If you have the me, you do not have God; and if you have God, you do not have the me. You do not have two hearts, you have only one... Everything succeeds for the one who does not have the me; everything satisfies him... Where there is the me, there is no humility, nor meekness, nor any virtue. You pray, you implore, and the prayer does not rise, does not reach God... The one who does not have the me has all the virtues and peace and joy.” The me is what ruins people. Those who have the me: that is, those who are full of their me. But is there anything that inhabits every one of us more than our me? How do we get rid of our me? For it is the me that ruins people. And those who have the me carry sorrow, anguish with them. Listen to the next sentence: You cannot have God and the me together. The more we put to death this ego, this me, this vain self, in order to put Jesus there, the more we become divine beings. This is the royal road to which I invite you this year. God and the me cannot live together. Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified repeats this in three sentences that say the same thing, then she reverses the two. You cannot have God and the me together. Impossible. If you have the me, you do not have God. If you have God, you do not have the me. The ecstasies of Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified were divine, real, she did not invent those words. God was truly speaking through her. This message refers to what might be called the central statement of the Gospel. If you find it hard to remember the entire Gospel, you can sum it up in this one word from Jesus: If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.6 When 6. Cf. St. Matthew 16:24; St. Mark 8:34; St. Luke 9:23. 6 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat Since the previous day, His enemies and all the rabble had been assailing Him. Jesus had been publicly struck by lackeys before the court of Caiphas and Annas. He spent the night in the dungeon. The soldiers had not hesitated to beat Him, slap Him, spit on Him and worse yet. All night long, they heaped insults and blows upon Him. The insults they hurled at our God, our Jesus, are appalling. What they did is abominable. It is in this pomp, this setting, that Jesus appears before Pilate and answers his question: Are You a King? – You have said it, yes, I am a King. And Jesus continues immediately: I was born, I came into this world to bear witness to the truth. Whoever is on the side of the truth hears My voice.5 This is why Jesus came, to make the truth heard, and whoever is on the side of the truth hears His voice. Pilate is skeptical, and he adds: “What is the truth?” Without waiting for an answer, he rises and walks out. But the truth! Jesus proclaims it throughout this scenario that we contemplate in which He is scorned, degraded and trampled underfoot like a worm. “I am a King. And those who are of the truth, who are of the party of the truth, hear My Voice, they understand Me and recognize Me as their King. Those who want the truth, who truly desire it, recognize it. They will follow Me.” That is Our wish for this year: Follow the royal road of Jesus. Contemplate Him, implore Him. Tell Him how much you want to follow Him, and above all apply yourself to forgetting yourself. That is Our watchword: put your ego, your ME, to death”. I will read you the full text from Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified in ecstasy: “The me is what ruins people. Those who have the me carry sorrow, anguish with them. You cannot have God and the me together. 5. Cf. St John 18:33-38.
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