The Strokes of the Chisel

Divine Appeal Reflection - 190

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 190:  "Bring Me more souls in your prayers. Many times. I give you keen pleasure so that as it fills your heart with love you may recognise Me. I call you to leave yourself to the strokes of the chisel. I love you to the point of doing the good I want to souls."

There is a depth in the image of the chisel that reaches beyond ordinary ideas of suffering. Our Adorable Jesus presents sanctification as the patient work of the Divine Sculptor, who sees the likeness hidden beneath what appears rough, disproportionate, and unfinished . The soul feels the stroke; God sees the transformation. What appears painful may be removing an attachment, purifying an intention, or breaking hidden self-reliance . The Sculptor knows what must be removed because He already sees the beauty He is bringing forth. Thus, the soul is invited not merely to endure the chisel, but to trust the Hand that holds it (cf. Wis 11:23–24). Every faithful surrender allows Christ to be formed more deeply within us . The soul sees the wound; God sees the likeness. The soul feels removal; God sees preparation. The soul asks why something must be surrendered; God knows what cannot remain if Christ is to become more recognisable within it . The potter in Jeremiah reshapes clay according to his purpose (cf. Jer 18:1–6), while Isaiah(cf. Is 64:8) speaks of humanity as clay in the hands of its Maker . Yet the chisel image reveals something particularly intimate: God is not creating a lifeless object but transforming a person capable of cooperating with grace. Peter(cf. Lk 22:31–32) had to be chiselled away from self-confidence before he could strengthen others . Jacob wrestled through the night and emerged wounded yet renamed, because divine encounter had altered the very identity by which he understood himself (cf. Gen 32:22–30). Saul(cf. Acts 9:1–19) lost his sight before learning to see differently . Sometimes grace first destroys our confidence that we already know what holiness should look like. A failed promotion, ended apostolate, unanswered prayer, painful correction, or difficult responsibility may become a Divine stroke, purifying what we cannot yet see . Peter discovered that his self-confidence had to be broken before Christ could deepen his love and entrust him with souls . The Catechism (cf. CCC 1427–1429; 2012–2016) presents Christian life as continual conversion and conformity to Christ . The chisel therefore asks: What if God is not merely changing my circumstances, but changing me into the likeness of Christ? .

The strokes become especially mysterious when God permits the chisel to touch something genuinely good that has become spiritually dangerous through excessive attachment. Abraham did not have to surrender Isaac because Isaac was evil; he had to discover that even the promised gift could never become more precious than the Giver (cf. Gen 22:1–14). Hannah likewise received Samuel and then returned him to the Lord, showing that love reaches maturity when it possesses without claiming ownership (cf. 1 Sam 1:27–28). Martha’s service was good, yet anxiety had quietly entered it, revealing how even ministry can become disordered when activity ceases to flow from interior communion (cf. Lk 10:38–42). Israel received manna from heaven, yet the gift itself became an occasion for dissatisfaction when desire became stronger than gratitude (cf. Ex 16:4–8; Num 11:4–6). Thus, the Divine Sculptor sometimes removes not what is sinful, but what has become possessively loved. A mother may have to release control over an adult child’s vocation while continuing to pray with deeper trust (cf. 1 Sam 1:11, 27–28); a priest may be transferred from a fruitful parish where apostolic success has quietly become part of his identity (cf. Jn 3:30); a religious sister may lose a cherished ministry through which she unknowingly received affirmation. St. John of the Cross describes this purification as a passage from created attachments toward the freedom of loving God above every created good . The deepest surrender therefore becomes: “Our Adorable Jesus, remove whatever makes me possess what You only entrusted to me.” For authentic poverty of spirit does not despise God's gifts; it receives them gratefully, holds them lightly, and returns them whenever Divine Love asks . Under the chisel, the soul gradually learns that God may sometimes remove a gift precisely to purify its capacity to love the Giver.

Yet the most astonishing connection in this Appeal is between the chisel and intercession for souls. Jesus first asks, “Bring Me more souls in your prayers,” and then immediately asks the soul to surrender itself to His shaping. This suggests a profound mystery: the intercessor must become capable of carrying the souls for whom he prays. Moses(cf. Ex 32:30–35) descended from Sinai carrying the burden of a people who had grievously sinned . He did not merely ask God to change Israel; he placed himself between divine justice and human rebellion. Daniel confessed the sins of his people in a prayer in which he identified himself with their need for mercy (cf. Dan 9:3–19). Nehemiah wept,(cf. Neh 1:3–11; 2:11–18) fasted and prayed before rebuilding Jerusalem, allowing another people's ruin to become a wound in his own heart . The Shunammite woman is another extraordinary image: when her child dies,(cf. 2 Kgs 4:18–37) she carries the crisis toward the prophet rather than surrendering to despair . Intercession enlarges the heart, and an enlarged heart becomes painful to selfishness. A grandmother kneeling for a grandchild imprisoned by addiction may discover that, while she asks for his freedom, Our Adorable Jesus is chiselling anxiety into trust (cf. Phil 4:6–7; 1 Pet 5:7). A husband interceding for a wounded wife may realise that the healing he seeks must first pass through the death of his own defensiveness and the purification of his love . A priest praying for a hostile parishioner may be invited to surrender the desire to be vindicated and learn the mercy of Christ who intercedes even for those who reject Him . A religious praying for persecuted Christians may encounter a neglected refugee outside the convent and discover that authentic intercession sometimes brings the suffering prayed for directly beneath one's feet . A doctor praying beside a dying patient may discover that when medicine can no longer cure, presence itself can become a profound ministry of compassion . The Catechism(cf. CCC 2634–2636) presents intercession as conformity to Christ's own prayer for humanity . Thus, the soul that repeatedly carries others before God gradually discovers a mysterious reversal: while it thinks it is bringing others to Christ, Christ is bringing their wounds into the soul so that He may enlarge its capacity to love. Sometimes we pray for another person's conversion while Our Adorable Jesus is quietly using that person's name to convert something within us (cf. 2 Cor 5:17; Phil 1:6).

There is a hidden school within the chisel: God sometimes permits the soul to lose the consoling awareness of His touch so that it may learn to recognise not merely His gifts, but His Person. Our Adorable Jesus can be more deeply present in a season when He seems concealed than in a season when His nearness is emotionally unmistakable . Jacob discovered this mystery when his night of struggle became a place of encounter and blessing; he emerged wounded, yet mysteriously transformed (cf. Gen 32:24–30). Joseph could not see God's providence while descending into betrayal,(cf. Gen 37:18–28; 39:20–23; 50:19–20) slavery, and imprisonment, yet later understood that grace had been secretly guiding the entire path . The three young men did not meet God by avoiding the furnace,(cf. Dan 3:19–25, 49–50) but by discovering His mysterious companionship within it . Ruth(cf. Ruth 2:2–12; 4:13–17; Mt 1:5) likewise encountered providence through ordinary fidelity, gleaning in another person's field without knowing that her hidden obedience was being woven into the lineage of the Messiah . Thus, the chisel can purify the soul's spiritual eyesight: it teaches us to seek Christ beneath disappointment, delay, correction, obscurity, unanswered prayer, and sacrifices whose fruit we cannot yet see . Gradually, the soul begins to recognise Him in the person who tests its charity, the duty that interrupts its plans, the correction that dismantles pride, the Eucharistic silence that seems empty, and the suffering that drives it into deeper surrender . This is the contemplative revolution: Christ is not absent merely because He is not felt; He may be hidden precisely because He is teaching the soul to love beyond feeling .St. Elizabeth of the Trinity contemplated the indwelling God within the soul, while St. Brother Lawrence discovered continual communion with Him through the simplest duties. Their spirituality reveals that holiness is not confined to extraordinary experiences, but grows through loving attentiveness to God's presence in ordinary life . Their spirituality teaches that holiness is not confined to remarkable experiences, but evolves through loving sensitivity to God's presence in regular life .  Consolation is not the only language of the Divine Sculptor. Silence speaks, delay speaks, loss speaks, correction speaks, and perseverance speaks . When the soul becomes recollected, it begins to hear beneath them one mysterious invitation: “Let Me make you like My Son.” . Even though the chisel hurts, Divine Love is moulding Christ inside of us with each stroke.

The final mystery is that the finished sculpture is meant for souls. Jesus does not say merely that He wants to make the individual beautiful; He speaks of “doing the good I want to souls.” Divine craftsmanship therefore has an apostolic destination. Ananias was himself an ordinary disciple, yet his obedience became part of Saul's transformation into Paul (cf. Acts 9:10–19). The anonymous servant girl captured in Naaman's household possessed neither rank nor freedom, yet one small act of witness helped direct a powerful man toward the God of Israel (cf. 2 Kgs 5:1–4). Onesimus's transformed life shows how the Gospel can enter a damaged relationship and create the possibility of reconciliation (cf. Philem 8–21). Barnabas used his reputation to make room for someone others distrusted, helping Paul enter the apostolic community (cf. Acts 9:26–27). These are astonishing biblical pictures of secondary instruments in God's hidden providence. A parish secretary who receives a despairing stranger with dignity may become the final human sign preventing that soul from abandoning the Church (cf. Mt 25:35–40; Rom 12:10). A teacher who notices the silent child at the back of the classroom may awaken a vocation hidden beneath discouragement . A nurse who silently prays while caring for an unconscious patient performs an apostolate known perhaps only to God . A mechanic who refuses to falsify a safety inspection may protect lives he will never meet . A seminarian who receives correction without resentment may be allowing Christ to purify the future priest who will one day carry wounded consciences toward mercy . A grandmother confined to bed may transform weakness into an unseen sanctuary, offering her limitations for priests, marriages, families, and young people . St. Maximilian Kolbe reveals how complete self-surrender can culminate in extraordinary charity, while St. Marianna Cope manifests how prolonged hidden service can itself become evangelisation through merciful presence . The chisel, therefore, is preparing the soul for a mission whose dimensions it cannot yet perceive. The deepest surrender is not passive resignation but active availability: “Our Adorable Jesus, carve away whatever prevents You from loving through me.” Then suffering acquires mission, prayer acquires names, virtue acquires apostolic power, and ordinary duties become offerings . The soul finally understands why Christ permits it to remain beneath the strokes: He is not merely forming something beautiful for Himself; He is preparing a life through which other souls may encounter Him .

Prayer

Our Adorable Jesus, place us beneath Your loving chisel and remove whatever obscures Your likeness within us . Shape our wounds, weaknesses, desires, and gifts for the salvation of souls . Teach us to welcome every stroke with trust, becoming instruments of Your mercy, holiness, and love . Amen. 

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.