Mary TV Daily Reflection 9/13/2012

(c)Mary TV 2012 Surrender everything to God!

+ J.M.J September 13, 2012 St. John Chrysostom   Dear Family of Mary!   "Dear children! I invite you now to be open to God. See, children, how nature is opening herself and is giving life and fruits. In the same way I invite you to live with God and to surrender completely to him. Children, I am with you and I want to introduce you continuously to the joy of life. I desire that everyone may discover the joy and love which can be found only in God and which only God can give. God doesn't want anything from you only your surrender. Therefore, children, decide seriously for God because everything else passes away. Only God doesn't pass away. Pray to be able to discover the greatness and joy of life which God gives you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (May 25, 1989)   I have been worrying lately. I have especially been worried about our work for Mary TV, that we will be able to continue the rosaries and the live streaming. But anxiety is not of the Lord. That is clear. Our Lady has asked us to read Matthew 6: 24-34 every Thursday. Today is Thursday! So I want to talk about anxiety today.   I got some good advice last week from Olga of Moscow concerning my worries and fears. She could tell I was anxious on the Rosary and so she prayed for me at Adoration! She wrote:   I was talking a lot to Jesus today about Mary TV (You know on Saturday He gives me a lot of time with Him in the Blessed Sacrament... it is a great grace!!) and He reminded me of Abraham, how he had this promise from the Lord about his descendants, and then this request from the Lord to sacrifice his only son... I feel very strongly that the battle is for your hearts. The Almighty rules everything but not your freedom... Like Our Lady said in the message you got today during the Rosary, from November 25, 1987:    "Dear children! Today also I call each one of you to decide to surrender again everything completely to me. Only that way will I be able to present each of you to God. Dear children, you know that I love you immeasurably and that I desire each of you for myself, but God has given to all a freedom which I lovingly respect and humbly submit to. I desire, dear children that you help so that everything God has planned in this parish shall be realized. If you do not pray, you shall not be able to recognize my love and the plans which God has for this parish and for each individual. Pray that satan does not entice you with his pride and deceptive strength. I am with you and I want you to believe me, that I love you. Thank you for having responded to my call."     I was also remembering this message... the words "deceptive strength." And "surrender"... the difficult word. To offer up all the plans for the future, everything... like Abraham did with his beloved son. Imagine there will be no more live Rosary, no more streaming of the apparitions, no more Mary TV... whatever you fear and whatever can distress you, accept that as a possibility and offer it up... and then you feel like Mary's children, joyful and in peace!     What Olga said struck me deeply in my heart. All my fears and worries have come from not surrendering everything to God. As long as I hang on to anything as my own, cling to anything as off limits for God, I will not have a moment's peace, because I will always be worrying about it.   Then last night I had a dream. It was so clear. Denis and I were driving somewhere with a car full of our possessions. It was foggy, and we couldn't see. Somehow we got off the main road and ended up in a neighborhood, and just drove right into a big deep lake. We scrambled out of the car and it sank to the bottom. I remember that in the dream we didn't get all upset. The stuff was gone, and that was that! Then I woke up. I realized that the dream was an expression of my need to hand everything over to God. Just as Olga said, God wants my heart.   So, I want to work on surrender these days. It may help to just take time to visualize all the things that I feel responsible for, all the people I love, all the projects I am doing, and then imagine what it would be like if they were taken from me. Can I let God take Mary TV and all our projects? Can I place those things in God's hands? Because I really have to let go of them. They are not mine anyway. Everything is God's.   Our Lady tells us that if we surrender, we will experience the joy of life. I believe her! I want that joy. I want to be small and let God take over with the big things! Surrender doesn't sound so bad after all!   "Therefore, children, decide seriously for God because everything else passes away. Only God doesn't pass away. Pray to be able to discover the greatness and joy of life which God gives you."   Don't forget to read Matthew 6: 24-34 today!!   In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c)Mary TV 2012

 

Hi Cathy,

I really enjoyed todays post and your story about the dream you had.

Years ago, I lost my job and then lost our home and possessions due to foreclosure. For a number of years I felt guilty about that loss and even refused to drive by the old home to see it. 

A few years later, I was on retreat with a group of us men who were in formation for the diaconate. The priest retreat master got us in a semi-circle and had us pray. He asked us to relax and think about a happy moment in our lives. Immediately my mind went back to that house; the children were gathered in front of the Christmas Tree, the fireplace was lit, my wife was sitting on the couch, on the TV was the Christmas Story from Fr. Peytons Rosary Movies; it was so real I burst out in tears, couldn't control myself, had to leave the room escorted by a friend who comforted me. What happened then was that God lifted all those guilt's and sufferings off me and I was free after that to meditate on my past and even to drive by the old house and not have all those hard feelings in my soul. As the old saying says: Let go, let God! 

Deacon John