UNION WITH JESUS

This is the Mass. It is the greatest act of love given to man when God gives Himself to us. We will partake most fully in this love affair with God depending on how we give ourselves to God.

God proved His love for us when He came into this world a man, a helpless baby, when He took on flesh. In order to communicate His love to us, God the Father, sent His only Son, made-man, as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. Jesus, our Beloved, gave Himself, Body and Blood, on the cross. God communicates His love for us through His Son Jesus, made-man, a God-man.

This sacrifice is sacramentally made present today. At every moment all over the world this sacrifice continues through the hands of His priests. Jesus no longer walks the earth, but He is alive and present and giving Himself to us sacramentally in the Mass.

This is love: that the Almighty God loves us so much that He remains with us today and gives us His divine love. He shares Himself with us.

Love can be one-sided.

I can love someone and give and give and give myself and they may never return my love. They may treat me with bitterness and hatred, but I, because of my love for them, continue to love them when I am neglected, ignored, hated and forgotten. I love them when they are bitter, when they are blaming and when they are unloving because I love them-this is love.

God wants union with man. Union is higher than one-sided love. Union, oneness, only occurs when both parties are giving their all to the relationship.

God gives Himself to us. We know His gift and how He loves us by looking at the crucifix. The crucifix shows me the God-made man giving me His all, on the cross - loving me to the last drop of His blood and the last beat of His Heart.

The crucifix is a piece of wood with the replica of a man on it. It is a reminder of the greatest act of love, God-made-Man, giving Himself for me!

But to me what sends my heart into burning flames is the priest raising the consecrated Host high and seeing above the host the crucified Jesus dying on the cross. This is the greatest act of love ever given to man, Jesus, the Son of God, the Almighty, all powerful Savior, giving Himself as a sacrifice for man and He wants union with me. He wants me to give myself as a sacrifice to Him so I can be one with Him. He gives us His life, unreservedly. He holds nothing back and He wants union with me, a mere creature, a human person. Divinity wants union with me!

Think of how it is to love someone, to open up the greatest secrets of your heart, to give yourself, your all, to someone you love. Think of how it is to be so consumed with love for another that you continually tell them, I love you, I want union with you, I want to give my all to you. My greatest desire, my whole life is lived to give you love. You are in my every thought. You, I would die for. Think of feeling this loving toward another in your heart. The gift of your love is the gift of yourself to them and you give yourself completely to them. Every thought and action you have, every desire in your heart, is for love of them. And, so you present your gift to them. You say, "Here I am, I give you myself. I give you my heart. I want to give you myself completely." And how do they respond?

What if they ignore you, hate you, treat you with indifference, do not have time for you and do not care about your gift? They may say nothing and walk away.

Oh, how hurt you would feel inside! With my whole heart I wanted to give you the gift of myself, my whole self and you said nothing and walked away. I want to close up and never give myself again to anyone because when I finally opened myself so deeply to give myself, the gift of myself, I was treated as if it was nothing-my gift of self was nothing and you walked away and I felt bare and opened wide with my heart burning and on fire, wanting to unite and be one with you and you did not connect with me at all, and I was left wide open and raw. I was hurt beyond all hurts in my heart and I wanted to close up my wound and protect myself.

Jesus is a person. He is the Almighty God. He gives Himself. Our Divine Savior, gives Himself totally to us in every Mass. He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist-the greatest gift of love, God the Son, giving Himself completely to man. God, Who is love, wanting our love. He is longing, He is thirsting, He is waiting for our love. Think, that the Almighty, all powerful God, wants us so much-He wants union with us. He has remained alive in His Divinity and humanity on the earth, no less present than the day He walked the earth and he gives Himself completely to us in the Mass.

How is He received? Love is giving. Union occurs only when both parties give their all. If one person holds back, if they do not trust the other, there is not union. Oneness or union occurs according to how completely each person gives of themselves to the other.

Jesus gives Himself in the most perfect act of love to us in the Mass. He gives Himself completely. He is a Divine Person. He is Love. He is giving Himself to us and He is ignored, rejected, and treated with indifference by man.

The Divine God created us to share His divine love. We are humans, we have human capabilities. He gives to us a sharing in His divine life in Baptism. Our human nature is elevated to such heights to share in His divine life, to share in His divine love. This is the reason we were created - to love God and love one another. We are creatures of love. Only love makes us happy. Only His love satisfies us. What will feed us? We are only fed by Him. All other things we feed ourselves with do not satisfy us. Many try to satisfy the craving in the soul for God with other things: food, sex, possessive love of others.

Only God's love will satisfy us. This is how we are created-to love God and love one another according to His will. There will be peace and harmony on the earth only when men are loving God and loving one another according to His will. This will come soon in the great era of peace, promised by Our Lady at Fatima. In order to bring this about, we must give ourselves as a sacrifice to God, a sacrifice, an offering: I give myself to God just as I am, my faults and failings and my good qualities. I give God myself, all of myself-this is what He wants.

At Fatima, Mary tells us how to give ourselves to God. We are sinners, tainted by original sin. Mary is the pure, immaculate one. I am a sinner. I cannot unite in great depths to the all-holy God by myself. I must go through the pure and sinless one, in order to unite deeply to God. She is the only way to have deep union with Him. I go to her pure and immaculate, sinless heart and she places me deeply in the Heart of her Son. I have a deep union with Him because I am surrounded by her Immaculate Heart. It is there, in her pure heart, her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, dwells. It is through His permeating action He makes me more holy, to unite more deeply to God.

It makes perfect sense. God shows us the way. The Father sends His Son in the world in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pure and sinless one. In her womb, the Christ Child is formed. God comes as a baby, the Almighty God, the Son of the Father.

In order to unite with Divinity as Jesus desires, we must go through her. He came as a baby in the womb of Mary. He is the Light of the World.

If we go through the womb of Mary as a little baby, she will bring us forth as her children of light through the permeating action of the Holy Spirit. We will become more holy and we will thus unite more to our all-holy God.

Of ourselves, in our sin, we cannot unite as we should unless we go through her Immaculate Heart.

So what do I do to have union with God? I must go through the pure and Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is the greatest act of love - God gives Himself in the Mass. In order to be united more deeply to Him, I want to offer a holy sacrifice. When I go through the pure heart of Mary, the Holy Spirit sanctifies me and makes me more holy. My union with Him is dependent upon my purity. I tell Him I am sorry for my sins and go to confession regularly. Before Mass, I consecrate my heart to Mary and Jesus and pray to the Holy Spirit. I want to be a pure, holy sacrifice. I ask for His help and her help for His grace to do this.

He gives Himself completely as a sacrifice. I give myself as perfectly as I can as a sacrifice to Him.

The Mass is the greatest act of love given-God, gives Himself to man. The greatest act we can do on this earth is to love God.

God gives Himself to me. I give myself to God. We become one. The most complete way I can give myself to God is to give myself completely to Mary, to unite as completely to her, the pure and sinless one, in her Immaculate Heart and to give myself completely to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This is what the Mass is. It is a love affair with God. God wants love. God wants our whole selves. God wants us to caress every word spoken in the Mass as a lover would caress every word the loved one speaks to them.

The Mass is God's greatest act of love given to us. This is in no way a complete study in the Mass. The words of the Mass I long to caress and I feel them deep within my heart and my heart burns with love for Him as they are spoken. I am not a theologian, I am a housewife and teacher. My dear Lord has moved me to write about the Mass I love so much.

In the Mass, the priest says, "As we prepare to celebrate the mystery of Christ's love, let us acknowledge our failures and ask the Lord for pardon and strength."

I love this part, when he says, "…prepare to celebrate the mystery of Christ's love…"

To me this is the greatest act of love. Oh, my heart burns to share this great act of love with my Divine God. I love Him. I love Him. I love Him. and I love the Mass. It is the greatest expression of His love for us. God gives Himself to man in the Mass.

God knows that we are imperfect. To offer a holy sacrifice, to unite most deeply with Our Divine Lord, we must be most holy. The more pure we are, the more we can unite with Him. We then "…acknowledge our failures and ask for pardon and strength…" We want to be so pure so we can be one with Him and partake in the greatest degree in His love. My purity is a determining factor to this union. That is why I give myself to Mary. I go to His Heart, surrounded by her pure heart, and offer the sacrifice. The more I am one in Their Hearts, I partake more fully in His love and experience an abundant outpouring of His grace. The Mass and the sacraments are the richest sources of His grace. Grace is a gift from God. Grace is His life. He gives us a sharing of His divine life. The fountain of His grace is outpoured in the Mass. The more the priests' hearts are consecrated to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the more he is one with Christ, the more the grace is outpoured in the Mass.

The greatest gift is sharing in His divine life. It all comes down to grace. To know, love, and serve God, it is a grace He gives us. I want grace to flow in me so I can be one in Him. This is my greatest desire. I want grace and mercy to flow in me and in all souls. I want to be the purest sacrifice that the grace will flow in me and through me.

PRAYER FOR UNION WITH JESUS

Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.

I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to spoon out all that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by You. Help me to die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling within me.

I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to put aside the world and let You operate my very being. Help me to act as You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me from Your work.

When I worry, I have taken my focus off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me now.

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Copyright © 1997 Shepherds of Christ Ministries
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact Shepherds of Christ Publications
First Printing: September, 1997