Mary TV: March 14, 2018 Reflection - Living Waters

Life giving waters!! (c)Mateo Ivankovic 2018 March 14, 2018 Dear Family of Mary! March 6, 1986 "Dear children! Today I call you to open yourselves more to God, so that He can work through you. The more you open yourselves, the more you receive the fruits. I wish to call you again to prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call." Here is the homily given March 13, 2018 in Medjugorje at English Mass. Such a good summary of Lent!! And of pilgrimage!!   Homily for English Mass in Medjugorje, March 13, 2018: A very mysterious reading from the Prophet Ezekiel. Living waters have birthed upon us and all that was dead and dry will now take on life. Who are affected by this death, this dryness? It is ourselves. All of us have been waiting for this wonderful water from heaven. We all know what rain does to the parched earth. We are not only parched, we are dead.   We await the rain from above and it has come. It has rained the Just One upon us. It is Jesus. Jesus, who now works through his Church, through the wonderful Sacraments of the Church. And these Sacraments involve every aspect of our lives. Where ever there is death and dryness, life comes back.   We are like the parched earth. We have to receive this rain. And stay with it. And allow this wonderful rain, this wonderful water to bring fruitfulness in our lives. God knows how much we need it. I am sure we all have histories. Very depressing, deathly, discouraging histories, and we wonder whether our lives can ever bear fruit. Can we ever become anything? Can we become alive again?   Yes, we can. And we will! If we allow this wonderful living water into our lives. For in many ways He comes to us. But we in our turn must open up our lives, our hearts. It is a person. Jesus Christ.   What has happened to us that we are so parched, so dry. That we lack fruit in our lives. What has happened that everything goes wrong in our lives? It is the presence of sin. We live in a very sinful world. We know. Especially today we know this. And so we cry out to God once more to rain upon us this water, the Son of Justice.   He comes to us through the Mother. Mother Mary. He did this in the beginning, continues to do so through history, and He is doing so in a special way today. And that is why we are here in Medjugorje.   We approach the Mother; we show her our wounds. All the deathly things in our lives. Our mistakes. And we ask her to bring back life. Once more to give to us the fresh water of her Divine Son. And to make ourselves, who live in the shadow of death, to come into the full light. To become fruitful. To become joyful. Once more to put a smile on our face. She will do that. That is why she came.   And she has chosen collaborators. People who will receive this water, become fruitful, put a smile on their face, and return home to those who still live in darkness and the shadow of death and be a source of hope for those people.   We have not come to Medjugorje for ourselves. We are here for others. For every member of the Church, and for those who are not members of the Church, we are here also for them too. So that they too can receive this wonderful, life giving water.   Many people come here because "I have this that I want. I want to pray for this and pray for that, I want this favor and that." We are here for other people. We are members of the mystical body of Christ. There are very sick members in that body. And we have the great privilege and the honor to receive this wonderful health that Our Lady brings to us. Take this back with you. Give it to other people. Bring hope into their lives. Try to put a smile once more on their faces.   The Blessed Mother has asked that we in so many words not only receive her messages but also live them. We cannot go back to business as usual. It is wonderful to be in Medjugorje, but now it is back to business. It should not be that. We are going back for God's business, which is to save souls. To give hope to those who are in despair. To those who have given up. And especially those people who have fallen through the cracks. The refuse of humanity. The kind of people that we tend to push out of the way. Go out of your way to bring them back into the picture of salvation, of God's mercy.   But in order to do that you have to do something with your life. You have to do things that up to now you might be fearful of. No one mentions these. We have to take a leap into generosity. A leap in letting go. A generosity that will remove the obstacles in our way, obstacles to which we are attached, about which we prefer not to talk about.   Yes, I will go to church, to Mass, say my Rosary, but don't ask me to do those other things. Obstacles that keep you from receiving the full waters of salvation. If these waters do not enter into your life, they will not be brought to others. You have come here to be filled the waters of grace. Do not leave, empty. In order to be filled with Christ, you have to remove the obstacles. Yes, we are full of self. And we hate to let go. But we must. We must become empty so that we may be filled with this living water. You will go out into the world, and you will see the thirsty people, the sick people, hungry people, people looking for God. You will stop and give them a drink of living water.   This is the work that awaits us. And it is a work, hard work. The kind of work that makes us sweat even thinking about it. I have to fast? I have never done it. I get dizzy when I fast. I get nervous. I get agitated. We do what we can. But let us do something.   It is not so much what you do, but with the love that you try to do even a little. Do it with much love and it becomes great. And it becomes the source of living waters for other people. Very briefly there are people in our lives that we have not forgiven. And somehow we are determined not to forgive them because they don't deserve it. And because every time I think of it there is a swelling of anger and resentment against these people. We have to get rid of that anger and give that forgiveness, otherwise you will remain full of yourself. You will go back home empty handed.   Pray for those who are a source of irritation to you. At places of work the people you cannot stand. People about whom we say, 'Why in the world did God make you anyway?" We should say, "Why in the world did God make me? God made all of us because he loves us and no one is superfluous. What God sees is not what we see. God sees inside of us. And He loves that. It is precious to Him, because it is His image and likeness that He sees.   That is what we have to see in other people. We have to see the image and likeness of God. You will not be able to see it as long as you are dependent upon your senses. It is time to exercise the faith we have all received. For it is faith that gives you access to God, and faith gives you access to your neighbor.   So in closing, dear people, let us go back determined not to do a great deal, because you won't do it. But to take those baby steps towards Jesus Christ. To begin to open your arms, at least open your fingers, and receive those living waters. Go back with the conviction I have come here for other people. Yes, they need us. Because God has made it so, that people should need us. And in a certain sense, God also needs us. Because God always works through people. He doesn't have to need us but He wants to need us. He wants to save us and others through us.   So when life gets a little bit hard, even here in Medjugorje, tell yourself, "I am not here for myself. I am here for others. They depend on me. God depends on me. I must not let them down. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c)Mary TV 2018   PS. I still want to nudge any of your who might be called to God to Medjugorje!!! Mike Nolan (https://pilgrim-medj.com/ ) is taking a group to Medjugorje on April 2 - 13, 2018!  He has room for more pilgrims and says that the airfares are very reasonable.  If you have been receiving nudges to go to Medjugorje, call Mike at 574-335-9952!!

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