March 11, 2011
Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! Today also I invite you to prayer, a prayer of joy so that in these sad days no one amongst you may feel sadness in prayer, but a joyful meeting with God His Creator. Pray, little children, to be able to come closer to me and to feel through prayer what it is I desire from you. I am with you and each day I bless you with my maternal blessing so that Our Lord may fill you abundantly with His grace for your daily life. Give thanks to God for the grace of my being able to be with you because I assure you it is a great grace. Thank you for having responded to my call." ( July 25, 1992)Let's talk a little more about our inner thought life, and the joy of blessing! I love this message. Our Lady was speaking to the parish and the people of the area in a particular way, because this was the time of the terrible war in the Balkans. The people were experiencing so much violence and loss, so much fear and pain. And yet, Our Lady called them to a prayer of joy! She told them to draw very close to God, the Creator. Why? Because the reality was that all life is in His hands, and that their future was in heaven, in His presence. She wanted them to live in that reality. She also was with them to bless them with a blessing from God that would help them with their daily life. She was with them to make a difference, to change them through her intercession.
Wow! This explains a lot to me. Our Lady comes with her blessing to help us change inside, to live more and more by grace and trust in the Lord. She comes to help us with our daily life, by connecting us to God, the Lord of every day. And isn't that what we can do for each other when we tame our thoughts and direct them to prayer and blessing? Susan sent me a short witness about blessing yesterday: "I have a different spin to this. I connected to what you said about making quick judgments and criticisms in my head about others. A driver yesterday morning was just so slow and holding up a whole line of merging traffic. I was with my husband going to work. Instead of any negatives I asked for blessings on the driver. What a wonderful change and hope to continue. Thanks. Blessed lent."Susan is exactly right. In our daily situations, our daily life, we encounter all kinds of irritations, troubles, idle waiting times, etc. Those are the moments when we are tempted to be negative, to think unloving thoughts, to criticize or be angry. But those are exactly the moments when we can tame our thoughts, think charitably, and bless those around us in our hearts, through prayer. We can be like Our Lady and ask the Lord to fill those around us with His grace for their daily lives. We can be avenues of grace! I have another example about taming thoughts. It about m e... At Mass on Ash Wednesday, the church was full for a change. Everyone comes to get ashes. There were some young people in front of me who went to get their ashes and then instead of coming back to their pew, they went down the aisle. In my untamed thoughts, I assumed they were leaving before the Eucharistic celebration. I felt quite self-righteous and glib. But not two minutes later, there they were coming down the aisle, carrying the gifts to the altar! My goodness! I realized right then that God was showing me where my untamed thoughts can lead. I was ashamed of myself. But it is a good illustration for me. Things are not always as they seem, and we should always operate out of love and blessing. I immediately prayed a blessing on them, and asked for forgiveness of the Lord for my hasty judgment. I can see it is going to be a long Lent for me, taming all my unruly thoughts. But I hope to start being more and more like Our Lady, who says, "I am with you and each day I bless you with my maternal blessing so that Our Lord may fill you abundantly with His grace for your daily life."In Jesus and Mary! Cathy Nolan
www.marytv.tv
Posted via email from deaconjohn's posterous
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