Day #22: The Misery of Human Judgment
MARY: You are so afraid of human judgment and so many times you betray God in order not to contradict a poor creature, But what is man, what value has his scornful word or his threats? You fall with regard to human respect not only out of cowardice, but also because of self-interest and you dissemble or betray your faith for fear of being taken amiss by men.
But what is man? Is he perhaps the master or arbitrator of the world? Have you so little faith in the goodness and providence of God to believe that he abandons you when you endanger your own situation for love of him? How many times do you not try to win human benevolence by pretending to be without faith, impartial and free! …
Fool! in reality you do nothing then but entrust yourself to men of the earth who are deceitful, egotists and traitors! And are you not ashamed to put yourself in such a cowardly way under the most degraded and vile men of the earth? What is man in his judgments? The history of human knowledge tells you: man despises today what he applauded yesterday; he affirms and denies, he contradicts himself, lies or feels his way along in the darkness of doubt.
Who are they who discredit your faith? They are those who do not know it; weak and cowardly souls who are ironically called strong souls; impure people who don?t see the truth because their god is their belly, because they love pleasure and orgies of the passions. And you would fear the judgment of these poor unfortunates?
The wisdom of God on the contrary, like a brilliant star, rises ever alive and immortal in the midst of men and you must fear only the judgment of God.
Don?t worry about men, then; they can?t do you any harm because God alone is the master of all. Fear God and trust in him with firm confidence. Do all that you are supposed to.
Even if accomplishing it should cost you your life, before you there have been millions of glorious martyrs who give you the example of the most perfect and Christian self-denial. The form of this world soon passes, illusions fall, sham human power comes tumbling down … blessed are you if you can present yourself in the sight of God clothed in his glory, cloaked in his justice and in his charity!
ASPIRATION: O Jesus, make me appreciate your greatness and despise the world.
LITTLE WORK: Rather than fear human judgment, seek to bring back to the faith with great charity those who despise it.
About the Meditations
The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.
Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ?Way of the Cross? ? But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)
To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy
Ave Maria!
