I finished one run through of the Blue Book (‘To the Priests Our Lady’s Beloved Sons’, a collection of messages given to Fr Stefano Gobbi, by Our Blessed Mother), it took me two years to complete. These messages are meant as a means of personal instruction for her children.
It ended with message number 604 saying… “The moment has come for you to come out from your hiddenness in order to go and shed light upon the earth. Show yourselves to all as my children, for I am with you al-ways. Let the faith be the light which enlightens you in these days of darkness, and let zeal alone consume you, zeal for the honor and glory of my Son Jesus.”
I have now started round two… and being back again at the beginning, she is reiterating the same message to me. As I climb this spiral staircase, it may seem as if the same ground is being covered over and over… but I’m being taken higher each time.
“ you are mine, you belong to me.”
Blue Book #1
In todays Gospel we see the Magi finding the baby Jesus with His mother.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.
GOSPEL Mt 2:1-12
Today the same still holds, if you want to find Jesus, look for His Mother.
Again I recommit myself to being hers, as Jesus is! I look to her to bring me ever closer to her Divine Son.
Have you ever exclaimed the words, I’m so frustrated?
The dictionary says FRUSTRATION is the feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something.
We may have a vision of how things should be going that is just not lining up with reality, or there is something else that we’d rather be doing at this moment… anything other than what is actually before us. Our will and desires, run supreme but the impossibility of the current situation can be extremely painful to endure. So let’s take a look at it from a Catholic perspective; how did we get here, and how can we get through it.
First thing to do is see what is truly God’s will for this moment. If the situation was discerned earlier on and you are reasonably assured that it is indeed part of God’s will for your life then just because things have gotten tough, doesn’t mean it’s no longer God’s will and that you can now abandon it.
We know that we are to embrace our crosses. And we’ve always heard how we should be ‘offering’ things up in sacrifice. But what we don’t hear about are the consequences of not doing that. It’s not that we just don’t make progress in the spiritual life, but it can have real tangible effects on our day to day life, including immense anxiety and frustration. It’s akin to the Chinese Finger Trap, the more we pull and try to escape it, the more it entraps us.
Looked at it that way, the solution then becomes clear… detachment…accomplished by dying to self, and embracing God’s will. Which means stepping into obedience of the duty of the moment. What is the thing that you SHOULD be doing… do that! Easier said than done, right? How do we do this? Well, it’s not about merely toughening it out, or thinking happy thoughts. We’ve actually been given multiple treasures for living out such moments. We have the Sacraments as a source of grace, and the Church Triumphant as our helpers; Mary and the saints in heaven as well as our Guardian Angel.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
Notes from the video:
This was a lengthy video today (scroll to the bottom for link)… but so worth it. It really frames well the journey that we are about to undertake.
“God adjusts His language to our weakness”
“Prepare yourself for your world to expand”
“We are not a people ‘of the book’, we are people ‘of the Word’” Our response to God also needs to be in words and in deed.
Obedience
“Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” Of course the crowd shouted that yes, they believed! It was then that Blondin posed the question – “Who will get in the wheelbarrow?’ The Blondin Story
Pray for Fr. Mike and everyone currently doing this study! 🙏🙏🙏
Whoever teaches must become “all things to all men” ( I Cor 9:22), to win everyone to Christ Above all, teachers must not imagine that a single kind of soul has been entrusted to them, and that consequently it is lawful to teach and form equally all the faithful in true piety with one and the same method! Let them realize that some are in Christ as newborn babes, others as adolescents, and still others as adults in full command of their powers…. Those who are called to the ministry of preaching must suit their words to the maturity and understanding of their hearers, as they hand on the teaching of the mysteries of faith and the rules of moral conduct. 18
Roman Catechism, Preface II; I Cor 9:22; I Pt 2:2
Above all – Charity
25 To conclude this Prologue, it is fitting to recall this pastoral principle stated by the Roman Catechism:
The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. 19
Roman Catechism, preface 10; cf. I Cor 13 8.
Fr. Mike (day 2)
From today’s readings…
FIRST READING Eph 4:1-7, 11-13
For the work of the ministry, for building up the Body of Christ.
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians
I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ.
My take from all of this is how God is emphasizing how we are ALL needed. We all need to be reached, and then we all need to do our part in reaching others according to our own ‘gifts’. Use the little we’ve been given because it’s just right for those He has in mind. We aren’t to compare ourselves to others or be too concerned with criticism. Just be faithful to Him and the truth that He’s bestowing on us as we seek Him.
I’m doing the Catechism in a year with Fr. Mike. And instead of keeping a notebook, I’m just going to jot down my thoughts here. I’ll be using the online catechism, will print each section for the day, and will use ‘Lectio Divina’ to go deeper into the daily readings. Let me know if you are doing this study and if you’ll be blogging it too… I’d love to follow you.
1.…at every time and place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church…
We were created to be part of God’s family, which is the Church. It is sin that scatters and divides us. But He never tires of drawing us close to Him and invites us to search for Him, to desire to know Him and thereby come to love Him with our entire strength.
3. Those who with God’s help have welcomed Christ’s call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world… All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.
Once we love Him with our entire being, His love compels us to spread this good news. We do this in word and deed, not merely by claiming our faith but by living it fully as well.
As a contemplative (Third Order Carmelite), I’m a Mary to what feels like every other woman out there’s Martha. Why do I consider this a struggle? Didn’t Jesus Himself say that Mary had chosen the better part and for Martha to just get over it? Ah yes. But there’s more to it that wasn’t addressed in this one story. I don’t know if Mary herself struggled with this or not… but I do. A lot. I gladly and willingly spend time with Jesus, hanging on His every word. But also like Peter at the mountain top, I’m inclined to not want to leave either. But Jesus bids us to not only sit by His feet and listen to Him but to follow Him, and that includes to the cross. To descend the mountain after our contemplative time with Him, and to pick up our individual crosses out of great love for Him. This is why we are told that out of faith, hope and charity, Charity is the greatest.
So yesterday, as I contemplated what to ‘ give up for Lent’, I started by writing down in a notebook my ‘pain points’. Sometimes our sufferings are easier to detect than our sins. Things like health issues, financial struggles etc. then I listed under each one of them my own sins that I felt had contributed in any possible way to them. Like gluttony under ‘health issues’ etc. each category ended up with a list of personal sins underneath it… but there was one sin that appeared as a common denominator. Sloth! I knew I was onto something here. I prayed… and got word out to people I trusted to get their feed back. I asked Our Blessed Mother to guide me through my day, and to help me get closer to her Son and to follow His Divine Will… not only in the easy moments but in carrying my crosses. She responded… and my thoughts here are a result of that.
What it isSloth exactly?
It essentially stems from an unwillingness to lay down our lives for Christ for fear of the cross. It is a sin against charity. “I love you so much Jesus…but not THAT and definitely now NOW’…which is not love at all.
We see the good that we are called to and it seems so unattainable that we despair. A sorrow sets in.
Often when I confess the sin of slothfulness, priests are fast to point out to me that slothfulness is not laziness in the commonly used sense. And since I’m not lazy about my prayer time then I couldn’t possibly be slothful…or could I? See, ‘the things of God’ don’t just entail prayer and religious endeavors… but all the things that I’m called to within my state of life… as a wife and mother, and all of my relationships and secular endeavors. As one consecrated to Our Blessed Mother… it’s all hers now… and as she leads me forward, ever closer to her Divine Son, I’m to step with her. Failure to do that is disobedience… which essentially is what slothfulness is.
This morning’s reflections from Fr. Gobbi’s Blue Book as if right on cue, Message #376 f, Our Blessed Mother says. ” Love always without ever becoming weary. Everything must be done by you only out of love: The journey you must undertake for me—out of love; The cross which you must carry—out of love; The heavy work which is your lot to accomplish—out of love; The cenacles which you lead—out of love; The countries you journey through—out of love; the distant continents you reach—out of love; the intense prayer that I ask of you—out of love; the sufferings I ask of you each day—out of love; the weariness which takes hold of you—out of love; The exhaustion which prostrates you—out of love; Your limitations which mortify you—out of love; Your defects which accompany you—out of love; All your life which you give me—out of love.
Remedies
As I asked for suggestions, the common reply was ‘fasting’. I totally agree… but not only in the most thought of sense, of abstaining from food in some sort. But also ‘fasting’ from distractions. If slothfulness is leading me away from embracing God’s will for me at this moment, what are the mediums being used to accomplish this? I need to run from those. And start diligently doing what I ought to be doing instead. It sounds simple, and it really is. But because something is simple doesn’t mean it is easy. This is why we need all the heavenly help we can get. With the Sacrament of Confession being number one. Then prepare to love Him so intensely that we would hold nothing back from Him and would do any thing He asks of us just as Our Blessed Mother instructs us.
The way that I implement this is by having a routine going. I again fall back on my ‘Mother’s Rule of Life’ as I go about setting up my daily schedule with all my responsibilities clearly written down, including prayer time and some time for family and fun too. Then when we hit a bump on the road, it is necessary in great humility to accept God’s undeserved love and mercy…confess and start again.
I’m grateful for Fr. André who always responds with the exact thing that I’m needing to hear. Let’s not forget to pray for our priests this Lenten season.
Regarding your request ,”Please give me your best advice on how to attack sloth”
I will reference this answer from the book The Spiritual Life by Tanquery.
883 Sloth is connected with sensuality.
It proceeds from love of pleasure .
In that it inclines us to avoid effort and hardship.
There is in all of our fallen natures a tendency to follow the line of least resistance, which paralyzes or lessens our activity.
884 Sloth is an inclination to idleness or at least to aimlessness , to apathy in action.
*** A morbid disposition due to ill health.
But more frequently it is a disease of the “ will “.
Which fears Effort and recoils from it.
The slothful want to escape all exertion ,
Whatever might interfere with their comfort or involve fatigue ,
Like parasites they live on others to whatever extent they can,
Submissive as long as long as no one interferes with them.
They become bad tempered , easily irritated when one rouse them from their inactivity.
885 Because of Sin generated in man , because of the Fall of our first parents .
It is necessary to cultivate the physical and spiritual powers which were once perfect as human nature allowed but are now subject to perfection.
Work is a law of nature and a punishment .
In a sense work is a means of repairing sin.
890 It is necessary to make a sustained and intelligent effort , for the training of the Will *
There is no creature more wretched than the idle man , he is a burden to himself , all thing bore him ,and he becomes weary of life himself.
Exert ourselves to be useful, and secure some contentment by striving to make those around us Happy.
Christian Marriage with it’s attended obligations frequently proves an excellent remedy to sloth.
Parents are to work for their offspring, and
Not to entrust to strangers the cares of their interests.
Matt 20 : 6,7. Why stand you here all day idle ?
Go you also into my vine yard .
Commit your self to the Immaculate, beg Her for the graces to will the divine Will , every hour of the day And you will know how gently she is as she constantly granting us graces for us to leave our backsides .Undertake daily mortification.
Hope that helps .
All for the Immaculate
Below are a couple of awesome youtube videos on the subject.
Some time after Easter of 2020 (the one we had to endure with our churches closed), I started doing the Mary’s Mantle consecration. I have done many consecrations, but this one effected me differently, perhaps it was the times we were living through. I did one run through with my family (the entire prep goes for 46 days), we all did our consecration together but then I felt like I needed to redo it again. I’m not sure at this point how many consecrations I actually got in.
On October 21st, Day 16 of my consecration prep this was part of the meditation that day.
“Awaken my spiritual senses to know by faith that You are always there, waiting patiently for me to stop, turn, notice, and encounter.“
And oh boy did He ever! We went for a drive to Nahant that afternoon and got to experience the most amazing surreal scene. It moved me so deeply! It felt like I was having a peek at heaven on earth . It happened to be exactly one month prior to my final Mary’s Mantle consecration, although I didn’t realize it at the time.
On November 3rd, I got an email from an old friend that I hadn’t heard from in a while, asking me if I was familiar with the Marian Movement of Priests. My friend Holly is someone that I respect greatly and in fact her book ‘A Mother’s Rule of Life’ has been transformational in my life. So I started looking into it. I found Fr. Gobbi’s Blue Book online and started reading the introduction right away.
November 21st as I mentioned previously was my consecration day (the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)and the 22’nd was the Feast of Christ the King was day 1, of the Blue Book messages. We attended Our Lady’s Chapel, I got to go to Confession, and I lit a candle to mark this beautiful day for me.
I had felt called to come to this beautiful chapel during quarantine. I kept hearing the word ‘refuge’ our entire ride back and forth… but I had no idea to it’s full implication.
On January 15th, Father Andre gave the following homily that sparked something big.
After listening to this homily I contacted my women’s group about how we could implement this. My dear cousin Luisa sprang into action and we started visiting the sick and praying with them. We would often stand outside their window as they prayed the rosary with us with their window slightly cracked open during Massachusetts frigid cold Winter days so we could hear each other, it even snowed on one occasion but yet we all felt immensely warm from within.
On January 26th, I contacted Our Lady’s Chapel to see what they could tell me about the Marian Movement of Priests, I trusted them way more than I trust the occasional nay sayer online. I was told that one of their priests was very passionate about it and that I should contact him. 😀 Hmmm…I think you may know who I’m going to say… yes… Fr. André. ❤️🙏
When Our Blessed Mother first called me to Our Lady’s Chapel during the 2020 crises, I was in awe of what I saw and heard from these priests and I pondered what the actual difference between them and what I was seeing back in our parishes could be. She spoke to my spirit: ‘these priests aren’t afraid of the cross’. Wow…that was such a powerful moment for me. “crosses” come in many shapes and sizes. Caring too much about what the stereotypical ‘Karen’ thinks, for example, can be a form of trying to escape the cross.
There are so many ways both big and small where I’m tempted to run from my daily crosses. Lord give me the courage and strength to always persevere in doing Your Will.
In today’s Gospel we hear “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
Blessed Mother help us to say YES as you did, and bring the much needed Light of Jesus into this darkened world!
You are aware that I am always near; sometimes my motherly action absorbs, as it were, your own activity, and you live habitually recollected in my Immaculate Heart.
I have wanted you up here because it is here that your Calvary begins… From this place I bless all the priests of my Movement, in every part of the world; I am the Immaculate Conception, the Fount of Mercy.
“Up here” … well ensconced in her Immaculate Heart…fully living a life of Grace in the present moment. Calvary begins ‘here’… because it’s where escapism stops.
