December 26, 1973
Feast of Saint Stephen
“(…) How I love you, my son, and what love of predilection I have for you! You must accustom yourself to understand this in so many little things: in so many circumstances which are hardly noticed. Such as today: the splendid bright day which I have given you. The blue of the clear skies, the luminous brightness of the snow caressed by the sun. The colour of my heavenly mantle under which I ever protect you; the white of my most pure robe with which I wish to cover you.
These simple things are like the caress of a Mother for you… Entrust yourself more and more to Me; do you not see that now I alone am your life? Pray now for your brothers: for the Priests of my Movement. Today, whatever you ask for them I will grant you.
Pray; profit from this time of rest to enter more deeply into my Heart. Transform every moment of your day into a colloquy with Me: I want to hear your voice, my son! Turn everything into a prayer.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
2500 The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral beauty. Likewise, truth carries with it the joy and splendor of spiritual beauty. Truth is beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of the knowledge of created and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God. Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos – which both the child and the scientist discover – “from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator,” “for the author of beauty created them.”28
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
Some Thoughts: In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is at hand, it was true then when He walked the earth, and it is not any less true today that He abides in us. We need to put on new eyes though, we need to look beyond the darkness and see His Light. Look for it wherever it may be found. Gather with others that carry it, seek it by focusing on the good, the true and the beautiful wherever it may be found.