Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Mary TV Daily Reflection 4/8/2014


 St. James Church, Medjugorje (looks a bit like a double masted ship!)     
(c) Mary TV 2014



J.M.J
April 8, 2014

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children, with a motherly love I desire to help you for your life of prayer and penance to be a sincere attempt of drawing closer to my Son and His divine light - that you may know how to separate yourselves from sin. Every prayer, every Mass and every fasting is an attempt of drawing closer to my Son, a reminder of His glory and a refuge from sin - it is a way to a renewed union of the good Father and His children. Therefore, my dear children, with hearts open and full of love, cry out the name of the Heavenly Father that He may illuminate you with the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit you will become a spring of God's love. All those who do not know my Son, all those thirsting for the love and peace of my Son, will drink from this spring. Thank you. Pray for your shepherds. I pray for them and I desire that they may always feel the blessing of my motherly hands and the support of my motherly heart." (April 2, 2014)

Denis and I went to see the movie "Noah" last weekend. We rarely see movies, but I felt an inspiration to go. There are lots of opinions about this movie, pro and con. I think Fr. Robert Barron's take on it is helpful. (Here is a link to his YouTube commentary: http://wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Noah-A-commentary-by-Fr-Barron.aspx )

For me the importance of the film was not in the added story line or its Biblical rendering, but instead in the images. I was drawn into the depiction of the state of the world after 10 generations of men, how the earth was barren, a wasteland, the people depraved and unspeakably cruel to each other, and how only Noah and his family lived in a trusting and loving relationship with God. The ark was a powerful image as well. It was rectangular, huge! It seemed oddly out of place, and seemingly useless before the rains came. But it was built according to God's specifications, and there it stood, ready to receive all the animals and Noah's family. (Father Barron says it looks like a Cathedral, and I agree.) Then seeing the animals pour into the ark, so many different species, it took your breath away. God's creation is so manifold, so beautiful, so multitudinous. Then, to see the waters overwhelm the earth, all the people killed, and the ark alone with the survivors was an image as well, stark and lonely.

I have to say that these images spoke to me of our time. Do we not live in a time when many people propose that there is no God, and that life only has meaning according to their own needs and desires? Are we not stunned at the violence that characterizes our societies (I think of abortion, euthanasia, child abuse, poverty and hunger, war and political oppression...) Do we not feel that this reign of evil cannot go on, unanswered? But where is our ark? Where is God's answer today?

We see in the story of Noah an act of justice. The evil of humankind was answered with the flood, an end to all those who lived on earth. Only the seeds of the future were retained, inside the ark. But in our story, because of Jesus' salvation, we see an act of mercy. We have been given a different kind of ark. It is the ark of the Church, with her sacraments. In this ark, all who want to escape the evil, the degradation of the modern world, can enter this ark. It is the Church! It is Mother Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, who calls us to enter. She comes today as our prophet, calling us into God's plan. She is our Noah!

Our Lady is with us to bring as many of us as possible into her ark of Mercy, the Church, before the storm hits. She is calling us to enter the ark, to make the choice to move towards God, towards holiness, towards the safety of the Church and her beautiful life.

Dear children, with a motherly love I desire to help you for your life of prayer and penance to be a sincere attempt of drawing closer to my Son and His divine light - that you may know how to separate yourselves from sin. Every prayer, every Mass and every fasting is an attempt of drawing closer to my Son, a reminder of His glory and a refuge from sin - it is a way to a renewed union of the good Father and His children....

Mother Mary is calling us to make sincere attempts to draw close to God, to move into the ark, to find the Good Father and follow His ways. She is drawing us into a refuge from sin. But she is not just interested in getting us into the ark. She has her eyes on so many others who do not yet know they need her help.

Therefore, my dear children, with hearts open and full of love, cry out the name of the Heavenly Father that He may illuminate you with the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit you will become a spring of God's love. All those who do not know my Son, all those thirsting for the love and peace of my Son, will drink from this spring....

Our Lady wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can help others to be drawn into the safety of the ark, drawn by their thirst for God, a thirst they may not even recognize. And so she wants us to strive, to work to bring God's love to others. She wants us to enter the ark, and then keep the door of that ark open as long as we can, through our love and witness.

A few years ago, Daniel from Papua New Guinea wrote me an email in which he said:

"The Ark of Mother Mary has set sail. Happy are those who have entered the Ark. The door of the Ark is still open for those who wish to enter."

After seeing "Noah" these words have deeper meaning for me. The Ark of Mother Mary, the Church, is where life abounds, where the future lies. We must keep the door open, and through our love, our illumination in the Holy Spirit, draw as many people as possible in. It was no accident that this movie was made now, the images are needed.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2014








"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Blessed John Paul II
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