed the holy penitents of the desert against themselves. Let us imitate them during these holy days of universal penance and expiation.
Ref: Cf Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp108-9

Detachment and generosity
“You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24) Material goods can become chains which prevent our reaching out to Christ. And if we don’t get to him what is the purpose of our lives?
“For us to reach God, Christ is the Way; but Christ is on the Cross, and to climb up to the Cross we must have our hearts free, not tied to earthly things.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, Tenth Station)
Christ led by example; and used earthly goods with perfect dominion over them and in the fullest freedom. “He became so poor that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9)
A necessary condition to enable us to follow him is, “Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:33).
Material goods are good since they come from God, placed at man’s disposal since creation began, for his growth and development in society. We are administrators of these goods for a short term only. Everything should lead us to love God -- Creator and Father.
If we get too fond of creatures and we do not make effective acts of detachment from them, they are converted into evil. Whoever make riches the centre of their lives are excluded from heaven. True interior life and a loving relationship with God are incompatible with avarice which St Paul calls “idolatry” (Col 3:5).
Egoism and tepidity prevent one from seeing the needs of one’s neighbour. People are then treated as objects, to be picked up or dropped as one sees fit, of no value.
How we use the riches God has endowed us with can win for us eternal life. Distributing these riches in acts of charity can help realize God’s kingdom on earth, now.
This detachment must be ‘effective’ with obvious results and obtained only by sacrifice. It must also be ‘natural and discriminating’, as befits Christians who live in the middle of the world using such goods as means of trade and apostolic work. Also, it must be ‘positive’ and ‘internal’ affecting one’s desires; and be done ‘cheerfully’.
Detachment is ‘born out of love’ for Christ; at the same time ‘makes it possible for this love to live and to grow’. Thus we need a constant vigil over interior order and cleanliness.
The detachment required of one who wishes to follow Our Lord includes “a detachment from ourselves” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 114) -- what others think of us, noble ambitions, professional success, even our health.
Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:93-8

Sharing With Others
The path to God is not covered with interior joy alone. Man desires to bring others to Him, too. He, therefore becomes a messenger and apostle of the love of God: “Give thanks to the Lord, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds.” (Is 12:4)
Man obedient to God’s grace discovers the world of God’s works, which are hidden to the eyes of the sinner. Man guided by divine grace also desires ‘to share the nearness to God, which he experiences, with others’.
Well, I want to tell you, in Christ’s name --
Have humble and courageous awareness of what the Father has given you.
Let this awareness be your strength, your light, your hope.
Give the world what the Father has given you: the kingdom of God.
Do not weary from continually seeking even the slightest occasions for widening prudent and sincere contacts with that great human and social reality in which you are immersed as leaven.
Thus, conduct and carry forward that work of promotion, based on truth, justice and respect for the dignity of the person, which constitutes the necessary premise for the world to have knowledge of Christ in the faith and in the Church ...
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp33-4

Spreading the Faith
943 -- “Believe me, the apostolate of giving doctrine usually has to be, as it were, capillary, spreading from one to another, from each believer to his immediate companion.
“The children of God care about all souls, because every soul is important.”
944 -- “Seek refuge with the Blessed Virgin, Mother of Good Counsel, so that your lips may never utter any offence against God.”
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, Furrow

• Our Lady of the Vine, near Viterbo, in Tuscany, a fine church presently occupied by the Dominicans. — Bzovius, ad ann., 1487. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Vine. Viterbo, Italy. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Vine (Tuscany, Italy). (www/divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Vine (near Viterbo, Tuscany). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)