Mary TV January 31, 2017 Reflection - Fight against ...Materialism

  
   (c) Mateo Ivankovic 2017
 

J.M.J.
January 31, 2017
St. John Bosco
 
Dear Family of Mary!
 
"Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray for peace: peace in human hearts, peace in the families and peace in the world. Satan is strong and wants to turn all of you against God, and to return you to everything that is human, and to destroy in the heart all feelings towards God and the things of God. You, little children, pray and fight against materialism, modernism and egoism, which the world offers to you. Little children, you decide for holiness and I, with my Son Jesus, intercede for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (January 25, 2017)
 
We just scratched the surface about Modernism. But next we have Materialism. We all can imagine Materialism to be the love of stuff, the stuff we own and use, collect and hoard. Material things can make us happy, feel safe, feed our egos, but not for long. And living for such things is not really part of the road to holiness. Our Lady wants us to have simple and humble lives so as to be free to love God.  Living for the material is not worthy of the human spirit.
 
But there is also a philosophical understanding of Materialism that goes much deeper. The philosophy of Materialism is actually atheism. The Materialist does not believe in the supernatural, in God, in our souls or in any moral truth. The Materialist believes that only matter exists and that all life, including human life, is a product of the motion of matter. Darwinism assumed this philosophy, saying that living things only act to insure the survival of the species, there is no eternal purpose, just survival of the next generation, because of the impulse or movement of living matter.
 
Materialism as a philosophy is a very sad reality. Here are some short explanations of Materialism that might help:
 
The theory that all reality is only matter, or a function of matter, or ultimately derived from matter. There is no real distinction between matter and spirit; even man's soul is essentially material and not uniquely created by God. In ethical philosophy, materialism holds that material goods and interests, the pleasures of the body and emotional experience, are the only or at least the main reason for human existence. In social philosophy, the view that economics and this-worldly interests are the main functions of society. https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34790
 
 
[about Karl Marx] The first of his two key ideas is that of atheistic historical materialism. Like Hobbes, Marx believed that there was no creating God, no plan, design or providence that worked in the universe and as a result there was no metaphysics that could posit knowable, immaterial principles by which and through which the universe existed. For Marx there was only the unstoppable progress of history through the process of matter.
 
Materialism is the philosophy that reality consists only in the physical and tangible. Materialists seek their ultimate happiness in physical pleasures and possessions. They don't believe in spiritual goods and they don't really value human nature. People who embrace materialism often teeter between living life to the fullest and falling into the pit of despair.
The materialist assumption is that the tangible world is all that exists. Nothing exists if it cannot be proven true by science. The assumption is that any claim to truth without scientific evidence is nothing more than opinion. This means that what would be considered true through philosophy or faith is considered mere personal preference by a materialist, including many religious and moral truths. Of course, this view of reality in general has a great effect on a materialist's view of human nature and human life in particular.   http://www.fromtheabbey.com/library/materialism/

We can see this philosophy in action in most of our cultures today. It is a hopeless way of thinking, because ultimately nothing really matters but your fleeting pleasures. There is no afterlife, there is no heaven or God. There is only this life.
How many times Our Lady has tried to help us look to the eternal, to heaven as our future. She came to tell us the God exists. And she constantly directs our eyes to the supernatural, to the life of our souls, to the reality of the afterlife, and our future destiny with God. She does not want us to fall into the Materialist funk, living as if there is no life after death.
So that is Materialism. Yes, it is being distracted by stuff, but even more it is being lied to about our immortal souls and our eternal life with God.
As Our Lady tells us, we must fight this way of thinking!!
 
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017
 




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

Hope for Persecuted Christian Refugees

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.-Hebrews 13:3

Trump Administration Gives Hope to Persecuted Christians

“…persecuted Christians will finally be considered for resettlement…”

FRONT ROYAL, VIRGINIA — Christian Freedom International supports President Trump’s executive order regarding refugee resettlement.
The order mandates the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days, while the secretaries of State and Homeland Security review the program’s application and adjudication process and determine whether additional measures are required to “ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.”
Read more.
 

Monday, January 30, 2017

Mary TV January 30, 2017 Reflection - Fight against ...Modernism

 
   (c) Mateo Ivankovic 2017
 

J.M.J.
January 30, 2017
 
Dear Family of Mary!
 
"Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray for peace: peace in human hearts, peace in the families and peace in the world. Satan is strong and wants to turn all of you against God, and to return you to everything that is human, and to destroy in the heart all feelings towards God and the things of God. You, little children, pray and fight against materialism, modernism and egoism, which the world offers to you. Little children, you decide for holiness and I, with my Son Jesus, intercede for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (January 25, 2017)
 
Our Lady gave us a strong directive in this most recent message. She is calling us to pray for peace. And she is warning us that Satan is strong and wants to take all our peace away, by convincing us that God is our enemy, and that all that is good will only come through our own efforts, our own thoughts, our own understandings of life, and our own desires. The enemy is trying to convince us that we are the center of our own universe. And that is when he will have us in his grasp.
 
Our Lady warns us about three "isms". "Isms" are belief systems that arrange a set of values around some basic understanding of reality, and influence our choices. "Isms" are ideologies. They can be very dangerous. They can lead us into real trouble, by redefining our lives in terms of a value or idea that can become a god to us. There have been many destructive ideologies. But Our Lady mentions three: materialism, modernism, and egoism.
 
I think modernism is maybe the most difficult of the three to understand. It actually is very much at the heart of the troubles we are having in our world. Modernism is a way of understanding existence which began with Luther and Decartes, and has permeated the way religious people approach the faith even to today. It makes us think that what is important is our own inner understanding of things, our subjective experiences. Don't we see this way of thinking everywhere in our societies today? It makes us the center of the universe, individually. Absurd!! Yes.
 
I discovered a short talk given by Bishop Robert Barron in 2012. This talk really helped me to understand what modernism is, how it began, and how it has influenced theologians and philosophers for the past 400 years. It explains a lot about the confusion we have in the Church and in the greater society about our faith.
 
Bishop Barron says there are 4 key points that help us recognize Modernism:
Subjectivism
Rationalism
Dualism
Anti-Traditionalism
 
These four ways of approaching the faith build on one another, and have weakened the faith. Rene Descartes declared this new understanding of things in this way:
 
Subjectivism was announced by Rene Descartes in his famous "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am." Descartes decided that all reality was subject to his own perception of it. And so the personal experience was the final arbiter of what was real.
 
Rationalism was embraced by Descartes because he felt that only mathematical or scientific thought was a reliable source of information about the outside world.
 
Dualism emerged because if the inner subjective perception was so important, then the body and the outside world was secondary in importance. Hence the mind over body attitude.
 
And Anti-Tradionalism came into his thought because it seemed better to get rid of the old structures (like the Church) in favor of the new structures of thought coming from his own understandings.
 
We can see these four ways of approaching the world and our faith in so much of modern thought today, according to Bishop Barron.
 
Here is a link to his talk, on YouTube. He speaks for about 40 minutes. It is in the first half of the video. Bishop Barron starts about 10 minutes into the video. I found his talk very helpful in getting a clear understanding of what modernism is. We encounter it every day in and outside of the Church.
 
So you have your homework for today!
 
Our Lady wants us to be equipped to stand up for the truth, because in the truth we will find peace as well. And peace is so very much in danger these days. But we can be carriers of peace, if we pray and fight with Our Lady. Pray, pray, pray!!
 
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017




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

Friday, January 27, 2017

Mary TV January 27, 2017 Reflection - Pray for Peace!


   (c) Mateo Ivankovic 2017
 

J.M.J.
January 27, 2017
St. Angela Merici
 
Dear Family of Mary!
 
"Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray for peace: peace in human hearts, peace in the families and peace in the world. Satan is strong and wants to turn all of you against God, and to return you to everything that is human, and to destroy in the heart all feelings towards God and the things of God. You, little children, pray and fight against materialism, modernism and egoism, which the world offers to you. Little children, you decide for holiness and I, with my Son Jesus, intercede for you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
 
Here is a beautiful prayer for peace, a peace that comes forth from repentance and conversion. Maybe we can pray this prayer together for the peace of our hearts, our families and the world:
 
Psalm 85
 
LORD, thou wast favorable to thy land;
thou didst restore the fortunes of Jacob.
Thou didst forgive the iniquity of thy people;
thou didst pardon all their sin. [Selah]
Thou didst withdraw all thy wrath;
thou didst turn from thy hot anger.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away thy indignation toward us!
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?
Wilt thou prolong thy anger to all generations?
Wilt thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Show us thy steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us thy salvation.
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his saints, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
Yea, the LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and make his footsteps a way.
 
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017




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

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Medjugorje, Message January 25, 2017













"Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray for peace: peace in human hearts, peace in the families and peace in the world. Satan is strong and wants to turn all of you against God, and to return you to everything that is human, and to destroy in the heart all feelings towards God and the things of God. You, little children, pray and fight against materialism, modernism and egoism, which the world offers to you. Little children, you decide for holiness and I, with my Son Jesus, intercede for you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Children of Medjugorje, Inc., PO Box 18430, Denver, CO 80218






Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Mary TV January 24, 2017 Reflection - Pray, Pray, Pray!

   
 
  (c) Mateo Ivankovic 2017
 

J.M.J.
January 24, 2017
St. Francis de Sales

Dear Family of Mary!

Here is another excerpt from Fr. Slavko's book, "Mother! Lead us to peace!"

Message of October 25, 1991:
Pray! Pray! Pray!

This is the shortest message that Mary has given to us to date...

PRAY!

The apparitions and the messages do not merely concern the situation in Croatia alone, but also in the entire world. They are, according to the message of last August, related to the events and messages of Fatima that, in turn, point us toward great events occurring in the entire world. First plans of peace and joy are implied, but then they are being born in suffering. Mary has not appeared here for such a long time to tell us that difficult times are upon us. These which already have come upon the Croatian people, are very obvious even without her company. She comes to help us remain on the path of peace and in the meantime not to become discouraged in spite of all the problems. This is a great sign for hope! In other words, the problems do not come because Mary is appearing but she appears here to help us solve the problems and to suffer through the hard situations just as she herself and her Son, Jesus Christ, did. This is the path of renewal and resurrection. This war that is fought in Croatia against Croatians is a war that has moved many millions of people and especially the pilgrims of Medjugorje, to prayer, to fasting, to sacrifices and to acts of love.

PRAY!

No war to date has been so accompanied by prayers from around the entire world. This fact speaks for itself. Mary, as the woman clothed with the sun, fights the evil enemy along with her descendants. Therefore, it proves to be no coincidence that one of the first targets of the aggressor has been the churches. According to the reports from Zagreb more than 210 churches are today damaged or entirely destroyed. The victory that we ARE expecting could be a new beginning for Europe because this war is the only open on being waged in Europe. We should all learn something very important from it and we pray that humanity truly does learn! It is high time for us all to become conscious of what great possibilities of destruction exist in the world today.

PRAY!

Something that arrived at the Parish Office can put a light on this war from a very important perspective. It was a letter written and signed by 80 Croatian soldiers on the front near Osijek. It was entitled "An Appeal from the Front Line of Battle." The message of peace, brought to us by the Queen of Peace, does not only consist of an appeal to stop wars but also to stop any destruction of life. It involves protection of life from the very beginning, protection of nature and of all of creation, deep peace between God and man, between man and woman and between man and nature. The relationship should be based on respect, on reverence, on protection and on love. The advancing battle line of death could be restrained in this way and life in peace, as it is God's will, could really be attained. If the word 'pray' is repeated, as it is, three times in this month's message, then we should simply pray without many more explanations. For this reason, I permit myself here to repeat in a school book style what we were until now told about prayer.

1) Who is supposed to pray? - Every person without exception. Every country, every Parish, every family and then every prayer group.

2) What is to be prayed? - The Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Holy Mass as often as possible, novenas, the Bible should be read, twice a week one should fast and these alone, with the family and within groups.

3) How are we all to pray? - With the heart and that means with love and with trust in God's love and mercy.

4) For which intentions ought we t pray/ - We should pray for our Blessed Mother's intentions. She then promises to present our prayers to the Father for his plans as He desires and then also explicitly for the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart.

PRAY!

As we participate in all these prayers, Masses, fasts and novenas, none of us may forget that each one of us is not merely important, but truly indispensable for Mary's intentions! Again this gives us a new purpose for our lives, for our prayers and for our work. Then lastly we may also occasionally think of ourselves. Our Lady said in one message that we should pray and that we will not regret it.

Our Heavenly Father, You call upon us through Mary with a threefold urgency to pray, pray, pray! Send the spirit of prayer into our hearts, into our families, into the prayer groups, into the communities and into the entire Church. Help us to become during these times Your people of prayer, that we may adore and praise You in all situations of joy as well as suffering, because You are the Lord who loves us. Bless all who have been following the messages and who are praying with all their hearts. Give all who have not yet accepted the message and decided for prayer a renewed strength and new decisions to do so through the intercession of our Most Holy Mother! Hear us, O Lord, and give us peace with your son, Jesus Christ, the King of Peace. Amen. (Medjugorje: November 4, 1991)

(Fr. Slavko Barbaric, "Mother! Lead us to Peace".  p. 98-100)

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017







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

Monday, January 23, 2017

Mary TV January 23, 2017 Reflection - the Gift of Life!

 
 

J.M.J.
January 23, 2017
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children (USA)
St. Vincent, St. Maryanne Cope
 
Dear Family of Mary!
 
January 25, 1990 "Dear children! Today I invite you to decide for God once again and to choose Him before everything and above everything, so that He may work miracles in your life and that day by day your life may become joy with Him. Therefore, little children, pray and do not permit satan to work in your life through misunderstandings, the non-understanding and non-acceptance of one another. Pray that you may be able to comprehend the greatness and the beauty of the gift of life. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Let us pray:
Father and maker of all,
you adorn all creation
with splendor and beauty,
and fashion human lives
in your image and likeness.
Awaken in every heart
reverence for the work of your hands,
and renew among your people
a readiness to nurture and sustain
your precious gift of life.
Grant this through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in
the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.
Amen
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017




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

Mary TV January 20, 2017 Reflection - I bless you and carry each of you in my heart!



Fr. Slvako Barbaric, OFM

J.M.J.
January 20, 2017
St. Fabian and St. Sebastian
 
Dear Family of Mary!
 
This is the last installment of Fr. Slavko's reflection on the December 25, 1994 message:
 
December 25, 1994 "Dear children! Today I rejoice with you and I am praying with you for peace: peace in your hearts, peace in your families, peace in your desires, peace in the whole world. May the King of Peace bless you today and give your peace. I bless you and I carry each one of you in my heart. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Peace in our desires leads to...
 
PEACE IN THE WHOLE WORLD
 
This will be the final fruit of our taking Mary's path to peace in our hearts, peace in our families and peace in our desires. These days we see and hear how peace is threatened from the outside by numerous conflicts, but those things are still a continuing impulse for us to pray for peace. The world is in chaos, the world does not have peace and this is for a very simple, true and very deep reason. The world has turned away from God and the world even wants to make itself independent from Him!
 
"The people of these times", a teacher of repute is known to have said, "have eaten too much from the tree of knowledge and have ignored the tree of love, the tree of trust and the tree of God." It is for this reason that it becomes very important for us that we, especially in these times, renew our 'yes' to Mary and with her hold on to the belief that peace is, after all, possible. We should do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to bring peace into our hearts, into our families, into our desires and into the world!
 
MAY THE KING OF PEACE BLESS YOU TODAY AND GIVE YOU PEACE
 
She knows Him and He is the Prince of Peace about whom the prophets sang and whom the prophets announced. It is ultimate for us to know that it is He and ONLY He to whom Our Lady is praying and leading us. It is very beautiful to know that she intercedes for us to her son, for this very particular Intention - PEACE. We should not forget that in several messages she tells us that she needs us and that we are important to her. We are important to her because the first part of peace that Jesus promised us is peace in our hearts. It is only from this out of which peace in the families and peace in the world can grow.
 
I BLESS YOU AND I CARRY EACH OF YOU IN MY HEART
 
This means that she promises that she will continue to pray for us, that she will continue to intercede for us and that she never judges us. It is 'benedicere' in Latin and this means that she 'speaks well' of us and does not accuse us before God. Then finally she says something very motherly and beautiful. She sees herself as the mother of every single one of us! She carries us! And this is OUR CHANCE to permit ourselves to be carried by her! We must become conscious that she loves us, that she loves and accepts us as a mother.
 
When we come closer to her, as she said in the November message, we will also discover God. Father also carries us! THINK ABOUT IT! This is a call and another strong impulse for us to open our hearts to her and to become like her in our thoughts, in our feelings and in our entire lives. This message is one that in a special way clarifies Mary's program to us. She came to announce peace and not war! It clarifies that one cannot advance in merely analyzing but to progress it is necessary to personally decide for peace. This is also the case when we find ourselves in deep conflicts. Then too we can lead or be led to the Oasis of Peace. The people the communities, the families, the Church itself and all the rest of the world NEED THIS PEACE! Everyone will become a person with good intentions when they actively decide to come closer to God. This is quite simply the program leading out of Bethlehem when the angels sang: "Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to all Men!"
 
So Mary has been with us for 13 years and 6 months [and now for 35 years and 6 months] and we are in her College of Love and of Peace. Slowly but steadily we should come to the conclusion that there are no more excuses to go to lesser schools. SHE LOVES US SO MUCH! SHE GAVE US SO MUCH! SHE HAS TOLD US SO MUCH! SHE IS PRAYING FOR US! We have all the reasons to become active so that peace can come to us all. WE SHOULD LET HER PROGRAM BECOME OUR PROGRAM! May we become conscious that this peace can truly come when we constantly fight evil and sin and when we consistently work on our hearts as we work on our fields. (Fr. Slavko Barbaric. "Mother! Lead Us to Peace!!" p. 307-308)
 
I am grateful to have these words of Fr. Slavko available for us to ponder. He was and is a gift to us in these days. He gave everything to serve the Gospa. He held nothing back. And he did serve the good and peace in Medjugorje.
 
May we follow Fr. Slavko's example, and abandon ourselves to the Mother. She will take us to her heart, and help us to become apostles of peace. Jesus will then be everything for us, and we will live with Him in our hearts, and in our families and the whole world.
 
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017




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

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Mary TV January 19, 2017 Reflection - More from Fr. Slavko

Father Slavko Barbaric

Fr. Slvako Barbaric, OFM

J.M.J.
We continue with Fr. Slavko's reflection on the December 25, 1994 message:
 
December 25, 1994 "Dear children! Today I rejoice with you and I am praying with you for peace: peace in your hearts, peace in your families, peace in your desires, peace in the whole world. May the King of Peace bless you today and give your peace. I bless you and I carry each one of you in my heart. Thank you for having responded to my call."
 
PEACE IN YOUR FAMILIES
 
When Mary says 'family' we think of husband and wife, mother and father and when they together create the conditions for peace. It becomes a call for unconditional love, for forgiveness, for respecting one another and for accepting one another. Whenever the parents are wounded or wound each other it, of course, falls upon the children and in such a situation peace is NEVER possible. Therefore, it is the parents who are first called upon in the family unit to have peace with each other, to have peace in their desires toward themselves, each other and toward their children.
 
Of course we can only imagine what is in the hearts of many parents while they are trying to guide and raise them, with all their worries of what the children will be doing and what will the world be bringing to them! These doubts and questions are justified but we will not react with fear, with panic or with mistrust. These will not solve the problems. It is not in this way that we will be able to help the youth. The best help that can be offered to them is when the parents have decided for peace themselves and when they thereby stand in front of the children as witnesses of peace.
 
Only when life becomes a gift from God the Creator and when we therefore learn to love everything more within the family will it become easier. It will also become easier when one removes all that which threatens peace and these things become even more difficult when the children reach puberty. The suffering of the parents then becomes extreme and often unimaginable but peace is still possible because Mary also is praying for peace with us.
 
This is the reason that we very consciously must renew this prayer for peace in our families every day. Yet more than on anything else this peace depends on the parents, on husband and wife, and then finally also on the children. If only one is there as an agent of interference, confusion or division, then the peace of the entire family is at risk. Then seen on a merely human level, peace becomes impossible. Then Our Lady addresses a very important level of peace and that is...
 
PEACE IN YOUR DESIRES
 
With this, I believe, she is touching upon our inner-freedom. The freer we are from ourselves, from other people and from the material, the more we will have a true peace within us. When we are dependent upon ourselves or when we have pride in our hearts, then we will only with great difficulty, if at all, be able to have true peace. When we are dependent on things, people, wealth, influence, alcohol or drugs, then it is impossible to have peace within us because the mind or the body come to control everything. All of these only hinder the heart from coming to peace.
 
It is therefore good when we ask ourselves this. What is it that we are really seeking in our lives? Is it to meet with God and then out of Him and with Him to meet other people and all of His creation? This is not easy. It is difficult and it means daily attention and daily straining, but it is only this search that keeps us in a deeper peace. When we become free in this sense we are bringing peace into our desires and thus it is ONLY peace that controls us.
 
Here it becomes important to think of this message that Mary gave us. "Work on your hearts as you work in your fields." This is a valuable assignment for the coming New Year as well for all the coming years. We have all been wishing each other peace when we were sending Christmas cards and meeting so many people over these holidays. We want this to be our desire, our ONLY desire in our hearts all year long!
 
The simpler our desires become, the stronger we yearn to love God, to love freedom and to love other people. Then it will become easier for us to take upon us all that helps us come to inner peace in our desires. It will then also be easier to accept all those things that are not all right and that are not helping us to be in contact with God...
(Fr. Slavko Barbaric, OFM. "Mother! Lead us to Peace!! P. 306)
 
The Final installment will be tomorrow!
 
Peace in our hearts, Peace in our families, Peace in our desires...and Peace in the whole world!!!
 
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017




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