Journeying With The Saints

Congratulations! We made it to the end of Notebook One! Whoop, whoop!

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 512-521.

We complete Notebook one and this is a big milestone for all of us. After our readings today we will summarize our journey thus far with Sister Faustina. We've been through so much with her and we've seen that the life of a saint is never easy but always full of intention and perseverance.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 506-511.

All the writings today have to do with patience. Sister Faustina's spiritual director is encouraging her to be patient with regards to discerning whether she should start a new Congregation. Sister Faustina writes about how she is going to arm herself with patience. I struggle mightily to be a patient person. Learning to be patience requires training our patience muscle. It takes a lot of hard work.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 498-505.

Sister Faustina is always trying to find ways to be more obedient to God. She's always looking for some way to surrender more. That made me wonder about my life. What would it look like if I tried to be more obedient and to surrender more? I encourage us all to assess our lives and see what we would do differently. It wasn't too hard for me to list out a few things I can work on.

This week we are reading the 17th number from "Way to Inner Peace." Melancholy is the topic we will focus on and it's important that we understand what it means exactly. It's more than just a little sadness; it's actually a deep, prolonged depression. Bishop Sheen is going to throw out some names from the past that we need to understand. I know sometimes it's easy to glaze over these names, but we need to understand why he brought these names up. There are philosophies that come from these men that directly influence our lives today.

Three key points: Emptiness, disillusionment and deliverance.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 492-497.

Sister Faustina is really struggling with her upcoming Confession. She has all kinds of doubts and thoughts about why she shouldn't have to follow God's Will for her life. Her Confession doesn't go very well. I think we can all relate to this. There are so many temptations that come to us that try to get us to NOT go to Confession. It's the one Sacrament where we are most hesitant.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 489-491.

Sister Faustina's has frequent visits from her Guardian Angel. He seems to be present in order to give her strength. I don't think we call on our Guardian Angels enough. They are such wonderful helps from God. I share my story of when I believe I met mine. It's a good story.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 485-488.

Should we care about what other people say about us? Sister Faustina says that she has given up caring about what other people say about her. There is a fine line to walk here. Of course, we should always be open to constructive criticism from others. However, if people are just saying nasty things about us or trying to call us out without doing it with the true intention of helping us to be better, we shouldn't take any stock in their words.

Today's readings from Notebook 1, numbers 479-484.

Sister Faustina professes her love for the Catholic Church. As a former Protestant, I wish that lukewarm Catholics could fully understand what they have in the Church. It is where we receive the Sacraments, it is where we receive teachings from the Magisterium. I lived without these things for 30 years and I know what it is like to be without the fullness.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 474-478.

I'm so excited for today's readings because we hear the prayers that we pray when praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. There are people that are against this diary and feel that it is a dangerous book. But, if you just read today's words and prayers, it is baffling to think that anyone takes issue with such beautiful prayers and the message behind them.

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 471-473.

Sister Faustina sees a vision of one of the angels that stand before the throne of God. She describe him as very beautiful. She attributes this beauty to the closeness this angel has with God. As humans, we spend tons of time, effort, and money working on our external beauty. How often do we work to grow our internal beauty? Internal beauty manifests itself exteriorly and helps us to shine with a Christ-like light.