Labor of Love
In this talk, we come to understand the importance of preparing ourselves to embrace, and even come to desire, the tribulations of our lives as opportunities to grow in deeper union with the love of the Most Holy Trinity. As Christ desolations on the Cross brought forth the great fruit of salvation; we too in our desolations, like a woman in labor pains, can bring forth the joy of new life. The union of sorrows draws us into the union of love!
LABOR OF LOVE
1st Nail of Crucifixion
Purifying our Desires –Desiring Desolations
Lourdes Pinto, Cenacle 5/28/20
“Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.” (John 16:20-21)
Our human desires and expectations are:
· To live our life on earth without desolations, pains, sorrows, sufferings.
· To expect to live in consolations
· This is a LIE – a deception of Satan
God’s desire is to draw each of us to union with Him through our union of sorrows with Christ.
How to Respond to Christ’s Desire for Unity —#87. Diary of a MOC.
I desire to draw you into true unity, the unity of the love of the Most Holy Trinity. The union of sorrows will bring you into the union of Love…
Jesus compares the life of His followers to a woman in labor pains. The labor contractions are a wave of highs and lows.
The contractions peak =–pain. But then they come down = rest.
Our life on earth is meant to be lived in desolations and consolations. During labor, it is the painful contractions (desolations) that bring forth the child's birth. It is the mother’s love in her willingness to endure the pain that brings forth new life. This also applies to life; it is mainly in the times of desolations that we are purified, grow in virtue, come to know the goodness of God and to know ourselves, and grow in dependence and trust in God. It is in times of desolation that we are able to prove our love for God. The desolations lived in union with Christ, with trust and hope, bring forth a new creation in us, but also, it is the means to bring new life to others.
Desolation United to Me —#69. Diary of a MOC. p.210
In times of desolation, your life has the greatest power and is most fecund. In My desolation on the Cross, My life shone most brilliantly the love of God the Father. My desolation made My faith in My Father radiate its perfection.
-Through My desolation, I gave birth to My Church and all her sacraments.
-Through My desolation, I gave birth to all My sons, My priests.
-Through My desolation, the Holy Spirit expanded the maternal Heart of My Mother to embrace all of humanity.
-It is in your times of desolation that the Holy Spirit and My Mother wish to unite you more intimately to Me.
-It is in your times of desolation that you are given the opportunity and grace to suffer with Me.
-It is through your desolation that you can come to know the pain, suffering, and love of My Heart.
-It is through your desolation united to Mine that your life will also be most fecund.
My desolation was so important for the salvation of the world that the Father willed for My Mother to continue suffering My desolation on earth. Her suffering of solitude was her continuation of My desolation, and it produced and continues to produce a shower of graces for the world.
I desire for the souls who love Me to live their times of desolation united to Me and completely abandoned to the Holy Spirit. In this way, My hidden force will acquire the power of God to overcome the darkness in the world. My Cross is not My Cross without the power of desolations lived with perfect faith. (3/2/11)
7th day of our Holy Spirit Novena:
“What matter betrayals and persecutions, even on the part of her own (the most painful), She will majestically sail on through the myriads of tempests which served, serve and will serve but to render her more wondrous and glorious.”(Bl. Conchita)
In labor, the contractions are not all the same intensity and duration. Sometimes the contractions last longer; other times, they are less intense and shorter.
This, too, is similar to life; sometimes, tribulations come unexpectantly and can last a long time. Other times they come and go fairly fast. Some of our trials are intense, and others are less intense.
The way women live the pains of childbirth also vary. Some women can become very angry, irritated, and aggressive towards their spouses. Others remain calm and focused. Much has to do with the preparation they receive. Peter and I participated in “Lamaze classes.” I entered labor expecting the pains and with the desire to suffer well with Christ for souls. My focal point was Jesus crucified. My sister was in the corner of the hospital room, continuously praying the rosary.
Therefore, to live in the Will of God is to live expecting trials, challenges, storms, and sufferings as part of life and as opportunities for growth in holiness. Our desire then becomes helping to bring forth new life, and because we are moved by love, we participate with Christ willingly in the labor pains necessary to bring forth new life in us and others.
- “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” John 16:33
The coach, usually the husband, is also crucial for his wife to endure the pains and stay focused, which for me was gazing at an image of Jesus crucified during each contraction. His emotional support, encouragement, love, patience, and much affection help sustain and strengthen her. He helps his wife REMEMBER all that they learned.
- There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22
This, too, is similar to life. When we are undergoing suffering, we need the support of others, especially with prayers, that hidden force, like my sister praying in the corner of the room. You can liken the coach in childbirth to the accompanier in our community. Through spiritual accompaniment, we walk hand-in-hand, helping each other live the labor pains of life. The accompanier helps us REMEMBER what we have learned, which is easy to forget when we are immersed in deep pain and to bring our focus back to Christ and away from ourselves.
- Example of Fatima children: Lucy would come to visit Francisco and Jacinta, who had the Spanish Flu, and encouraged them. They actually encouraged each other constantly to suffer ALL and well for the intentions of our Blessed Mother.
The early Christians entered the Church expecting persecution, knowing that they would probably be martyred for their faith in Christ. They were moved by the fire of love of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and they desired to die for Christ as one with Him.
- “Suffer all with Me, no longer two but one in My sacrifice of love.”
- “As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.” –2 Corinthians 6:4-5
The fruit of the Holy Spirit of desiring to follow Jesus in rejection, persecution, sufferings, trials, hardships…. is JOY!
- “…she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.” John 16:21
- “The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:22-25
Jesus' message to LC –Lent 3/14/19.
I am making all things new. Do you think that My death and resurrection was useless and powerless? No, My little one, I am making all things new, yet few believe, they have not come to know Me, My Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit. They live in the deception of Satan’s lies and darkness. Their gods have become money, wealth, power, self, but the truth is that I am alive in the world, present with all My power and glory, and at the designated time, chosen by our Father, I, united to My faithful remnant of victim souls, will cease the dragon. Many will be lost because their pride kept them from believing in Me, the God of heaven and earth. Persevere in the mission I have entrusted to you.
(I stopped to ask Jesus how He wants me to persevere… So many times, I do not know what to do or say….)
Tell My family (LC) to pray for greater faith to believe in the words I have spoken (I understood His messages to us). If My words remain in your hearts, you will persevere through the many trials predestined for you to suffer for the glory of God and the salvation of countless souls. I desire to see each of you rejoicing ALWAYS, in good times and in bad, because you have come to believe that I am with you. You have come to taste the goodness of the Lord. Joy is the fruit of trust, and therefore, My followers live in the praise of God. My witnesses will be known in the world through the light of praise and joy that radiates from your lives. My little ones, believe that in the midst of this darkness, I am making all things new through you, with you, and in you. Proclaim what I have done in you (plural) through The Simple Path I have been leading you in. Go forth and be My disciples of Light, for the Light has already conquered the darkness.
