Strive to reach the goal ... Peace and good.

20th of August 

Reading the letter to the Hebrews 12,4-7. 11-15

Brothers:

You have not yet reached the blood in your fight against sin.

You have forgotten the paternal exhortation they gave you: «My son, do not reject the Lord's punishment, do not be angry at his rebuke; because the Lord rebukes those he loves and punishes his favorite children.

Accept the correction, because God treats you like children, because which father does not correct his children?

We don't like punishment when we receive it, but it hurts us; but after going through it, it gives us as fruit an honest and peaceful life.

Therefore, strengthen your weak hands, strengthen your faltering knees, and walk a flat path: so the lame foot, instead of twisting, will heal.

Seek peace with all and sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord.

Try that no one is left without the grace of God and that no bitter root regrowth and harm, contaminating many.

Padre Pio tells us:

I urge you, my dearest children, to take care of your hearts with every effort. Try to keep the peace, controlling your temper. I do not say, listen well, keep the peace, but I tell you to try to keep it: that this is your important desire; and be careful that it is a matter of concern not being able to control the variety of feelings and your temperament. Learn well what the cloister means, so that you do not deceive yourself. It is the academy of the necessary correction, in which the soul must learn to be allowed to work, brush and polish, so that, being well polished and straightened, it can unite and be coupled to the will of God. The obvious password of perfection is wanting to be corrected, because this is the main fruit of humility, which leads us to recognize that we need correction. The cloister is a hospital for spiritual patients, who want to be cured; and, to achieve this, they undergo bleeding, scalpel, razor, iron, fire and all the inconveniences of medicines. In the early Church, religious were called by a name that means doctor. My children, you also be doctors and do not listen to what self-love may suggest against you; and, sweetly, kindly and lovingly, make this decision: either die or heal. And, because you don't want to die spiritually, choose healing. And, to heal you, accept to suffer the care and the correction, and beg the doctors of the soul that do not deprive you of any means that can reach you the healing. Always be honest with the one who has to cure your spiritual illnesses.  

(January 18, 1918, to the novices - Ep. IV, p. 366)

Dear brothers, the "discipline of the Lord" in the New Testament involves the whole process of "raising children." Raising means educating, forming for life in both civil and Christian values. It is necessary, therefore, that each one of us in the place that the Lord has placed us be responsible for our conduct and fraternal correction. Otherwise, the world falls apart. Everything is torn down because we build castles on sand. "Why is my son like that," "Why is my daughter treating me this way?" Simply because since childhood they have been allowed to do what they like. A very clear example today is to give the children the cell phone so that they leave the mother alone, so that they do not disturb her, so that they do not bother her. This is the best way to educate children in disobedience, without discipline and much less without correction. It is the parents of this land who have to correct and discipline their children, while it is the superiors and superiors who have to correct their brothers and sisters that the Lord has entrusted to them. Indeed, Paul uses just that form in Ephesians 6: 4, "... in discipline." The expression is from the word paideia which in Hebrews 12 is translated "discipline." Talk about the efforts of earthly parents to discipline their children. He also speaks of the heavenly Father who seeks to make us holy, just as he is holy. The ultimate goal of discipline and correction is not only a good and healthy education, but to reach the goal of every Christian. Open fully to the action of the Holy Spirit, so that from there, God will do his work of sanctification, which began the day of our baptism. From our rebirth to life in Christ, our salvation story is presented to us as a constant training to receive and give a good education, so that we can be "participants of his holiness" and give "a peaceful fruit of justice." This is the challenge of each day, but it is also the great opportunity that God presents to us to be part of his divine life here on earth.