Meditations
Meditations on the litanies : | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
FATHER OF ALL ETERNITY
In the Blessed Trinity, the Father is Father from the beginning; He has always been Father. He is Father in the infinite fullness of paternity, his heart has never existed other than as one of a Father. (J. Galot)
With His entire being, the Father is drawn to the Son in love, to give of Himself, to live in perfect union with Him.
In His inscrutable love, God has wished to extend this paternity to all people. He has wished that, living of the life of His Son (cf. 1 Jn. 5:11), being clothed in Him, we would also become His sons and daughters (1 Jn. 3:1)
In the presence of this profound mystery of love, the Sister of Charity is grateful to the Eternal Father for having accepted her into His family, and she nurtures a filial heart similar to the Heart of Christ, her elder Brother.
FATHER IN HEAVEN
Through their new birth in the Spirit, men and women become children of the Father with Christ. (cf. Rom. 6: 1 – 4)
Our Father is God. He is the Most High, the Infinite One, the Transcendent One. Penetrated with this sense of the grandeur of God, Mother d’Youville called Him “Eternal Father”. She had an unbounded confidence in Him because His kindness has been made visible in the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. God has pitched His tent among his people; He has come near to His children; He is Emmanuel.
Thanks to her Foundress, the Sister of Charity develops with special care the spirituality of Divine Paternity. Christ’s prayer becomes her prayer of choice. She mediates it to the point when she discovers all its richness and taste the savour of its content: Father! Your Name! Your Kingdom! Your Will!
Accepting to pray the “Our Father” with a loyal heart, means accepting in one’s life the demanding, the sanctifying, and the invading love of the Eternal Father.
FATHER, SOURCE OF ALL THINGS
God the Father is the Alpha, He who IS, “the One who, from the beginning, called all generations into life” (Is. 41:4). As the work of His hands (Eph. 2:10), humanity is God’s own, in every fiber of its being. Ceasing to belong to God is ceasing to exist.
Christ, Son of God, eternally begotten by the Father, had received from the Father His mission as the One Sent, the Redeemer.
The Spirit of Love enters in the heart of persons as the Father envoy (Jn. 15: 26) at the request Christ who has returned to heaven. (Jn. 14: 16).
Recognizing that her being, her life and her actions all come from the Father’s goodness, the Sister of Charity lives in a state of perpetual gratitude and offers her entire life in a prayer of adoration and love.
FATHER, SOURCE OF THE DIVINITY
From the Eternal Father bursts forth divine life in all its Light and Love; He alone is its first, its eternal, its unique Source (cf. Jn. 5: 26)
The Son Himself receives this life from the Father through generation; the Holy Spirit receives it from the Father and the Son. He comes forth from the One and the Other. (cf. Creed)
Through the Design of his benevolence and love, the Father calls all finite beings to share in this infinite happiness: He creates persons in His own Image and invites them to share in the life of the Trinity.
In order to maintain the clarity of this Divine Image in her soul, the Sister of Charity aspires with all her being to clothe herself “with the same attitude that is in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
FATHER OF WISDOM AND OF TRUTH
The Eternal Father brings to fulfillment his Plan of Love for the world and for humanity: Salvation through the Cross. In His design, all is grace, because all is guided with both strength and gentleness by Divine Wisdom whose scope embraces both time and eternity. The ways of God differ from our own, but, the Good Shepherd, God,” guides us in right paths” (Ps. 23:3), leading us to Life, to Peace, and to Happiness.Trusting and responsive, the Sister of Charity welcomes each manifestation of the Divine will. In faith, she seeks to discover the Father’s love who leads her toward the fullness of Charity.
FATHER OF INFINITE MAJESTY
King of kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19: 16), God rules heaven and earth (cf. Ps. 148:13); His glory is reflected throughout the universe.
In heaven, the Angels and the elect contemplate Him unceasingly while acclaiming His supreme majesty. On earth, the wonders of creation reflect His beauty, His abundance and His grandeur. With all of their brothers and sisters, human beings exalt and bless with a sincere heart “the Lord who is powerful on high” (Ps. 92:4).
Through prayerfulness and a sense of awe, the Sister of Charity joyfully participates in the universal and heavenly praises; she lends her voice and her soul to inanimate creation to praise the Creator. She offers to the Father the work of His hands (cf. G.S. 3, 37, 4), as a hymn of love and gratitude.
FATHER OF LIGHT
“God is Light” (1 Jn. 1:5). From the first moment of creation, the all-powerful Word of God brought forth the light through which human beings admire the splendors of the created universe.
To the one who walks in spiritual darkness (Is. 9:1), the Father sends His Son, Light of His Light, “true Light which enlightens everyone” (Jn. 1:9). Since the Ascension of the Lord, the Holy Spirit has illumined the Church and all persons of good will to guide them to the whole Truth (Jn. 16:13). “In heaven, there is no need of light; there is no longer night, God Himself gives it light.” (Rev. 21: 23).
Called to live in a particular way as a “child of Light” (cf. Jn. 12: 36), the Sister of Charity draws light from the nourishing and living texts of Sacred Scripture, and from the Eucharist, the strength to live in the freedom of the children of God. Having gone from darkness into Light, she proclaims to the world the marvelous works God has accomplished in the Paschal Mystery. (cf. Sunday Preface).
FATHER, FOUNT OF POWER
Creative power belongs to the Father: who created all things out of nothing, “the visible as well as the invisible” (2 Cor. 4:18). This world which came from His hands He rules with sovereign wisdom and admirable order.
His strength manifests itself even more in the re-creation of sinful humankind. From a broken being, He brings forth a brand new being, one who participates in His life to the point of being able to be called His child in all truth, a being born of the Blood of His own Son, of the water of Baptism and of the Spirit. (cf. 1 Jn. 5:6)
God the Father shares his power with his beloved Son, Lord of heaven and earth (cf. Mt. 28:18). Unless one is united to Christ, one cannot accomplish works which bear fruit for eternity. (cf. Jn. 15:5).In the building up of the Kingdom for which she labours, the Sister of Charity, powerless on her own, believes in the power of Christ acting in her. In all serenity, she gives herself totally to the task which has been entrusted to her through obedience, certain that she is collaborating in a meaningful way to the saving mission of the Church.
FATHER OF ALL CONSOLATION
Source of Love, the Father is also Source of Joy. His Providence leads all people to the path of happiness, even when trials weigh them down. In order to help them continue their journey to the house of gladness (cf. Ps. 99:1), the Father sends His Spirit of Consolation to His children. Sustained by Him, they advance toward the New Earth that God has prepared and whose blessings fulfill and surpass all the dreams of peace that are born in the human heart. (Gaudium et Spes, 3:39)
Having been entrusted with the pearl of great price of the Christian and religious vocation, the Sister of Charity lives in the peaceful and radiant joy which testifies to her gratitude to the Lord for this divine gift. It also witness to everyone that “the Master’s yoke is sweet and His burden light.” (Mt. 11:30)
FATHER OF INFINITE LOVE
As God Himself, “everlasting is His Love” (Ps. 136). God loved me before my birth. He loved me before I loved Him (cf. 1 Jn. 4:19). He loved me by calling me to be is adopted daughter so I can call Him, “my Father” (Jr. 3:19). He loves me in spite of my failings; because of them, He gave me His Son as Saviour. He promises me His Kingdom of glory and blessedness.
The Father loves all people. He loves the whole of creation which, purified, transformed, having become this new earth where justice reigns forever, will then be given over to His fatherly hands by Christ at the time of the Second Coming (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 3:39).Through Christ, in whom all grace has been given to our world, the Sister of Charity seeks to deepen her love for the Eternal Father, and to demonstrate it through her faithfulness to her religious consecration, through obedience to His Will, and through fraternal and missionary service.
FATHER OF THE ELECT
Father of infinite goodness, God invites all people to his eternal banquet (cf. 1 Th. 2:12). In order to gather all at His Table, He sent to earth His only Son (cf. 1 Pt. 5:10) who made Himself poor, obedient and a victim of love on the cross.
The call of God to the royal feast resounds throughout the thousands of details of each one’s personal history, but only those who are open to the divine invitation, the poor in heart, will gain access to the Kingdom.
Chosen to sit at the heavenly banquet, the Sister of Charity recognizes her affliction and her sinfulness, but she grounds her hope of salvation in the Father inexhaustible mercy. Dedicated to Christ and with Him, she wishes to be an active worker in the great gathering of the elect.
THE FATHER’S PLEASURE
Because the Son is the “Splendor of his substance” (He. 1:3), :His Image: (Col. 1:15), the Father contemplates Him and loves Him from all eternity.
Through His Incarnation, Christ draws to Himself all the pleasure of the Father because of His perfect filial spirit.Jesus is one with the Father (cf. Jn. 17:21)
He collaborates in the Father’s activity (cf. Jn. 5:19)
He proclaims His Doctrine (cf. Jn. 7: 16)
He praises Him in prayer (cf. Jn. 17)
He always seeks His Will (cf. Jn. 5:30)
and the extension of His Glory (cf. Jn. 7:18)So that she will be pleasing in the Father’s eyes, the Sister of Charity models her life on that of Christ. She humbles herself so that He may increase in her, she loses herself in Him so as to become with Him a proclaimer of the Father’s Love and the object of His Divine pleasure.
FATHER WHOM THE WORLD DOES NOT KNOW
Christ reveals to all people the saving love of His Father. But the world and those who espouse its maxims reject His doctrine of life. Even his own did not accept Jesus (cf. Jn. 1:10); they did not welcome Him as the One sent by the Father (cf. Jn. 5:41). Only the little ones, the hearts free from self and open to the Spirit, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
At the feet of Christ her Teacher, whom she contemplates daily, the Sister of Charity desires to grow in the knowledge and love of the heavenly Father; she allows herself to be drawn by Him to Jesus, the only Way to the Father, the Truth which leads to true freedom and Life of her life.
FATHER WHOM THE SON HAS REVEALED
“Who sees me, sees the Father” (Jn. 14: 9). The words, the actions and the miracles of Christ revealed the goodness, the infinite mercy and the immense tenderness of God.
The transfigured Lord, the risen Lord reveal the power and the splendor of the heavenly Father of whom He is the perfect Image (cf. Ws. 7:26).
In contemplating the Christ of the Gospels with the light from on high, the Sister of Charity discovers and love more and more the Beauty and the Goodness of this Divine Being. Her trust in the Father in Heaven grows, she abandons herself to Him in all the events of her life which have been prepared by His Love.
FATHER, THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
Sent to save the world, Christ gives His life in love; his free offering triumphs over sin and death. But, from this cruel and horrendous death on the Cross, God raises His Son full of glory, and makes of Him Lord and Christ of the universe (Ac. 2:36).
The same Spirit of power and love who raised Jesus also awakens life in dead souls; He breathes a new spirit of life into faithful hearts and plants in the human heart a seed of immortality. He will destroy all vestiges of death throughout the universe in order to transform it into a new earth.
The Sister of Charity prays, works and suffers so that sinners will be able to share with her in the abundant life that overflows from the Sacred Humanity of the risen Christ. Her behavior reflects her joy at having been saved and raised with Christ (cf. Eph. 2: 5), and already brought to heaven with Him in Hope (Rm. 8:23).
FATHER, GIVER OF THE SPIRIT
In response to Christ’s prayer in glory (cf. Jn. 14:16), the Father gives to His adopted children the gift of His Spirit. Spirit of Truth, of Love, of Holiness (cf. Jn. 15: 26).
The Sanctifying Spirit form the mystical Christ in the docile and responsive heart; He brings to flower the virtues, especially charity, from the seeds sown at Baptism (cf. Rm. 5:5). His work of sanctification comes to fullness in the sacraments of Forgiveness and of the Bread of Life.
The Sister of Charity re-kindles her faith in the Spirit’s activity in her daily life. She creates interior silence in order to better grasp the discrete invitations and respond with a generous Yes to the demands of the Spirit. Her availability allows the Sanctifier to transform her soul into the ever more glorious image of Christ and thus to bring greater worth to the entire Mystical Body.
FATHER, WHO REVEALS THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS
God the Father is pleased to pour out His Truth on humble and simple hearts (cf. Mt. 11:25). He gives them a clear understanding of the wealth and the spiritual fecundity of suffering received, loved and offered to God; He brings them to sometimes taste the intimate joy of their configuration to Christ whose broken life saved the world.
Signed with the sign of the Cross at her Baptism, and a disciple of Christ in a special manner, the Sister of Charity accepts the Cross in her life, as a necessary condition for her interior transfiguration and her ascension in charity. She wishes to carry her suffering un close union with Christ, for the glory of the Father and the salvation of her brothers and sisters.
FATHER, WITNESS TO THOSE WHO PRAY IN SECRET
True prayer, whether it be liturgical, communitarian or private, rises up like perfumed incense to the Lord. All that is needed is that this prayer come from a humble and trusting heart in order to reach to God.
At every instant, the one who is baptized may encounter within that Divine Presence, listen to Him, speak to Him without the noise of words.
Each time the Spirit invites her, the Sister of Charity recollects herself in the presence of the Three who live within, and offers them her silent adoration and her generous love.
In the solitude of her room and before the Eucharistic Presence, she loves to listen to the Lord whose silence brings her enlightenment and guides her in the ways of Truth and Holiness.
FATHER, SEEKER OF TRUE WORSHIPPERS
Thinking of God, speaking to God, praying to Him with our lips does not constitute the kind of perfect service who gives access to the Kingdom of grace and glory (Mt. 7:21).
The true children of God, like Jesus, cling with love to His Will and are faithful to his Word. Thus, the Father loves them and makes of their heart a living Temple (cf. Jn. 14: 23).
Desirous of becoming a true daughter of the Father in the footsteps of our Saintly Mother, the Sister of Charity enters into communion with the Divine Will through her fidelity to her Constitutions; she feeds herself and is filled with this food which carries eternal life and happiness (cf. Jn. 4:34).
FATHER OF MERCIES
Having abused of the precious gift of freedom, man refuses his love to the Infinite and Sanctifying Love of God. Distance from the Father and breaking the bond with Him are the fruits of sin.
But God “who is rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4) seeks out the wayward sheep. As soon as true sorrow appears in the heart of the disobedient child, He forgives him and returns him to his friendship. He renews the joy and strength of the Spirit in this soul. (cf. Ps. 50:21)
Faced with her cowardice, her faults, her misery, all of which she bears with humility, the Sister of Charity remembers that God has a Father’s heart “maternally good”, and she comes back to Him without delay.
Distancing herself more and more from her sinfulness, and happy in the peace of forgiveness and the union of love, she becomes a messenger of divine mercy among her brothers who, like her, are frail and sinful.
MARY, REPLICA OF GOD’S FATHERLY HEART
All that is perfect and the wealth of love are concentrated in God, and the treasures of tenderness which are hidden in a mother’s heart proceed from the Father. This surge of love flows abundantly into the very pure heart of the Virgin Mary.
In establishing Mary as the Universal Mother of all men in the order of grace, the Father conferred upon her spiritual Motherhood an extension of his Divine Fatherhood. (cf. J. Galot)
In the same way that through His Son, God looks upon men and loves them as sons, Mary, Mother of Christ, sees us in her beloved Son; in this light, she gazes on us and loves us with tenderness as her own children.
The Sister of Charity sings the wonders of the Eternal Father’s Plan of salvation. She celebrates with joy and love God’s Fatherhood and the spiritual Motherhood of Mary, and tries to live as a loving daughter of the One and the Other.