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“If today you hear His Voice…”

2/27/2012

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Part I: February 2012: “If today you hear His Voice…”

“Dear children, Today I call you to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and to permit Him to transform you. My children, God is the immeasurable good and therefore, as a mother, I implore you to pray, pray, pray, fast and hope that it is possible to attain that good, because love is born of that good. The Holy Spirit will reinforce that good in you and you will be able to call God your Father. Through this exalted love, you will sincerely come to love all people and, through God, consider them brothers and sisters. Thank you. ”

It is also reported that as Our Lady gave her blessing she said: "On the way on which I lead you to my Son, those who represent Him walk beside me"

(Our Lady of Medjugorje’s Message of November 2, 2007)

 

            I believe that Our Lady is the greatest evangelist of all time. In the 16th century, within eight years of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearances to St. Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City, 9 million Indians throughout Mexico converted to Christianity. No one truly knows how many times the Virgin Mary has appeared throughout the world, wherever her children have listening hearts. The Blessed Virgin Mary is calling her children today to say yes to her Divine Son, Jesus, and through Him, to our Heavenly Father.
 

His Mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5)
 

             I would like to share with you the testimony of the spiritual conversion of Alma, who heard the Lord calling her to give her soul to Him, and whose life has been (and is being) profoundly and beautifully changed by her yes to His call. (Names have been changed.):

“If today you hear His Voice, harden not your hearts”. Psalm 95

            It was my nephew Jay’s death that opened my eyes.  But no, I’d felt God whispering my name long before that.  It made no difference which Catholic church I was in.  No matter what state of mind I was in, or what I was holding in my heart, it was as if someone was looking through me, reading my innermost feelings and thoughts—and understanding.  And it seemed like it was quite often that I’d hear Psalm 95, and each time I felt that tugging on my heartstrings. I knew, as time passed, that He was calling me, but I turned away my ears, and did not acknowledge His Voice.  I felt like He had a place in my life—in church on Sunday.  Put Him on a shelf on my way out of church, and pick Him up again next Sunday on my way into church.

            Don’t get me wrong, I was raised “in the church”.  Mass on Sundays, Communion, the Sacraments. I remember, as a child, knowing that if I waited long enough, the priest would say, “En aquel tiempo…”, and a story about Jesus would begin as he read the gospel.  Also, I remember my sister reading Bible stories to us. My favorite one was the one about Solomon and the two women who claimed the same baby. What I mean is, I’ve always been aware of the Presence of God, but it was not really a part of me.  I’d go to Mass, and line up for Communion, but it was something I did automatically, without thinking. I’d walk out of church and forget about God until the following Sunday.  So you see, I was always AWARE, but not really AWAKE.

            And then Jay died.  We gathered at the church office to make arrangements for the funeral, and the first thing Father Henry asked was, “What can you tell me about Jay?”, and everyone was quiet, so I spoke up and told him about how good he’d been, how he’d taken care of his mother after her surgery, and how he’d always been a good son, yada, yada, yada. He then asked, “What church did he go to?”  Well, he did not go to church. I guess he went once in a while, whenever he felt like it.  After the meeting, I stayed for confession.  I walked into Father Henry’s office, and he shut the door behind him.  And then he turned my life around. I came face to face with my own mortality.  Why should I take it for granted that I’m going to live forever? Jay went to bed one night and never woke up.  It could happen to me!  Crudely speaking, I could be caught (not literally, I hope), with my pants down! 

Life is a transient thing, and it can end at any time, and I knew that something in me had to acknowledge the Lord. I felt that I needed to find out why He’d been calling me.  I JUST KNEW He was. On that day I gave my life, heart, and soul to Jesus. 

At Mass the following Sunday, the verse after Communion was “I chose you—you didn’t choose me” John 15:16. That was directed right at me. I’d been feeling Him around me, even when I didn’t want Him around. I could feel His thoughts intertwined with mine, telling me, “Do this.” And it would persist until I followed through.

Like that homeless man I’d seen before at restaurants, drinking coffee and staring out the window, into what? He was always alone, physically and, I just knew, spiritually as well.  I paid for his lunch once, and he never knew who paid.  And the Voice, said, “Good, but…”  It was like I’d fed a stray dog. He was a person, but I might as well have tossed a bone in his direction.

 Sometime later, I saw him again, and I opened my purse to give him a couple of dollars, but all I had was a ten, and I thought, “No way! I can’t give him that!” And I closed my purse. But the Feeling persisted, saying, “Give it to him.”  Moodily I got the money and walked to him and asked, “Have you eaten?”  And he turned to me and we locked eyes.  I still remember those eyes, like they were looking into my soul. “Not really”, he answered.  I gave him the money and turned away, and as I walked off I heard him say, “God bless you.” Did The Feeling make him say that to me by way of approval?  Because as much as I tried to deny it, I felt the presence of God, I felt like in his eyes I had seen Jesus eyes.  That evening, as I read my Word Among Us, it spoke about not turning away from the wanderers, for you never know if they are angels of God. So you see, God was directing my life through Scripture.

            After I gave my soul to God, I went through stages.  First came such a feeling of awe, and enormous gratitude, that He had tapped ME on the shoulder and had extended his loving hand to me that I would cry during the entire Mass.  I’d feel Love in my heart, and the tears would roll down my cheeks.  For who am I, that the Lord has chosen ME, of all people, as unworthy as I am? Since then I’ve felt joy, trust, and the knowledge that I’m safe in His hands.  I am ready to live in, for, and by His word.

As St. Paul wrote to the Colossians in 1:21-23, “You were once alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds. God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven.”
 

Conversion is a daily transformation. The closer we draw to God, and the more we say yes to His directives to us, the more grace we will receive to be transformed. Grace is not something magical or easy. Yes, it is gift, yet it is a gift that we must consent to use. Right now, at this moment, Jesus is calling you (and me) to convert.


“If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts…”


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I Am The Way, The Truth, and the Life"

2/5/2012

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_ “Only the Glory of God Remains”: a 4-part series

On Modern Society’s Moral Degeneration and Its Remedies

 

“Everything around you is passing, and everything is falling apart; only the glory of God remains…I am especially praying for the shepherds, that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth. Thank you.”

 (excerpt from message of Our Lady of Medjugorje, Sept. 2, 2011)

 

January 2012: Part 4: “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”

 

“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” (John 14:1-11)

 

            When I was in Medjugorje in 1991, at every Mass I experienced the Father’s Heart so powerfully drawing me to the altar. All of the Masses were very crowded, with many people standing, but I never worried about whether I had a place to sit. I just kept inching my way through the crowd towards the altar. I wondered why I was experiencing the Father’s Heart, because, “Isn’t it Jesus who is present in the Blessed Sacrament?” Then I remembered that Jesus had said, “Do You not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?” Jesus is the Way to our loving Father, who is longing for us to come home to Him.

 

Pilate said to Him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18: 37-38)

 

            Today we live in a world full of Pilates, who ask, “What is truth?” They do not know that truth exists. They believe that there are only opinions and preferences. They believe that “truth is relative,” that whatever I believe is truth for me, and whatever you believe is truth for you, even if the two beliefs are totally opposed to each other.  

            Today we live in a world full of people who are blind to the truth. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:29). (What an apt description of the culture of death in which we live!)  We live in a world in which Christ is again (and again) crucified in His true disciples by those who—with no knowledge of truth—will bow down to whatever is “politically correct” at the moment. Yet St. John the Evangelist tells us in his Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

            “The glory of God is man fully alive,”St. Ireneus wrote. Our Lady of Medjurgorje tells us that “only the glory of God remains.” It is through the Holy Eucharist received with a believing heart that we come “fully alive.”It is in the Holy Eucharist that the “the glory of God remains.” In John 6 we can read and meditate on Jesus’ words about the “life” that we receive through His Body and Blood:

 

(27) “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on Him has God the Father set His seal”…

(33) For the Bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”

(35) Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and He who believes in Me shall never thirst”…(40) “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day”…(47-48) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life”…(51) “I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh”…

(53-54) So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day”…”

 

(66-69) After this many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him. Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.”

 

 

  Our Lady of Medjugorje’s message to Mirjana Soldo of January 2nd, 2012


Dear children; As with motherly concern I look in your hearts, in them I see pain and suffering; I see a wounded past and an incessant search; I see my children who desire to be happy but do not know how. Open yourselves to the Father. That is the way to happiness, the way by which I desire to lead you. God the Father never leaves His children alone, especially not in pain and despair. When you comprehend and accept this, you will be happy. Your search will end. You will love and you will not be afraid. Your life will be hope and truth which is my Son. Thank you. I implore you, pray for those whom my Son has chosen. Do not judge because you will all be judged.


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O Come Let Us Adore Him

2/5/2012

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Picture
_  “Only the Glory of God Remains”: A 4-part series

On Modern Society’s Moral Degeneration and Its Remedies

 

“Everything around you is passing, and everything is falling apart; only the glory of God remains. Therefore, renounce everything that distances you from the Lord. Adore Him alone, because He is the only true God. I am with you and I will remain with you. I am especially praying for the shepherds, that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth. Thank you.”

(excerpt of message of Our Lady of Medjugorje, Sept. 2, 2011)

 

December 2011: Part 3: “O Come Let Us Adore Him”

 

 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

 

            In this world the Christ Child is being more and more exiled.  Walmart and other major department stores are selling “holiday” cards, “holiday” trees, “holiday” gifts, and the other usual sources of huge profit, while the name “Christmas,” which expresses the true “reason for the season,” is nowhere to be found in their buildings.

            People wander from store to store, anxious over what to buy for family and friends, and it seems to me that hearts long to give in the season of Advent, that no matter how much people buy, they never feel that they have spent or given enough. Maybe it’s because we have lost sight of the True Gift. Maybe it’s because we haven’t received the True Gift into our empty hearts. We do not know what we truly long for.

            We have lost sight of the reason for which the Christ Child came to that cold cave, which was like an image of the cold world which has never warmly received Him. Yes, there were a few souls who came to adore and worship this newborn King—some shepherds and three wise men—hearts hungering for the salvation that He brought with Him, hungering for the wonder of His infinite love, reflecting the love of His Father (and ours) who gave Him to us to suffer, even from His birth and throughout His life, and to die that we might have eternal life.  How many souls are theretoday—to use Our Lady’s words—who fervently desire to adore Him alone, because He is the only true God?

            Maybe it’s appropriate that the name “Christmas” has been banished from the department stores, because I imagine Jesus going into the department stores—as He did in the temple--and overturning the tables and shelves and shouting, “These material things are not the Gift that My Father has sent to you! This is not the reason for My coming!” The artificial holiday trees, the garlands and glitter, are signs of a world that wants to cover up its emptiness with illusions of happiness, either blind to the truth that true joy and true love require sacrifice, or unwilling to make the sacrifice: the living sacrifice of our hearts to the Living God.

            “O come let us adore Him”…” in Spirit and in Truth.” O come let us adore Him, Really Present in all of the tabernacles of the world—present even from His very conception in the Blessed Virgin Mary’s womb. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”

(Heb. 13:8).

            “O come let us adore Him”…”Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9)...”For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.6:23).

            “O come let us adore Him”…who “although He was a Son,…learned obedience through what He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). “O come let us adore Him”…”Jesus”…who “suffered…in order to sanctify the people through His own blood” (Heb. 13:12)…”Christ…suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps”(1 Pet. 2:21)…”When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He trusted to Him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23).

            “O come let us adore Him”… “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—“ (Eph. 2:8).

            “O come let us adore Him”…”While we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6)...”For to this end Christ died and lived again that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom. 14:9).

            “O come let us adore Him”…for “ grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift” (Eph. 4:7).

            “O come let us adore Him”…”And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2)…”Through Him let  us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of  lips that acknowledge His name” (Heb. 13:15)…“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”

(Rom. 12:1).

            “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”(2 Cor. 9:15)

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The Shield of Faith

2/5/2012

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Picture
_ “Only the Glory of God Remains”: a 4-part series

On Modern Society’s Moral Degeneration and its Remedies

 

“Everything around you is passing, and everything is falling apart; only the glory of God remains. Therefore, renounce everything that distances you from the Lord. Adore Him alone, because He is the only true God. I am with you and I will remain with you. I am especially praying for the shepherds, that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth. Thank you.”

(excerpt of message of Our Lady of Medjugorje, Sept. 2, 2011)

 

November 2011: Part 2: The Shield of Faith

 

“…besides all these, taking the shield of faith,

with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.” (Eph 6:16)

 

 

            In 1962 the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayer from public school classrooms; and in subsequent cases prayer by teachers or administrators (or planned or sanctioned by them) at school functions, such as sports events and graduations, has been banned. Only prayer organized by students, without any kind of input from school personnel, is now allowed in schools. In a shocking case in Castroville, Texas this past school year, the valedictorian was told that she could not pray as part of her graduation speech. This directive was reversed when a Christian legal defense group took the case to court. It is an example of how some organizations and institutions have extended this spiritual war even beyond legal prohibitions.

            In these and other ways, our society has been bringing about the “passing” of faith, “bequeathing” to our children a secular society in which, even in many social settings, it is unacceptable to express faith in God, or even to use His Name. It occurred to me that, in this spiritual vacuum, we urgently need champions of faith to inspire us to stand firm and “take the shield of faith,” no matter how “politically incorrect” that may be. David, who slew the giant Goliath, is just such a champion.

            When David decided to fight the giant, Goliath, he was confident that he would kill him. Why? Not because he had confidence in himself, but because he had unshakeable faith in the Lord. In 1 Sam. 17, we read that he said, “…who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”(v. 26).

 King Saul offered his armor to David, who didn’t own any armor, because he was only a shepherd boy, who had nonetheless already killed lions and bears (with faith in God), who had attacked his father’s sheep. But David turned the offer down, because, he told the king, he had never used armor before. Insteadhe “put on the…armor of God...He was “strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (Eph 6:10-11)… Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, or wallet; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine” (1 Sam 17:40).

When Goliath approached David, he said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hand” (vs. 44, 47) He put one of the stones into his sling and slung it, striking Goliath on his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. Then David, who had no sword, ran and stood over the Philistine and killed him with his own sword.

How did David possess such extraordinary faith? In the midst of an army of experienced warriors, he was an inexperienced youth. I believe that his great faith was the fruit of the time he spent as a shepherd, alone with only his sheep and the living God. “Living God” was not a term that he had memorized; it expressed his living experience with God. He not only believed in God; he knew Him. David is believed to have written somewhere close to half of the Psalms: beautiful heart expressions of a man who loved the Lord and trusted Him with all of his most intimate emotions. Author of the Shepherd Psalm (Psalm 23), he who was a shepherd knew the incomparable love of the Good Shepherd, who leads us to “green pastures” and “still waters,” who “restores our souls” and defends and “comforts”us with His “rod” and His “staff”; who never leaves us. “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” It is God who is goodness and mercy.

We are all capable of becoming “champions of faith,” each of us in the vocations and missions that the Lord calls us to. In order for our faith to grow into those heroic dimensions, we must spend time with the living God. In solitude and silence, we must learn to surrender our hearts to the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus; we must truly experience God as our Good Shepherd, and more truly as our loving Father.

If you haven’t been spending time with Him every day, I encourage you to set aside a time every day—even if for only 5 minutes in the beginning. If you are consistent in spending that time with Him, your desire to spend time with your Father will grow, and the length of time that you spend will increase. It is this “quiet time” spent with our God that is the remedy for the loss of faith in our increasingly godless society. It is the growth of faith in our individual hearts that will increase the faith in our nations.

M. Nadine, in her book “God’s Armor,” shares with us her conversation with Jesus about faith (pg. 42):

There is nothing natural about the gift of faith or any of these gifts. They are  supernatural and are given to us to help us do supernatural things. I asked the Lord, “What kept You on the water? Peter didn’t do very well.” Jesus said, “My Father’s love.” Jesus was always held in the Father’s love. The Father’s love is what ultimately moves behind the gift of faith. It is the power of His love. The Father’s love is like the engine in a car; it gives it the power to move. Once we begin to trust in that kind of love, then we begin to trust in the Person who is Love. We know then that this Love, the Father Himself, will carry us through.”

 

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Our Father Deliver us from Evil

2/5/2012

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Picture
_  “Only the Glory of God Remains”: a 4-part series

On Modern Society’s Moral Degeneration and Its Remedies

 

October 2011: Part 1—“Our Father…deliver us from evil.”

 

            Ever since I read the message of September 2, 2011 from Our Lady of Medjugorje, I have spent much time reflecting on and praying about its meaning, and about the moral decline of modern society: a “falling apart” of true moral values. Our Lady urgently calls to us:

 

"Dear children; with all my heart and soul full of faith and love in the Heavenly Father, I gave my Son to you and am giving Him to you anew. My Son has brought you, the people of the entire world, to know the only true God and His love. He has led you on the way of truth and made you brothers. Therefore, my children, do not wander, do not close your heart before that truth, hope and love. Everything around you is passing and everything is falling apart, only the glory of God remains. Therefore, renounce everything that distances you from the Lord. Adore Him alone, because He is the only true God. I am with you and I will remain with you. I am especially praying for the shepherds that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth. Thank you."

 

A friend of mine sent me (via email) a 5-part video series from Women of Grace Television Show, hosted by Johnette Benkovic. This particular 5-part series, which I have begun viewing, is Mrs. Benkovic’s interviews with Fr. Joseph Esper, author of Spiritual Dangers in the 21st Century. The ideas discussed by Fr. Esper and Mrs. Benkovic in the first program (America in Decline, which aired on EWTN on June 13, 2011) havehelped to shape my reflections, which I share with you in this devotional.

 

The words of Our Lady that ring in my mind and seem to pound in my heart are: “Everything around you is passing and everything is falling apart…” Sounds frightening, doesn’t it?  In Mark 5:36 “…Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue (whose daughter, apparently, had died), ‘Do not fear, only believe.’” I believe that everything must pass, and everything must fall apart in order that only the glory of God will remain. I believe the Lord’s words in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

 

And I also see and believe that Satan has had and continues to have plans for us: evil plans for our spiritual destruction and our damnation. At the same time, I believe that Satan, although he is very powerful in relation to man, has no power whatsoever in relation to Almighty God, our Savior. Isaiah 5:20 states: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Woe to those who dare to fight the Living God!

 

Fr. Joseph Esper writes and speaks about events in America that have planted destructive ideas that have caused a greater and greater decline in the “moral fabric of our nation.” The first such event that he mentioned was the publication in 1948 of Alfred Kinsey’s book, Sexuality in the American Male. I remember reference to that book in a college psychology course that I took in 1973. In it Kinsey published the results of surveys of American men about their sexual behaviors, and the implication of it, as published in my textbook, was that any behavior that could be recorded from the surveys, was natural and good, simply because it occurred. It is clear to me that that book contained some of the most powerful seeds of the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, in which premarital sex, sexual promiscuity, and living together before marriage began to be regarded by an increasing number of people as okay. While there has been sexual sin from the time of the Fall, at one time most people believed that purity and self control in sexuality was good: to be desired and sought after. During the “sexual revolution,” people who waited until marriage to have sex, only with their husband or wife, began to be considered “uptight,” or “repressed.”

 

The fruit of that “sexual revolution” grows increasingly bitter. Divorce rates have dramatically increased since the passing of “no-fault” divorce laws in the 1960’s. Homosexual men and women have “come out of the closet” and can even get married to each other in some states, perverting God’s plan (from the very beginning) of a life-time marriage between a man and a woman. Recently, I read that some pedophiles are banding together to go to the American Psychological Association to ask them to state that pedophilia is not a disorder, and they are claiming that the sex that they have with children is “consensual.” It is a “downward spiral” of evil.                                        

 

At the end of her message Our Lady says: “I am especially praying for the shepherds that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth.”  Recently a priest at our parish asked that the Little Handmaids would pray “that priests would not be seduced by the spirit of secularism in our society.” Soon after his request, I read some articles about two Catholic priests—one American and one Canadian—who were disciplined by their bishops for preaching boldly against the sin of homosexual acts. All of our priests, at every level of authority, urgently need our prayers.

 

From Our Lady of Medjugorje’s message of October 2, 2011, we can see that the most powerful medicine for all of this spiritual sickness is our personal relationship with God the Father:

 

"Dear children; Also today my motherly heart calls you to prayer, to your personal relationship with God the Father, to the joy of prayer in Him. God the Father is not far away from you and He is not unknown to you. He revealed Himself to you through my Son and gave you Life that is my Son. Therefore, my children, do not give into temptations that want to separate you from God the Father. Pray! Do not attempt to have families and societies without Him. Pray! Pray that your hearts may be flooded with the goodness which comes only from my Son, Who is sincere goodness. Only hearts filled with goodness can comprehend and accept God the Father. I will continue to lead you. In a special way I implore you not to judge your shepherds. My children, are you forgetting that God the Father called them? Pray! Thank you.”

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

October is the month of the Most Holy Rosary; the month of Missions; and Respect Life Month. Please offer your daily Rosary for:

·         The turning of our hearts to Our Father

·         His blessing on all missionaries

·         All of “the shepherds, that they may be worthy representatives of Jesus, and may lead us with love on the way of truth.”

·         That He will give us the grace to grow in the virtue of purity

·         That He will give us the grace to grow in respect for life from the moment of conception until natural death

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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The Beloved

2/5/2012

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_  September 2011:  The Beloved

 

In honor of Our Lady of Sorrows, whose feast we celebrate on September 15. She is our Sorrowful Mother, who suffered all with her Son, Jesus,

and continues to suffer with all of her children

 

            When Sofia was first diagnosed, at the age of 4, with pervasive developmental disorder, it was a terrifying time for me. We were living in a town where we had no extended family and no friends; it was the only place where Charles had been able, at that time, to find a job. And he was in denial about the serious developmental problems of our younger daughter. So I felt painfully alone. One day, as I was walking to our local supermarket with Sofia, I glanced to the right and for a split second saw Jesus walking in the same direction. Without saying a word to me, the Lord clearly communicated: “Do not be afraid; you are not alone; I am with you. We are walking together in the same direction.”

            When Sofia was very young, it was very difficult for me to take her to Mass, but I knew the Lord wanted me to do that. She could not sit still and could not be quiet, even though she could not communicate much with language. The Lord has given her the beautiful gift of a very lovely voice, and she can very quickly learn the melody of any song, and she loved to sing at Mass: “Jingle Bells,” “Puff the Magic Dragon,” or whatever else “the Spirit moved her” to sing. For a while I would take her to the “cry room,” but it seemed like she was even too distracting for people in there.

So I began taking her outside and walking the beautiful grounds, and we would take turns singing to each other, and I would talk to her about Jesus and Mary when we would visit the lovely statues on the church grounds. I will never forget the day that she climbed up to where she could see the Baby Jesus in Mother Mary’s arms, and she exclaimed with more awe than I have ever heard from anyone before or since: “Baby Jesus!” We would always go back in the church in time for me to receive Holy Communion, and for Sofia to receive a blessing from the priest.

 One Sunday Sofia was sick, and so I left her with her Dad and went to Mass with my older daughter. A friend of mine said, “You are really going to enjoy this Mass,” and, half-heartedly (because I was missing Sofia) I said, “Yes,” and I really hoped that I would enjoy the Mass more. But I didn’t. The surprising thing was that I was not only missing Sofia; I realized that I was not experiencing the same intense closeness to Jesus that I experienced when I was with Sofia; I was missing the powerful presence of the Lord that I experienced with Sofia.

A few nights after that, I had a dream of kneeling behind Sofia, and I hugged her to myself with great love, saying, “I love You, Jesus; I love You, Jesus…” over and over again. This is the first time that the Lord showed me so clearly that, in lovingly caring for Sofia, I was loving and serving Him. And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:40).

When Sofia was about 8 years old, we were members of a parish where the priest was really bothered by Sofia’s constant motion and noise. One Sunday, when I entered the church with both of my daughters (Sofia making her usual “noise”), the pastor did not even greet us. He waved us to the cry room. My heart was painfully pierced, knowing that my beloved daughter was not welcome with her “noise.” I took Sofia to the cry room, and I was the one who cried. Tears streamed down my face, as I silently cried about all of the times Sofia had been excluded and rejected. It hurt more than ever to have our pastor exclude us. But I knew why we were there. I knew we had come to honor Jesus, not the pastor, and so I said to Him, as I cried: “We are here for You, Lord, and He immediately responded to me, “You (both of my daughters and I) are welcome in My Heart.” I was immediately consoled by the Lord’s love.

Soon after that the Lord directed me to attend the church where every member of my family was welcomed and warmly loved. That is the parish where Sofia made her First Communion. At a Mass celebrated especially for her, she shone as the Lord’s Beloved as He came to her in His Most Holy Sacrament. She was also loved by all who helped to make her day so special. She had been prepared for the sacrament by a very kind lady—who remains our dear friend—who always warmly welcomed her into her house, greeting her by calling her “My Angel.” At her special Mass my hyperactive child calmly and reverently received Our Lord. After the First Communion Mass, the prayer group who had organized it gave Sofia a beautiful reception, where she received many very special gifts.

Thirteen years later, Sofia is still a little child, developmentally. Her life is still very much a challenge for her, and for my husband and me. Several weeks ago my husband was working all night, and so Sofia and I were alone at our house. At 4:30 in the morning I woke up to Sofia’s scream, and I went immediately to her bed, where she was whining loudly. Without knowing what the problem was, since she cannot tell me, I tried to calm her by speaking to her soothingly. She screamed again and hit me. I think she may have had a nightmare.

And so, I sat next to her and prayed for her. After a little while I began praying the Divine Mercy chaplet. This is my “urgent need” prayer, because Jesus told St. Faustina that we can obtain anything that is God’s will through praying this chaplet, if we trust in Him as we pray it. I was meditating on the sorrowful mysteries as I prayed it, and when I got to the fourth mystery—Jesus carries His Cross—a powerful image came to me, and I experienced the Lord’s presence through that image.

In that image Jesus was sitting on the ground underneath His Cross, too tired to get up, and I was sitting next to Him, feeling the same way. In the image Jesus and I rested our heads against each other’s, and I felt one with Him in our suffering. I cannot describe to you the consolation that I felt through that experience. As I was experiencing this, Sofia became totally calm, and we were both able to go back to sleep.

 

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4)

 

I have been pondering that image ever since. It occurred to me that I only saw one Cross in the image, and I wondered why I didn’t see my cross and Sofia’s cross. The Lord has given me the understanding that, when we share our suffering with Him, there is only one cross: the Cross of Jesus Christ.

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The Cross of Conversion

2/5/2012

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_ August 2011: The Cross of Conversion

 

            I have heard it said that the three most important words in a marriage are: “I love you.” However, my experience in my 24-year marriage has been that often, before I can say, “I love you,” I must first sincerely say, “I’m sorry.”  In fact, it is a rare day when I do not need to set things right” with my husband at least once during the day by apologizing for some impatient or unkind words or some inconsiderate act; and my husband has also apologized more times than we can count.

            Likewise, in my relationship with the Lord, there isn’t a day that passes that I do not express sorrow for some thought(s), word(s), or act(s) that I know have offended Him.  What moves me to express that sorrow is a genuine regret about offending Him, “because You are all good and deserving of all my love.”  The Lord seeks to have spiritual union with us, a kind of spiritual marriage, but that union cannot exist for long if we are too proud or too fearful or too unconcerned to tell Him that we’re sorry when we offend Him.  Often I express that sorrow as soon as I have sinned in some way against Him, but sometimes in the stress of the moment, I forget.

 And so, once a day, I take the time to review my day. I begin by giving thanks for the patient, kind, peaceful, loving moments of my day, and as I am remembering those moments, I also become aware of the moments when I lost my patience, was unkind, or in any way caused pain to my husband, my daughter, myself, or anyone else through sinful attitudes. I ask the Lord to forgive me for those and all of my sins and to give me the grace to overcome those sins; and to also give me the grace to forgive myself for those sins and to forgive anyone who has offended me. What a relief to get those sins “off of my chest!” I feel so much lighter, and my closeness to the Lord is restored. Without that daily examination of conscience the wall between the Lord and me would get higher and higher. Likewise, in my marriage to Charles we often talk about our day at the end of it, and we “clear the air” at that time if there are any “leftover” hard feelings. Without that frequent “clearing of the air,” resentment would build and build, and there would be no room for “I love you’s.”

A daily examination of conscience is essential for our personal conversion, but it cannot take the place of the Sacrament of Confession, where we receive the most powerful grace of conversion. The Church only obligates us to go to sacramental confession once a year, but can you imagine a marriage surviving if the spouses only had one ritual act of apologizing once a year? The more often and the more deeply we are reconciled with the Lord, the closer we can draw to Him. It is reported that, on August 6, 1982, Our Lady, Queen of Peace, appearing in Medjugorje stated: “Monthly confession will be a remedy for the Church in the West. One must convey this message to the West.”

 

            What does the Church in the West need a remedy for? I believe that reflecting deeply on this parable of Jesus from Luke 18:9-14 will give us some light on that question:

 

             He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others:  "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.'  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

(Luke 18:9-14)

           

            If we think ourselves too good to need frequent confession, I believe that we are like the Pharisee, who “trusted in himself that he was righteous and despised others.” Through monthly confession, we can gradually become more and more like the tax collector, “who standing far off,  would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner.’” We will become more humble and more trusting in the mercy of God, instead of trusting in ourselves “that we are righteous.” It is the prayer of the Little Handmaids of our Sorrowful Mother that the Church will be restored through sacramental confession in a spirit of humility.

 

            I believe that the need for this spirit of repentance is growing ever more urgent. On July 2, 2011, it is reported (www.medjugorje.ws) that Our Lady of Medjugorje gave the following message to us through Mirjana:

 

            Dear children; today I call you to a difficult and painful step for your unity with my Son. I call you to complete admission and confession of sins, to purification. An impure heart cannot be in my Son and with my Son. An impure heart cannot give the fruit of love and unity. An impure heart cannot do correct and just things; it is not an example of the beauty of God’s love to those who surround it and to those who have not come to know that love. You, my children, are gathering around me full of enthusiasm, desires and expectations,
and I implore the Good Father to, through the Holy Spirit, put my Son—faith, into your purified hearts. My children, obey me, set out with me.

It is also reported that, as Our Lady was leaving, to her left she showed darkness and to her right a Cross in golden light. To “admit and confess” our sins is a “difficult and painful step” that purifies our heart.  It is that step that will bring light into the darkness of our souls. In this message Our Lady was clearly not speaking to lost sinners, but to those of us who have already  experienced God’s love and are enthusiastic about being close to Our Lady. She is showing us the way that will enable us to come into full union with her Son, Jesus, and she is challenging us to be “an example of the beauty of God’s love…to those who have not come to know that love.” The light of Christ must first shine in us, purifying us, before it can shine out from us to others. It is the Cross of conversion.

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"Behold the Handmaid of the Lord"

2/5/2012

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_  July 2011: “Behold the Handmaid of the Lord”

The First Anniversary

of Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother

 

            The first anniversary of Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother is July 1, 2011, which this year is the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. All praise be to Him for the gift of our Sorrowful Mother’s apostolate!

            When I was discerning that Our Sorrowful Mother was calling me to initiate and form this apostolate, I received a beautiful mental image while in prayer of the Blessed Mother sitting on a rock in the wilderness, and there were a group of little girls sitting on the ground circled out from the rock; I was one of the little girls. Then the Blessed Mother sat on the ground, a part of our circle, and she said: “You are little handmaids not because you are my servants, but because you are my daughters.” (She is the “handmaid of the Lord,” and we are her “little handmaids.”)

            I would like to introduce you to the other little handmaids, our Sorrowful Mother’s daughters:

 

            I find myself smiling more than usual when I’m with Socorro, and I carry the smile home with me. I think it must be her childlike faith and love, so like the faith and love of her beloved Little Flower (St. Therese de Lisieux).  Here is her testimony:

           

I have always loved the Mother of God with all my heart. Being a little handmaid, one more devotion in my life, has made a great difference. It has brought me more faith, peace, and trust in God. God has chosen me for this group in order to give wonderful things to me and my family. God never makes mistakes. May God bless this group. I love you all very much. 

 

When I think of Mary, another of our little handmaids, I think of her great devotion to the Baby Jesus. Where the Baby is, there is also the Mother. This is her testimony:

             I was called to be a little handmaid of Our Sorrowful Mother a little after I had my accident, an accident that left me homebound. During this time my friend Rosie invited me to become a little handmaid, and I accepted because I prayed to Baby Jesus and Mary to help me grow in my faith; at that moment I saw a plaque that said “Believe.” I believe that this is their answer for me always. I know our Blessed Mother loves me no matter what; she has always been there for me, even thou I do not always pray the rosary. I do my best to go to church every day and go to confession often; God has given me many blessings since that accident, which changed my life.

 

            When Magda accepted our invitation to become a little handmaid in Sept. 2010, she quoted Padre Pio: “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother.” The Blessed Mother has led Magda to a very intimate relationship with Jesus:

Nothing happens by chance . Today I was asking myself, what is it that makes me worthy of talking to Our Lord Jesus Christ in my dreams, and now I know it was so I could give this testimony. I first spoke to my cousin Rosie, because ever since I was a little girl, I would have dreams of the Virgin Mary, Padre Pio and the Angels, but little by little I lost communication with them; I became more distant from them. And then I received a message from the Little Handmaids; with this I knew that they have always been with me. Today Jesus is also in my dreams; I can not only see Him, but He also sits with me and talks to me, and He gives me messages. We all have a mission in this life, and ours as Little Handmaids is to restore the Faith, in these times when restoration of the Faith is so needed.

 

Ira is a Catholic artist who paints beautiful paintings that she uses for catechesis and evangelization, and she has been very enthusiastic about our apostolate from the beginning. You may view her paintings at www.catholicworldart.com, and you will also find a few of them on our website at www.sorrowfulmother.net. Here is her testimony:

I was going through a period of time in my spiritual life where I wanted to truly “feel” sorry when I thought of Jesus’ passion and death. I struggled with it a long time and desired that, at the thought of Jesus crucified for me, I would emotionally cringe with sorrow, as I ought to.  When I heard of the LHSM, I knew it was the answer to my prayer, for who better to teach me to feel sorrowful than she who suffered in union with Him? Since joining, I am experiencing Jesus sharing His passion with me. I am grateful for this apostolate, since it is making me unite my sorrows with Mary’s and Jesus’ and helping me to share in theirs.

 

For me Rosa Maria is a model of living in God’s perfect will. At the dialysis center where she receives treatments three days a week she is known as “the lady who prays.” She has been very enthusiastic about inviting other ladies to join us and has shared her beautiful gift of writing letters and poetry with us. Here is her testimony:

What drew me to the Little Handmaids is much prayer, so much that by the time I got the invitation to become a Little Handmaid, I yearned to be inside the Immaculate Heart of Mary. My growth has been amazing, something out of the ordinary. It is supernatural, something I cannot explain. I have seen many fruits. I have been able to go inside the Pierced Heart and Holy Wounds of Jesus, and from there I have been able to understand with complete clarity and transparency the sufferings of humanity, and from this place I was taught how to alleviate not only Jesus’ pain, but also the pain of His suffering children. I plan to stay in this place until the greatest of Loves comes for me according to His Holy Will.

 

I see Rosie—my friend and partner in serving Our Sorrowful Mother and her little handmaids—as being like St. Therese when she described herself as “Baby Jesus’ little ball.” It seems to me that Rosy is willing for Jesus to do whatever He wants with her. She does all of the Spanish translation and most of the Spanish correspondence. Sometimes she collaborates with me on the monthly devotional by making suggestions for changes. She and I have worked together on constructing the website, and we talk a lot about the direction of the apostolate and make decisions about it together, after much prayer and consultation with the spiritual director of the Little Handmaids. Here is her “kind of simple and to the point” testimony:

What I think drew me first to this apostolate was Our Lady of Kibeho and also the fact that this apostolate was not going to have commitment to meetings. I also liked that communication was going to be online.  I know I have grown spiritually to the point of wanting to be a better person every day. I believe that the fruit of becoming a little handmaid has shown in my prayer life.  Also I see the sacrament of confession in a different light. I see confession as a means to transform ourselves into that saint God and Our Lady want us to be.

            As for me (Cami), most of you probably already know that  Our Sorrowful Mother came to me when I urgently needed her loving support, and then “sent me out” via internet to draw other women to her. As a little handmaid, I have grown closer than ever before to the Blessed Mother, and I experience the gentle love of Jesus more intimately than ever before. In my family I am able to better accept the difficulties of my life and have grown in patience. Our family is more joyful and peaceful now.

`               When I recently expressed our gratitude to Fr. Jaime for what he has done for us as our spiritual director, he waved his hand in a dismissing gesture and said: “Mary is my Mother. What I do for her I love to do!”

           

            Dear daughters of Our Sorrowful Mother, if you know Mary as your Mother and love to do anything that you can for her…If you want to grow closer to her and to her beloved Son, Jesus…If she is touching your heart with her compassion, and opening it with compassion for others, we invite you to ask her if she is calling you to be a Little Handmaid of Our Sorrowful Mother.

 

Written by Our Sorrowful Mother’s little handmaids

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"The Love of a Most Tender Mother"

2/5/2012

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_  May 2011:  “The Love of a Most Tender Mother”

 

            When I first returned to the Church in 1992, a well-intentioned friend told me that men are made in the image of God, and women are made in the image of men. I don’t remember how many months it took me to learn that that was not true, but, anyway, thanks be to God, that I now know that all people (men and women; fathers and mothers; boys and girls, etc.) are made in God’s image. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him: male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

            For the month of May, I would like to share with you some Scriptures, and also some excerpts from St. Faustina’s Diary, that reflect on the maternal qualities of God’s Heart—for  you to ponder and pray about. By reading and reflecting on them, I believe that I have experienced a deeper sense of my gift of being made (as a woman, wife, and mother) in God’s image. God’s tender love radiates from our Mother Mary’s Heart (“My soul magnifies the Lord…), and every mother’s love (every woman’s love) is a small portion of the gentle love of our God.

 

“Jesus, You are my Mother, You are my all! It is with simplicity and love, with faith and trust that I will always come to You, O Jesus! I will share everything with You, as a child with its loving Mother, my joys and sorrows—in a word, everything.”

(Diary #230)   

 

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast;

like a child that is quieted is my soul.”

(Psalm 131:2)

 

“Jesus, I trust in You! Jesus, I love you with all my heart!

When times are most difficult, You are my Mother.

(Diary #239)

 

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion

on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

(Isaiah 49:15)

 

O God, how much I desire to be a small child. You are my Father,

and You know how little and weak I am. So I beg You, keep me close by Your side all my life

and especially at the hour of my death. Jesus, I know that your goodness surpasses

the goodness of a most tender mother.”

(Diary #242)  

 

“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you;

 you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

(Isaiah 66:13)

 

O my Jesus, the Life, the Way, and the Truth, I beg you to keep me close to You

as a mother holds a baby to her bosom, for I am not only a helpless child,

but an accumulation of misery and nothingness.”

(Diary #298)

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you!

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers a brood

under her wings, and you would not!”

(Matthew 23:37)

 

All my nothingness is drowned in the sea of Your Mercy. With the confidence of a child,

I throw myself into Your arms, O Father of Mercy, to make up for the unbelief of so many souls

who are afraid to trust in You. O how very few souls really know You! How ardently I desire

that the Feast of Mercy be known by souls! Mercy is the crown of Your works;

You provide for all with the love of a most tender mother.

(Diary #505)

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"A Heart of Flesh"

2/5/2012

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_  June 2011: “A Heart of Flesh”

 

In this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I would like to share with you some excerpts from a beautiful article entitled “About the Sacred Heart and Saint Margaret Mary”from www.sanctuaires-paray.com: the website of Paray-le-Monial, the monastery that was the religious home of St. Claude de la Colombiere, the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary:

 

“Everywhere in society, in our villages, in our neighborhoods, in our factories and our offices,

in our meetings between people and races, the heart of stone, the dried up heart, must change into the heart of flesh, open to one’s brothers, open to God. The survival of humanity

depends upon it. It is beyond our power. It a gift from God, a gift of His love.”

(John Paul II, October 5, 1986, at Paray-le-Monial)

           

            This gift of love was announced by the Prophet Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts” (Ez. 36:26). But how does this transformation come about, so necessary to the well-being of humanity and to the salvation of souls? How does the Holy Spirit come into the hearts of men? It is the work of Jesus Christ: on Calvary, the Heart of Christ, opened by the soldier’s lance, became the source from which the Heavenly Father would make flow the graces of conversion and participation in the divine life.

            On the threshold of modern times, St. Margaret Mary was chosen by Divine Providence to remind the entire Church and the world of the depth of the love of Christ. She “knew the overwhelming mystery of Divine love. She knew all the depths of the words of Ezekiel: I will give you a heart. During all of her life hidden in Christ, she was marked by the gift of this Heart, which offers itself boundlessly to every human heart” (John Paul II, ibid.)

 

            At a recent silent retreat I asked God the Father for that “new heart,” because, I told Him, my heart is irreparably damaged by the abuse and neglect that I suffered as a child, and by the damaging effects of the grievous sins of my young adulthood. Yet, Father, “nothing is impossible (nor irreparable) with You.” He responded to me: “It is the gift I have prepared for you. It is the gift. Believe in Me.”  I believe that it is the gift He has prepared for me, the gift I see growing in me. I believe that it is the gift He has prepared for each of us, His children: a new heart. The heart of His Son Jesus.

 

The article about the Sacred Heart continues:

            June 13, 1675. During an apparition, Our Lord, uncovering His Divine Heart, revealed to Sister Margaret Mary, “See this Heart which has loved men so much that it has spared nothing, to the point of exhausting and consuming itself to show them its love.” God wanted to become man so as to be able to love us with the Heart of a man. The ultimate goal of such a love is expressed in this phrase from the Gospel: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die but may have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). But, before introducing us to the intimacy of divine life, God had to remove the obstacle constituted by sin, the greatest of evils that touch man. “To the eyes of faith, no evil is greater than sin and nothing has worse consequences to sinners themselves, for the Church, and for the whole world” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1488). The manifestation of Divine Love would thus take a particular expression; it would be called mercy.”

            Mercy is at the center of the message confided by Jesus to St. Margaret Mary. To be merciful is to be moved to sadness at the sight of another’s misery as if it were one’s own. The effect of mercy is to eliminate another’s misery as much as possible…

 

            At my retreat the Lord showed me that my deepest sin is self condemnation. I had an image of myself as a little child who is beaten each time I judge and condemn myself. When I woke up the next morning, I thought of that image of the beaten little child deep within me, and I was “moved to sadness at the sight” of my own “misery” and resolved to put my full effort, with the Lord’s grace, into trying to be as merciful to myself as I have experienced the Lord being merciful to me. I pray daily for the grace to do this.

            When we open our hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, He will show us our sin, so that, when we repent of that sin, He can “remove the obstacles-including unhealed wounds- to prepare to introduce us to the intimacy of divine life.”

 

 

Jesus to St. Faustina, from Divine Mercy in My Soul, #1577-78

 

“Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to My mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it.

Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy.

Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy.”

 

“Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls, I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is—trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand,

 I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts.”

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    Cami Murphy

    _...Our Sorrowful Mother came to me when I urgently needed her loving support, and then “sent me out” via internet to draw other women to her.

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