The Old Testament reading presents us with the figure of Hannah, the mother of the prophet
Samuel, who was not blessed with children, and this was considered a sign in the Old
Testament times of the Lord withholding his favor.
For particularly in Old Testament times, for the Israelites, the Lord attached the observance
of the law that he had delivered to Israel through Moses to temporal blessings, and one
of those very great temporal blessings was the abundance of children, and so therefore
not to be blessed.
Blessed thus was a sign indeed that the Lord had not visited the one who perhaps was faithful
to what the Lord had delivered.
And so this was a situation in which the mother of Samuel found herself, finding herself in
a state of anguish, begging our Lord, praying to him that he would take away her reproach.
For this sign was recognized.
This was a sign that God had truly decide upon man and Father so that things could be
fulfilled
to the Lord in times of difficulty and in times of
anxiety. However, in such wise that
we leave whatever the cause may be of our
misfortune, our troubles
in the hands of the Lord. Now
in our own time, in the New Testament times, in the new
dispensation, the Lord wishes truly
to bless us, not so much in view of this life, but in view of the
life to come. Now indeed the Lord may bless us with
temporal blessings in this life.
But if he blesses us thus, it's in view
that we may enjoy life with him forever.
So at certain times our Lord may not bless us
in the way that perhaps we would prefer to be blessed. I'm talking about
in temporal terms.
For God knows best what is good for us.
Whether it's advantageous for us
to be blessed with certain temporal blessings in this
life. Or whether it might be good for certain
blessings to be withheld for us. In order, however, that we may be
blessed more abundantly in the life to come.
So he may visit us with certain crosses.
The reason why
these crosses visit us are known to God.
For us their origin is mysterious. Oftentimes.
Very often we devote a lot of useless time
wondering why certain misfortunes, if we call them that,
have befallen us. And we allow ourselves
to sometimes
descend into a state of inquietude over these matters.
Whereas, whatever the motive, our Lord asks us to come to Him,
delivering to Him all of our difficulties
and the very causes, the motives for our difficulties.
Sometimes we might find ourselves in a very difficult situation
that is of our own doing.
Sometimes it is the Lord who sends these things to us.
And sometimes the Lord arranging certain circumstances
that are the result of other people's doings, for example.
But even if we knew what the cause was,
the question is would we turn to the Lord
and place all our confidence in Him?
See, so many times people allow themselves to become all disturbed
because they don't know why they're suffering.
They want to get...
to the real reason.
If they only knew, then they could suffer in peace.
But this is not the way it actually works.
Suffering is what it is because it causes me pain.
Whether I know or not, I still suffer.
And very often I add needlessly
to what...
whatever the Lord has permitted me
because I simply don't submit myself
with docility to the hand of the Lord.
And this is all that He is asking of us.
Suppose that it is my fault
that I am suffering this, that, or the other.
The question is, in the here and now,
am I willing to see whatever I'm suffering
as a penance sent to me by our Lord?
Or again, maybe not.
But am I, therefore, able to see this suffering
as a opportunity to unite with the sufferings of our Lord
for the good of my soul and for others?
This is what it means to turn to the Lord
in all circumstances, whatever the motive may be
for our sufferings, for the crosses that our Lord has sent to me.
And in every circumstance, to turn to the Lord
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Because he has already given me himself.
He has opened up to me,
and now he wishes for me to open up to him.
Regardless of from which direction I came from.
But simply that here and now,
wherever I find myself,
in whatever state I find myself,
that I open myself up,
and this is always possible in this life.
We're never so far beyond
beyond the reach of our Lord in his life
that we cannot turn our hearts to him
and open up to him
and then receive an abundance of blessings
that he wishes to give us,
whether they be temporal blessings
or spiritual blessings
in preparation for the life that he has prepared
for those who love him.
So this is our first point of reflection
is to follow after the example of Hannah
in turning to the Lord in all of our difficulties
and placing in him a quiet confidence
that he will work out things for the best.
And the second point of consideration
is that we should do these things
without worrying about human responsibility
We shouldn't worry so much
about what other people will think
whether we devote this or that time to prayer
or whether we arrange our spiritual life
in this or that manner.
This is not to say that we should
undertake what might be considered
bizarre spiritual practices.
We should have a well-ordered prayer life to be sure,
one that is modest,
one that in particular
our Lord knows about.
But we should not be afraid
of undertaking the life of prayer
in such wise
that we aim above all to please our Lord
and not to please men.
Whether to please men we mean
to be ostentatious
or whether we simply mean that we
are very careful not to look overly pious.
Rather, we ought to aim to please God.
We ought to aim to please the Lord.
That we practice a piety that's pleasing to the Lord
without worrying about whether anybody
thinks we are being overly pious.
Or again, practicing in such a way that
to the other extreme that
we're merely concerned
whether somebody thinks we're pious
instead of examining our hearts
to see whether that piety actually exists in our hearts.
And that we are truly offering up
something pleasing to the Lord.
So it's a question of the intention of our prayer
that we ought to be true men and women of prayer.
This is what we are called to be.
In every circumstance,
it doesn't mean that we come to chapel
such as the one here
and we spend all our day in prayer.
This is not a good idea
if we have many daily duties
that God is expecting us to fulfill.
We need to take care of those daily duties.
There's no question about that.
But God gives each one of us
no matter how many duties we have to fulfill
that time
to enter into a heart-to-heart
conversation with Him.
Be it in a chapel like this
or in our homes
or some other place suitable
where we can listen
to what our Lord wishes to tell us
and that we can tell Him
what is actually on our hearts.
This is what we need to do.
This is what great biblical figures
such as Hannah knew how to do
and that's why she was so blessed by our Lord.
And if it is that we
lack those blessings,
we perceive that at least,
at least the blessing to carry the crosses
that our Lord has given us,
perhaps it is because
we haven't sufficiently
sufficiently
purified our motive.
And look above all
to please our Lord in this way
to make that the foundation
whereby we live.
That's when we will receive blessings from the Lord.
And this is why
all generations call
Blessed the Virgin Mary
is because she lived
to please the Lord.
Everything she did
was a prayer
because
she merely
in whatever state
she found herself
she found herself
she always placed herself
before her Lord
wishing to do only what
He wanted her to do.
Rejoicing in the Lord.
Sharing the sufferings
of her Divine Son
in every circumstance.
And she did these things
not only
for herself
but for us as well.
Because that
love of the Lord
filled her own heart
and the love of the Lord
that Lord bears
each one of us
filled her heart.
And so she can't help
but love us as well.
And she
wants to help us
to
place ourselves
before our Lord
like she did
as she did
sharing in her fullness
of love of the Lord.
So we need only
to turn to her
to learn
how
to be unreserved
in offering
ourselves up
as a prayer
before our Lord.
As
loving
before our Lord
that our hearts
may be like our Lord.
Let us ask our Blessed Lady
for this great grace
in order
that
our Lord will give us
something
precious beyond all price
and that is Himself.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.