Day 9 (Dec 5) The Fulfillment of the Decree & God the End of our Life

The Fulfillment of the Decree. 

Mary seated snuggling a young Jesus standing in her lap

1.  The promised coming of the Redeemer had indeed been long delayed.  Patriarch had succeeded patriarch, and died without having the privilege of seeing that long-expected day.  The long line of the prophets had passed away, but their desire after the Messias had not been satisfied.  God always keeps His servants waiting for His best gifts, and therefore it was but fitting that they should wait for thousands of years before receiving this Gift of gifts, this Gift in which He gave them Himself. 

2.  The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity had also been waiting for one whose immaculate purity should make her fit, as far as any child of Adam could be fit, to be His Mother.  There had been many holy women among the daughters of Abraham, but none without sin, and therefore none in whose womb the Son of God could find repose.  If Christ thus could not come to dwell with one who was stained with sin, what must be the purity He requires now of those whose Guest He becomes in Holy Communion? 

O Jesus, forgive me all my careless receptions of Thee, my want of careful preparation, my faults innumerable!  

3.  Christ Himself had prepared a resting-place for Himself in Mary’s sacred breast.  As we read in Holy Scripture: “The Most High has sanctified a tabernacle for Himself.”  So now, if I am to be fit to receive Him, He must prepare my heart.  Do I think of this during my preparation for Communion, and pray Him to cleanse me from every stain in His most precious blood, to beautify with many graces the tabernacle where He is to abide?

 

God the End of our Life. 

Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God.  (St. Matt. vi. 33.) 

1.  Our life is a circle: whence it first came, thither it must return.  As we proceeded from God, so we must go back to Him if our life is to be a success.  We can never find repose or lasting satisfaction in anything except God.  As long as we do not tend to Him, we shall be fluctuating, inconstant, uncertain.  Until we make Him the end of our life, we shall feel that we are wandering about in the dark!

2.  What do we mean by making God the end of our life?  We mean that to do His pleasure shall be the motive which shall be first and foremost, and that when there is a choice between God’s pleasure and our own, when the two seem to be opposed, our general disposition shall be to do God’s will and not our own.  In spite of the pain involved in giving up his own will, the man who makes God the end of his life will give it up without hesitation, and so will draw nearer to God, his last end. 

3.  Every time we do this we break down a barrier between God and ourselves; we come nearer to the enjoyment of Him, we get a bit closer to heaven.  The self-willed man is never satisfied; the man whose will is perfectly subject to God is always happy.  The angels are always happy because they have no will but God’s.  If I want to find happiness in this world or the next, the first thing is to learn to submit my will to God. 

Pray God to break down your self-will at any cost.

 


This article, Day 9 (Dec 5) The Fulfillment of the Decree & God the End of our Life is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/devotional/the-catholic-daily/advent-short-meditations-and-the-great-truths/day-9-dec-5-the-fulfillment-of-the-decree-god-the-end-of-our-life/
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