Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Mary TV Daily Reflection 5/7/2013



   Woman at the feet of Jesus
(c)Mary TV 2013
Remember that you are loved...


J.M.J.
May 7, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! Anew, I am calling you to love and not to judge. My Son, according to the will of the Heavenly Father, was among you to show you the way of salvation, to save you and not to judge you. If you desire to follow my Son, you will not judge but love like your Heavenly Father loves you. And when it is the most difficult for you, when you are falling under the weight of the cross do not despair, do not judge, instead remember that you are loved and praise the Heavenly Father because of His love. My children, do not deviate from the way on which I am leading you. Do not recklessly walk into perdition. May prayer and fasting strengthen you so that you can live as the Heavenly Father would desire; that you may be my apostles of faith and love; that your life may bless those whom you meet; that you may be one with the Heavenly Father and my Son. My children, that is the only truth, the truth that leads to your conversion, and then to the conversion of all those whom you meet - those who have not come to know my Son - all those who do not know what it means to love. My children, my Son gave you a gift of the shepherds. Take good care of them. Pray for them. Thank you." (May 2, 2013)

Our Lady knows that we suffer, that we have difficult moments when we are weighed down by our crosses and that in those moments we are tempted to despair, to feel rejected and abandoned and to lash out at those who hurt us, judging them as our enemies. These moments are so extreme that we can lose our balance, lose our bearings and fall into sin.

And so she advises us to react to those moments with a powerful antidote. She tells us: "...instead remember that you are loved and praise the Heavenly Father because of His love." Just when we are feeling the most alone, the least loved, the most alienated, we need to remember something...that we are loved! We are loved by the Heavenly Father, the Creator who sent His Son to redeem us, who loved us from the very beginning of time and saved us through Jesus. We are loved! We are precious to the Father.

Again, as Our Lady suggested in her April 25, 2013 message, let's turn to Scripture to help refresh our memory about this love of the Father:

"We love, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us..." (Rom 5:8)

"What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8: 31-39)

"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God -" (Eph 2: 4-8)

Our memory is very important. It keeps us focused and grounded in reality. What we remember about ourselves and our lives helps us to make good choices. Where did I come from? Who am I? Why am I alive? These questions can only be answered in view of our memory. And our memory is formed by our experiences and by what we have learned from those whom we trust. If we are Christian, we trust the Church and Scripture. So these Scriptures form part of our memory, the right memory that is formed by God's word.

God's word tells us that God loved us before we were made, and still loves us after we have sinned. God has loved us always, and so He sent Jesus to find us, redeem us, and lead us back to Him. We are so loved!!!

And in that love we can turn from our suffering and praise God, thank Him, trust Him, and surmount our sufferings with hope. That memory of being loved will keep us in that love forever. Nothing will separate us from that love, as St. Paul says, "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

May our memories be formed in the truth of God's love, and may we praise Him always in that love!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013

 

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