JESUS WANTS TO HEAL US OF OUR MISERIES

JESUS WANTS TO HEAL US OF OUR MISERIES
Let Jesus love you!

1. In her diary (#1318) St Faustina recounts telling Jesus: "Through my vows, I have given myself entirely to You; I have then nothing more to give". At which Jesus said to her, " MY DAUGHTER, YOU HAVE NOT OFFERED ME THAT WHICH IS REALLY YOURS"…. St.
Faustina then asked, "Jesus, tell me what it is, and I will give it to you at once with a generous heart." Jesus then said to her with kindness, "DAUGHTER, GIVE ME YOUR MISERY, BECAUSE IT IS YOUR EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY." *[This is affirmed by a "story in which St. Jerome encountered the Christ Child and told Him that he had given Jesus everything he could think of: his life, his work, his possessions, etc. Jesus responded, 'I want still more from you.' And after St. Jerome exhausted every possibility he could conjure, he said to Jesus, 'All that's left is my misery'. Jesus replied, 'That's what I want from you-- your misery.'"

"Our misery is really the only gift we can give Jesus, because he never takes it from us. It has to be a free will offering, something we are willing to relinquish to Him-- not out of shame or fear, but as a genuine act of humility."] (*from the article "Giving Jesus our Misery" by Jeannie Ewing)

2. As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we meditate on Jesus' infinite and personal love for each one of us. His love, symbolized by His Sacred Heart, couldn't be more personal even if we were the only person in this world; He still would have died for you or me.

3. St. Therese (of Lisieux) also had this profound insight into the infinite love of Jesus for each one of us. She realized that Jesus wants to pour his merciful love on all of us, especially sinners. But many of us reject his love which causes him great suffering. For in his humanity he also thirsts for our love. And so St.Therese believes we can console Jesus by opening ourselves to His merciful love, which ironically is also one concrete way of loving him.

4. One way to do this is by "giving him our miseries". In the poverty of our humanity we all are afflicted with some kind of misery, in varying kinds and in varying degrees. It could be in the form of our personal problems, limitations, character flaws, 'factory defects' (even physical defects and disabilities, illnesses, physical or mental), guilt for past sins, committed or omitted, traumatic experiences, psychological and emotional issues or wounds/hurts. These miseries may cause us to be so focused or locked in on ourselves, that they can become obstacles to our full acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But these could also be our very reason to go to Him, even in desperation.

5. We begin by identifying, naming, owning, and accepting our miseries. Then we wholeheartedly and in all humility offer them up to Jesus, begging him to heal us. For this is where Jesus wants to work in us first. This way we allow Jesus to heal and fix us. All we need is that minimum of faith in Jesus to surrender to him and desire to give him our very miseries in all humility, asking him to heal us. Now if we don't have that initial faith yet we can pray for it. Ask for the gift of faith. Still the interior act of surrendering our miseries to Jesus is a start that will go a long way. For Jesus wants to heal/ fix and transform us. But he cannot work in us if we do not freely ask him to; because He respects our free will. Indeed Jesus can take everything from us, our health and wealth. But the one thing he wouldn't take from us is our free will. We need to FREELY SURRENDER TO HIM. He wants us to freely love Him.

6. This does not necessarily mean that all our miseries will be gone instantly. Normally Jesus works slowly. But He is always on time. God's time is the best time. And He certainly wills to heal us spiritually, emotionally, and even physically, if these be good for our salvation. For instance, as regards bad memories or some other personal issues, they may remain but we will be able to transcend them. They will no longer affect us as to paralyze us into depression, anxiety and inaction. We will be able to look back at our past with acceptance and be able to move forward.

7. Then we are now ready and more open to accept the Good News that is the very Person of Jesus. We will be empowered to make a decision to freely live constantly IN UNION WITH Jesus and live LIKE HIM a life of love for the Father, shown by loving our neighbor. We do this by working for the integral salvation of our neighbor.

8. Truly the love of Jesus for us is not only effective but also affective. He loves us with the tenderest of all human loves, as well as with the infinite divine love. Consider that Jesus died for you and me while we were still sinners (cf. Rom. 5:8). To fail or refuse to give Jesus our miseries will lock us into such a miserable state that is our innate brokenness, imprisoned, frozen, unoperational to an extent. While offering Jesus our miseries opens us up to his infinitely powerful healing and merciful love, leading to our full
divinization. Truly "without God we cannot; without us God will not". (St. Augustine) 

May we rest in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Jesus I trust in You!