Pallottine Reflections

God the Infinite Love
Meditation 29
_{(OOCC XIII, pp. 157-160)}
"The Infinite Love and Mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ in everything He did for us during the years of his Preaching".

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God the Infinite Love Meditation 28
(OOCC XIII, pp. 141-146)
The Infinite Love and Mercy of Jesus Christ in the Desert
Introduction:
"My Jesus, who could ever have imagined that a God, eternal, infinite, immense, incomprehensible, blessed in Himself, wisdom in essence as You are, would deign to do all this, foreseeing that You would be unacknowledged and vilified. Oh my God, I do not understand this, I feel within me Your infinite love and mercy, but I do not understand it, therefore I forget about it" (OOCC XIII, pp. 143-144).

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God the Infinite Love
Meditation 26 (OOCC XIII, pp. 132-137)
God, Moved by His Infinite Love and Mercy, Did Not Stop Adam’s Sin in order that Our Life Might be Ennobled, Sanctified, and Enriched by the Merits of Jesus’ Life


Introduction


“Enlightened by faith, I recall that when God, perfection and sanctity in essence, does not prevent sin, He does so for reasons worthy of Himself and of all His infinite perfections. I am not able to understand all the most holy, loving and merciful reasons for which he did not prevent Adam’s sin, though faith helps me to see God’s principal reason in giving us Our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, holy mother Church sings out the reason in the Liturgy of the Easter Vigil, “O happy fault, which merited having such a Redeemer.”


More than ever we have reason to wonder. For, had not God given His divine Son Incarnate for us, even though neither Adam nor anyone else had sinned, and if moreover all would have performed good deeds, these good works would never have been enriched, bettered and ennobled by the infinite merits, perfections and holiness of Jesus Christ. Jesus sanctifies, improves and enriches, with His infinite merits, all the words, thoughts and deeds of our life, even those which are mediocre, as long as they are done for God and as long as we are in a state of grace.


Without the merits of Jesus Christ, our good deeds would remain as they are intrinsically, that is, worth almost nothing in the presence of God. They are in fact, monsters of imperfection in the presence of the infinite perfection of God.


Oh my God, I am unworthy to contemplate the excesses of Your infinite love and mercy. You have permitted Adam to offend You in order to give us Your divine Son as our Redeemer from the slavery of sin. You not only destroyed our deformity, caused by sin, but rather You sanctified, ennobled and enriched all the thoughts of our minds, all the good affections of hearts, all the words, work, actions and feelings of our body and soul – everything. This you did with the infinite merits, holiness and perfection of all the thoughts, words, deeds, breathing, actions and everything of the most holy soul and pure body of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the communication and application of Jesus’ infinite merits, all the imperfection of our actions, even though they are good ones, is destroyed. In fact, the deeds which we call good are just horrible monsters without the application of the perfection, merits and holiness of Jesus Christ. It is through the application of Jesus’ merits that the imperfection of these deeds is sanctified, perfected and enriched. In this way we can say that the perfections, merits, and holiness of Jesus are mine. All Jesus’ life is mine, because of the application of His merits” _{(OOCC XIII, pp 132-136)}.


Meditation

St. Vincent invites us to reflect on sin through the eyes of faith. “Enlightened by faith” – these words challenge us and afford us an opportunity to reflect on faith and discover how it helps to form us into the people we become. Faith is not stagnant, but is a living thing that leads us deeper into the realities of God and of his divine plan for us and for all creation. Pallotti assures us that Adam’s sin was allowed by God in order to reveal Jesus’ mission to us. Scripture tells us many things about Jesus’ eventual arrival on earth to redeem us. In the Old Testament, his coming was foretold literally for centuries. Although many names were given to this promise, faith continually encouraged believers to hope in it. The New Testament opens our eyes to the revelations of Jesus’ coming. Chapter 1 of John’s Gospel is an amazing reflection on God’s plan for his people through Jesus, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world ... and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ... From his fullness we have received grace upon grace.” _{(Jn 1:9-16)} Does this piece of Scripture help to further clarify what Pallotti is trying to tell us in our passage for this month?


What is sin? It is any wilful thought, action, or failure-to-act that either weakens or causes a total disruption in our loving relationship with God. The effect of Adam’s sin is inherited by all humans from the first moment of their existence. Jesus became the new Adam and through his passion, death and resurrection provided us with the promise both of salvation from sin and of eternal happiness, which Adam lost for us through his turning away from God. In his letter to the _{Romans (5: 12 – 21)}, St. Paul reflects on how sin came into the world through Adam but how Jesus changed that, as he goes on to explain - “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all...” (Rm 5:18). Our hope of redemption is based on the faith that leads us to God in Baptism. Paul asks “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” _{(Rm 6:3)} Chapter 6 continues to reflect on the relationship between sin, death and grace and the interplay between them which serves to free us from the overwhelming temptation to sin. Verse 6:14 states: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace”.


Pallotti, the mystic, has reflected in a similar manner on sin, on our unworthiness, and on our inability to act without the grace which Jesus wills to share with us. Grace is a free gift from God, one that we his children can take advantage of by being open to its action through our efforts to live the Christian life and, in a particular way, through our fruitful reception of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation. Prayer is a vital part of each of our lives, and making room in our busy schedules to share a relationship with Jesus and the Triune God through an active prayer life will help us in different ways. It will help us to recognise the draw of sin within us which leads us to make choices which damage us and also our relationship with God and with others. It will teach us that only God’s free gift of grace received through prayer can give us the strength and courage to purify our lives, that only the working of grace within us can bring about true and lasting conversion and growth. The love and example of our families and of our brothers and sisters in faith can offer inspiration and guidance when temptation threatens to separate us from our Lord who loves us and desires us to live lives that are truly blessed. If we always keep in mind our continual need to be “enlightened by faith”, we will also grow to understand and experience first-hand the complexity of the issue of sin and how it is only through the merits of Jesus Christ that we can become the image of God, no matter how imperfect we may be. God loves the sinner and never ceases to applaud our efforts to become more “Godlike”.


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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, Roma, Italia -- uac@uniopal.org

God the Infinite Love

Meditation 25
[/align](OOCC XIII, pp. 152-156)[/ALIGN]


God, in giving us his own divine Son, incarnate for us as our first-born brother, gave us also as our mother the same blessed mother of his divine Son. As brothers [and sisters], he gave us all the saints – this is the reason why all the angels look up to us.



Prayer


May love be enkindled in you,


May the great fire of God be enkindled.


Receive the Holy Spirit, says the Lord.


And enjoy a truly profound peace,


Enjoy an unparalleled peace.



Receive the Holy Spirit, says the Lord.

Understand and love my Word,

Understand my Gospel of love…



Merciful Father, we thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to proclaim to all people the Gospel of Salvation.



We thank you for the gift of life, of faith, and of your love, in particular for having called us to follow the ideal of Saint Vincent Pallotti in the Church …




Reflection

Dear brothers and sisters, following the sequence of reflections, we will now reflect on the infinite and merciful love of God, who gives us Mary as our Mother and her Son, Jesus, as our brother.



Because of his love, he has given us gifts, favours and graces which we will never fully understand. Through faith, we know that Jesus is our Brother and Mary our Mother.



Because of these gifts and graces, we have always been and will for all eternity be brothers and sisters in Christ, who hears our petitions, responding in his merciful love.



We are all welcomed by God with love. Pallotti asks himself, “How will I be received before the heavenly court of my brother Jesus and my Mother Mary, Queen of Apostles?”



“Oh, my God, I do not understand!...


Oh infinite and incomprehensible love, infinite mercy of my soul, enlighten me so that I may understand how ungrateful I have been; rather, how I abused Your gifts; how guilty I am for having worked contrary to what I should have done in order to Correspond to Your infinite love and mercy with love, humility and a grateful heart. Oh how foolish I have been in not profiting by the intercession of the Angels and Saints and my most beloved mother, Mary, as I could and should have, especially in order to obtain the grace to imitate Mary and all the Angels and Saints in all their virtues as You wish. But through Your infinite mercy I am sure that You will help me now and forever (OOCC XIII, pp. 154-155).




Suggestions for reflection and sharing

• · What is Pallotti saying to me in this reflection?
• · What must I change in my life so that the infinite and merciful Love of God may bear fruit in me?
• · What values of Mary, Christ and Pallotti should I imitate, in order that my being and my acting may bear fruit in my mission?

Closing prayer

O, Lord, who became bread to feed me with your wisdom and your holiness, destroy my ignorance and my sins through your presence, so that only your wisdom and your goodness remain in me.


Lord, who are the substantial image of the Father and became my food to nourish me with your Divine Essence, destroy everything in me which offends you, so that the image of God, which you gave me as a gift by becoming human, will shine ever more vividly in me.


O, Lord, who are Infinite Love and who became my food to feed me with the love of the Holy Spirit, through your presence destroy all loves which have distanced me from you, so that it is no longer I who love you, but the same Holy Spirit who loves you and all creatures in me, Amen.



Offering


I give you thanks, my God, for the benefits received during my life, particularly for the gift of this day.



United to the most holy hearts of Jesus and Mary, I offer the intentions and affections, the prayers and work of this day, the acts of virtue and of love done by me and by all creatures in time and in eternity for your infinite glory and for the good of souls, Amen.



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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org

God the Infinite Love of St. Vincent Pallotti
Meditation XXII
“God’s Infinite Love and Mercy in giving us his divine son,
made man for the redemption of our souls”
“He who has not spared even his own Son, but has delivered him for us all, how can he fail to grant us also all things with him?” (Rom 8:32

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