May 6, 2022, journal entry
(Today's readings: 2Timothy 4:1-5; Psalm 96; John 10:11-16)
"Love and evangelization go hand in hand. You cannot love and not evangelize, and you cannot evangelize and not love. This is the heart of the Gospel message. This is the heart of your faith. This is the heart of all that I Am. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. To know is to love and be in union with. As a husband loves his wife and as she loves him, they are in union, one with each other. This is love. And so it is with the bridegroom and his sheep. So it is with the Shepherd and his sheep. One cannot subsist without the other, for we are one. Trust in me, my child. Though they look not to be following me, their hearts are in my hand. And their mother (my son's wife Sarah, who has passed away - mother to my four grandchildren) is watching over them. You be grandmother to them, and mother, and sister, and friend. I will do the rest.
Trust also in my Mother for she knows the way. And she is the Mediatrix of all grace. She will also show you the way. She pondered in her heart the meaning of many things, and see today the fruit of her life for the world. So it is with you, ponder these things in your heart. I will show you the way. Otherwise you too will be scattered, not physically, but in your heart, mind, and spirit. Trust in me, for I am near and will never abandon or forsake you. Where you are, the Holy Spirit will be your guide, and I am near, shall I not be near also to those you love. Trust in me, my child. All will be well. Only trust in me. Amen."
Thank you, Lord.
As I began my time of prayer, I was feeling lacking in the work of evangelization as I read, and the Lord led me to focus on 2Timothy 4:1-5, particularly:
'I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.'
I felt lacking concerning my children and grandchildren, and the Lord spoke:
'You cannot love and not evangelize, and you cannot evangelize and not love.'
he said, and
'Love and evangelization go hand in hand.'
Thank you Lord for your love and your grace.
In my love for my grandchildren and for my children, they are touched by the Lord. This is a great encouragement.
Great Consolation as I sat thanking the Lord for this time. and the Lord said to me of this Consolation:
"Carry me with you into your day, and I will touch all those you encounter, in person or in prayer. Alleluia. Amen.'
The Spiritual Exercises
[2] Second Annotation. The second is that the person who gives to another the way and order in which to meditate or contemplate, ought to relate faithfully the events of such contemplation or meditation, going over the points with only a short or summary development. For, if the person who is making the contemplation takes the true groundwork of the narrative and, discussing and considering for himself, finds something which makes the events a little clearer or brings them a little more home to him - whether this comes through his own reasoning, or because his intellect is enlightened by the divine power - he will get more spiritual relish and fruit, than if he who is giving the Exercises had much explained and amplified the meaning of the events. For it is not knowing much, but realizing and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.
