Be attentive to

God

to see everything

with views of Faith

by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God

This year I would like to give you as watchword: Be attentive to God. Certainly one of the great woes on earth is that humans live distracted from the essential. From this come all the blunders and stupidities, all the human folly that manifests itself in a thousand ways. Walk in My presence and be perfect, says Holy Scripture. We are distracted from God, whereas earthly things, material goods, our little personal interests captivate our attention and our heart. These things captivate us to the point of turning us away from God. That is sin! What is sin? It is everything that turns us away from God. That is how Saint Thomas Aquinas defines sin. He says that whatever turns us away from God, whatever prevents us from serving Him and being His apostles, being true Christians, is a sin. We are distracted from God, inattentive to His will: this is more or less grievous according to how conscious it is and how long it lasts. If I said, ‘I wish that you may not sin this year,’ it would be a little awkward and also too vague... And yet, a Christian should not offend God, but we know that unfortunately, it can happen all too easily. So I am giving you as watchword to be attentive to God, as much as possible for poor, frail human beings. May your soul, your heart, your mind, all the fibers of your being, all that God has given you by way of talent and capacity — intelligence, memory, imagination, sensibility — be applied to God, to please Him, to serve Him, following the example of Jesus, our perfect Model. Everything Jesus did on earth was done to honor His Father, to obey Him, to manifest His Infinite Love to humans. Some people have more talent in a certain field, others in another. We complement one another. May each one apply himself to putting all the faculties God has given him at his neighbor’s service! May we do this simply, as attentive as possible to pleasing God. May every instant of this year be dedicated to this interior occupation, all the while attending to exterior prayer, work, eating, traveling, in a word, all the necessary occupations God asks us to carry out. That is the watchword I give you for this year. And in practicing this watchword, my brothers and sisters, I invite you to think of all our brothers of the earth who do not know their heavenly Father, so that they may discover Him, so that God may manifest Himself to them. Do we want to know God the Father? Let us look at Jesus, and we will also see the Father, we will know Him. Philip, who sees Me, also sees My Father, says Jesus in the Gospel. Let us be attentive to God, like little children whose eyes are fixed on their parents. Let us imitate them in their simplicity, their confidence, for God reveals Himself to little ones. I bless You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for having hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and for having revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, I bless You, for such was Your good pleasure. With these words, Jesus expresses His praise and gratitude to His Father because He manifests Himself to the little and the humble.

As children with our heavenly Father

Who are little children always looking at? Their parents. Others may come and give them nice smiles and caresses that hold their attention for a moment, but it does not last. As soon as mom or dad comes in, the little one turns away from everything else and has eyes for them alone. Why? Because his interest, his heart is with his parents. He may be busy with other things between times, but his attention always turns to his parents. That is as it should be. May our heart be attentive to God this year. Even if we must be occupied with earthly things and lend ourselves to various occupations, may our heart and our mind turn very often to God and be attentive to Him. And God will manifest Himself. Jesus says, The one who observes My commandments, he is the one who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I too will love him and manifest Myself to him. God manifests Himself, reveals Himself to the little, the humble, and He hides from the great, from those who think they are great, who are independent and have their mind, heart and head absorbed elsewhere. Those great people can be specialists, they can talk to you for hours on end about all sorts of gadgets, but they will know nothing about the secrets of God if they are not humble and do not listen to God, are not attentive to Him. There is nothing wrong with possessing human competence; on the contrary, it is important, otherwise we would have none of the necessities: lodging, heating, food, clothing, etc. But our conversation, our interest, must not be oriented only toward those things. In all those necessary occupations, our heart ought to remain attentive to God, concerned with pleasing Him and remaining in His holy Will. Each time we realize that we are letting futile thoughts or things capture our attention, let us say, “My Jesus, my Lord, pardon! Please captivate my mind, my heart, so that I may live for You alone!” God will certainly answer such a prayer, for He created man in order to manifest Himself to him and be loved by him. He created man “to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him, and to be happy with Him in heaven throughout eternity.” That is the purpose of creation. Imagine! God created me, He created every human being out of love, to manifest His love to them and be loved above all things by them. What a disappointment for Him, what a wound it is for the Heart of Jesus, the God-Man, when a human being prefers the things of the earth to His love, when he lets himself be voluntarily distracted by pleasures of all sorts! To continue the comparison of a little child totally attentive to its parents, what a joy it is for a father or mother to see their little one entirely occupied with them! But when children get older they become more aloof, they are less interested in their parents, and that saddens their parents a little. The children have other interests, they are elsewhere... All parents experience this to varying degrees. In the human order, it is normal for children to fly with their own wings at a given moment and necessarily withdraw a little. But we must remain little children with God. Unless you become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, says Jesus. At Fatima the Blessed Virgin said, “Humanity has not developed as God intended.” This means it has not developed according to God’s plan, according to His will. Why? Because humans have put their hearts and their attention into following their pride and their whims instead of being attentive to the Law and the Thought of God and conforming to it. They have not been very preoccupied with God. Unfortunately, most people pass on earth without being preoccupied with God. And we see the results... This must not be our case, my brothers and sisters. Let us be children of our heavenly Father, so that in each one of us He may find a child attentive to Him! If it is such a great joy for parents to see their little child totally attached to them, and if on the other hand their hearts are heavy when, as they get older, their children lose interest in them a little, imagine what our heavenly Father must feel when His children withdraw from Him. From all eternity, He has loved us with an Infinite Love, and now these poor little humans, from whom He expects love, forget Him and even turn away from Him by preferring the nothings of the earth. What disappointment, what sorrow! In His apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary, Jesus complained in these terms: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even to exhaustion and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love. And in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude... by the coldness and contempt they have for Me.” It seems to me this is one of the greatest offenses we could make against God: scorn His Love, not pay attention to Him, treat Him with indifference and prefer earthly things to Him. What a disappointment for the Heart of God! On the other hand, a single child of God whose heart is totally attached to God, who is totally attentive to Him and wants to please Him in all things — that soul can console the heavenly Father and make Him forget the multitude of sorrows which other souls inflict upon Him by their indifference. Because of one person who loves Him, who is attentive to Him, who implores Him to forgive those who neglect and offend Him, God pardons, shows mercy, forgets the countless ingratitudes of the human race. That is our role, my brothers and sisters. That is our vocation: to console our heavenly Father and intercede to obtain His pardon. He loves it when we lead Him, by our love and our prayers, to forgive our brothers and sisters who forget Him.

Let us honor our Father

Also, my brothers and sisters, to honor our heavenly Father this year, I wish for you to see everything according to views of faith: everything that happens to you — everything, everything. That is my wish. And by wishing this for you, I also address this wish to all our brothers and sisters of the earth. By practicing it, may we obtain for all our brothers and sisters of the earth the grace to attain this ideal: to recognize the action of God in all the events of life, to discern His fatherly, loving hand which guides our life, in suffering and trials as well as in joy and consolation, in every circumstance and every manner. All that happens in our lives is willed or permitted by our heavenly Father, a Father full of love, who wants only our greater good. By considering all the events of our life in this manner, we will profit from everything. For those who love God, all things work together unto good, says Saint Paul. Even if we are often distracted, God is always attentive to each one of His children. Nothing escapes Him, and He makes all things work together for the good of souls. I wish for you to discover and especially believe in this action of Divine Providence in each one of our lives. If you are attentive, you will realize it, and your heart will be full of joy. Why do we lose our joy and peace of soul so easily? Because we do not see the hand of God in the things that happen to us. We do not make the act of faith to tell ourselves that in everything and everywhere, it is the love of our heavenly Father that organizes and directs all things. Yet this constant action of Divine Providence is clearly affirmed in the Holy Gospel when Jesus says, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s permission. The very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. This year I invite you to honor the Eternal Father, our heavenly Father, in a very special manner. We can do this especially by the attentive recitation of the Our Father, the prayer that Jesus Himself taught His Apostles when they asked Him how to pray. He replied, You will say: Our Father, who art in heaven, etc. I invite you to recite the Our Father often, unhurriedly, in your heart. May prayer truly become, as the Saints love to say, “the breathing of your soul.” Let us borrow, let us ask our Holy Mother and Jesus Himself to give us the sentiments They had when They recited this beautiful prayer themselves. Each time we formulate it, let us beg Them, “Dear Jesus, good Mother Mary, give me Your sentiments. I want to resemble You when I say this prayer. That is my heart’s desire.” From that standpoint, prayer takes on an immense power. Let us ask to be totally imbued with the sentiments and thoughts of Jesus Himself, attentive like Him to His Father in all the actions of our life, so that we may become other Jesus’. It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me, said Saint Paul. That is the grace I wish for you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and of the Mother of God. Amen.