FIFTH SIN – LAZINESS – Christus Regnat

DAY 6: FIFTH SIN – LAZINESS

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit,
Spirit of Love of the Father and of the Son,
grant me Your love.
I give You my mind and heart,
so that You would fill me with Your wisdom.
Tear me away from amidst the futility of the world
and lead me into Your hidden chambers,
in which I will forget about the world,
in order to get to know Your mysteries.
Let me rest at Your feet
and listen with anointment to Your whisper.
Fill me with faith so I would not doubt
that the words, which [I read],
come from the mouth of the Most High,
and with bravery, so I would carry them courageously
to the whole world. Amen.

Contemplation of the Holy Scriptures before the conference of the day – 30 minutes

Hs 4, 1-9

Listen to the word of the Lord, sons of Israel, for the Lord is judge of the inhabitants of the land. Yet there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God, in the land.
Slander, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and bloodshed has brought more bloodshed.
Because of this, the land will mourn, and all who dwell in it will languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. And the fishes of the sea also will be gathered together.
So, truly, let each and every one not judge, and let no man be accused, for your people are just like those who speak against the priesthood.
And you will be ruined on this day, and now the prophet will be ruined with you. In the night, I have made your mother to be silent.
My people have become silent because they had no knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I will drive you away; you do not perform the duties of the priesthood for me, and you have forgotten the law of your God, and so I will forget your sons.
According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against me. I will change their glory into disgrace.
They will devour the sins of my people, and they will lift up their souls towards their iniquity.
And, just as it is with the people, so will it be with the priest; and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them for their intentions.

TEACHING: Fifth sin – laziness

Meditation about the conference – 60 minutes

12.02.2018

Lord Jesus: The fifth sin. Today we will deal with the last of the five major priestly sins, that is, laziness. Priests who indulge in this sin spend their lives comfortably, without greater worries, quandaries and sacrifices. They mainly look after themselves, taking care of their own external and internal comfort. This means, they do not care too much about anything, and they do not want to undertake anything that would tear down their peaceful and stable way of life. Dinner is the center of the day for them, not the Holy Mass. When they pray, they do so with great effort and equally great indifference. When it comes to the service of God, they do everything mechanically, and if it is possible to get around or shorten something, they eagerly await this opportunity. They live from vacation to vacation, leaving the fate of the world in the hands of God, but they do not lift a finger touch this burden themselves. God’s service is to them what homework is to careless students. They perform it with such reluctance that My Heart shudders as they go to the steps of the Altar.

Their speech – the language of the world. The word of God coming out of their mouths is a collection of words spoken without conviction, without faith in their power and My presence in the Word of God. They will distance more souls through their sermons that they will attract, because by standing on the lectern, they breath of unbelief and indifference to the matters of God. They speak out My Words without conviction. How could they convince anyone if they themselves do not have conviction, and it does not bother them too much. Indifference and lukewarmness in My service sadden Me greatly. Confessions done with lips, while their eyes are fixed on television sets and their hearts are flooded with a wall of lukewarmness, is the only prayer I can count on. I am dying of longing for these hearts, and I cannot reach them and awaken them, because the development of faith requires effort, and effort is the last thing they desire.

The remedy for this disease is to enkindle the priestly heart with love. It is their lack of love that makes them indifferent to My service. Love should be aroused and maintained through devout reading and meditation. Watching television introduces priestly souls into a kind of apathy and withdrawal from real life, therefore My first recommendation would be to get rid of televisions from the rectory and replace them with devout reading. The world undergoes constant changes, God remains unchanging and eternal. Getting to know the world is not a prerequisite for being a good priest. Knowing God is. At God’s Judgment, no one will hold priests accountable for their general knowledge and orientation in the world of politics, economy or nature, but for the knowledge of God to whom they were consecrated. Not only are the hands and mouths of the priest consecrated, but also his heart, legs, all senses and the mind. That is, memory, skills of learning and cognition, intelligence and abilities. The priest will have to be accountable for what he used these gifts of God for.

Now reflect deeply on My words. You may not see yourself in all the situations described above, but try to face the truth about yourself. How much do you care about the service of God? When you go to Mass, do you reflect about Me? Do you feel sorry for Me just at the thought of My Passion, which I will live through? Are you happy that you will be able to receive Holy Communion? Does the Holy Mass bring you more joy than dinner? What is your first thought when you get up from bed, and what is your last thought when you go to sleep? Are you looking for an opportunity to help others? Are you striving to make sure that nobody in your parish is damned? Do you endeavor to win over sinners for My Heart? Do you have the Sacred Scriptures in your hand as often as your telephone? Are the greatest movements of your heart related to My Person? Am I your rest? Do you seek respite in Me? How often do you kneel outside of the Holy Mass? Do you kneel before Me at all, of your own will or need, outside the injunctions of the law?

Repent and come back to the original love that burned your heart, because life with you is a torment for Me. In every action you repeat to Me: “I do not love You anymore”. However, I love you continuously. I will not give up on you, and that is why I come to awaken your heart. Today, ponder in your heart the words of the apostle: For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what should I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your account (Phil 1: 21-25).

Contemplation of the Holy Scriptures after the conference of the day – 45 minutes

Hs 6, 1-6

In their tribulation, they will arise early to me. Come, let us return to the Lord.
For he has seized us, and he will heal us. He will strike, and he will cure us.
He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth.
What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like the morning mist, and like the dew passing away in the morning.
Because of this, I have cut them with the prophets, I have slain them with the words of my mouth; and your opinions will depart like the light.
For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than holocausts.

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Translated from: Rekolekcje Kapłanskie, na podstawie Orędzi na Czasy Ostateczne które własnie nadeszły, Grzechynia 2018, p. 82-90