Mary TV: July 20, 2018 Reflection - Have more trust in God.

(c)Mary TV 2014

July 20, 2018
St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr
Dear Family of Mary!

May 25, 2018 "Dear children! In this peaceless time, I am calling you to have more trust in God who is your Father in Heaven and who has sent me to lead you to Him. You, open your hearts to the gifts which He desires to give you and, in the silence of your heart, Adore my Son Jesus who has given His life so that you may live in eternity - where He desires to lead you. May your hope be the joy of a meeting with the Most High in everyday life. Therefore, I am calling you: do not neglect prayer because prayer works miracles. Thank you for having responded to my call."

(This message can be a good outline for meditation. I have presented it in segments, so that we can take time and let our prayer reveal to us the words of life that Our Lady has given us.)

 

"Dear children!

(Do I understand how very much Our Lady is my mother? I am her child. How can I live more in the understanding of Mary as my mother?)

 

In this peaceless time,

(These days are peaceless. How do I experience the peacelessness of this time? Is it through the news? Is it in my family? Is it in my community or parish? Help me, Lord to understand this lack of peace.)

 

I am calling you to have more trust in God

(Help me to look at my life and discover where I am not trusting God. What things do I still hold on to as my own affairs? How can I give everything in my life to God?)

 

who is your Father in Heaven

(Even as I comprehend Mary as my mother, I must understand that God, the Father, is my father. He loves me as His child. I can ask Him anything. He wants me to talk to Him about everything in my life. Teach me to converse with you, Father in Heaven.)

 

and who has sent me to lead you to Him.

(Do I realize that Our Lady is here in Medjugorje, and that she has been sent by the Father. She has come to lead us all to Him. She has been sent on a rescue mission. We need to be rescued.)

 

You, open your hearts to the gifts which He desires to give you

(Opening myself to God's action in my life is not easy. What holds me back from opening up to the Father? Fear? Laziness? Distractions? Lack of love? What keeps me from wanting His gifts?)

 

and, in the silence of your heart, adore my Son Jesus

(Oh Jesus, I adore You............)

 

who has given His life so that you may live in eternity -

(Oh Jesus, I love you....)

 

where He desires to lead you.

(Oh Jesus, I long to be with you in eternity.... Lead me....)

 

May your hope be the joy of a meeting with the Most High in everyday life.

(Everyday life can be so dull, so sad, so hard. Without You, Lord, there is nothing really that matters. But when you break into my day, showing me that you are near, that you are with me, it is as if the lights go on! Please, meet me every day in the everyday of my life!)

 

Therefore, I am calling you: do not neglect prayer

(Neglect. It is a very sad word. We can neglect our garden, so that everything dies. We can neglect our friends so that they stop loving us. We can neglect our studies so that we fail. But if we neglect prayer, we are neglecting ourselves, because it is in prayer that we meet our God, who loves us and can save us. May we not be sad due to our neglect of you, Jesus.)

 

because prayer works miracles.

(Prayer works miracles. It really does... Have we seen miracles?)

 

Thank you for having responded to my call."
(Thank you Mother for calling us....)
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2018

PS.  On Sunday, July 22, 2018, Archbishop Henryk Hoser will celebrate Holy Mass at St. James Church, Medjugorje.  This will be the beginning of his tenure as Apostolic Visitor in Medjugorje.  Mary TV will stream the evening Mass in Medjugorje for July 22, 2018, LIVE!  Join us at 7:00 pm Medjugorje for this wonderful event!  www.marytv.tv

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv

Mary TV: July 19, 2018 Reflection - Jesus will give you rest...

(c)Mary TV 2014

July 19, 2018
Dear Family of Mary!
Today's Gospel is one of my favorites. Jesus invites us to come to Him, to place our tired souls in His care, and to rest in Him. He will solve our problems, sort out the tangles in our lives and show us the way to peace:
Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (Mt 11:28-30)
Our Lady has often called us to rest as well. She calls us to rest in her Son. She also sees how tired and weary we are, and she knows the way to rest and peace. It is to do as Jesus asks us to do, to come to Him. Here are five messages that speak about rest for our souls. Maybe we can use them in our rosary today:

July 25, 2001 "Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you to come even closer to God through your personal prayer. Make good use of the time of rest and give your soul and your eyes rest in God. Find peace in nature and you will discover God the Creator Whom you will be able to give thanks to for all creatures; then you will find joy in your heart. Thank you for having responded to my call."

July 25, 2008 "Dear children! At this time when you are thinking of physical rest, I call you to conversion. Pray and work so that your heart yearns for God the Creator who is the true rest of your soul and your body. May He reveal His face to you and may He give you His peace. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."

July 25, 2011 "Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit, may they be in God's love. Permit me, little children, to lead you, open your hearts to the Holy Spirit so that all the good that is in you may blossom and bear fruit one hundred fold. Begin and end the day with prayer with the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call."

June 02, 2013 "Dear children, in this restless time, anew I am calling you to set out after my Son - to follow Him. I know of the pain, suffering and difficulties, but in my Son you will find rest; in Him you will find peace and salvation. My children, do not forget that my Son redeemed you by His Cross and enabled you, anew, to be children of God; to be able to, anew, call the Heavenly Father: "Father". To be worthy of the Father, love and forgive, because your Father is love and forgiveness. Pray and fast, because that is the way to your purification, it is the way of coming to know and becoming cognizant of the Heavenly Father. When you become cognizant of the Father, you will comprehend that He is all you need. I, as a mother, desire my children to be in a community of one single people where the Word of God is listened to and carried out. * Therefore, my children, set out after my Son. Be one with Him. Be God's children. Love your shepherds as my Son loved them when He called them to serve you. Thank you."
*Our Lady said this resolutely and with emphasis.

March 02, 2014 "Dear children, I am coming to you as a mother and I desire that in me, as in a mother, you may find your abode, consolation and rest. Therefore, my children, apostles of my love, pray. Pray with humble devotion, obedience and complete trust in the Heavenly Father. Trust as I have trusted when it was said to me that I will bring the blessing of the promise. May out of your hearts, from your lips, always come forth 'May your will be done!' Therefore, trust and pray so that I can intercede for you before the Lord, for him to give you the Heavenly Blessing and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Then he will be able to help all those who do not know the Lord - you, apostles of my love, will help them to call him 'Father' with complete trust. Pray for your shepherds and place your trust in their blessed hands. Thank you."

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv

Mary TV: July 18, 2018 Reflection - Make yourselves little...

  Youth Festival

(c)Mary TV 2014

July 18, 2018
St. Camillus de Lellis
Dear Family of Mary!
Our Gospel for today is very short. It is also very simple. Jesus erupts in a moment of pure joy and praise for His Father. He declares before His disciples something that bubbles up from deep within:
At that time Jesus declared, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Mt 11:25-27)

Jesus is clearly a child! He exalts in His Father's wisdom and understanding. He delights in the fact that His Father chooses to reveal Himself to babes!! Jesus, being the Child of His Father understands! Only the little ones can understand the Father and behold the revelation of the Son. Only those who are little will get it!
And so we see that it is very important that we be children as well. Unless we are childlike, actually real children, we will not recognize the revelation of the Son in our day. Our Lady has come to help us become children so that we will get it! That is why she calls us in EVERY MESSAGE, "Dear Children!" She has called us her children since 1981 and we are used to it now. We expect this greeting in each message. It is familiar. We identify with it. We want to be greeted in this way by our Mother. Why? Because it is healing to be called her children. It gives us peace to be her children. We can rest in that understanding of ourselves. We gain peace, in her loving motherly embrace. We feel wanted and chosen when we hear her say it.
And we are chosen.
In the May 2, 2018 message Our Lady spoke to us about our call as her children. In particular, she told us that we must make ourselves little. What does she mean by this? I think she means that we must be her children, little children, tiny children, dependent children. In that way we will be made available to the Father and to Jesus, as They build the Kingdom of Love. (Notice how many times she calls us her children in this message!):

May 02, 2018 "Dear children, all that my Son, who is the light of love, has done and does, He has done out of love. Also you, my children, when you live in love and love your neighbors, you are doing the will of my Son. Apostles of my love, make yourselves little; open your pure hearts to my Son so that He can work through you. With the help of faith, be filled with love. But, my children, do not forget that the Eucharist is the heart of faith. This is my Son who feeds you with His Body and strengthens you with His Blood. This is a miracle of love: my Son who always comes anew, alive, to bring life back to souls. My children, by living in love you are doing the will of my Son and He lives in you. My children, my motherly desire is for you to always love Him more, because He is calling you with His love. He is giving you love so that you may spread it to all those around you. As a mother, through His love, I am with you to speak the words of love and hope to you - to speak to you the eternal words that are victorious over time and death - so as to call you to be my apostles of love. Thank you."

"Apostles of my love, make yourselves little; open your pure hearts to my Son so that He can work through you. With the help of faith, be filled with love."

Jesus said that His Father revealed the truth to babes. It was the will of the Father to work through the little ones. Jesus now needs us to make ourselves small, really to become children, so that He can work through us. It is to the merest babes that the kingdom has been revealed. That is why Our Mother is with us. Babes need mothers. And so she has come.
May we be babes now, the dearest of children to such a dear Mother. May we love Jesus with simple and pure hearts, and love our neighbors with His love. This is the Kingdom come!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv

Mary TV: July 17, 2018 Reflection - Love the Lord with all your heart...

 

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016

July 17, 2018

 

Dear Family of Mary!
"And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27)

 

These are the words of a lawyer who asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him that he was right and if he did this he would live. How many times have we heard these same words, but have not comprehended them? How difficult it is for us to do anything with our whole heart, our entire soul, all our strength and all our mind (will). And yet, Jesus calls us to love Him first and entirely.
Our Lady gave a beautiful message in which she encouraged us to this wholehearted love:

 

November 02, 2016 "Dear children, to come to you and to make myself known to you is a great joy for my motherly heart. It is a gift from my Son for you and for others who are coming.

As a mother I am calling you: love my Son above everything. In order to love Him with all your heart, you need to come to know Him. You will come to know Him through prayer. Pray with the heart and with your feelings. To pray means to think of His love and sacrifice. To pray means to love, to give, to suffer and to offer. I am calling you, my children, to be apostles of prayer and love.

My children, it is a time of vigilance. In this vigil I am calling you to prayer, love and trust. As my Son will be looking in your hearts, my motherly heart desires for Him to see unconditional trust and love in them. The united love of my apostles will live, will conquer and will expose evil.

My children, I was a chalice of the God-man; I was God's instrument. That is why I am calling you, my apostles, to be a chalice of the true and pure love of my Son. I am calling you to be an instrument through which all those who have not come to know the love of God - who have never loved - may comprehend, accept and be saved. Thank you, my children."

Our Lady tells us to love her Son above everything, to love Him with all our heart. And she explains how we can do it. Through coming to know Him. And we come to know Him through prayer with the heart, with our feelings, while thinking of His love for us. We have to spend time with Jesus, lots of time. We have to grow in our understanding of His life, and how He loved us to the end. We need to contemplate the mysteries of His Passion and Death. We need to live the Liturgical Year with the prayers of the Church and become filled with the life of Jesus.
Then we will be able to love Him more and more. And that is when we will become apostles of His love. That is when we will change the world. That is when we will be chalices of the God-man, holding the Eucharistic Jesus in our hearts like living tabernacles. We will contemplate our loving Lord and love Him back.
So let's not allow these words from the lawyer to bounce off of us like water on a rock. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Amen, may it be so!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv

Mary TV: July 16, 2018 Reflection - Become a Sign!

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016 July 16, 2018 Our Lady of Mount Carmel Dear Family of Mary! Our Lady has often asked us to be a sign for others. She wants us to become apostles of her love. Her heart goes out to all those who do not know her Son, those who do not know the love of God. Here are five messages that Our Lady has given us over the years in which she asks us to become signs for others of the love of God. We might use these messages as meditations between the decades today. Enjoy: January 25, 2007 "Dear children! Put Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your family and read it. In this way, you will come to know prayer with the heart and your thoughts will be on God. Do not forget that you are passing like a flower in a field, which is visible from afar but disappears in a moment. Little children, leave a sign of goodness and love wherever you pass and God will bless you with an abundance of His blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call." August 25, 2009 "Dear children! Today I call you anew to conversion. Little children, you are not holy enough and you do not radiate holiness to others, therefore pray, pray, pray and work on your personal conversion, so that you may be a sign of God's love to others. I am with you and am leading you towards eternity, for which every heart must yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call." February 25, 2011 "Dear children! Nature is awakening and on the trees the first buds are seen which will bring most beautiful flowers and fruit. I desire that you also, little children, work on your conversion and that you be those who witness with their life, so that your example may be a sign and an incentive for conversion to others. I am with you and before my Son Jesus I intercede for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call." August 25, 2013 "Dear children! Also today, the Most High is giving me the grace to be with you and to lead you towards conversion. Every day I am sowing and am calling you to conversion, that you may be prayer, peace, love - the grain that by dying will give birth a hundredfold. I do not desire for you, dear children, to have to repent for everything that you could have done but did not want to. Therefore, little children, again, with enthusiasm say: 'I want to be a sign to others.' Thank you for having responded to my call." September 25, 2015 "Dear children! Also today I am praying to the Holy Spirit to fill your hearts with a strong faith. Prayer and faith will fill your heart with love and joy and you will be a sign for those who are far from God. Little children, encourage each other to prayer with the heart, so that prayer may fulfill your life; and each day, you, little children, will be, above all, witnesses of serving God in adoration and of your neighbor in need. I am with you and intercede for all of you. Thank you for having responded to my call." In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2018

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world." Saint John Paul II Be connected! www.marytv.tv

Mary TV: July 13, 2018 Reflection - The truth and true life

 

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016

July 13, 2018

Saint Henry

 

Dear Family of Mary!

"...My children, do not lose the truth and true life so as to follow the false one.By life in truth, the Kingdom of Heaven enters into your hearts, and that is the Kingdom of peace, love and harmony. Then, my children, there will not be the selfishness which distances you from my Son. There will be love and understanding for your neighbors. Because, remember, again I repeat to you, to pray also means to love others, your neighbors, and to give yourself to them. Love and give in my Son, and then He will work in you and for you. My children, ceaselessly think of my Son and love Him immeasurably and you will have true life, and that will be for eternity. Thank you, apostles of my love." (July 2, 2018)

   

Our Lady speaks of the truth and the true life. The truth is Jesus, who is the revelation of the Father. And true life is to live the way Jesus lived. All the virtues are designed to help us live the true life. They move us to love one another as we have been loved by God.

 

To live the true life, we must become like Jesus, live with Him, get to know Him, follow Him, contemplate His words, think about Him...become connatural with Him. We must develop the sensus fidei, the sense of faith. We must be able to feel the truth!

 

And so Our Lady says; "My children, ceaselessly think of my Son and love Him immeasurably and you will have true life, and that will be for eternity."

 

If we ceaselessly think of Jesus and love Him immeasurably we will be able to intuit His every wish and desire, we will be able to understand what Jesus would do, through holy empathy. This will be how the truth takes over in our lives.

Our Lady is calling us to a very important mission. We are to become those who comprehend - even if sometimes we do not understand the words- and within ourselves feel what the truth is! In our pure and simple hearts, we will become real apostles of love!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018     

 

 

 

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv

Mary TV: July 12, 2018 Reflection - Within yourselves you feel what the truth is...

 

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

July 12, 2018
Dear Family of Mary!

"...You, with pure and simple souls comprehend-even if sometimes you do not understand the words-and within yourselves you feel what the truth is..." (July 2, 2018)

What does Our Lady mean - "and within yourselves you feel what the truth is..."? I was puzzled at first by her words. How do we feel what the truth is? But then I remembered a phrase that was used by St. John Paul II, and by Vatican II, etc. It is "sensus fidei". It means the "sense of the faith", and describes exactly what Our Lady was talking about.
Our Lady said that it is the pure and simple souls who can feel what the truth is. These souls simply and purely love Jesus and listen to His words in Scripture with the heart. They pray with the heart. And so they understand Jesus with the heart. This heart understanding gives them the sense of the faith, the understanding of the truth that comes from knowing Jesus.
There is a document that describes the sensus fidei. It was written by the International Theological Commission, and is called "Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church." It was written in 2014. I want to quote part of the introduction. I think it helps to make clear what Our Lady is talking about:

The sensus fidei as an instinct of faith

49. The sensus fidei fidelis is a sort of spiritual instinct that enables the believer to judge spontaneously whether a particular teaching or practice is or is not in conformity with the Gospel and with apostolic faith. It is intrinsically linked to the virtue of faith itself; it flows from, and is a property of, faith. It is compared to an instinct because it is not primarily the result of rational deliberation, but is rather a form of spontaneous and natural knowledge, a sort of perception (aisthesis).

50. The sensus fidei fidelis arises, first and foremost, from the connaturality that the virtue of faith establishes between the believing subject and the authentic object of faith, namely the truth of God revealed in Christ Jesus. Generally speaking, connaturality refers to a situation in which an entity A has a relationship with another entity B so intimate that A shares in the natural dispositions of B as if they were its own. Connaturality permits a particular and profound form of knowledge. For example, to the extent that one friend is united to another, he or she becomes capable of judging spontaneously what suits the other because he or she shares the very inclinations of the other and so understands by connaturality what is good or bad for the other. This is a knowledge, in other words, of a different order than objective knowledge, which proceeds by way of conceptualisation and reasoning. It is a knowledge by empathy, or a knowledge of the heart.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20140610_sensus-fidei_en.html#1._The_sensus_fidei_as_an_instinct_of_faith

We see that the sensus fidei is more of a feeling or perception than it is a rational deliberation. Exactly what Our Lady meant when she said: "even if sometimes you do not understand the words..." This sense of the faithful comes rather from some other kind of knowing than intellectual discovery. It is not through verbal discourse but through a language of the heart that the simple and pure come to the truth. Why? Because through prayer and the simple reading of Scripture, they come to know Jesus as one would know his best friend. They know how Jesus thinks, what He finds important, what pleases Him. And in that knowing they come to know everything good, because Jesus is all goodness, all truth. They know Him, and so they can just intuit or feel what Jesus would do or say in a situation.
This is what the document expresses as "connaturality". It is the knowledge that comes from being with and loving someone so much that you just know their inclinations and desires as you do your own. You just know them. And when it is Jesus we know, then we have a deep sense of what is true, because Jesus is Truth.

 

I love this whole idea. No wonder Our Lady has urged us to pray, pray, pray. No wonder she has called us to Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder she has counseled us to read Holy Scripture. These are the ways that we come into a deep relationship with her Son. And once we have come to know him intimately, we will feel the truth.

 

This poor, confused world we live in needs to encounter the Truth now more than ever. If we follow Our Lady, we will become living signs of the Truth through our deep relationship with He who is the Truth. It is a gift we can give to others.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2018

 

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv