The Last Days of Advent

As one grows older, time seems to go faster...I do not know why. This Advent seems to have flown by so quickly, I cannot imagine a faster period of time for me in the recent past.

Part of the rhythm of life is fasting, penance as against celebration, rejoicing.

As we enter the last few days of Advent, I would suggest a review of the past weeks. I would also suggest going to confession and doing an extra-careful examination of conscience.

This Advent has been a busy spiritual time for me as I have prayed much with other people and have had serious spiritual discussions with friends. It has been a time of discernment and suffering.

One cannot anticipate how God will use time that we generously give him.

Here are some pertinent words from St. Alphonsus, again, to help us in these next few days to keep focused on God....we should unite ourselves to the will of God as regards our degree of grace and glory. True, we should esteem the things that make for the glory of God, but we should show the greatest esteem for those that concern the will of God. We should desire to love God more than the seraphs, but not to a degree higher than God has destined for us. St. John of Avila says: “I believe every saint has had the desire to be higher in grace than he actually was. However, despite this, their serenity of soul always remained unruffled. Their desire for a greater degree of grace sprang not from a consideration of their own good, but of God’s. They were content with the degree of grace God had meted out for them, though actually God had given them less. They considered it a greater sign of true love of God to be content with what God had given them, than to desire to have received more.”

This means, as Rodriguez explains it, we should be diligent in striving to become perfect, so that tepidity and laziness may not serve as excuses for some to say: “God must help me; I can do only so much for myself.” Nevertheless, when we do fall into some fault, we should not lose our peace of soul and union with the will of God, which permits our fall; nor should we lose our courage. Let us rise at once from this fall, penitently humbling ourselves and by seeking greater help from God, let us continue to march resolutely on the highway of the spiritual life. Likewise, we may well desire to be among the seraphs in heaven, not for our own glory, but for God’s, and to love him more; still we should be resigned to his will and be content with that degree of glory which in his mercy he has set for us.

It would be a serious defect to desire the gifts of supernatural prayer—specifically, ecstasies, visions and revelations. The masters of the spiritual life say that souls thus favored by God, should ask him to take them away so that they may love him out of pure faith—a way of greater security. Many have come to perfection without these supernatural gifts; the only virtues worth-while are those that draw the soul to holiness of life, namely, the virtue of uniformity with God’s holy will. If God does not wish to raise us to the heights of perfection and glory, let us unite ourselves in all things to his holy will, asking him in his mercy, to grant us our soul’s salvation. If we act in this manner, the reward will not be slight which we shall receive from the hands of God who loves above all others, souls resigned to his holy will.

Are you a true lover of God?

Recently, I heard a spiritual person say something I heard in the past. He said, "God does not punish us when we are suffering. Suffering is not from God."

God does not cause suffering, this is true, but that God allows it must be seen as part of punishment.

Yes, God does punish us and we should be glad of this punishment.

I am losing a good spiritual director I found here as he is moving away for the rest of the time I shall be here. I have lost spiritual directors before through moves on their part or mine. I am beginning to realize that losing a spiritual director, or not being able to find one, is part of God's plan for those of us in the desert.

Not being able to talk with someone about spiritual things is a punishment. But, the saints have something to say about this point of punishment. They tell us that punishment now on this earth is better than purgatory or damnation. I do not think people ponder about going to hell enough. Many, if not most, people will go to hell. This fact will happen not because God does not love us, but because too many people do not love God enough to ask Him to show us our deep, secret sins.

Going into silence and the desert which God gives us give us opportunities to see the predominant faults and get rid of these.

When the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became Man, He entered into a life of suffering, not for His sake, but for our sake. He took on our punishment which was eternal separation from God because of the sin of Adam. When Christ, Mary and Joseph suffered, they entered into redemptive suffering for us.

St. Alphonsus wisely summarizes suffering for perfection in this way:

We ought to view in the light of God’s holy will, the loss of persons who are helpful to us in a spiritual or material way. Pious souls often fail in this respect by not being resigned to the dispositions of God’s holy will. Our sanctification comes fundamentally and essentially from God, not from spiritual directors. When God sends us a spiritual director, he wishes us to use him for our spiritual profit; but if he takes him away, he wants us to remain calm and unperturbed and to increase our confidence in his goodness by saying to him: “Lord, thou hast given me this help and now thou dost take it away. Blessed be thy holy will! I beg thee, teach me what I must do to serve thee.”

In this manner too, we should receive whatever other crosses God sends us. “But,” you reply, “these sufferings are really punishments.” The answer to that remark is: Are not the punishments God sends us in this life also graces and benefits? Our offenses against God must be atoned for somehow, either in this life or in the next. Hence we should all make St. Augustine’s prayer our own: “Lord, here cut, here burn and spare me not, but spare me in eternity!” Let us say with Job: “Let this be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not67.” Having merited hell for our sins, we should be consoled that God chastises us in this life, and animate ourselves to look upon such treatment as a pledge that God wishes to spare us in the next. When God sends us punishments let us say with the high-priest Heli: “It is the Lord, let him do what is good in his sight.”

The time of spiritual desolation is also a time for being resigned. When a soul begins to cultivate the spiritual life, God usually showers his consolations upon her to wean her away from the world; but when he sees her making solid progress, he withdraws his hand to test her and to see if she will love and serve him without the reward of sensible consolations. “In this life,” as St. Teresa used to say, “our lot is not to enjoy God, but to do his holy will.” And again, “Love of God does not consist in experiencing his tendernesses, but in serving him with resolution and humility.” And in yet another place, “God’s true lovers are discovered in times of aridity and temptation.”

and...

Let us assume that this aridity is a punishment for your tepidity. Was it not God who sent it? Accept your desolation, as your just desserts and unite yourself to God’s holy will. Did you not say that you merited hell? And now you are complaining? Perhaps you think God should send you consolations! Away with such ideas and be patient under God’s hand. Take up your prayers again and continue to walk in the way you have entered upon; for the future, fear lest such laments come from too little humility and too little resignation to the will of God. Therefore be resigned and say: “Lord, I accept this punishment from thy hands, and I accept it for as long as it pleases thee; if it be thy will that I should be thus afflicted for all eternity, I am satisfied.” Such a prayer, though hard to make, will be far more advantageous to you than the sweetest sensible consolations.

It is well to remember, however, that aridity is not always a chastisement; at times it is a disposition of divine providence for our greater spiritual profit and to keep us humble. Lest St. Paul become vain on account of the spiritual gifts he had received, the Lord permitted him to be tempted to impurity: “And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me.”

More from St. Alphonsus from This Great Site

The Sentence of Particular Judgment from here 

Oh! what joy will he experience who, departing out of this life in the grace of God, will, on being presented before Jesus Christ, behold him with a benignant countenance, be lovingly received by him, and hear from him those delightful words: Well done, thou good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. (Matthew 25:23)

But, O Jesus! if I were now to be summoned to judgment before Thee, how could I hope that Thou wouldst call me a good and faithful servant, when I have hitherto been so bad and faithless towards Thee, changing my promises of fidelity into treasons? But I will be faithful to Thee for the future, and will sooner lose my life a thousand times than forfeit Thy grace. Do Thou give me strength to fulfil this my resolution.

On the other hand, what anguish, O Jesus! will that sinner experience, who, dying in sin, and being presented before Thee, beholds Thy wrathful countenance! The soul that departs this life in God's displeasure will first condemn itself, and will then hear from Jesus Christ that terrible sentence: Depart from me, thou accursed, into everlasting fire. (Matthew 25:41)

How often, O Jesus, have I deserved to hear from Thee the same sentence when I have committed mortal sin! When death overtakes me, Thou wilt then be my judge; but now Thou art my Father and Redeemer, ready to pardon me, if I am sorry for having offended Thee. I am therefore sorry, from the bottom of my heart, for all my offences against Thee; and I am sorry, not so much on account of hell which I have deserved by them, as because by them I have grievously offended Thee, who hast loved me with an infinite love.

The soul goes forth and leaves the body, but it is for some time doubtful whether the person be alive or dead. While the bystanders are doubting, the soul has already entered eternity. The priest, satisfied at length that the man is dead, recites the prayer of the Church: "Come to his assistance, all ye saints of God: meet him, all ye angels of God: receive his soul and present it now before its Lord.'" But of what avail will it be to the soul that has departed an enemy of God, and upon which sentence has already been passed, to call the saints and angels to its assistance?"

O my good angel, ye saints, my holy advocates, St. Michael, St. Joseph, and you my holy protectress Mary! help me now whilst you have it in your power. And Thou, my Redeemer, pardon me now whilst Thou dost exercise mercy. I am sorry for having offended Thee, and I love Thee with my whole heart. Assist me, O Lord! and support me, that I may never offend Thee more. O Mary! take me forever to thy care.

Posted by mario at 7:28 PM

A Great Site

 One snippet from here--

The Eternity of Hell

If hell were not eternal, it would not be hell. Punishment that does not continue for a long time is not grievous punishment. On the other hand, punishment, however light it may be, when it continues for a long time, becomes intolerable. Were a person obliged during the whole of his life to see the same entertainments, or to hear the same music, how could he endure it? What then must it be to remain in hell and to suffer all its torments! And for how long a time? For all eternity. It would be folly, for the sake of a day's pleasure, to condemn one's self to be burnt alive. And is it not folly, for the sake of a sensual gratification, which can last but for one moment, to condemn one's self to the fire of hell, whose victims, though dying every moment, yet never, never die?

O God! preserve me by Thy grace. Woe to me if I should turn my back upon Thee after the great mercy with which Thou hast dealt with me! Keep me, O God! and preserve me from so great a misfortune.

Let us awaken our slumbering faith. It is certain that he who is lost is lost forever, without the least hope of being redeemed from eternal ruin. They shall go into eternal punishment. (Matthew 25:46) He who once enters the prison of hell can come out no more. Otherwise the condemned wretches would flatter themselves with hopes, and would say, Who knows, perhaps God may some day have pity on us and deliver us? But no, they well know that hell will never have an end, and that they must continue to suffer the same torments that they at present endure so long as God shall be God. My dear Redeemer, I know too well that by the past I have forfeited Thy grace, and condemned myself to hell; but I do not know whether Thou hast pardoned me. Hasten to forgive me, O Jesus! while I bitterly lament my offences against Thee, and never suffer me to offend Thee any more.

In this life death is of all things the most dreaded, but in hell it is of all things the most desired. There they desire and long for death, but cannot die. They shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. (Revelations 9:6) Are there not at least, in that place of torments, some to compassionate them? No, all hate them, and rejoice in their sufferings, which will last forever, without end of mitigation. The trumpet of divine justice continually sounds and thunders forth in their ears those terrible words: "Ever, ever; never, never."

Amongst these miserable beings, O Jesus! I have deserved to be numbered; but do Thou, who hast hitherto preserved me. from falling into hell, preserve me for the future from falling into sin, which alone can condemn me to that place of woe. Ah! never suffer me again to become Thy enemy. I love Thee, O infinite goodness! and I am sorry for having offended Thee. Pardon me, and as I have deserved to burn forever in the fire of hell, grant me to burn forever with the fire of Thy holy love. O Mary, in thy powerful intercession do I confide.