Fire

DAY'S SAINTS
Daniel, Prophet
Alberic Crescitelli, Martyr

Gospel Mt 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
"See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
He said to the them, "Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."

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The Lord is gracious and generous toward us His children, and looks for our love and affection with longing. Purification of hearts is the watchword of our days.

We can participate in His passon-life, and in so doing, strengthen the fires of His love in His Sacred Heart, from which He shed His Precious Blood. If we participate in that, at the very least we will be purified so His love may cleanse our deficits, and at the most, atone for sins arrogant men presume are not held to account for.

How may we so participate? Loving one another, and serving one another as brothers and sisters, and forgiving sins against ourselves or other people. It is plain that if we desire to live in peace, we will need to desire even more to  be absolutely pure for the Lord.

But what is it to live in peace? Is it simply that no war has broken out and men are not exceeding the limit of transgressions against others?  is it that while we wait on this earth, we are elevated to the embrace of the ecstatic and holy Lord? He holds out to us that participation in Himself and His happiness He desires us to have. The key to obtaining that is that He is all our desire. Might He not wish us to participate in the sorrows and disappointments of others so they may be free of them? Should we be so inclined to pray for others and we find ourselves going beyond that point, we might very well suffer their suffering just when we were hoping to rest ourselves. But if the Lord sees they have succumbed to their cross, would He trouble us to suffer instead of them? Yes. Consider it. At the very least, your disappointments can save souls, and if that is all He asks, are we big enough of heart not to mind?

In the movie (on Youtube), "Shoes of the Fisherman", ( https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=in+the+shoes+of+the+fisherman), 

the pope proposes to the Chinese that they forsake invasion and war and that the Church will provide money to feed the Chineses by selling all the worldly possessions and treasures and properties of the entire Catholic Church. Such a real event would be apropos and timely in these days, and also absolutely stunning.

Ordinary people throughout time have done exactly that, stirring controvery when they did, by challenging their contemporaries to live the virtues Jesus extolled in His thrity years of life. Jesus warned those who were listening to Him that He would be accused falsely, taken into custody to be tried unfairly and in such a way that He would be guilty of what they considered blasphemy, with the result, that He was crucified with two criminals by the Romans.

His disciples were holed-up together in a building fearful of the same people who crucified Jesus, when He appeared in their midst and gave them the Holy Spirit and told them to go forth into the whole world to spread the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

How we  might do the same requires vision and purpose, and the more vision we have and the more purposeful we became, the more we would see what Jesus always sees in Heaven, and the closer this world would get to being ready for the last day.

No one need wait for some tremendous vision or revelation in the sky; children are being canonized as saints for the simple love they held in their hearts and manifested to others, appearing like great lights in their midst.

Do not decry the darkness if you have not at least lit a candle to shed some light, praying a Rosary with others, or attending the celebration of the Mass with devotion. If He finds devotion in your midst, He will fan the flames of His love to enkindle everyone nearby, and the earth can start enjoying Heaven now instead of thirty years from now.

Who knows how many souls such illumination might save out of darkness seeking God; those seeking with all their heart and more will be blessed. The excess of love will inflame an indifferent world.