Mary TV Daily Reflection 3/21/2013

     

(c)Mary TV 2012

Keeping our eyes on the lovableness of Jesus!  

 

    

 

 

J.M.J.      

 

March 21, 2013

 

Dear Family of Mary!

 

"Dear children! I call you to, with complete trust and joy, bless the name of the Lord and, day by day, to give Him thanks from the heart for His great love. My Son, through that love which He showed by the Cross, gave you the possibility to be forgiven for everything; so that you do not have to be ashamed or to hide, and out of fear not to open the door of your heart to my Son. To the contrary, my children, reconcile with the Heavenly Father so that you may be able to come to love yourselves as my Son loves you. When you come to love yourselves, you will also love others; in them you will see my Son and recognize the greatness of His love. Live in faith! Through me, my Son is preparing you for the works which He desires to do through you - works through which He desires to be glorified. Give Him thanks. Especially thank Him for the shepherds - for your intercessors in the reconciliation with the Heavenly Father. I am thanking you, my children. Thank you."   (03/18/13 through Mirjana)

 

We find ourselves at the end of Lent. It has been a Lent like no other! We have had a change in the Papacy under most unusual circumstances! Pope Benedict XVI renounced the Chair of Peter, and then the Cardinals elected Pope Francis! All during this time of Lent! We may be a little emotionally spent.

 

And so Our Lady in this message calls us back to what is important for us: "... my children, reconcile with the Heavenly Father so that you may be able to come to love yourselves as my Son loves you."  This Lenten season is designed to help us turn towards God with our whole hearts and come back into His embrace as beloved children. It is a time of repentance and reconciliation. We need Lent. We need to clear out all the attachments and sins that have accumulated over the year so that we can draw close to God.

 

And it's not too late! We have a week before the Triduum. At least we can make a good Confession before Easter! And that is what this message really talks about, a good Confession. In a good Confession we come to God in complete trust and we remember again how Jesus has made it possible for us to be forgiven for everything! We face the things we are ashamed of, and we open the door of our hearts to Jesus, so He can heal us. We reconcile with the Heavenly Father and learn to love ourselves again. In this way we learn to love our neighbor as well. It is all about the love of God!

 

Fr. Wilson, in his book "Pardon and Peace" talks about contrition, a necessary element to confession. He focuses on love, just as Our Lady does in this message:

 

It is especially important that our attempts to excite contrition should be God-centered. This is where many fail.

 

Contrition will be proportioned to our love of God; therefore we should study the lovableness of God more than sin.

 

Sorrow always depends on love. Love is the quicksilver which makes the barometer of interest go up or down. If, for example, you do not love Mr. Pugsnap-Brown, you are not much concerned what happens to him. If you loved him, you would follow his fortunes with intense concern. A young man in love with his fiancée is tormented by the least offense against her, because no offense is trivial to intense and sincere love.

 

Whoever loves God intensely cannot be indifferent to sin. Seek, therefore, for contrition in the study of the lovableness of God; it is a disastrous mistake to seek it amongst the tangles of sin. The remedy for all our failures is to love God more....

 

Fr. Wilson goes on to say that we should not focus on ourselves or on sin itself when we want to confess, because both of these things draw us into dangerous waters. Our best bet when trying to repent is to focus on God, on His great love for us, on His desire for our perfection, and His great forgiveness. This will shed light on all our sins, the light that leads to freedom.

 

Fr. Wilson continues:

 

After prayer, we can approach Confession with confidence, knowing that Our Lord's assistance is guaranteed. We should steep ourselves in confidence and expel any misgivings about Our Divine Savior's loving-kindness and welcome. Do not allow yourself to remain downcast or uneasy or suspicious of Our Lord. The devil will suggest that there is a wall between you, that things can never be the same again, and that the friendship of Christ has been lost forever, to be replaced by a cynical tolerance. The devil will see to it that such ideas tend to cling. Do not go on with your preparation until you have utterly routed them, or they will put a brake on your entire effort.

 

You would not expect a doctor to be angry with you, because you were sick when you approached him for treatment. Why then should the Divine Physician be angry because you are sick? "There is joy before the angels of God upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon the ninety-nine just who need not penance."

 

Before you go on with your preparation, convince yourself that no matter what your failings and sins may have been, the Sacred Heart is bounding with joy because you have come back to Him. "A contrite and humble heart He will never despise."

 

Throughout our confession, our attitude of mind should be God-centered. We should be intimately conscious of Our Lord's presence, assistance, sympathy, forgiveness and love. (Fr. Alfred Wilson. "Pardon and Peace." P. 223-25)

 

Our Lady tells us: "I call you to, with complete trust and joy, bless the name of the Lord and, day by day, to give Him thanks from the heart for His great love." Fr. Wilson says the same. Look to God's lovableness. Rejoice in His love! Expect His forgiveness, as a child expects it from his loving Father. We should not look at ourselves...we should not get trapped in worries about sin. Instead, we must keep our eyes on Jesus, who loves us, and run to Him, and away from sin!

 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2013