The Angels Around Us

     We forget that the devil and his demons are angels - albeit fallen angels.  They have not lost any of the abilities that God created them with, they just no longer use them for good.  They live among us just as surely as the angels who remained in a right relationship with God.  I might also remind you that the devil and his demons were cast down to earth, not to hell.  They are living among us, though we cannot see them.  They see everything we do and they remember it, to use it against us, to tell us we are not worthy of a relationship with God because of our sinfulness.  Do not let them fool you, God's mercy is limitless.

     I forget who the cartoon character was, but he was trying to decide between good and evil and good and evil were depicted by an angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other shoulder.  Of course one of them, the devil, promising fun and the other, the angel of God, promising only boredom and perhaps mockery.

     Hermes, in The Shepherd said, "Every man has close to him two angels, the one an angel of holiness, the other an angel of perversion...and how then, O Lord, shall I recognize the workings of these two since they both dwell within me?"

     I think St. Ignatius of Loyola answers this well enough when he says to look at the end results of our actions - if what we do leads to selfishness, hate, violence or things of evil then its origin is satan and the temptation should be avoided.  If the end result is for good, then the source is God.

     This does not mean we can do something evil knowing that God can bring good out of it (like bringing a new life out of the terrible act of rape or robbing a bank and using the money to feed the poor), but rather, what our intent is meant to be in our action.

     Since evil does not cooperate with love in any way, rest assured that when you enter a church or an adoration chapel (the presence of Jesus) you do so with only one of these angels - which is why it is so efficacious to take everything to our Lord in prayer.

     Jesus, I trust in You!

Filling the Gaps

One evening I sat quietly before our Eucharistic Lord and asked Him what he would like to share with a prayer group meeting I would very soon be talking to. He very simply and quietly replied, “Love me.” A plea for love. That’s His message to us and it truly has been for centuries. If you’ll remember, He asked the same thing when He was crucified, although His words then were, “I thirst.”

He was grossly misunderstood while He hung nailed to that cross. When He said, “I thirst” what happened? The answer can be found in Psalm 69:21 “…and for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.” And in John 19:29, “A bowl full of vinegar stood there.”

I often pray, “Jesus, please fill in the gap between the love I have received and the love I need.” As I sat before the Lord that night, I prayed. “Jesus, help me to fill in the gap between the love You have received and the love You need.” I looked up at our Lord and it struck me how little love our Lord is shown. Even by those of us who profess to love Him. How often do we give vinegar to our Lord instead of true drink? Complaining about the crosses He lovingly gives us instead of embracing them. Ignoring the needs of those around us and thinking only about ourselves? Watching hour upon hour of television instead of sitting with Him in adoration?

Jesus, help me to fill in the gap between the love You have received and the love You need.

I asked our Lord how to fill in that gap and he told me four things. Sacrifices. Prayer. Trust. Mary. I’ll start with sacrifices because we must offer sacrifices to our Lord for the conversion of sinners and for ourselves. What love we show Him by sacrificing ourselves, even in our small human ways. Denying ourselves that second cup of coffee in the morning, staying 5 extra minutes after Mass in thanksgiving, eating peanut butter and jelly for dinner instead of treating ourselves to a night out. We can even say, Lord, I really want a diet Coke, but for love of You I will deny myself and ask for the conversion of sinners. There are countless ways to offer small sacrifices to our Lord to show Him our love for Him.

Two, He wants us to pray. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” Everything we do can be done in prayer. Little aspirations said throughout the day, “Sweet heart of Jesus, be my love.” Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine. “Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” The rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the Mass. Pray a Hail Mary for the person in the car next to you at the stop light or in front of you at the checkout counter. Remember to offer the Mass you attend for someone, the Holy Souls, offer it in thanksgiving for all the graces received, offer it for the priests or for your spouse and children. You can even offer it for the person who is suffering most in the world right at that moment. Simply saying the name of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Much sweeter to Him than vinegar.

At the end of the Divine Mercy chaplet we proclaim, Jesus, I trust in You. So the third thing is Jesus wants us to trust Him. We hear in Jeremiah 19:11-12, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you.”

Fourth, turn to His Holy Mother in all things. She alone can fill the gap between the love He has received and the love He needs but she and Jesus desire us to fill it. With our sacrifices, our prayers and our complete trust in His divine plan for us. Mother Mary is our greatest intercessor because Jesus cannot resist His mother. Mary can take our prayers and offer them perfectly to her son. Talk to Mary throughout the day and ask her assistance in all things.

It is not in loving ourselves that the world will be transformed, it is in loving others. Love equals action and the more we love, the more we are moved to action. We should be willing to do anything for our Lord. Matthew 25:40 says, “Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” He didn’t tell us that we love Him by loving ourselves, but by loving others. Sacrifices. Prayer. Trust. Mary. In Luke 10:27 we read, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

I pray to be able to truly say as St. Faustina did, “O my Jesus, You know, You alone know well that my heart knows no other love but You."

Jesus, please fill in the gap between the love I have received and the love I need. It is a beautifully versatile prayer. Jesus, help me to fill in the gap between the love You have received and the love You need. To show our love of others we can pray, Jesus, please fill in the gap between the love my enemy needs and the love they have received.

Ask Mother Mary to help you love her Son more, to pray more fervently, to make purer sacrifices and to trust more completely.

Ask yourself:

Am I loving Jesus in everything I do?

Am I bringing the love of Jesus into everything I do?

Am I fulfilling the third of otehrs or offering vinegar by holding grudges, getting angry and making snide comments?

Am I offering sacrifices throughout the day?

“Pray, don’t worry.” St. Padre Pio