BROADCASTS.com

Lourdes Pinto God loves us and His mission so much that He desires to make our faith PERFECT. For our mission to be ESTABLISHED firm, each of us MUST BELIEVE what the Lord has said to us.  ​ Our FAITH must be witnessed in the way we live the storms, piercings, and thorns in our flesh. If any of us continue to believe with our minds, but not in the way we act in our daily lives, then our mission and community will not be firm. ​ Correlation between Faith and Repentance: 1. Faith: Isaiah 7:1-9 2. Repentance: Mathew 11:20-24  Isaiah (7:2): “Aram has allied itself with[a] Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”  God permits this storm to enter into the lives of His nation, Israel, SO THAT their faith can be strengthened. By the way, they acted, the condition of their hearts is revealed, so God tells Isaiah to tell His people four things to do: “Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint.”(Is 7:4) At the end of this Scripture passage, God speaks powerful words to us: “If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.” (7:9) (Another Scripture translation reads: “Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm.”) During our trials, we are tempted to contradict Jesus. Our deepest thoughts come to light. The trial reveals the condition of our hearts to ourselves. How we respond will be our rise or fall. Simeon told Mary (Lk 2:34-35) that Jesus “is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  Mary stood faithful as her heart was pierced at the Cross. We need, like St. John, to be with her in our trials.  Fr Ron asked us an important question: “Am I living my identity as a MOC and MC as God’s hidden victim of love?” He told us that the answer to that question is found in the way we ACT or react to the many daily challenges and trials God permits or wills in our lives.  Recently I suffered a piercing that wounded my heart. The Lord blessed me with that suffering so that I could honestly, without self–deception, be able to answer that question: “Im I living as a victim of love?”  I was confronted with my pure pain, but I was also confronted with feelings of anger, resentment and discouragement. As Fr Ron said, these feelings are not from God, so I started to dig deep for days before the Blessed Sacrament asking the Lord where those feelings where coming from. Why, beyond the sorrow, was I angry?  I was finally face to face with the condition of my heart.  I was able to SEE the truth about myself that God, in His infinite mercy, wanted me to see SO THAT I could Repentand BELIEVE. I was confronted with my lack of believing what He has said to me for years:  You must believe in the power of your hidden ordinary lives united as ONE to My sacrifice of love as God's hidden force that will renew the face of the earth. I found the truth, naked before God: the reason I was frustrated and angry is that I still lack faith in all that the Lord has spoken to me for so many years about victim souls. I still did not believe enough in the power of my suffering with Christ.  I believe with my intellect but I do not yet live it perfectly because I have not believed fully with a pure heart.  I still lack trust and abandonment to God’s Will.  The piercing I suffered affected me in a good way. It brought to self–knowledge and to profound repentance. Repentance brought me to greater faith. I cannot describe to you the freedom I then felt after the piercing, after receiving the gift of self–knowledge, after getting down on my knees, after I cried and asked God for forgiveness and