February 24, 2012
Dear Family of Mary!
We continue to examine the main messages according to Ivan. We are considering conversion. As I looked through Our Lady's messages on conversion, this message immediately caught my attention:
"Dear children! Today I want to wrap you all in my mantle and lead you all along the way of conversion. Dear children, I beseech you, surrender to the Lord your entire past, all the evil that has accumulated in your hearts. I want each one of you to be happy, but in sin nobody can be happy. Therefore, dear children, pray, and in prayer you shall realize a new way of joy. Joy will manifest in your hearts and thus you shall be joyful witnesses of that which I and My Son want from each one of you. I am blessing you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (February 25, 1987)
Our Lady describes the process of conversion as I have never heard it before. She makes conversion sound so wonderful. She first tells us that she wants to wrap us in her mantle. I have the picture of Our Lady scooping each of us up in her arms and wrapping us in her warm, soft shawl, as if we were little children. To be wrapped in Our Lady's mantle is to be surrounded by warmth and safety and peace. Such a wrapping sounds so inviting. If this is the way to begin conversion, I for one want to take that way.
The next step in conversion is not as easy. She beseeches us to "surrender to the Lord your entire past, all the evil that has accumulated in your hearts." But think about it. If we are safely in the arms of Mother Mary, won't it be much easier to let go of our shame, guilt, anger, resentment, pride and lust? Safely wrapped in Mother Mary's arms, we can let go of all those things we have tried to use to make us feel safe, things that just don't help us and in fact actually hurt us.
"I want each one of you to be happy, but in sin nobody can be happy." Sin always looks like the answer to a problem at first glance. It isn't until we have sinned that we discover that what we expected to help us has become our greatest difficulty. Sin doesn't make us happy, it solves nothing.
"Therefore, dear children, pray, and in prayer you shall realize a new way of joy." Wrapped in Our Lady's arms, covered with her mantle, we can pray, because we are safe, unburdened, and at peace. We can open our hearts to the Lord, be honest with Him, and talk to Him about our mistakes and sins. In that safety, we can find the "new way of joy". We can find the way of peace, of selfless love, of service. We can find the way of holiness. Through prayer, Jesus will show us how to turn away from our sins and our negative pasts and then how to live in His light and love, and we will be happy!
"Joy will manifest in your hearts and thus you shall be joyful witnesses of that which I and My Son want from each one of you." The very hearts that are full of accumulated evil will become like clear vials of crystal, holding the new wine, the joy of God. Our hearts will sparkle with joy, and they will radiate to all those we meet, inviting them to the same joyful conversion we have experienced.
"I am blessing you." Conversion is a miracle. Our Lady's blessing, her mantle of love, moves us towards conversion. This Lent, may we turn to Mother Mary and ask her to wrap us in her mantle every time we enter prayer. Wrapped in that warm, cozy mantle, we will find prayer and conversion a delight.
"Dear children! Today I want to wrap you all in my mantle and lead you all along the way of conversion."
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2012
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