Pilgrims experiencing Our Lady's motherly love through Vicka!
(c)Josip Zubac 2013
J.M.J.
March 5, 2013
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! Anew, in a motherly way, I am calling you not to be of a hard heart. Do not shut your eyes to the warnings which the Heavenly Father sends to you out of love. Do you love Him above all else? Do you repent for having often forgotten that the Heavenly Father, out of His great love, sent his Son to redeem us by the Cross? Do you repent for not yet having accepted the message? My children, do not resist the love of my Son. Do not resist hope and peace. Along with your prayer and fasting, by His cross, my Son will cast away the darkness that wants to surround you and come to rule over you. He will give you the strength for a new life. Living it according to my Son, you will be a blessing and a hope to all those sinners who wander in the darkness of sin. My children, keep vigil. I, as a mother, am keeping vigil with you. I am especially praying and watching over those whom my Son called to be light-bearers and carriers of hope for you - for your shepherds. Thank you." (03/02/13)
I continue to think that the key to understanding and responding to Our Lady's message of March 2, is in understanding what she means by "in a motherly way". This phrase could very easily be overlooked. Of course, Mary is a mother. She does everything like a mother. No big deal.
But I think it is a big deal! I think if we miss this phrase, overlook it, we will read this message in the wrong spirit.
We have all had mothers. Not one of us has had a sinless, perfect mother. Our ideas of mother are varied and unique. But they are ideas that all are flawed. Our mothers are sinners like us. They have had mothers who were sinners as well. All those sins and wounds in our mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, etc. have had an effect on us. They have given us limits in our own nature, brokenness, malformation...Even though most of our mothers have been real heroes, we have not experienced the kind of love and motherly care that Mary can give. She is the woman chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son. She was given the grace of Immaculate Conception. She never sinned. Our Mother Mary is a really good mother!!
And so when she tells us she is calling us "in a motherly way", we need to ponder that call. In light of her great love, her great wisdom, her great faith, we need to listen to what she is saying. Her words are an expression of her perfect motherhood. They carry in them graces for us. Those graces are meant for our salvation. Her words carry an anointing, and a love for us that is from heaven.
Our friend, Olga from Moscow, wrote me about this "motherly way" in which Our Lady speaks to us. She sees the quality of Mary's motherly concern in terms of love...
Dear Cathy, I was thinking too of these words of Our Lady, about Her "motherly concern". Due to many reasons, these days especially, we may feel a heavy weight upon our shoulders... we're so used to being assessed, evaluated, rated, etc. - that we're tempted to adopt this attitude, to treat ourselves and our neighbor this way. "Oh, I'm not good enough, I have to make myself good, so much depends on it!" - or we think this way of others ("he/she/they are not good enough"...) But Our Lady does not assess or evaluate us. She is Our Mother, She only LOVES us.
Even when She says we are "far away", there is nothing but love and compassion in Her words. We are indeed "far away" from Her Son, and from each other too, because our hearts are not "simple", they are divided... and we suffer from it, and Our Lady lovingly shows us where the remedy can be found. She invites us to pray so that our prayer becomes the living stone.... for we ourselves can never be those stones unless our PRAYER is. And that means we have to rely more and more, lean more and more on Jesus... Who is taking the weight off our hearts.
This is the Mystery of the Cross... the heavier your cross gets, the closer it brings to you to Jesus - and the more Peace and Joy and Light your heart can receive. Our crosses help us put that which is of God before that which is human - and thus receive Peace and Joy - JESUS! - and so help to bring about the triumph of His Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The choice is always ours... we may be given the Cup and refuse to drink from it... to be given the cross and refuse to carry it. But Our Lady is always full of compassion and puts no conditions whatsoever. She is always with great Love offering us Her Son... if only we would have Him!
With Love and Gratitude, always sailing with you the digital sea...Olga, your faithful shipmate in Moscow :)
Thank you, Olga! Yes, Our Lady never judges us, never loves us with conditional love, the love that is only given if we are good enough. No, she loves us as we are. And she only challenges us out of love, to keep us safe and move us toward salvation. Our hearts will grow to understand this unconditional and fruitful love as we respond to her call, her messages and to her presence in Medjugorje!
Mother Mary, we want to experience and understand your Motherly Love which moves us towards your Son. Help us to open our hearts to your call.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
© Mary TV 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please no anonymous comments. I require at least some way for people to address each other personally and courteously. Having some name or handle helps.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.