February 23, 2012
St. Polycarp
Dear Family of Mary!
Let's return to Ivan's list of the most important messages: Peace, Conversion, Prayer of the Heart, Penance and Fasting, Strong Faith, Love, Eucharist, Forgiveness, Confession, the Message of HOPE! As we begin our Lenten journey, it seems fitting to take up the second message, conversion. Our Lady said to us in 1996:
"Dear children! I invite you to decide again to love God above all else. In this time when due to the spirit of consumerism one forgets what it means to love and to cherish true values, I invite you again, little children, to put God in the first place in your life. Do not let Satan attract you through material things but, little children, decide for God who is freedom and love. Choose life and not death of the soul, little children, and in this time when you meditate upon the suffering and death of Jesus I invite you to decide for life which blossomed through the Resurrection, and that your life may be renewed today through conversion that shall lead you to eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call."(March 25, 1996)
This message could guide us throughout Lent. And it reminds me very much of the first reading at Holy Mass today: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20:
"See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
Choose life! Choose God! Choose the Good! Convert! Turn to God, who is your all! Forsake the world and all its allurements. Your happiness lies with God.
Pilgrims who have been to Medjugorje will say that one of the biggest graces they witness there is the grace of conversion. Lukewarm, uninterested people arrive in Medjugorje, not sure what to expect. They leave after a few days, with their hearts on fire for God, and a desire to change their lives, to turn toward God and seek Him alone. Conversion is a beautiful fruit of Medjugorje.
May we enter into the grace of conversion through Our Lady of Medjugorje this Lent, and reignite our hearts with love for God alone!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2012
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