September 1, 2010 Dear Family of Mary!"Dear children! With great joy, also today, I desire to call you anew: pray, pray, pray. May this time be a time of personal prayer for you. During the day, find a place where you will pray joyfully in a recollected way. I love you and bless you all. Thank you for having responded to my call." (August 25, 2010) "Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Rom 2:4) I was listening to a teaching by Mother Nadine Brown yesterday. It is from her series, "The Power of Intercessory Prayer". She was commenting on God's kindness, and how it is an invitation to repent. God loves us so much that He patiently waits for us to follow Him into holiness. He forbears and waits for us. But when the time is right, the Lord will call us! She referred to the story of Zacchae'us found in Luke 19:
"He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchae'us; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchae'us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it they all murmured, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchae'us stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19: 1-10) Mother Nadine said that Jesus, in His kindness, was inviting Zacchae'us to be his friend. Zacchae'us probably didn't have any friends because he was a tax collector and a Jew. The Jews would have hated him because he was serving their enemies, collecting their hard earned money and giving it to the Romans. And the Romans would have hated him because he was a Jew. He was caught in the middle and hated by everyone. He must have known great rejection. But Jesus chose to make friends with Zacchae'us. "Zacchae'us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." Unheard of! A rabbi eating with a tax collector! Yes! And what's more, a rabbi choosing a tax collector for his friend. Mother said that Jesus' love was what changed Zacchae'us. After becoming friends with Jesus, Zacchae'us wanted to be like Jesus, which meant he had to stop his current way of life and restore what he had defrauded from the people. Not only that, he would give half his wealth to the poor. Zacchae'us was led to repentance, not by fear but by love! Isn't this beautiful! Our Lady's invitation to us to make a time and a place for personal prayer is an invitation like Jesus made to Zacchae'us. She is calling us to make haste and come down. Jesus wants to stay at our house today! He wants to come and dine with us and make us His friends! Mother also commented that Zacchae'us was little. He was so little he had to climb a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus in the crowd. Being little is really a help because Jesus comes to the lowly and the small. If we recognize our littleness, we will be more ready to receive Jesus in prayer. Simple but true! So, if we have been rejected, if we are little, humble, small, we are in just the right condition to make friends with Jesus. He will come to stay with us if we say yes. This is a time for personal prayer! In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy NolanPS. You can purchase the CD series, "The Power of Intercessory Prayer" from the Intercessors of the Lamb. http://www.bellwetheromaha.org/
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