 Birth of St. John the Baptist |
December 23, 2011 St. John Kanty
O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations and their Savior: come and save us, O Lord our God! (Traditional "O" Antiphon)
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! Today, with Jesus in my arms, in a special way I call you to conversion. Children, through all this time which God permitted me to be with you, I continuously called you to conversion. Many of your hearts remained closed. Little children, Jesus is peace, love and joy; therefore now decide for Jesus. Start to pray. Pray to Him for the gift of conversion. Little children, only with Jesus can you have peace, joy and a heart filled with love. Little children, I love you. I am your mother and give you my motherly blessing." (Message to Jakov Colo, December 25, 2005)
Our Gospel today relates the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:57-66). Miraculously, Elizabeth in her old age is able to carry her son full term! He is born, a healthy boy! But when the proud parents bring him to be circumcised, and the priest assumes he will be named Zechariah, Elizabeth interjects, "No. he will be called John." This causes a ruckus until Zechariah confirms Elizabeth's words by writing "John is his name." And as soon as this is done, Zechariah, who had been dumb since his meeting with Gabriel, is able to speak! He finds his voice!
Little John was a tool for his father's conversion. Zechariah was probably deeply converted during his time of silence. He pondered the gift of his son, and probably took to heart the miracles surrounding him. Then in his heart a deep faith formed. Zechariah was changed. This old priest found a living faith in his God and a wonder at the things God was doing! This is conversion. And we know that Zechariah used his newly found voice to proclaim the wonders of God, as we will read tomorrow in the Gospel in his famous "Benedictus".
In this message of December 25, 2005, Our Lady speaks of conversion. She tells us that conversion has been her continuous call to us during her time with us but that many of our hearts remain closed to conversion. Maybe like Zechariah we have lost our hope in God's power and love, maybe we have waited too long for answered prayer. And so, like Zechariah, we need to be thrust into a place of silence, where we can ponder the great things God is doing in our lives and be changed by them. Maybe we need the grace of little John the Baptist, who can work conversion in his father just by being conceived!
Our Lady first appeared on the feast of the birth of John the Baptist, June 24, 1981. On that day the visionaries ran away, and so she celebrates the anniversary on June 25. But that first day is significant. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ, preparing the way for the Son of God. He was called to preach conversion to the Jews. And he did it faithfully until he was beheaded by Herod. John the Baptist is a great symbol for us of conversion. And Our Lady came on his feast, to continue his work of conversion now. Dare we not listen?
Mother, help us to quiet our hearts. Help us to dive into the solitude of our souls. And once there, help us to ponder the wonderful works of our God in the Incarnation of His Son. Let this Christmas be a time of conversion like never before and may we find our voices to proclaim it!
Christmas Novena Prayer: Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary at midnight in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of my Savior, Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. Amen
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Cathy Nolan © Mary TV 2011
PS. Great news! As part of the changes to our web page, it is now possible to view the archived daily rosary on your iPhone, iPod and iPad!! I tried it and it works great! Just use Safari, go to our website,www.marytv.tv , click on "Archived Rosaries", scroll down to the video window, and under it you can select the daily rosary you want to view. Click on the icon for that rosary, and the video should start right up!!
Thanks to Matt Matasso for all his hard work! Now Denis will be bringing the rosary everywhere with him....Oh boy... |
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