abidethefire.com
Abide The Fire
Pray & Obey
St. Margaret Mary had that zeal and she was doing these great acts of self-sacrifice in her love and her passion for Christ's passion, for the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. And it wasn't until she entered into her vows and took upon herself the commitment to obedience, to allow God to speak to her through the authorities within the church, within her community, her spiritual director, her confessor, when she surrendered to obedience. That's when it says if you read her diary, self-sacrifice, self-sacrifice in a sincere expression of love and humility, self-sacrifice, self-sacrifice, and then obedience, which she acknowledged is the greatest self-sacrifice there is in obedience, is when that apparition appeared to her and lit her on fire and caused her to be that vehicle for this revival of this devotion. And the diary itself was an act of obedience. In obedience, she wrote it down. She lived a hidden life and just like St. Therese of Lesus, her union, her divine union with God, spread throughout the world so much so that it ignited the missionaries of charity. That devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus is part of that path to quench the thirst of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. So beautiful what surrender to God, what those fruits will be. It could not be plotted or planned. It is the work of God. It is not the work of St. Margaret Mary just as it wasn't the work of St. Gertrude, just as it wasn't the work of St. Teresa of Calcutta. It is the work of God that we surrender to. That sacred heart of Jesus is a work of God. In Christ's obedience, we find divine union. God the Father delegated His authority and sent God the Son to condescend into this world. Christ, that incarnation of God the Son, delegated His authority to Holy Mother Church. Holy Mother Church sends us out into the world to be the hands and feet of Christ, to be obedient, to correspond to God's grace and conform to God's will to live out thy will be done and make our lives lay them down as a living sacrifice. For God, an act of love, an act of surrender, a gift of ourselves. United to the Holy Cross, united to the blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, we may say yes, and we may let thy will be done in our lives. If we insist upon clinging to our private judgments, to our pathetic little opinions, and rebel against the authority of the church, the authority of the church which exists beyond just the definitive dogmas of the church, if we insist upon the bare minimum of obedience and honor to Holy Mother Church and only seek to do that which we think will not get us kicked out of the house, if that's our attitude, then we are not living fully in the body of Christ and we may be, whether we realize it or not, separating ourselves from that body. Such vain glory, such foolishness, beware. Whenever I am forming my understanding and the ascent of my will, I am trying to do it within the authority of the church of Holy Mother Church. I am trying to find support in her teachings on faith and morals, and I'm very, very sensitive to those areas which may be dangerously close to disobedience. So I don't take it lightly. I don't take it lightly to consider unpopular perspectives within Holy Mother Church. I don't take it lightly, and if all I can come up with are obscure references and creative ideas in my tiny little thimble, then I just let go and suspend judgment. But when you are building up a perspective within the communal faith of Holy Mother Church, within the authority and the boundaries and the mantle of Holy Mother Church, it should be deepening, deepening your connection, your understanding of the wisdom that is clear. The perennial teachings from Holy Mother Church on faith and morals should be deepened as you develop that perspective. If they're not, then just take a break, step away, take a deep breath and pray and offer sacrifice and take those imperfect sacrifices throughout your days to the altar and the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Let Christ's perfect sacrifice incorporate your imperfect sacrifices into the perfect sacrifice of Christ and live in the body of Christ, in the communion of saints, in the sacred heart of Jesus, in the love of God, in Christ, abide the fire.