THE WISDOM OF PEMÁN

A clear and sound conscience

is the treasure I desire;

 I ask for nothing and expect nothing

 for tomorrow.

 I neither pursue glory, 

 nor does foolish ambition trouble me; 

 And upon being born each morning,

 I ask only of God

a clean house to shelter me,

 fresh bread to eat, a book to read, 

and a Christ to pray to;

 for he who strives and toils

 finds nothing that fulfills him, 

 and he who needs the least

 has more than he who has the most. 

 José María Pemán

WHAT DO I DESIRE, MY JESUS?

 

What do I desire, my Jesus? I want to love you.

With all that is in me, I want give myself to you,

With no other joy than pleasing you,

With no other fear than offending you.

I want to forget everything and recognize you,

I want to leave everything behind to search for you,

I want to lose everything in order to find you,

I want to not know anything in order to know you.

I want, dear Jesus, to go deep into your sweet wound,

And be consumed in your divine flames,

In the end, I desire to be transformed in you.

Die to myself to live your life.

Lose myself in you, Jesus, and not find myself again.

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

I COULD HAVE NOT BEEN, BUT I AM

Before I was not and now I am!

And I could have not been!

But my heart makes me see

That, if I am here present,

And before I was not the being that I am,

Someone, before, in his mind,

Saw me possible existing;

And by giving me the existence by his power,

Just because He wanted it to be that way,

I am a being here present.

THE VIRGIN AT NOON

By Paul Claudel

It is noon. I see the church is open. I must go in.

Mother of our Lord, I have not come to pray.

I have nothing to offer and nothing to ask.

I am here only, my Lady, to look at you.

To say nothing, to look at your face.

To let my heart sing in its own language.

Because you are beautiful, because you are immaculate,

The woman of Grace finally restored.

The creature in its first honor and in its final blossoming,

As it came out of God in the morning of its original splendor.

Ineffably intact because you are the Mother of Jesus Christ,

Who is the truth in your arms, and the only hope and the only fruit.

Because you are the woman, the Eden of the old forgotten tenderness.

May all creation sing to you in gratitude, Mother of Jesus Christ, simply because you exist!

HIDDEN ROOTS

An Argentine poet, many years ago, wrote a poem to express what he had discovered: what we suffered for, what we cried for, what we lost, it only makes sense if it led us to good goals, to encounters, to undying loves.

Here is his poem:

“If to regain what I regained,

I first had to lose what I lost;

If to achieve what I achieved,

I had to endure what I endured;

If to be in love now

First I had to be hurt,

I consider what I suffered well suffered,

I consider what I wept for as well wept for.

Because in the end I came to see

That we do not really enjoy what we enjoyed

Unless we have suffered for it.

For in the end I realized

That the blossoms on the tree

Draw life from what lies buried beneath”.

(Francisco Luis Bernárdez, "Soneto", in "Cielo de Tierra", Buenos Aires 1937).

Yes, we have experienced it more than once. The things that made us suffer or cry acquire their importance if we discover that they brought us closer to a love or to a greater good.

In Christian words, it is worth to suffer everything in order to grow in love for God and for our neighbor.

Then, like the poet, we discover that the flowers of the tree obtain their life from the hidden roots. Or, as Christ teaches in the Gospel, we recognize that the kernel of wheat that dies produces many seeds... (cf. Jn 12:24).

AT PEACE

 AT PEACE 

Amado Nervo 

 Very close to my sundown,

 I bless you, life,

 because you never 

gave me false hope,

 nor unjust work, 

 nor undeserved punishment. 

 Because I see at the end

 of my rough path

 that I was the architect 

 of my own destiny.

 If I extracted the sweetness

 or bitterness of things, 

 it was because I put

 bitterness and sweetness into them.

 When I planted rose bushes, 

 I always reaped roses. 

 Surely, winter will follow

 my vim and vigor,

 but you never told me 

 that May would last forever!

 I found without a doubt

 the nights long with my sorrows;

 but you didn't promise me 

 just good nights; 

and instead I had

 some blessed and serene ones…

 I loved, I was loved, 

 the sun caressed my face. 

Life, you owe me nothing!

 Life, we are at peace! 

"...God Alone is Enough"

Let nothing upset you,
Let nothing deter you,
Everything passes,
God never changes.

Patience
Empowers everything;
Who has God lacks nothing:
God alone is enough.

Raise your thought,
Toward heaven,
Let nothing distress you,
Let nothing upset you.

Follow Jesus Christ
With stout heart,
And come what may,
Let nothing deter you.

Do you see the glory of the world?
It is an empty show;
Nothing is stable,
Everything passes.
Aspire for the heavenly,
Which lasts forever;

Faithful and rich in promises
God never changes.
Love it as much as it deserves,
The immense good;
But no love is solid
Without patience.

Let trust and lively faith
Keep your soul,
Whoever believes and hopes
Reaches all.
Harassed from hell,
Who has God,
Although he sees it,
Mocks its fury.

Desertions may befall him,
Crosses, misfortunes;
God being his treasure,
Nothing is amiss.
Go, then, goods of the world;
Go, such vanities,
Although everything may be lost,
God alone is enough.

Saint Teresa of Avila
___________________________________________

"Nothing is as Close to Divinity as Childhood, which is Humanity Emerging from the Divinity": Anzoátegui

Meditation on the wounds of Christ

I.                    To love Jesus Christ you need only look at the sacred wounds in His feet, hands and adorable side. How could I not love you, O Sweet Jesus, when I see everything You suffered for me? You saved me from Hell by shedding all your blood; You gave me all the merits of your Holy Passion. Let us enter, O my soul, into the Heart of Jesus through the wound in his side; let us talk to Him and listen to what He tells us. Through His wounds, I can see the secrets of His heart.

II.                  Are you tempted by desperation in light of the sins you have committed and the difficulties you encounter on the way to Heaven? Are you prone to pride, lust or any other sin? Take refuge inside the loving wound in Jesus’ side; listen to Him saying: “How could I desire your death, my son, if I died for you? And would you want to offend Me after all the good that I have done for you? If my Father has so severely punished in Me Adam’s sin, would He forgive you if you offend Him?”

III.                Are you afflicted, overwhelmed by sorrow, loaded down with opprobrium, without support and consolation? Take refuge in the Heart of Jesus. In there you will find a safe haven; a consoler and a friend. Confide Him your sorrows, your heartaches, your concerns; tell Him all your sufferings, but, in turn, listen to Him when He tells you about His. He stretches His arms in the cross to embrace you, He opens His Heart to welcome you inside.

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Source of information: Blog CATOLICIDAD, http://www.catolicidad.com/2016/03/las-llagas-de-jesucristo.html