The Private notes of Saint Bernadette

[George]

Thank's Brigid, I've always been fascinated with Bernadette and Lourdes, after going there I'm convinced of it's uniqueness and the beautiful simplicity of Bernadette. There's a lot more to post.

[Brigid]

You went there!? Wow!!!! I admire what I've learned of Bernadette's simplicity, too.

[George]

You went there!? Wow!!!! I admire what I've learned of Bernadette's simplicity, too.

Hi Brigid, yes I went to Lourdes 7 yrs. ago this month, I also went to knock in 2000, Lourdes is a life changing experience, such a very holy place.

[George]

I suffer. My comforter, my moans rise up to you without ceasing. It is in your most adorable heart that I shed my tears. It is to your heart that I confide my sighs and my anguish. I unite my sufferings with yours. My Jesus, sanctify them through this holy union. Let this union make them sweeter and lighter and let me grow in love.

My divine spouse has made me desire a humble and hidden life. Jesus has often told me that I will not die until I have sacrificed all to him. And to convince me, he has often told me that when it is over, at the hour of death, he alone, Jesus crucified, will console me. I will carry only him, my faithful friend, with me to my grave. It is madness to attach myself to anything other than him.

                                                      A POOR BEGGAR'S PRAYER TO JESUS
O Jesus, grant me, I pray, the bread of humility,
the bread of obedience,
the bread of charity,
the bread of strength to break my will and make it conform to yours,
the bread of interior mortification,
the bread of detachment,
the bread of patience to endure the pain my heart suffers.
O Jesus, you want me crucified, fiat,
the bread of strength to suffer well,
the bread of seeing only you in everything, at every moment, Jesus, Mary, the Cross,
I want no other friends than these.

If I had to remake my character entirely, struggle endlessly against my own inclinations and destroy them, or even tear my own heart out, all this I would do to be worthy of serving you. I am entirely persuaded that the miracle you worked to reward the faith of our holy patron is but a shadow of the glorious resurrection you will deign to grant me if I am faithful to my vocation.

The faithful soul obeys God's will for the church. Her spouse wants her to be perfect in every way, doing all with faith and charity. In this way, the Father will be the guiding principle for her actions; the Son, the source of her light; and the Holy Spirit the source of her love.

Union, intimate union with Jesus, heart to heart with Jesus like Saint John, in purity and in love.

O Jesus keep me as your own.

My hope is in you, Lord. Be my refuge, for you are my strength......Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. You have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.

I was nothing, yet out of this nothingness Jesus has made something wondrous. I dare to say this for through Holy Communion I become one with God. Jesus gives me his heart; my heart is joined with his. I am the spouse of Jesus, the friend of Jesus, in other words, another Jesus. So I must live through Jesus, and my death must resemble the death of Jesus himself. How sublime is our death if we are faithful.

Above all, I must be attached to no one but Jesus Christ. I ask for his light, his strength, his divine life. I must strive for a holy death in him and with him. I am a religious, thus I have made a profession of perfection.

[Shin]

There's so much in each of these I have to take each one at a time and think on it.

[George]

There's so much in each of these I have to take each one at a time and think on it.

I know, it says Bernadette sometimes transposed texts  to adapt to the situation of a woman and a religious,  her notes were a combination of extracts from spiritual books, her own spontaneous prayers and her journals of annual retreats. I'm glad you are enjoying reading it, so am I.
She's been a part of my life for over 50 years. Back in the 1930's my mother was in a tragic fire and burned all over her body except for her face, the fire never rose above the miraculous medal she was wearing, she was anointed to die a few times, my grandmothers sister sent water from Lourdes, and they poured it down her throat, and she recovered, when my grandmother thanked the doctor he said " I had nothing to do with this, a hand greater than mine saved this girl", but they told her she would never have children, because of the burn damage   her story is even more remarkable, a miracle story really, but all my life I've heard how Our Lady of Lourdes saved my Mom, so when the opportunity came along for me to go there, I had to go and see for myself. And now I know for sure, it really happened, through the grace of God, my family was touched by Our Lady through Saint Bernadette.  

[George]

The Christian life does indeed mean battles and trials, but it also means consolations. And though I must leave Tabor and climb to Calvary, one day I will leave Calvary with Jesus and return to Tabor. A foretaste of Heaven awaits me there. My soul follows but one path: from Golgotha to Tabor. It leaves Golgotha to seek strength and courage at Tabor. Life is such a ladder.

I must work with all my strength to destroy self-love and self-interest.

Jesus does not want us attached to possessions, to human honors, to creatures. He asks humility. But his love and his generosity make this detachment less difficult and less cruel to our nature. Nothing else matters to me anymore, nothing has any value to me but Jesus, no place, no thing, no person, no idea, no feeling, no honor, no suffering, nothing can turn me away from Jesus. For me, Jesus himself is my honor, my delight, my heart, my spirit, he whom I love, what I love, my home, Heaven here on earth. Jesus is my treasure and my love, and Jesus crucified is my only happiness.

Jesus, keep me under the standard of your cross. May the crucifix not be just something I wear, something I look at, but let it be alive in my heart. Let me be transformed into a living Crucifixion, in union with you through the Eucharist. By meditating on your life and the most intimate feelings of your heart, let me draw souls to you from high on this cross where your love holds me forever.

Have mercy. Protect us from the temptations of the Demon and the illusions those temptations carry with them. Protect us from the kind of passion and sensuality that makes us disloyal and unfaithful to God.

New examination of conscience. Regret for having lacked charity toward Jesus so often, for having stifled in myself the Charity of Jesus Christ himself so often.
So many people say that Father Villefort is overflowing with charity. How I would like to be like that.

Resolution: In the future, be more charitable toward the poor (both the materially poor and the spiritually poor).

Preparation for Holy Communion.
The best preparation is meditation. I do that badly!
Renew and strengthen the resolutions I have made in this regard.     

[Shin]

Let me be transformed into a living Crucifixion, in union with you through the Eucharist. By meditating on your life and the most intimate feelings of your heart, let me draw souls to you from high on this cross where your love holds me forever.

How necessary it is.. to be crucified with Our Lord. . .

 

[Brigid]

There's so much in each of these I have to take each one at a time and think on it.

I know, it says Bernadette sometimes transposed texts  to adapt to the situation of a woman and a religious,  her notes were a combination of extracts from spiritual books, her own spontaneous prayers and her journals of annual retreats. I'm glad you are enjoying reading it, so am I.
She's been a part of my life for over 50 years. Back in the 1930's my mother was in a tragic fire and burned all over her body except for her face, the fire never rose above the miraculous medal she was wearing, she was anointed to die a few times, my grandmothers sister sent water from Lourdes, and they poured it down her throat, and she recovered, when my grandmother thanked the doctor he said " I had nothing to do with this, a hand greater than mine saved this girl", but they told her she would never have children, because of the burn damage   her story is even more remarkable, a miracle story really, but all my life I've heard how Our Lady of Lourdes saved my Mom, so when the opportunity came along for me to go there, I had to go and see for myself. And now I know for sure, it really happened, through the grace of God, my family was touched by Our Lady through Saint Bernadette.  

Praise be to God! 

[George]

But I am so exhausted in the morning. Remind myself of the temptation Father Avila experienced one day when he was on his way to celebrate Mass. He hesitated because he was so weary. Our Lord appeared to him, showing him the wound on his heart and reminding him that weariness had not prevented him from going all the way to Calvary. Courage! I must learn how to persevere also.
After all, if I am tired, even if I am exhausted, I can rest in the heart of Jesus.

Take every opportunity to pour oil and wine on wounds as Jesus did, not vinegar, and without regard to person. Or like Jesus, reach out to the poorest, to those who are suffering most, to the humble, the most abandoned. In the future, be more charitable to others, recognize both their physical and spiritual poverty.
For love of Jesus and to glorify God, I will generously accept privations, suffering and mortifications as Jesus and Mary did.

Everything is the Father's will: Homeland, fortune, happiness, work, food, life, Jesus's death. Let his will be mine.

My soul, rejoice that you resemble Jesus a little in that you are hidden behind lowliness.

May I let Jesus lead me more easily. May I be ready to accept everything, even mortification, powerlessness, living in darkness, being hidden like Jesus in a dark prison. If I let it, this prison or whatever this mortification may be will be the heart of Mary for me.

Jesus Christ at his birth: I contemplate him there with Mary and Joseph. What conditions, though! Lying in a manger where animals feed! Humiliation, privation, suffering.

For the greater glory of God, the important thing is not to do many things, but to do all things well.

What does it profit a man to gain the universe if he loses his soul? A terrible thought, but profoundly true! As Saint Ignatius said: How insignificant earth seems to me when I consider Heaven.

A good Religious should ask God for:

More humility than mortifications,
More patience than suffering,
More willingness than works,
More love than actions,
More self-denial than orders,
More results than words,
More zeal for holiness than for health.

[Shin]

Take every opportunity to pour oil and wine on wounds as Jesus did, not vinegar, and without regard to person.

This reminds me of the warnings given to religious against particular friendships.

More humility than mortifications,
More patience than suffering,
More willingness than works,
More love than actions,
More self-denial than orders,
More results than words,
More zeal for holiness than for health.

[George]

O my God, if I cannot shed my blood and give my life for you, may I at least die to all that displeases you: sin, earthly desires, desires of the flesh, the world and myself. Cross of my Savior, holy cross, cross worthy of adoration, in you alone are my strength, my hope and my joy. You are the tree of life, the mysterious ladder that unites earth to heaven, the altar on which I want to sacrifice myself by dying with Jesus.

Unlimited self-denial. Love for and fidelity to Jesus, my spouse, until death.

The heart of Jesus with all it's treasures is my portion. I shall live and die there in peace, even in the midst of suffering.

My Jesus, fill my heart with so much love that one day it will break just to be with you. My Jesus, you know I have placed you as a seal on my heart. Remain there always.

God is my creator; my Savior; my Sanctifier. I belong to God, therefore he is the absolute master of my body, my soul and my actions. He wants me to sacrifice my will to him at every moment and in everything. In the hands of my superiors, I should be like a dead person, or more accurately a staff. Never mind if they make mistakes. I know that I will never be wrong if I obey with a spirit o0f faith. My crown in heaven should shine with innocence and it's flowers should be as radiant as the sun. Sacrifices are the flowers Jesus and Mary chose.
I must be a victim; that is to say, I should live sacrificially every day as Jesus and Mary did.

Saint Ignatius does not insist that we be indifferent, but that we try to become indifferent. My heart is made for God and he is jealous. I want it to be entirely his. I will become a saint if I am humble, docile and generous.

Poverty should not just be difficult, but crucifying. Jesus chose the most humble things to satisfy his needs, such as hay to soothe his frail and delicate body. If he ever had any preference, it was always for suffering; unlike him, I choose comfort and pleasure. With the help of your grace, starting today, that is over. I want to walk in your footsteps, suffer, conquer my weaknesses and die to all that is not in you, in order to live for Jesus, with Jesus, and in Jesus. I this way, I shall belong entirely to Jesus. How sweet it will be to die in this way with Jesus.

Holy scripture tells us that whoever gives in to temptation will perish. Never fear temptation: it is useful and necessary to us. I must arm myself with prayer and have complete trust in our Lord and great mistrust of myself. I must face every trial with profound humility and blind, simple, happy obedience.
Jesus crucified is my model. I must work tirelessly to be like him. I should no longer allow myself to be sad about anything other than offending him or having nothing to suffer for him, for love of him.

What was mine no longer belongs to me. I have given all to Jesus.
Resolution: Energy to break my will even in the most insignificant things. Pause twice a day and make reparations for the time I have lost.
Detachment from creatures and things. Watch over my emotions. Listen to Jesus who says to me often: "My daughter, give me your heart. I want it entirely for myself."

The more I contemplate God, the more God looks on me. The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too.

[Shin]

Detachment from creatures and things. Watch over my emotions. Listen to Jesus who says to me often: "My daughter, give me your heart. I want it entirely for myself."

The more I contemplate God, the more God looks on me. The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too.

The older I get the more I see how the virtuous life, virtue as in real defined traditional virtues, is so important to loving God.

Because as you develop this active life of various virtuous habits, the spiritual life improves, and one truly is loving God and learning to love God more.

[George]

In my life, the more I pray and the more virtuous I strive to become, the more my circle of friends diminishes, even within my own family I'm looked upon as odd, a bore, delusional. There is an ancient document known as " The letter to Diognetus" which discusses how Christians were looked upon in the early years of the Church, it's amazing how little things have changed for those who truly try to live out the life we are called upon to follow. As the document states "Such is the Christian's lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself." With a nod to another Christian writer , I have come to know peace, for I have come to know, "The invisible companionship of God". "The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too".

[Shin]

It's very comforting to hear you say that George, it makes me feel less alone. 

God keep you my brother in Christ!

[Brigid]

In her quotes I don't see the very simple girl she was as a young teen (at least how I imagine she was - since Mary only seems to appear to the very simple). She seems like the woman she is and with little mention of Mary even though Mary appeared to her.