Mary TV Daily Reflection 6/23/2014 - Novena to Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Day 9

       

 

Our Lady brings us to her Son, Jesus.   

(c) Mary TV 2014 

 

J.M.J

June 23, 2014

Novena to Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Day 9

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children, As the Queen of Peace, I desire to give peace to you, my children, true peace which comes through the heart of my Divine Son. As a mother I pray that wisdom, humility and goodness may come to reign in your hearts; that peace may reign; that my Son may reign. When my Son will be the ruler in your hearts, you will be able to help others to come to know Him. When heavenly peace comes to rule over you, those who are seeking it in the wrong places, thus causing pain to my motherly heart, will recognize it. My children, great will be my joy when I see that you are accepting my words and that you desire to follow me. Do not be afraid, you are not alone. Give me your hands and I will lead you. Do not forget your shepherds. Pray that in their thoughts they may always be with my Son, who called them to witness Him. Thank you." ( April 2, 2012)

Today is the last day of our novena to Our Lady in honor of 33 years of her presence in Medjugorje. For our meditation today I would like to share part of a homily that was given at the English Mass on June 21, 2014. It was given by a priest from Ireland, whose name I do not know. It sums up what Our Lady is doing in Medjugorje very well. It will help us prepare for the Feast of John the Baptist and for the 33rd Anniversary!

Homily at English Mass, June 21, 2014:

A number of years ago, when I was a student, I met a priest from one of the South American countries. We were talking and I asked him about his country, and I asked him what percent of the population was Catholic. He said it is 100% Catholic, but 95 % of the people believe in Our Lady of Guadalupe and the other 5% believe in God. One of the things that has struck me so forcefully since coming to Medjugorje is that in all of the messages of Our Lady, and in everything that happens here, the focus is always drawn to her Son. That is what she wants. I saw it yesterday in the beautiful Veneration of the Cross. We saw it so movingly on Thursday, the Feast of Corpus Christi, with the beautiful and moving Corpus Christi procession, and the reverence that there is here for Jesus, present in the Eucharist.

As we were walking around the streets on Thursday night, I thought about something that I read a number of years ago. Many of you here may have heard of Sr. Briege McKenna. Briege McKenna is an Irish Franciscan Sister who in her own life had an extraordinary experience of healing. And as a result of that, she has dedicated her life to traveling the world, sharing the message of the Gospel. And a number of years ago, she wrote a wonderful book called "Miracles Do Happen". And in one of the chapters of that book, called "The Transforming Power of the Eucharist", she describes an incident. She was in South America and a priest that she knew invited her to his parish and he asked her to come with him on a journey, it took them hours to get there on very rough terrain, to a community in a very poor area where he was able to go only once a year to celebrate Mass.

She describes the scene as they arrive on the mountain side area... there is no church, no semblance even of a church... there is a broken down table for an altar. But there are hundreds and hundreds of people walking towards this spot for this one Mass that they have every year. She describes the poverty and the squalor and she was really disturbed by it. In her own words she said, she had been a daily communicate since she was twelve years of age, but this one Mass changed her life. And the reason for that was that just before the Mass, she noticed an old woman coming with a little bundle in her arms and she went up to this woman, thinking this was a gift she was bringing for the priest, and the woman opened the bundle and inside was a little boy who was very badly burned and was screaming with pain. Then the priest and Sr. Briege said a little prayer with him and the priest suggested that the lady place the little boy under the make-shift altar for the Mass. That she did.

 

Briege goes on to describe the extraordinary reverence with which these people prayed, particularly when it came to the Consecration. When the Mass was over Briege went up to see this woman and to see the little boy, but he was nowhere to be seen when she got to the altar. And she met the woman and she said, "Where is the little boy?" And she pointed to him. He had crept out from under the altar and was playing with the other little children. And Briege McKenna looked at the woman and she just couldn't believe it. She said, "What happened?" And the woman said, "Sister, what do you mean, what happened. Didn't Jesus come?"

I read that passage a few times and I thought I had missed something here. Then I realized it was my own lack of faith that didn't allow me to believe what those people in their poverty had no difficulty believing, in the healing power of Jesus in the Eucharist, that that could happen and did happen. So I am very conscious of that here. We have this privilege of celebrating the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He comes to us in the most intimate way, and comes to all of us, whatever our state in life. Whatever state our life is in, in our brokenness, in our pain, in our grief, in our sinfulness, He wants to be intimately united with us.

One last little thought, a few months ago, as you will probably remember, President Barak Obama paid a visit to Pope Francis in the Vatican. The next day it was worldwide news and there was one picture in particular of these two powerful men meeting together in the Pope's study, sharing a joke. Their faces were filled with laughter. And that morning I visited one of the schools in my parish at home, in a little village called Aral, a beautiful little school with beautiful children.

And in one of the classrooms the teacher was showing them that picture on a white board screen of the two men meeting each other. And he said to the class, "Which of those men do you think is the most powerful man in the world?" And one little girl, whose grandparents are here today, spoke up and said, "Sir. It's neither of them, it's the guy hanging on the cross behind them."

That to me is what Medjugorje does. It reminds us, it's the Guy on the Cross, it's the One present to us in the Word of God today, it's the One present here in the congregation, but most of all it's the One present here on the altar every time we come to Mass. Because every time we come to Mass, heaven and earth meet together in the most powerful way. That is the message of Our Lady of Medjugorje. It is also the message of St. John the Baptist, whose feast day we celebrate next week, and who is so important here in this village. He was the one who gave us the line, "Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world." I think if we could all go away from here, those of us who have been privileged to be invited to this beautiful place, if we could go away from here with just our faith in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist strengthened just by a morsel that would make His mother very happy. (Homily at English Mass in Medjugorje, 06/21/14) 

Dearest Mother, you are our Queen of Peace. We want to submit ourselves to you as our Queen. We believe that you have come to bring us to your Son, Jesus, so that He can be our King, the King of our hearts. He is present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. May we draw near to Him through your guidance and intercession! Mary, Our Queen, bring us to your Son!

 

Let us pray:

Prayer to the Queen of Peace

 

Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother, Queen of Peace!

You came to us to lead us to God.

Obtain for us the grace

not only to say:

"Be it done to me according to Your word!",

but to live it, as You did.

Into Your hands we put our hands,

so that You may lead us to Him

amidst these afflictions and woes.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Creed, 7 Our Fathers, 7 Hail Marys, 7 Glory Bes....

Veni Creator Spiritus - Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit, Creator, come

best gift of God above,

the living spring, the living fire,

sweet unction and true love.

Thou Who are called the Paraclete,

from Thy bright heavenly throne,

come, take possession of our souls,

and make them all Thine own.

 

Thou who are sevenfold in Thy grace,

finger of God's right hand,

His promise, teaching little ones

to speak and understand.

O guide our minds with Thy blest light,

with love our hearts inflame;

and with Thy strength, which never decays,

confirm our mortal frame.

Far from us drive our deadly foe,

true peace unto us bring,

and through all perils lead us safe

beneath Thy sacred wing.

 

Through Thee may we the Father know,

through Thee the eternal Son,

and Thee the Spirit of them both,

thrice-blessed Three in One.

All glory to the Father be,

with his co-equal Son:

the same to Thee, great Paraclete,

while endless ages run. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

- Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.

- And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray: God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of thy faithful, grant that by that same Spirit we may be always truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray the Rosary!!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2014

 

PS.  The is the last day that we accompany the parish as they climb Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary during this Novena before the 33rd Anniversary!  Join us at www.marytv.tv   

 

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