Success tastes great.

But it is facing the failure that is a real challenge. Because you have to cope with disappointment, sometimes anger and shame. You have to include in your self-portrait weakness, powerlessness, mistake. How much understanding have I got for our Polish national football team after their last (lost) match.

We imagine the path of our development as constatnt ascending above our limitations. But nothing teaches so good as failure, as the hard landing which finishes the flight on the wings of our own capacity.

Afterwards you can start from scratch, from the mustard seed. From learning the alphabet of love, patience and service. With Him. And it is the weakness, not success, which attracts Him to us. He can act when our self-sufficiency gives up.Our helplessness touches His heart.

Yes, we are called to ascending. In His arms, when He bends over to lift us up.*

Małgosia

*You can read in the book by little Therese of Lisieux.

Heart to Heart. That’s how it should be.

We worship each Heart separately, because either of them is different. Though they have one thing in common: they’ve set the example of how to become a complete gift of oneself, and they are masters of loving to the end. They’re not only the objects of worship, but also the actual place where you meet love.

Each of us may find repose in Her Heart. That’s how the Son of God began his life – 9 months right under Her heart. And Her love was with Him to the end. Before He commanded His spirit to the Father, He entrusted us to Her care.

Blessed John Paul II – when he was meditating on the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – said that in Christ God loves us in a human way, which has been great comfort for me ever since. How many ideas occur to me when I start thinking how SHE loves me…

Fr. Jay

I was 16 years old when I arrived at Paray-le-Monial in France. The participants of Session des Jeunes came from various corners of Europe and the world – we, Poles, were then just a handful. I remember very well the Holy Sacrament placed in the middle of a meadow. You could come and stay there any time of day. In the rays of a huge simple monstrance there were young adults, the elderly, families with children – some kneeling, some sitting, and some of them even lying on the grass. So many people – in such complete silence, the silence free of anxiety.

I was surprised to hear during one of the meetings that Paray was where my Patron Saint – St Marguirette Marie Alacoque used to live. Anyone could go to another place of the adoration of the Holy Sacrament – the chapel where Lord Jesus told St. Margaret about His Heart: that it loves beyond reason, that it is compassionate but rejected and in pain for the lack of reciprocity. And it’s ready to give.

There is nothing in this Heart that would be alien to human heart – except for the sin. There is no such sadness, disappointment and joy that this Heart wouldn’t be familiar with. It’s a safe place for a home. It holds a special place for your own heart. And for those you love.

If you want to fulfill the wish of Jesus, which he confided to St. Margaret in Paray-le-Monial, tell Him that you love Him. He needs so much to hear it just from you.

Małgosia

The words of today’s Gospel send shivers up and down my spine. It’s because I often tend to consider myself “a decent person”, sometimes even better than the others. But God knows my heart inside out and He knows how often it stores resent or prejudice, especially towards those who did something wrong to me.

Whenever I think I’m left to my own devices, I can’t achieve much. God doesn’t care about the “rat race” (on the way to sainthood as well!) – all that matters to Him is a humble heart. If I admit my weakness and ask Him for help – He’ll come and help.

And He loves us not because we are “good”, but because we’re His children.

Dosia

“What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116, 12-13)

I forget too easily – under the burden everyday cares – to thank the Lord for all that He has planned for me. What can I do, when I’m too tired to sing glory?

Maybe in times of short text messages (when you can sum up the whole communication with a colone and half-bracket) – it would be good to text the Lord? When it’s hard and all goes wrong – simply: “Jesus, I trust you”, and in the moments of success: “My Lord and my God!” (because I’m a tool in His hands).

So I tap on the keyboard my everyday message to my Best Friend and I let Him act, create and heal. And I’m waiting for His answer. He always writes back.

Karolina

Days of the week are traditionally assigned to particular Persons or events. And so Monday belongs to the Holy Spirit, Tuesday belongs to Angels, Wednesday is St. Joseph’s day, Thursday is the day of the Eucharist, Friday commemorates the mistery of the Cross, Saturday belongs to Our Lady, and Sunday – to the Holy Trinity.

We owe so much to our Guardian Angels. Their task is not easy – “to light and guard, to rule and guide.” What’s more, they watch us with no time off, as they guard us also in our sleep. Ever since we were conceived till the moment we stand for the judgment (and they’ll be our advocates), and in eternity – they’ll be our friends. Guardian Angel – my own and for the whole eternity.

Let’s find many occasins today to thank Him for His care, friendship, attention, for sharing the whole life with us. And for being such a special gift from the loving Father for me, His beloved child.

“Angel of God, my Guardian Dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day (and night) be at my side.” Please!

Fr. Jay

“Love cannot be learned, and at the same time – nothing is more learnable than love” (blessed John Paul II)

Each day is a new chance for our love to grow. How can I show it to my family today? With a good word, an encouraging look, things I wear, an act of selfless help, cheerful spirits, gentle voice, listening to them patiently or my honest work…?

Love can be expressed in so many ways! Which of them did I give up using? Which of them would I like to use more?

How good that love is not something “ready made”, as Karol Wojtyla wrote, because there is still a chance for a more beautiful “today” and “tomorrow.” Let’s take it.

Basia

or on the potential of love:

“Love is never something ready made, something merely ‘given’ to man and woman; it is at the same time a ‘task’ which they are set. Love should be seen as something which in a sense never ‘is’ but is always only ‘becoming,’ and what it becomes depends upon the contribution of both persons and the depth of their commitment”. (K. Wojtyła*)

* Love and Responsibility, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1981, p.139

“My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” (John 16:23)

Yes, sometimes the words stuck in my throat, when I experience how He reaches out to address my needs, sometimes very simple and related to day-to-day bustle, or those forgotten and neglected (like health problems caused by “the lack of time”).

I often think that those gestures which show how close and attentive He is, He also wants to tell me something about all those requests of mine that seem to have been left without the answer.

That I can trust Him. Or: that I mustn’t mistrust Him. That would be irrational.

Małgosia

“The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is – trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts.”

(St. Faustina Kowalska Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMu-07s29Co?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

“Jesus, I trust in You”