God Loves You by Patti Mansfield

hello dear brothers and sisters of Brazil and Patty Mansfield I'm coming to you from my home in Louisiana in the United States but you know how much I love you Brazilians and how much I love your country and behind me is Our Lady of Aparecida and I entrust all of you to her at this time and I entrust to her this message that I've been asked to give about God's love you know I heard father cancel Aneesa once say this and he might have been quoting from san agustin i'm not sure about that part but he said if all the Bible were destroyed and there were only one page that remained and if on that one page of the scripture everything was obliterated except for one phrase one short phrase it would be enough and what is that phrase the phrase is God is God is life Saint John tells us that God his love and the message of both the Old Testament and the New Testament is this same message that God our Heavenly Father loves us loves humanity so much that he is longing for us to be in union with him another passage that's often been called the gospel in miniature comes from John chapter 3 verse 16 and it says this for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life for God sent the son into the world not to condemn the world but so that the world might be saved through him God so loved the world that He gave he gave his very best he gave His only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have everlasting life now cuz I've been thinking about how I might want to share with you concerning this great great love of God I thought of something that our Pope Saint John Paul the second wrote that go maybe about around the time of the new millennium where he said that we made it to start afresh with Christ we needed to start afresh with Christ and from Christ and he gave us three particular ways that we can contemplate the face of Jesus you may be familiar with his teaching of john paul ii but you know of course he is a saint and he was so brilliant such a brilliant theologian such a brilliant lover such a brilliant pastoral person that what he has taught remains with us for all generations and you know his teaching has really affected me in a very deep way so what are these three ways that we can contemplate the face of jesus and discover the love of God well the first way he said was to contemplate the face of the Sun just read you John 3:16 God so loved the world that He sent His only Son and how do we contemplate the face of the Sun at the very beginning of his life here on earth he was born of the Virgin Mary who was the wife of st. Joseph and he was born as an infant in a stable now I try to keep in front of me every day and I have a number of little figurines like this an image of the baby Jesus can you see this it's a little sleeping Jesus I have another baby Jesus with his arms open I have another baby Jesus who's kind of curled up but this little sleeping baby Jesus I keep right next to my bed at night when I'm gonna go to sleep and I thought it was a particularly appropriate a choice to show you baby Jesus asleep on the hay as some of our Christmas hymns tell us why because we worldwide have been through a tremendous time of suffering with the pandemic and I know that some of us may be tempted to say to the Lord what his early followers said when they were in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and there was a tremendous storm and they were afraid for their lives and do you remember what they did when they saw that Jesus was asleep in the boat he said Lord don't you care that we are perishing and that sleeping Jesus woke up he rebuked the wind and the waves and suddenly everything was calm and I believe it was on that occasion that he said where is your faith well if we want to contemplate the face of the Sun Jesus then we should look at him in his infancy how little and helpless and tender and vulnerable he allowed himself to become well I have a story and some of you who know me well may have heard me tell this story and in fact I have a picture to show you I'm gonna hold it up here and I hope that you can get the get the idea this is a picture from when my four children were very young mark was about 12 now he's 45 Peter was maybe 9 Maria Torres was 6 and Patrick my youngest was a newborn baby and I would always take a Christmas picture of my children in front of the Christmas tree but this particular year I thought let me dress them up is the Holy Family and so mark Joseph but played the part of Saint Joseph Marie Torres of course my only girl played the part of Mary I handed Peter a little stuffed lamb and I said Peter you'll be the shepherd and of course baby Jesus was none other than my little newborn Patrick he was three months old well when I asked them to pose for this photo all of a sudden they started a little happening and giggling and and I said to them stop all that laughter you're supposed to look holy you're supposed to look like the Holy Family get serious look holy and one of them said mom we can't help it patrick has a dirty diaper and he smells like rotten eggs well I went up to little baby Jesus and I picked him up and sure enough he did have a big dirty diaper I ran off to the nursery I changed his diaper I made him sweet-smelling I brought him back we took that little picture and then the questions began well mom did Jesus cry like Patrick cries isis/isil yes of course Jesus cried he couldn't speak in words when he was hungry when he was tired when he was scared he cried and then they asked mom did baby Jesus nurse from Mary's breast is that the way he was fed and I said of course Jesus nursed from his mother's breast he was breastfed there were no there was no formula there were no bottles at the time yes Jesus breastfed just like Patrick then came the big question well mom did baby Jesus ever smell like rotten eggs you know I've never thought about it before but I said he has baby Jesus smelled like rotten eggs he had to have his swaddling clothes changed just like we change a baby's diaper and for the first time in my life the reality of the Incarnation the love of God that caused the Son of God to take on our humanity came crashing in on me see what love the father has bestowed on us that he would send his own son Jesus to become a little baby of a vulnerable helpless little baby well what should this contemplation of the face of the son do for us it should convince us God loves us so much that he went to this extent to place himself before us as a weak vulnerable child like us in all things except sin we read in the letter to the Hebrews so first contemplation if you want to think about God's love for you think about the baby Jesus just a little tiny baby sleeping on the hay waking up crying needing to be fed needing to have his swaddling clothes changed that's the love of God for you all right what did John Paul the second tell us is the second way to contemplate the face of Jesus he said look at the face of the man of sorrows and you know there is a saint who can teach us very much about the face of this man of sorrows and in fact her picture is behind me you recognize her in the United States we call her the little flower st. Therese of Lisieux in your country you call her Santa today's Nina and I know she's well-loved in Brazil and I picked some roses from my garden to put next to her to honor her well Torres in religion was called sister Torres of the Child Jesus you see she had a great love for the infancy of Jesus but what you may not know is that she had another part of her name as a religious as a Carmelite religious her name was sister Torres of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face and one of her blood sisters Saline who when she entered Carmel took the name sister Genevieve or was given the name Genevieve said after Torres's death the Torres's love for the face of jesus for the suffering face of jesus was even greater than her love for the infant jesus i'm gonna hold up here a picture of the shroud of turin and there was a drawing that i believe her sisters Saleen did that torres loved so very much of the sufferings of Jesus and after she died when she got to heaven the photographic negative of the shroud shroud of court of Turin was discovered he would say for the first time and a priest friend of mine who loved her as loved Jesus so much loved the Holy Spirit so much he said he thinks that the first thing to res did when she got to heaven was to say dear lord please let this image of your face be seen and known by more people contemplate the face of the Sun and I told you that every day I look at an image of baby Jesus to remember the love that God has for me by sending his son Jesus as a little vulnerable child well another thing that I keep in my hand and on my lips every day is this a crucifix this is my traveling crucifix it's little it's easy to pack the the corpus l can't break as easily as some of the others that I've tried to bring with me and there was a special in do put on this crucifix by a very famous priest HughesNet whose name is father Rick Thomas it was a pioneer in the charismatic renewal here in my country was a Jesuit and father ripped through his testimony I want to tell you this because of his blessing on this crucifix father Rick's has father Rick's ministry was a really charismatic ministry there was multiplication of food in father Rick Thomas's ministry there was a raising of the Dead in father Rick Thomas's ministry there was deliverance from evil spirits he would go into the jails and use a water gun to just squirt holy water at prisoners and prisoners were delivered just by father Rick's use of a sacramental like holy water well father Rick who's now deceased and I hope his cause will be will be raised and put forward at some point when father Rick saw me with this crucifix in my hands we were both speaking at an event he took this crucifix he put a blessing on it and he said whenever you preach the gospel and you hold up this crucifix I pray that God will do wonders that he will work miracles okay well every day I try to take a crucifix in my hands why because it's a way of contemplating the face of the man of sorrows it's a way of contemplating the love God has for us by sending his son not only is a little baby who lived a happy life but as a little baby who grew up to be a man who was condemned to death unjustly who was beaten and bruised and spit upon who was hung on a cross with nails that pierced his hands in his feet and was pierced through with the land and blood and water poured out of his body for us of that Man of Sorrows who said from the cross Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing who was appealed to by a thief by someone who deserved punishment Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom and the Lord said to him this day you will be with me in paradise brothers and sisters if you don't already have the habit of taking a crucifix in your hands every day I want to encourage you in this in this online conference as I'm beginning it with the talk on God's love everyday take a crucifix in your hands and this is what I do when I wake up in the middle of the night and have to use the bathroom as some of us who are older have to do I keep a crucifix on my dresser and I pick it up and I kiss Jesus I kiss the the crucified body of Jesus and I try to do that at other points during the day as well brothers and sisters we all have suffering in our life suffering comes to us in so many ways we I don't know when you see this at the at the end of May I believe it's going to be shown where will we be in terms of this pandemic in many places in my country I'm filming this on the 25th of April feast of st. mark I don't know where we are all going to be on the on the at the end of May will will the will our quarantine be lifted we'll be able to go out and about we've been quarantined for many many weeks not able to go to the Eucharist I'll talk about that in a minute but we've been through suffering with the pandemic but we all have suffering there's a suffering of broken relationships there's financial suffering there's physical suffering sickness illness death there is the suffering and married life there's a suffering of having children who perhaps have wandered far away from the family of far away from the thing there is the suffering of anxiety depression the suffering the torment of evil spirits there's all kinds of suffering how do we know that God loves us we contemplate the face of the baby Jesus but we also contemplate the face of the man of sorrows would contemplate his cross and I've said many times over the years when you're really suffering take the crucifix in your hands and look at him look at Jesus I'm holding him up for you to see now but hold the crucifix in your hands in such a way that you can see the love that the Heavenly Father God the Father has for you in not only sending his son but in allowing his son to die suffer and die for you of course we know that Good Friday wasn't the end he is risen and he's alive and this is the third way thank you Jesus this is the third way that we can contemplate the face of the of Jesus and st. John Paul the second said the third way is to contemplate the face of the one who is risen the face of the son who is risen praise God he's no longer in the tomb he's risen he's alive and he's with us still and from his place in heaven he has poured forth his holy spirit that's why we're celebrating the great gift of Pentecost and we who are involved in a movement called Catholic Charismatic renewal you are CC of Brazil we have tasted this gift of the Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey Him well how can we contemplate the face of the one who is risen one way is to look at each other is to see on the face of our brothers and sisters the face of Jesus the Risen Jesus and we know we've been told by our Lord that whatever we do for the least of his brothers we do for him those of you who are married and I'm sure many of you who are watching are married you can look at your spouse I know you might be saying right now well I I don't know I don't know you know when we fell in love it was one thing but now that we've been married fill in the blank 5 10 20 Alan I've been married 46 years now but that man that woman is the presence of the risen Jesus in your life in fact during this time of the pandemic when we have been deprived of the sacraments most of us sacraments of reconciliation very difficult to go to confession this is a long time for me to go without confessing my sins of course I'm telling Jesus I'm sorry I know he forgives me as soon as I as I ask for forgiveness but I love the sacrament of reconciliation so we don't have that sacrament most of us haven't received Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and many many many many weeks but if we were married we do have the sacrament of marriage our marriages our sacraments they're living signs of the grace of God and the love of God mother Teresa of Calcutta used to give this advice to married people she would say smile at your spouse smile at your husband smile at your wife and a woman came up to her and said a mother Teresa you don't know my husband it's very hard to smile him and mother Teresa who was known for her beautiful smile mother Teresa said well I'm married to Jesus and sometimes it's hard to smile at him too and of course after her death we found out that for not five days five months five years but for fifty years mother Teresa of Calcutta was in a spiritual darkness in her feelings she felt rejected by God she felt in her feelings she in her feelings she felt like I didn't love her and for many years she struggled to try to think of what she could do to regain his love that you would never know it looking at her because she she was known by her her smile her charity she's the boundaries of of course the missionaries of charity worked with the poorest of the poor but that smile was an act of faith she came to realize in time especially through a spiritual director I think he might have been a Jesuit who helped her see that that darkness she was in in her feelings not in her will she will to love God she smiled in faith she served she poured herself out in fact she's the one that taught us about the gospel on FiveFingers you did it for me whatever you do for one of my brothers you did it for me in her feelings she was bereft of consolation but that didn't stop her from believing in the love God had for her so when she said I'm married to Jesus and sometimes it's not easy to smile at him she knew what she was talking about because her smile was an act of faith so we who are married have this remnant of merit those of you who may be listening who are ordained the priesthood to the diaconate your living your sacrament which is a sacrament of service and so whatever you do in your in the role that you have as a deacon and as a priest you're doing to serve and to show your love and to experience the love of the risen jesus now this is a difficult part that I'm going to say well usually when I speak about contemplating the face of the Risen Jesus I speak about the Eucharist because God has shown his love for us in the crib as an infant in the crib in the cross and in the host the Blessed Sacrament and there is a great Saint who can help us and this his name is Saint Alphonsus Liguori we love st. alpha I and our family we love Saint Alphonsus Liguori we have one of his sons Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos who lived in our New Orleans area and was a great worker of healing miracle still is well st. Alphonsus Liguori it's a marled theologian he wrote so many books and one of the books he wrote which is a spiritual classic if you don't have it you should get it it's called visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary when Saint John Paul the second wrote about the Eucharist in one of his letters of apostolic exhortation I forget the category of his writing but the one Saint he recommended so highly was Saint Alphonsus Liguori and visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary and what Alphonsus does is he takes 30 days and he writes a little something to help you when you go before Jesus in the monstrance to make federación and you know brothers and sisters I've had that book for a long time and right now you know I'm in quarantine I can't go and make in person an hour of Eucharistic Adoration although I know many of you are making virtual adoration praise God for that but it gives you a little thought something to start you in for so many years when I would pick up Saint Alphonsus he would bring his writings would bring tears to my eyes because when you read the read the words of a saint they have power and why should we be very grateful to this saint and for his teaching and his help to meet the Risen Jesus and the Blessed Sacrament because while we've been only able to make spiritual communions it's the prayer written by Saint Alphonsus Liguori to make a spiritual communion that's being used all over the place we've been following masses and did in different locales you know we're really enjoying seeing some of the young men who were part of our youth prayer group many many years ago who are now ordained and priests and we love were loving going to see father Jonathan celebrate and these different priests who whose vocation was born because of baptism of the Spirit and Catholic Charismatic renewal well in many of the churches where we've been viewing the Eucharist after the priest and the deacon are receiving the priests will say you may pray with me now an act of spiritual communion and the particular one that they choose is the one by Alphonsus Liguori and so Alphonsus can teach us love which Jesus risen in the Blessed Sacrament and of course not only to adore him one of my friends could good priest friend of mine used to call adoration of the Blessed Sacrament radiation therapy he said you know when someone has a cancer very often the treatment is radiation you don't necessarily feel anything that happens when you're you're receiving radiation but the healing effect is experienced afterwards well father Cohen used to say when we go in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament it's like receiving radiation therapy the goodness of Jesus the healing of Jesus the peace of Jesus the tenderness of Jesus can heal us interiorly and even in our physical bodies how much more when we actually are at the celebration of the mass brothers and sisters and won't we all rejoice to be back at the Eucharist because we actually receive the body and blood the soul and divinity of the living and risen Jesus God Himself if that's not love brothers and sisters how do you know God loves you well there's the crib baby Jesus contemplate the face of the Sun there's the cross the sufferings of Jesus the death of Jesus and then there's the Eucharist and so we will really rejoice when we're able to get back to mass again you know mother Teresa used to say Jesus makes himself so little that a priest can hold him with two fingers two fingers and so in all these ways that we can contemplate the face of Jesus the love of Jesus we see that he is humble he's little he's tender he's a vulnerable he's approachable we shouldn't be afraid to draw near to him a passage that my husband has told me many times when I'm going to prayer when I need a word from God is draw near to God and He will draw near to you and so brothers and sisters I want to end this teaching by saying to you start afresh with Jesus start afresh with the love of God st. John says think of the love that the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God and that is what we are that's what he says remember that one phrase from the Bible that sums everything else up and repeated to yourself often during these days God is love I know when I was in that Upper Room chapel at the Duquesne Weekend 53 more than 53 years ago as I was kneeling there and surrendered my life father I'd give my life to you whatever you ask me I accept it if it means suffering I accept that to just teach me to follow your son Jesus and to love the way Jesus loves is I finished that prayer the next moment you've heard me say it many times I found myself prostrate flat on my face my hands above my head my shoes came off in the process and what did I experience I experienced the love of God the merciful tender overwhelming love of God for me personally as st. Paul writes in Romans 5:5 the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us and so we have tasted this grace of baptism in the spirit and there's always more you're making this conference this online conference there's always more because we've never lived this moment before have we there are challenges in this moment where we need more of the Holy Spirit we need more of His guidance we need more of more of his fortitude we need more of his gifts more of his charisms and so I'm gonna pray right now father in the mighty name of Jesus as I extend my my brothers and sisters throughout Brazil and wherever else this video may be used I pray father that each one would discover and knew the love of Jesus the love of the son the love of the crucified Jesus the love of the Risen Jesus the love of Jesus in the brothers and the sisters in the spouse in the children and especially in the Blessed Sacrament lord I pray that you would do as little treasures to pray infinitely more than we could ask or imagine she said I know God will meet my boundless desires and in fact that was done in her life and brothers and sisters it can be done in our lives too if we reach out and grab hold of the grace of this moment if we believe in the love of God and receive his love into our hearts my prayer on that Duchaine weekend was this jesus be real for me and I invite you to pray that with me right now Jesus be real for me and he will amen and Alleluia love to all of you bye-bye

Channel: CCRNO

Views: 964

Rating: 4.9215684 out of 5

Keywords: CCRNO, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Archdiocese of New Orleans, Catholic Charismatic Renewal of New Orleans, Patti Mansfield, Al Mansfield

Id: 3K3-y041moQ

Length: 34min 36sec (2076 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020