Mary TV Daily Reflection 5/27/2014

        

 The Double Rainbow over St. James Church May 27, 2014       

(c) Mary TV 2014

J.M.J  

May 27, 2014

Dear Family of Mary,

Denis and I have been wonderfully busy since our feet hit the ground in Medjugorje!  Yesterday at English Mass, the celebrant gave a wonderful homily on Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He touched on a topic that we don't often hear addressed in our parishes.  it is a topic can is causing a great deal of confusion in our Church.  So I transcribed the homily for all of you.  This is the homily for May 27, 2014 at English Mass in Medjugorje:

For a lot of us our pilgrimage is coming to an end and we have to come done out of that mountain, so to speak. We have to go back to the reality of life, isn't that right?    I hope after the last week or so that you have been here, that you got what you came for.  The most important thing we should have come for is peace mind.  Everyone of us here needs peace of mind, one way or another.  A lot of us worry about our loved ones at home, have you noticed that?  When they come here, they try to get on the phone and they say we cannot get a connection.  And they are talking about vodophone and meteor and emobile, etc. etc.  But after a few days they begin to forget about home, to forget about the different world outside of Medjugorje.  One fellow told me that he takes off his watch when he comes here because he goes into a different "time zone."  And over the years I have come here, I have noticed that throughout the week, people change.  Some people are confused when they see all these people walking around with Rosary Beads.  As I thought before, some of them were absolute lunatics.  But I have come to realize that this is a very very special place.  Another priest said,"It is a piece of heaven on earth."   

We know that Pentecost Sunday is coming soon, June 8th of this year, so we pray that the Spirit which the Gospel and readings have told us about today, the Spirit of Truth, would set us free.  For a lot of us what we want in our lives is the truth and Christ is the only Way, the Truth and the Life.  A lot of people go to different spiritualities looking for the truth.  The Church in her wisdom came out with a document in 2000 called "Jesus Christ, Bearer of the Water of Life".  I tells us that if we move away from the doctrine of the Christian Church that has been handed down through the centuries, we are actually going away from the true Spirit of Christ.  Fr. Brian said the other day that we should be proud we are Catholic and proud to say we are Catholic, so to go to other spiritualities we are going away from that source which is the wisdom of the Church.  In particular I am talking about the new age practices that are around at the moment. 

As a priest coming up on 25 years, I have noticed that the people involved in these New Age spiritualities get very very confused.  They don't have the peace that people who have found true faith in Jesus Christ have.  When we look at something we are going to embark upon, and I am talking about the new phenomenon called the "nam" which is the New Age phenomenon, Reiki, Yoga, Enneagram, any of that, we need to be aware that the Church tells us in the document "Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life" that Jesus Christ is the only Way, the Truth and the Life.  Unfortunately some priests and nuns and religious deacons, and those high up in the church have sent a confusing message to the people of our day.  What we have to do is to read and be faithful to what the Church teaches, because otherwise we have what is called an "a la carte spirituality". 

We all know what "a la carte spirituality" is, we can pick and choose.  If we go to a restaurant, we don't to to the main menu, we want to pick and choose.  Now if we pick and choose, that is not Christianity. That is the Christianity that we want.  But we believe in One God, the Father the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. In other words we believe in the One God, the Father of Jesus Christ, who loved the world so much that He sent His Son into the world to redeem us.  So if we are going to different spiritualities, we are not going to the branch of Jesus.  Then we have our own spirituality.  And the Gospel and St. Paul tell us categorically to be careful about people who tickle the ears and teach you a strange doctrine. 

I recommend that you read that document.  Again it is called, "Jesus Christ, Bearer of the Water of Life."  It will tweak your spirituality and tell you what Jesus Christ is really saying.  There are some books out there that will help people who have gotten involved in these different spiritualitiies.  To name a few: there is a book by Fr. Mitch Pacwa who wrote "Catholics and the New Age."  He tells how he actually got involved with Enneagram and how confused he got.  And there is  Johanna Michaelsen  who wrote"The Beautiful Side of Evil"   and Randall Baer, "The New Age Nightmare."   I recommend that if you are going into any of these practices or are involved in them, just look up where they come from.  The Reiki, which means "divine light" does not mean the Divine Light as we know it, where Christ comes from - Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He is the light, not these practitioners who take a few courses.  That is not Jesus.  That comes from a different spirituality. 

In just a few moments, if you have not received peace in your life, just ask yourself what spirituality you are following.  People get very confused, we are in a confusing world, but remember what Jesus said, "I am the Way the Truth and the Life.'  It is only when we are close to Jesus, the Jesus of who has been taught to us by the Church Fathers that we will have peace.  If we follow Jesus, we cannot have our own spirituality.  If we follow these gurus and their pseudo or pop spiritualities, we will get very confused.  That is where much confusion in the church is coming from.  Remember the document, "Jesus, Bearer of the Water of Life".  You can find it for free on the internet and it has a reference of the books that will tell you what is acceptable and not acceptable in the teachings of the church.

Our Lady does not want us to have a divided heart.  She has come to bring us back to a whole-hearted relationship with God.  I discovered a beautiful prayer written by Jelena Vasilj that was dictated by Our Lady.  It speaks directly to the concerns expressed by our priest at Mass in Medjugorje.  Here is the prayer.

Petition to God

(Given by Our Lady to Jelena Vasilj, 6/22/1985)

Recite 3 Glory Be's

Oh God, our heart is in deep obscurity,

in spite of our union to Your Heart.

Our heart is struggling between You and satan;

do not permit it to be in this manner!

Every time that the heart is divided

between good and evil,

let it be enlightened by Your light

and let it be unified.

Never permit,

for there to be able to exist in us two loves,

that there can never co-exist in us two faiths,

and that there can never co-exist in us;

lying and sincerity,

love and hatred,

honesty and dishonesty,

humility and pride.

Help us on the contrary,

so that our hearts may be elevated toward You

just like that of a child.

May our heart be ravished with peace

and continue to always have the nostalgia of it.

May Your Holy will and Your love

find a permanent place in us, that at least

sometimes we would really wish to be Your

children and when, Oh Lord,

we will desire to be Your children,

remember our past desires

and help us to receive You again.

We open our hearts to you

so that Your holy love will remain in us.

We open our souls to you,

so that they may be touched by Your holy mercy

which will help us to see clearly all our sins,

and will make us realize,

that which makes us impure is sin.

God, we want to be Your children,

humble and devout,

to the point of becoming your cherished and

sincere children,

such as only the Father

would be able to desire that we be.

Help us, Jesus our brother,

to obtain the goodness of the Father in our regard,

and to be good to Him.

Help us Jesus,

to understand well what God gives us,

although sometimes we fail to perform a good act,

as though it were for us an evil.

That's all for tonight.  But I will share several pictures I took yesterday during the Interntional Mass.  An exquisite Rainbow appeared over St. James.  It seemed like a sign that God is still with us and that through Our Lady of Medjugorje, we are safe inside His Heart. 

God bless you all,
Cathy Nolan
(c)Mary TV 2014




"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv