Formation for the Mission
Lourdes Pinto | February 1&3, 2019
Given at MC & MC cenacles
Lourdes received three messages based on the Gospels confirming our mission:
*The first message
Cf. Luke 10:1-12
Diary of a MOC 1/11/18, Mission of MC and MOC
My little one, you are preparing the way for My Second Coming. It is My hidden martyrs of love crucified through Me, with Me and in Me that will usher in the reign of My Kingdom on earth.
The Gospel says:
“No purse” that means be Poor in spirit;
“No sandals” that means -detached from the things of this world; a life of sacrifice, hardships, difficulties, uncomfortable, penance (I had the image of people walking up the mountain in Medjugorje barefoot)
“no walking stick” -because I will sustain you, strengthen you, support you. I will lead you on this journey.
My Missionaries of the Cross must preach repentance again, as did John the Baptist. They must preach My love crucified bringing souls to know intimately My love. They must be detached completely from their egos, knowing themselves as nothing and miserable. They must be willing to speak the truth about the darkness within My priesthood. They must be willing to live rejected, cast out and even stoned to death. (I conversed with Jesus saying that I do not know how this will be. I see again the image of the red carpet-the women covered in the precious blood of Jesus. My Lord, how do the lay missionaries of the cross live this mission? ) They are priests within their families and they live in the world. They will need great courage to be My light in the midst of the darkness.My daughter, tell my daughters to persevere suffering all with Me solely for love of Me.
*The second message
Cf. Mathew 10:1-24
Diary of a MOC, 30/18 “Mission of the 12”
My little one, I have chosen you to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God on earth. The mission is not easy, for the ways of God are never the ways of the world. All who are chosen by God to fulfill his plan on earth are hated by some, rejected by others, ill-treated, persecuted, for I came upon the earth to set one against another, for the ways of God will never be accepted nor appreciated by those who live for the things of this world. You have been asked by God to bring Him victim souls. A victim soul must fix his eyes on Christ, must desire with all his being to become one with his Master, must be willing to learn from Him and imitate Him. He must be willing to fight against all his disordered desires. This requires certain disciplines for my disciples:
1)”take no gold nor silver nor copper”- than means detached from the riches of this world, trusting that God will provide.
2)”no bag for your journey” that means that My disciples must allow My spirit to detach them from all disordered attachments. (my Lord how do we know what is a disordered attachment?) Anything that weakens your desire for Me, distracts you from loving Me, takes your gaze from Me.
3) ”nor two tunics”- My disciples must live simply as I did, poor, never in excess.
4) ”nor sandals”- a life dedicated to sacrificial love, penance, renunciation.
5) ”nor a staff”- My disciples lean on Me; I become their support; I lead the way.
My disciples wear My yoke-the wood of the Cross, united to Me. I am their All. My disciples are the men and women consumed in love and desire for Me. They choose to live this way of life for love of Me and the consuming desire to be made perfect-which is to become Love. Only in this way, will My disciples reflect the face and light of God in the world. These are my victim souls that possess the power of God on earth.
*The third message
Mark 6:7-13, which is the parallel Gospel of the other two.
The mission has been given. Are we seeking to be sent?
We need first to come under discipleship and that is a discipline that must rule our daily ordinary life.
We men are easily absorbed in projects to the point that they become the priority of our hearts and blind us to all else.
-we do not see how we loose sight of our relationship with God, our relationship with our wives….
- Projects and jobs must be the ones God wants for us and then must be subjected to HIM so that they do not overcome us.
Gospel of Mark: the need to stay with Jesus.
Fr. Jordi
In Mark Jesus exposes the mysteries of His heart only to those who remain with Him:
”With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:33-34).
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The parables were only the initial invitation but few stayed to beyond their initial interest to get something from Jesus.
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He came for all and loves all but did not reveal himself to all because each person must first be willing to enter a discipleship with Him. It is the only way to be transformed.
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He can only reveal himself to the few who are willing to stay and persevere when the flesh wants to give up under the trials of life.
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Only through a committed faith do we come to know Jesus.
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Without the walk in faith, without the process of formation and transformation at the feet of Jesus, we misunderstand the signs and wonders and make Jesus into our superstar, a wonder worker, someone who gets us what we think we want.
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This is why Jesus at first did not want his identity to be divulged.
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First it was necessary that they embrace the cross. Only after they saw him rejected in Nazareth and after teaching them about the demands of discipleship, does he send them the first time.
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But not even after 3 years did the disciples know the heart of Jesus.
Like them, we only come to know and understand Jesus at the Cross.
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At the Cross he reveals the depth of his being and strips away the lies about who we make Him to be.
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In Mark, only at the Cross is Jesus called “Son of God” (by the centurion).
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But for most the Cross is a scandal and they remain blind.
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At the Cross, if like Mary, we are one with Jesus, we also come to know ourselves.
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just as the cross is necessary for Jesus to fulfill his mission, and he can’t be understood rightly as Son of God apart from the cross, so too is the cross necessary for His disciples to be set free from the lies by which they live: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
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Only through the trials of the cross do we become real men.