of St. Margaret Mary
Source: carnet-de-careme-2017-vf-1-lg.pdf (sacrecoeur-paray.org)
2nd week
Covenant with Abraham
“Abraham was then living in Chaldea. The Lord said to him: “Leave your country, leave the family and the your father’s house; go to the country I will show you” Gn 12, 1. Abraham believed in God and it was reckoned to him as justice: his perseverance in faith invites us too to pray with insistence.
2nd Sunday
we ask too little
“ We are eager for fragile goods, for mud and smoke, as if this smoke, this mud, is worth even better than what he wants you to do . What would be your annoyance if after having ordered a magnificent meal, after having exhausted yourself to pick up meat from all sides … the person you would have asked to eat did not touch this treat, but she asked for garlic or nuts?
2nd Monday
What are we asking for?
“If we could discover the extent and generous sentiments of His great heart, if we only knew how much pleasure he naturally takes in making good and how much love he has, we would soon soon be convinced that nothing displeases him more than these prayers which have for object only trifles. »
2nd Tuesday
Seeking the Kingdom
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all rest will be given to you in addition. “You are not forbidden to wish for riches and all the things necessary for the maintenance and even for the softness of life ; but it is necessary to wish them in their rank: always begin with asking for the greatest things, so that by granting them to you, He adds still the smallest. This was just what happened to Solomon. He begged Him to grant him the wisdom he needed to perform holy duties of royalty. »
2nd Wednesday
“A prayer that will always be answered”
“Lord, You can relieve me of the cross, You can leave it to me without my being in the least responsible for it. You can put out the fire which burns me, You can, without extinguishing it, make it so that instead of burning me it refreshes me, as it happened to the young Hebrews in the furnace of Babylon. I ask You one or the other; I don’t care which way, I will be happy. If I am happy by the possession of the goods here below, I will render immortal thanksgiving; if I am by the deprivation of these same goods, it will be a miracle that will give even more luster to your name and for which I would try to be no less grateful.
2nd Thursday
pray earnestly
“Alas Gentlemen, if only we asked God for our own conversion, the victory of our passions, our temptations, our bad habits, the detachment from all things earthly, His Love, His Peace, His paradise; at least with as much ardor as we ask him for good weather when we have a day’s journey to do… ”
2nd Friday
Pray with perseverance
” What ! Your pride cannot bear having you come back more than once for the same thing? Gentlemen, the conversion was granted to Augustine from Saint Monica only after seventeen years of tears; but also it was a complete conversion and incomparably more perfect than she had asked for it. »
2nd Saturday
Pray to glorify God.
“ The refusal you are currently receiving is only a pretense which God serves to further ignite your fervor. Do like this woman Canaanite (Mt 15, 21 s.); use against God himself the reasons he may have to refuse you: it’s true, I’m only a female dog, I don’t deserve the grace I ask for; but also, is it not on my merits that I claim that it be granted; it is on the merits of my most lovable Redeemer. Take heed, Lord, that You have no more regard for my unworthiness than for your promise, and that by wanting to do me justice You do not wrong yourself. If I were more worthy of your benefits, it would be less glorious for you to make me obtain them. It is not right to favor an ingrate. Lord, this is not your justice, it is your mercy that I implore! »