Fearless Love

Day's Saints
Hildegard von Bingen
Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi

Gospel Mt 18:21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."

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Join me n fearless love.

My back was trying to go into a full-blown spasm again, so I got my cane and was walking back to my desk when I somehow misstepped and bruised three of my toes in a very painful injury. I prayed for healing to St. Padre Pio and it quit hurting. My back is still giving me fits. I offered it all to the Lord for the souls in purgatory and those most in need of the mercy of the Lord.

This was permitted by the Lord so I would have something to offer Him for souls, and to teach me humility. It also gave me something to offer the Lord for your needs and intentions. Do not neglect to do similarly what will please the Lord greatly, for if you are not permitted to do great things, at least do humbler things with more love, and you will catch sight of the Lord and know the joy of being lifted up in the conflagration of the love in His Heart, for He treasures and gathers to Himself, all that is loving and noble.

Take care with what you read, and toss aside news that is sensational and obviously untrue, so you may abide in peace and tranquility and worship the Lord unimpeded. For if evil gets a chance to disturb you in your prayers and rests before the Lord, he will, and you will have a hard time of it.

Part of of our misfortunes in life are permitted to teach us lessons that will become part of our armor of combat so we may remain strong and unperturbed in battle. for we must expect, as servants of the Lord, to distinguish ourselves in the field of valor, from time to time.

I have suffered greatly in various ways, and marveled that I got free of snares that ought to have been my undoing, and suffered genuine miseries to atone for others' sins. He trains us up so we may be soldiers and so it may be obvious that is so, and we offer ourselves to Him to shield others, while exposing our tenderness to mortal blows while pleasing the Lord. Thus He accords honor to the humblest of us, and so He may recount bravery on our part, baring our very hearts to His love and painful blows by which we also share in His passion. Honor and glory be to the Lord for His salvation of His people, redeeming everyone by His cross. 

Think not that having a cross in your hands, you have satisfied His desires for your salvation, for which would be greater, to hold a golden cross, or to have spent a portion of your time on earth fastened to his Heart by being fastened to His cross? Therefore show forth your gratitude to the Lord with courage by embracing our opportunity to be with Him on the cross, when such opportunity affords itself.

Insights are gained by such a vantage point, looking out from an exalted height, to see all His works accomplished through love and faith for us, His children. He set people free of evil so they might enjoy the happiness of the Lord which He was glad to share. Thus He may share His cross in many ways, each suited to the person longing for His love and presence in spite of all they may lose of earthly joys.

The great sufferings of the cross are the occasion to immerse a valiant heart in love which is unspeakable and which sheds so much light into the world, that no one should remain that was not touched by it. It is more contagious than any disease of evil, and healing us as we are lifted up, find ourselves edified as well, so that we no  longer mind the little we entertained of His sorrows.

Some sensations are of wounds inflicted from the cross, and some are the piercing desolation of His agony, as He went to His death forgiving and delivering from the grip of evil.

For I believe that He is freeing nations and delivering His children from oppression because of love. When the impossible comes to pass, the children of God leap up in joy, caught up in His joy by peace which overcomes evil. For evil gloats when it sees us suffering misfortune, but falls back in shame when it sees the glory the Lord has shared with them, and the honor He has bestowed on all lovers of His Heart. Thus, how can it be evil to suffer for Jesus Himself, when He suffered more than we can know out of a great depth of good? Obviously, a little thing is a nail, and something smaller a thorn, and in the end He has built a cathedral out of a humble man who had the audacity to confront his fear of pain and surrender completely to His passion and the sharing of it in His Will. Are you afraid of the pain of His nails? It will all be swallowed up in a great fire of love which will engulf and overwhelm it it utterly, if you are simply patient and docile in His hands. He shares from His hands, the wounds and the pain you fear, and bore it first, so you  may see what a small thing it is to share thus in your love; your love stands to be magnified until it is brighter than any sun, and rather than being burned by so great a conflagration of love, you are illuminated and exalted to utter happiness which you cannot understand or describe. Thus the future is one of light, and not despair, for the simple things that fastened His earthly Body to the wood of the cross. He was taken down, the nails removed and He was laid to rest on the stone of the sepulcher, and when He rose, the light of His divinity imparted an image on the burial clothes in which He was laid there. Light blazed forth, and it imprinted the image of His resurrected Body on the cloths. Do you doubt He will do the same for you? Get ready to endure unspeakable happiness, for He intends to do the same. The world of death and evil will be confined to a place from which there is no escape. The tormented and persecuted will be rewarded with an eternally happy moment, in which all the wounds that Christians suffered at the hand of evil will become deeds of glory and light united to that of Christ Himself. Thus, do not fear the cross, for He did great things from it, and rose from the dead so we might follow Him on the given day.

Triumph following victory, and each man's debt is paid by love, and therefore I offer my poor body to emulate Him on the cross if He wishes it, and I do not doubt the joy that will be mine, even as I hurt. If I may hurt for you and He permits it, perhaps we may share together in His bliss.