During his novitiate year with the Redemptorists in Hanoi, Marcel Văn, under obedience to his spiritual director, wrote down his Conversations with Jesus. On Easter Day 1946, there are some gems! It’s almost as if this is an Easter present to us all, any year and many years later.
I’m going to simply bring up some of the wonderful points in this long written meditation.
These two nuggets from Easter 1946 are very amusing in their childlikeness:
- Marcel asks why his Little Jesus speaks to him “so seldom”, and Jesus says that today Marcel is busy talking with his brothers, “so you must listen to them. If you always remained absorbed in listening to me, who would put up with you?” (Nobody has a sense of humour like our God!)
- When Marcel indicates that he might do something of his own initiative, Jesus both comforts and threatens: “You must remember that your will no longer exists [and we, Jesus and Marcel, have the same will]; so, if you willingly take away my will from me, I am going to force you to return it. Be careful!” Don’t take anything of Little Jesus’ from him! ^^
And there is a beautiful reflection on being children of God and having confidence throughout our spiritual journey:
Young children have only one fear: that is not to have their parents near them. They know that in the presence of their parents they have nothing to fear. If they are guilty of some fault they count on the presence of their parents who will intervene to protect them…
It is simply through lack of confidence that one does not succeed in acting with simplicity. If one had true confidence, one would be naturally simple.
Simple with God, simple with our neighbours. Because God loves us infinitely. God is an infinity of Love, and this love is the entire base on which every last spirit and atom of the universe is made, on which it rests, and from which it springs into being. To open ourselves to this, to cast out fear, and to find love, as simple as Love is in God, is progress in life.
Some related posts:
Contemplative in the Mud 