Blessed Louis Brisson OSFS shares his reflections for our Advent prayer:
December 9th 2013
The Blessed Mother is often represented with a lily, for it is a symbol of fidelity to God and of the good odor of the soul in union with God.
Heaven will be complete fulfillment.
December 10
“Man sinned as was driven from the earthly paradise. The merciful God promised a Savior, a Redeemer. But God did not tell us what kind of Redeemer he would send to save us. Most of the prophets, in announcing His coming, do not appear to have been concerned with the details. However, in His infinite mercy, God decided that the Redeemer should be none other than the Divine Word itself, His own Eternal Son. He would take our human nature and become one of us in order to make reparation for the offense committed against God, and also to serve as a model for us.” (Cor ad Cor, p. 13)
December 11
“The purpose of the Incarnation is the complete remaking of man. It is the sanctification and penetration by God of his soul, his body, of all his actions and of his whole life. O happy fault! The soul then returns to its condition before the Fall; actually, the soul is made even more beautiful and wonderful than it was before the fall.”
“But who has grasped this completely? Who has furnished the means of realizing so admirable a task? Who is it who has found this great means? Who is it who has given the last word, the very last word that will have to be said on this question until the end of time? It is Our Holy Founder [Francis de Sales]. By his doctrine and direction he leads the soul to complete imitation of the Savior and to identification with Him. This is the aim of all his teachings. ”
“Is this Utopia? Is this a dream impossible to realize? No, not at all! What he desires of us he first demonstrated in his own life by the grace of God. Others, directed by him also, have also realized this dream. Others continue to do so still… (Cor ad Cor, p. 16)
December 12
“Father Chevalier, my moral theology professor, used to say to us, ‘Do you believe that Our Lord became human merely to redeem the world? He became human that we might partake of His life, of His body, of His soul, of His divinity and of His happiness.’ And who is this Model, this life and this Happiness? The Word-Made-Flesh Himself!”
“The Savior, Jesus Christ – the One Whom we attempt to reproduce in ourselves and Who is living in us – accomplishes this divine redemption in us. He gives us the grace to do this. He is our Exemplar, our Model. He walks before us. We have only to put our feet in His footprints. Thus, we will bring about our complete redemption.” (Cor ad Cor, pp. 18, 19)
December 13
May you use your thoughts to seek the Savior in the words of the Spouse in the Canticle of Canticles Tell me where you are my beloved that I may find you.
December 14
Come Lord Jesus into my soul and into the souls confided to me.
Source: Oblates website and A Collection of Thoughts of Fr. Louis Brisson for Each Day of the Year by the Oblate Sisters of Perugia