“Sunday, 20th of February, having offered my holy communion in reparation for the outrages committed against the Divine Majesty, I saw that all was over! – Guilty France was about to be chastised; a celestial ray caused me to observe that the Lord has drawn his bow, he is ready to aim his arrows. On beholding him arming himself against sinners who so shamefully outrage him, I was penetrated with a holy indignation, and entering in the designs of his justice, I cried out: Strike, Lord! I panted for the glory of God to be avenged, for I saw that the blow would not be mortal. Although I prayed the Most High to strike, that he might retrieve his glory, yet I begged him to strike as a father and not as an angry judge. Let us adore the justice of God and at the same time invoke his mercy. It is now more than four years that the arm of the Lord has been raised in anger over our guilty heads!…”
From the Life of Sister Mary St. Peter Carmelite of Tours p. 384
Every now and then, we are asked about the words prayed in the Holy Face Chaplet “Arise O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Thee flee from before Thy Face,” taken from Numbers 10:35 & Psalm 67 (68). People wonder, why would God want His children to flee from them? This seems harsh they surmise. But, in actual fact, it is a plea to God to drive out the evil from the hearts of men, so that we can then have hearts open to receive the love of God, be converted, and live! How we all want that ongoing conversion for ourselves, and for our family members who do not know Him, or have strayed away from the Church. Do we not in fact want the Lord to strike us all with His arrows of love, as Sr. Marie said, “Strike Lord,” if this would mean that we would be prevented from committing a future mortal sin, or a venial sin with full consent of the will? And, one such sin has a gigantic snowball effect that can affect another or multiple people instantly, and for generations to come potentially. No wonder St. Athanasius, an exorcist, described these very words from the Chaplet as the phrase that the devil and his minions despise the most! The Holy Face Chaplet is a mini exorcism! Sr. Marie de St. Pierre tells us that His arrows would strike our hearts with justice yes, because a good father always disciplines, but with perfect love and mercy. Let us take this grace-filled time of Lent to have a generous resolution to become the saints that He has called us to be, desiring deeper and deeper conversions. If we find ourselves constantly tripping throughout these 40 days, let us not be discouraged, but rise up quickly, getting ourselves to Confession and beginning again – Nunc coepi “now I begin”!
the littlest wren