God Is At Work In You!: A Profoundly Catholic Meditation to Lead Your Heart into Lent

Make this Lent the most profound one of your life, one that beckons you to journey so close to our Lord that you are actually unified with Him.

Here are some profound suggestions to help you accomplish this most wonderful and meaningful of goals.

Jesus offers Himself to us completely in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He holds nothing back. Nothing. He remains with us throughout all our days and nights and is constantly loving us. Constantly.

Christ comes to us gently and always so humbly, showing us how to live, love, serve, and suffer in imitation of Him. He is our ultimate role model when it comes to exercising fraternal charity and forgiving others.

Two ways we become like Christ are by offering ourselves to God the Father completely as Jesus and Blessed Mother did, and by always seeking to accomplish God's will.

Another very powerful way we can become like Christ is to spend time meditating on His Passion and Crucifixion.

Every time we meditate on Jesus' Sacred Passion, we join Him and Blessed Mother, the martyrs, the saints, angels, and all the faithful and together, travel along the Way of the Cross.

Jesus does not travel alone and we don't, either.

Let's take that journey with our Lord here and imagine the realities.

Begin by joining Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane that first Holy Thursday. Share in His abandonment and profound sorrow. So much happened for humanity that night; experience it as it happens while praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary or while assisting during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Unify yourself with the sacrifice of Jesus and Blessed Mother that night; mystically sweat blood and cry tears of blood right along with them as you thank them for their generosity. Experience our Lord's mental anguish and internal suffering at the moment He took upon Himself the sins of every person ever created. With Jesus on your right and Blessed Mother on your left, pray as one for all mankind.

Make sure you never limit your prayers for others to time and space. Pray for all souls through all time, including all those who have already passed into eternity, those still living, and those who are yet to be created. Jesus and Blessed Mother may also inspire you to pray for specific people or groups of people existing at any time in human history, in the present time, or in the future.

Perhaps you will be Divinely inspired to pray for all those who will receive the Sacrament of Christ's Peace (Reconciliation) that day, along with their confessors. The possibilities are endless, and the need for prayer is great.

Be there as Innocence is taken into custody, bound, struck, and thrown in prison. Offer to have your hands bound in imitation of Christ, and request to be bound to Him forever. Gratitude, Union, Sacrifice, and Service Wear a chain or a rope around your wrist as a symbol of your union with Christ.

Remain with Jesus during His imprisonment overnight.

Offer homage to the Innocent One who is indicted, imprisoned, and mistreated throughout the night in your place. Offer Him gestures of love and consolation as He awaits the completion of His mission to redeem the entire human race.

Remain by His side during the sorrowful journey from the prison the next morning. Shower His Precious and beaten Face with many, many kisses as you accompany Him on the way to His condemnation.

Be there as He is struck in the mouth, as His Precious Lips are torn open by the blows. Wipe His Sacred Blood as it runs down the Mouth that speaks such words of eternal love, kindness, forgiveness, and compassion.

Will you show Him some compassion?

Be there as He faces the Scourging at the Pillar in our place, as the most pure and modest of men is cruelly stripped of His garments in front of everyone that cold morning. Feel the cold air against your skin as you await with Him the moment when He is struck for the first time. Experience the indescribable embarrassment and shame that gave way in an act of the Divine Will to the ultimate expression of love, that of giving His body to us to be used for our salvation.

Imagine that with every blow, as His Sacred Blood and pieces of His Sacred Body projected in every direction, that His thoughts were not on Himself during and in between each agonizing strike. His thoughts were always on you and on me.

How often are your thoughts on Him?

The Most Loving of Men is now unrecognizable. Can you recognize Him still? Can you recognize Him in the Eucharist, in circumstances, in people, in creation, in new life?

No matter how disfigured we are because of our sins, He always recognizes us, and He never flees from us.

Pay Him homage as the King of kings as He is mocked and the top half of His Sacred Head is crowned with a cap of thorns.

Share the moment when Jesus embraced the Cross with joy, knowing that carrying it, falling underneath it, being nailed to it, suffering on it, and dying on it would satisfy Divine Justice and allow for our Redemption.

Ask Him to help you embrace your crosses willingly, joyfully, patiently, and courageously, too.

"Heaven is rich enough to reward you." ~ Saint John Vianney

As our Lord traveled along the Way of the Cross, the Crown of Thorns sometimes moved on His Sacred Head, and the sharp points that impaled His Scalp moved back and forth, widening the wounds as His Sacred Blood flowed down in crimson streams from each point of entry.

When considering this particular agony of our Lord's, we must also consider that the individual thorns pierced the entire top of his Head, and when He moved or was struck specifically on the Crown, the combined action of movement and sharp ends cut up the entire top of His scalp.

How the sharp points of the very plant He created to delight us pierce the very Eyes that look with pleasure upon His creation, and scrape against the Skull holding such incredible genius and goodness.

Be there as He falls, injuring His Sacred Body further, and as He forces Himself up with all His might for your sake, thank Him for His courage, compassion, sacrifice, honor, heroism, and for showing you how to accept suffering and failure patiently and how to rise again after failing.

How many blows He suffers, how many insults He is forced to endure!

How many times we fall, Lord, and you are always ready and willing to pick us back up. This time, Jesus, I am here for you.

Thank Jesus for His mercy, for the Sacrament of Divine Intimacy (Confession), and for the ocean of His mercy present in every single drop of His Sacred Blood.

Be there the moment someone who has the privilege of standing so close to God spits directly in His Sacred Face! Sweet Jesus, what an inconceivable insult! What horror in that very moment!! Oh how many times I still do this to You! I am sorry, sweet Jesus, for the times I spit in Your face. Please forgive me, help me to do better, and allow me to wipe Your Sacred and Beautiful Face clean from such wickedness.

Share the moment when Jesus meets His Most Holy Mother. Look through your suffering eyes into Their suffering eyes and offer yourself once again to God the Father as a willing victim for mankind. Console them, love them in return, and thank them for Their indescribable generosity and immeasurable love.

Rush through the crowd and bring Jesus a cloth He can use to wipe His assaulted and disfigured Countenance, and be there at the moment when the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus began: .Veronica's Compassion and the Beginning of the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

Experience His difficulty breathing on the Cross, the indescribable pain, all patiently suffered as He forgives everyone of everything and instead of malice, offers more love and Redemption.

Stand close by the Cross with Blessed Mother during Jesus' three hour agony, and remain with them until the very end of His suffering. Consider the moment when Jesus' Sacred Heart was struck by the lance: Longinus, Our Lady, Her Love, and the Lance Are you familiar with the details of the story? They are worth knowing, and keeping in your heart forever.

Use this moment to make wise decisions and forgive yourself, forgive others, and take your heart for healing to Him in the loving, caring hands of His loving Mother: The Doctor, the Divine Physician, the Pardon, and the Peace

Remember His final words and adopt them as your own until the moment when He calls you into His loving arms for all eternity: The Crucifixion, the Cross, the Disciples, and the Person Closest To Our Lord With His Arms in the Air

Be there just before His Sacred Body is removed from the Cross, when the Crown of Thorns are removed from His Sacred Head: Meditating on the Moment the Crown of Thorns was Removed from Jesus' Sacred Head

Have you ever spent time sharing these moments with our Lord? Be sure you do, and integrate these meaningful moments into your days and your nights.

Don't ever take the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and all it means to your soul in particular and the eternal welfare of humanity in general, for granted.

Christ's message to us now is the same as it has always been: He came on Christmas Day to save us, and He keeps coming and coming and coming to save us.

Jesus comes to us in the confessional, in the Living Word, in the Eucharist, all throughout the the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and also in prayer, through the gift of life, in suffering, in joy, through all the people and circumstances in our lives...

He has come again to save us and intends to keep coming, for He has promised to remain with us always. "...lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." ~ Matthew 28:20

All throughout your day, and especially just before receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, offer yourself to God the Father in return for Jesus and Blessed Mother having offered themselves to God the Father for you.

When you assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, remember the moments you shared with Jesus and Blessed Mother as you traveled with them along the Way of Man's Redemption.

Love Jesus in return during the Last Supper/Consecration, and receive Jesus in the Eucharist as reverently as possible, on your tongue while on your knees. Receive Him gently, for He presents Himself to you personally, and very gently.

Leave your heart at the altar with His: The Two Hearts, the Sword, the Altar, and the Divine Exchange

Kneel when you return to your place in church as the Creator of the Universe, the Author of Love, reposes on your tongue.

During these very intimate, personal, and meaningful moments of Divine union, give yourself to Jesus completely and without holding anything back, just like He does each time with you! Together, conceive the most beautiful things: Divine Union and Creation

Never, ever take the meaning of the word Sacrament for granted.

SACRAMENT: A sensible sign, instituted by Jesus Christ, by which invisible grace and inward sanctification are communicated to the soul. 1

Still not feeling it? Read this: The Foxhole, the Battle, the Souls, and the Devotion

Remember to pray, every day, for the conversion of sinners, the dying, and the holy souls in purgatory.

Your unconditional "Yes!" is necessary for humanity. Here's a wonderful story to get you started, or to encourage you while on your way: An Incredibly Beautiful Story from 'The Life of Leo Dupont,' Apostle of the Holy Face

This amazing story from the life of St. John Bosco tells you the remedies you must use throughout your life: These are the Remedies You Must Use

Jesus wants to do for all mankind, including for you, what He did for this young man in the confessional: The Penitent, the Courage, the Mercy, the Instruments, and the Golden Arrows

A wealth of information to make this your BEST LENT EVER!! Suggestings for Making Your Confessions More Powerful, Intimate, and Meaningful

Do not ever underestimate the power of prayer, for as St. John Vianney assures us, "No prayer is ever lost."The Jeopardized Soul and the Sacred Heart

Still not sure how God can use you? He works very well with broken vessels! Obedience, God's Love, and the Usefulness of Broken Vessels

God will help you every single step of the way, even when you fall, even when you aren't sure what He has in mind. Trust Him. That delights Him.

Discover or rediscover the unfathomable love God expresses to us in many different ways throughout the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, each and every time it is celebrated: With How Much Love Can You Do It?

St. Pio of Pietrelcina provides us with an invaluable first-hand account of the soul's journey with our suffering Lord to Calvary in the book Secrets of a Soul:

"When Jesus wants me to understand that He loves me, He allows me to savor the wounds, the thorns, the agonies of His passion...When He wants to delight me, He fills my heart with that spirit which is all fire; He speaks to me of His delights. But when He wants to be delighted, He speaks to me of His sorrows, He invites me -- with a voice full of both supplication and authority -- to affix my body [to the cross] in order to alleviate His suffering. Who can resist Him? I realize how much my miseries have caused Him to suffer, how much I have offended Him. I desire no other than Jesus alone, I want nothing more than His pains (because this is what Jesus wishes). Let me say--since no one can hear me--I am disposed to remain forever deprived of the sweetness Jesus allows me to feel. I am ready to suffer Jesus hiding His beautiful eyes from me, so long as He does not hide His love from me, because then I would die. But I do not feel I can be deprived of suffering--for this I lack strength. [...] Perhaps I have not yet expressed myself clearly with regards to the secret of this suffering. Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, wants all Christians to imitate Him; He has offered this chalice to me yet again, and I have accepted it. That is why He does not spare me. My humble sufferings are worth nothing, but Jesus delights in them because He loved [suffering] on earth...Now shouldn't this alone be enough to humiliate me, to make me seek to be hidden from the eyes of men, since I was made worthy of suffering with Jesus and as Jesus? Ah, my father! I feel too keenly my ingratitude toward God's majesty."

God is so in love with you!!

Interested in learning even more and growing even closer to God? Wonderful!!!

The book Your Personal Apostolate: Accepting and Sharing the Love of God was written just for you! Just under 100 pages long, it is an award-winning love story for every single soul. The book is now available as a FREE download in English here: Your Personal Apostolate: Accepting and Sharing the Love of God (Joseph Karl Publishing)

Wishing you the very best Lent of your entire life,

and many extraordinary moments of Divine intimacy with Jesus.

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