 (c)Mary TV 2011
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| October 14, 2011 St. Callistus I Dear Family of Mary! "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 in to temptations that want to separate you from God the Father. Pray!..." (October 2, 2011) I am still very interested in this message from Our Lady, given on October 2, 2011. She calls us to a personal relationship with God the Father. Her words are very perceptive. They hit the mark for many of us. God the Father is not far away from us or unknown to us, but it can feel that way. We don't really know how much we need Him and miss Him. I had the opportunity to care for 5 of my grandchildren for two days and nights this week. It was so nice. Our home was full of the busy noises that children make, and the piles of toys and drawings that accumulate. But I had a special joy, in that 2 year old Anna was staying with me for the first time without mommy. She is a precocious little one, very talkative and inquisitive. But she is not used to being cared for by anyone but mommy, and so I didn't know how it would go. I decided to just give her my attention and see what would happen. I made myself available to her. If she needed help with anything, I would quietly try to meet her need. Shoes? I can help. Hungry? I can help. Tired? I can help. I rocked her, fed her, answered her questions about mommy and daddy, read her books, and generally was just hanging around. She slowly began to warm up to me. She began to see that I could actually be of some use! The last test was when she had to sit on the potty. She didn't trust our potties and she didn't think I would be much help to her. But when it got desperate, she let me put her on the potty, and hold her little hand during the process. We had quite a conversation in there. All went well, and she emerged from the bathroom a victor! And we became fast friends. Now I was a trusted helper and replacement mommy. She let me do everything, and even went to bed without a tear, as long as I was there. It was great. During the Rosary this morning that whole process with Anna came to mind. I realized that our relationship with God the Father might be a lot like my relationship with Anna. Maybe we haven't had a chance to let Him take care of us yet. He is a bit remote (like a grandparent can be) and though we know who He is, we may not know Him that well. What we might need is an overnight with Him during which we test Him out an  Image via Wikipedia d see if He can be trusted! Like Anna, we may need to put ourselves in His hands and see how He does! Our lives are mostly out of our control, though we usually don't know it. But, like Anna, we hit moments that we can't handle. It is then that God the Father is hanging around, waiting to help if we will let Him. In prayer, we can turn to Him and ask Him to help us. If we are aware that we are leaning on Him, depending on Him, and hearing from Him, we will begin to know Him as He really is, the Father who loves us and sustains us. Anna and I are now fast friends. She looks at me differently because she knows me. I get the enthusiastic good bye wave of a good buddy! The Father wants to be our best friend, our greatest help, our loving Father. In prayer we can turn to Him and experience His love in practical ways in our daily lives. Then nothing will ever separate us from Him.
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In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan
PS. Yesterday marked 9 days until the Memorial of Blessed John Paul II (October 22). It would be great to prepare for that day by praying a novena in his honor. Here is a nice novena prayer:
O Lord Jesus Christ, you are our future and our hope, in you we live and love and work. Make us witnesses of your Word, mirrors of your goodness, friends for each other, light in the darkness, comfort for those suffering and a place of grace for all who seek your face, O Lord. (by JPII)
O Blessed Trinity, we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the Cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.
(You can find daily prayers to accompany this prayer at: http://www.totus2us.com/ )
PPS. This coming November 17th Mary TV ( www.marytv.tv) will stream live from St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna an evening of prayer in thanksgiving for 30 years of Our Lady's apparitions in Medjugorje! The evening begins at 4:00 pm Vienna time (in the USA at 10:00 am, EST) with testimonies (also from Medjugorje) the Rosary, Our Lady's apparition, Mass (with Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn presiding). The evening concludes with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 9:00 PM Vienna time (3:00 pm EST in the USA).
Please spread word to everyone on your email list - asking everyone to spread news of this event to their own email lists so as many people as possible will know about it. Our ability to get word out is very limited - please help. Remember, Ivan has told us that Our Lady prays over those connected through the internet the same as she prays over the people gathered with her in the Cathedral....and the religious items they have for her to bless are blessed by her the same as those religious items placed right in front of her during her apparition. Let's take advantage of the incredible grace being offered to us: at www.marytv.tv on Nov. 17th beginning at 10:00 am (EST). We will be streaming the evening live in English and also at www.marytv.tv in Spanish.
And also, pray for Denis and me in Chicago at the Totally Yours Conference, October 22-23, at the Rolling Hills Holiday Inn. We will speak during the morning session on October 22!! Thanks! (Contact information: http://www.totallyyours.org Phone: (630) 279-8424
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