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/
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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