Let Us Pray! – To be souls filled with God Renounce all things Be attentive to God Lovers of the Cross Docility to the Holy Spirit – So that all things may be renewed Prayer – To be true servants of God Fidelity in the little things – May the designs of God be fulfilled Faith in the action of Providence Prayer and Penance Adoration of Jesus Host – To live in intimacy with God The reading of the Gospel – May God’s Kingdom come! Prayer – To hasten the hour of salvation for the Church and the world Invitation to fight – May God find these generous souls Be true – With grace and truth Patience – Graciously! Do violence to ourselves – To attain holiness The summit of Adoration No one can serve two masters The anguish of God What is most pleasing to God Aging is a Grace Secret of Happiness – The Beatitudes The true essence of the Holy Church of Jesus Christ ADVENT Prepare the Way of the Lord ADVENT Prepare the Coming of Jesus ADVENT Awaken Thy Power, O Lord, and come! CHRISTMAS Beside the manger CHRISTMAS He came unto His own and His own received Him not… EASTER Jesus, Light of the World Purgatory, an instrument of Divine Mercy A page from the Gospel – Jesus lost and found in the Temple The Feast of the Visitation and of the Magnificat The Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Secret of the Rosary Mary, Mother of God and our Mother Glorious Saint Joseph, our Model Saint Michael the Archangel, Champion of Humility

What is most pleasing

to God

by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God To some who regarded themselves as righteous, trusting totally in themselves and heaping scorn upon others, Jesus spoke this parable: Two men went up to the Temple to pray, a Pharisee and a Publican. The Pharisee stood and began to pray thus within himself: “My God, I thank You that I am not like other men, robbers, dishonest and adulterers, or like this Publican. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I possess.” The Publican, standing at a distance, would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but struck his breast and said, “My God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went back to his home justified, but not the other. Thus, whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. (St. Luke 18:9-14) All the words of Jesus are spirit and life; they educate us, teach us, show us the road we must follow. And all the parables of Jesus are addressed to us, fully as much as to those who heard them over two thousand years ago. The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is addressed to sinners who sincerely seek the way of virtue. The Publican in the parable was a humble, sincere soul. On the other hand, there are those who say they are sinners, but when they practice a bit of virtue, they easily draw a little glory over having accomplished fine and good things, and they like to compare themselves to others. These false “humble souls” like to compare themselves to those around them, and generally they do not compare themselves to those holier than themselves. They compare themselves to someone close to them, someone they regard as no better than they are. In this way they comfort themselves. “He’s no better, he is even worse than I am! My God, I thank You that I am not as bad as So-and-so...” That is not how they word it — it would bear too close a resemblance to the ridiculous pride of the Pharisee in the parable — but their interior attitude amounts to the same thing. No, in our comparisons with our neighbor, we often act in a way that is far more subtle, clever, indirect. We compare the advantages he might have with regard to our own. And if we practice a few virtues, we feel comfortable, satisfied. We quickly forget our little failings... and even the big ones. We forget them quickly. Or if we do recall them, we are totally despondent, totally discouraged over them. All of that is not the fruit of humility. Jesus offers us this parable to make us reflect on our interior dispositions. He shows us the Pharisee convinced of his virtues, satisfied with himself. On the other hand He presents the Publican who remained in the back of the temple, who felt so unworthy that he did not even dare to raise his eyes. My God, be merciful to me, a sinner! It is as though he said, “How can I even present myself before You? I need You. I come to You because I need Your mercy, Your pity.” Jesus says, I tell you, this man went back to his home justified, but not the other. When Jesus says “justified,” He means “forgiven.” But not the other. “The other” is the Pharisee, who is complacent about his “virtues” and thinks he is better than his neighbor. He did not leave forgiven, since he boasted about not needing to be forgiven. He left condemned. That is the great lesson of this parable. We must humble ourselves, recognize that we are sinners, not merely like everyone around us, but recognize especially our own baseness, our faults of all sorts. We must see ourselves, look at ourselves humbly, under the gaze of God. When these dispositions enter very deeply into a person’s heart, then his relations with his neighbor, no matter who it may be, are totally different. His entire behavior toward his neighbor changes and is transformed. When we realize and humbly admit our own misery, in spite of all the abundant graces we have received from God, we sincerely regard our neighbor as far better than ourselves. We realize that we should have done a great deal more. That is why we consider the others far above us. Not only with the lips, no, but with the heart. These are real sentiments, deep convictions. “My Lord and my God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This reaction is the opposite of the Pharisee’s. Jesus does not say that the Pharisee did not practice the acts of virtue he attributes to himself. He gave alms to the poor, he observed the law. Jesus does not say that he did not do this. What He blames him for is the fact that he regarded others with scorn and was so very full of himself. The Pharisee’s words are simply the manifestation of the bad dispositions of his heart. In the heart... that is where everything takes place. And Jesus sees the depths of hearts. My brothers and sisters, let us be that Publican in the presence of Jesus. Let us ask Him to give us a real conviction of our misery. And the conviction that if we do any good, it is only by His grace. Without Me, you can do nothing, says Our Lord. It is easy to say that I am a sinner when I am all alone on my kneeler in the chapel. But to be convinced of it, in practical contact with my neighbor, that is quite another thing. Once we are really convinced of our powerlessness without God, of our nullity without His powerful assistance, our conduct toward others will be totally different. O Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, make my heart like unto Thine!