TONIGHT FROM MEDJUGORJE:

Friday	August 10, 2007

Our Lady Prays A Long Time
For Priests Tonight

Today, August 10, 2007 Our Lady appeared to Ivan for his prayer group apparition at the Blue Cross which is at the base of Apparition Hill in Bijakovici. Pilgrims began to arrive before 7:30 pm. A large group of English speaking people present began praying the Rosary. As more groups arrived, the Rosary was prayed in both English and Italian. During this time, many people crowded around the Blue Cross and onto the base of Apparition Hill. The area around the Blue Cross was completely full and pilgrims were sitting and standing on and along the rock walls that surround this area. With all the spots taken, pilgrims soon lined the rock path that connects to the street. Clouds began to drift in overhead and lightning illuminated the cross on Mt. Krizevac which was visible from Apparition Hill. Ivan’s prayer group played and sang music as those gathered sang along. The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary were prayed and Our Lady appeared to Ivan when the Rosary was completed. After Our Lady’s apparition, drops of rain began to fall as the pilgrims walked slowly down the path to the street below and through the fields and vineyards.

Ivan describes the apparition below:

Tonight when Our Lady came She was very happy. She greeted us by saying, “Praised be Jesus my little children.” Our Lady then prayed for a long time with Her hands extended over us. She especially prayed for all you sick pilgrims tonight. Ivan recommended all of our needs, petitions our family and especially the sick. She then blessed us all with Her Motherly Blessing. She blessed all the religious articles brought for blessing. Our Lady then prayed for priests for a long time. After we prayed with Our Lady an Our Father and a Glory Be. Our Lady left in an illuminated Sign of the Cross saying, “Go in peace my dear children.”

The mountain apparitions are always a favorite for the Medjugorje pilgrims. How these days, these special moments, even for us who are not there in Medjugorje but on our knees at home, will be missed when Our Lady quits appearing. We must realize the reality that these beautiful encounters with Our Lady one day will no longer be. What does Our Lady say about this? Our Lady said on August 25, 1997:

“Dear children! God gives me this time as a gift to you, so that I may instruct and lead you on the path of salvation. Dear children, now you do not comprehend this grace, but soon a time will come when you will lament for these messages. That is why, little children, live all of the words which I have given you through this time of grace and renew prayer, until prayer becomes a joy for you. Especially, I call all those who have consecrated themselves to my Immaculate Heart to become an example to others. I call all priests and religious brothers and sisters to pray the Rosary and to teach others to pray. The Rosary, little children, is especially dear to me. Through the Rosary open your heart to me and I am able to help you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

How we should not only savor these days, but ponder and cherish them in the recesses of our hearts.

With Love,
A Friend of Medjugorje

Priest praying the Rosary. This picture was taken just as the crowds began to gather at the Blue Cross for Ivan’s apparition tonight. This priest at tonight’s apparition had Our Lady pray over him, but not only for him, but for all priests around the world. Lately, Our Lady has been strongly emphasizing to pray for our priests. We must contemplate the meaning of this in our Church today.

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MY EVENING REFLECTION

A very short Message from Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi, titled 'I Have No Need of Human Means.'

Mary says to Fr. Gobbi that Her work continues when he offers Her his prayer and suffering! Suffering is redemptive and powerful when it is united with the sufferings of Jesus and Mary. Our Lady says that She has no need of human means to accomplish Her plans for the world, but She does need our prayer. Why? Because then we are doing the will of God and are united in the Communion of Saints; the souls who have made it to Heaven already; the souls in Purgatory, awaiting their release and entrance to the Father's Kingdom; and all of us here on earth who are in the Mystical Body of Christ. What a great prayer group we are!

Speaking about the Blue Book, (pictured above) which contains Our Lady's Messages, She says: 'Even the little book is only a means for the spread of My Movement.' It is an important means because it serves to make known Our Lady's love for her priest-sons. But it is all a special grace to believe and meditate on and live Her words. And this grace only comes from prayer, love, suffering, and even the humility to not being able to act!

Are you offering Our Lady your prayers and sufferings, so that She can present them to Our Lord? Are you making the Consecration to Mary's Heart everyday? Her last words today are, "Remain with Me always."
Roman Deacon

From www.spiritdaily.com books

Meditation 87

THE HEART OF OUR LADY

1. A Perfect Order.
Here is another wonder which adorns, in an extraordinary way, the Most Pure Heart of Mary, a something which is intimately related to its shining beauty. Order is an indispensable element in beauty. St. Augustine goes so far as to define beauty as the shining splendor of order.

In our heart order consists in regulating and directing all its movements according to the rule imposed on us by God. In every order there needs must be a rule. In a library, the size of the books might be taken as the standard of arrangement, or you might classify the books according to subjects, age, binding. The basis of the arrangement can vary.

But order is based on rule for it is through rule that every object is assigned its own place. The heart also has its own rule. Our will, our mind, our senses, all our powers must submit to the rule which subjects them to the Will of God. Therefore there will be order in our mind when our judgments are submitted to the judgment of God, when our thoughts are according to the thoughts of God. In a similar manner, order in our will consists in loving everything according to the rank of its merits but always with love inferior to and subjected to the love of God. The rule of love is to love God above all things. The rule which orders the use of our senses demands that they are subjected to our reason and not at the mercy of our whims.

Finally, there is order in our heart and in our whole being when we follow the Will of God.

How beautiful is this orderly submission. Look at the starry sky. Admire those gigantic globes of fire, keeping their dizzy speeds in spite of their enormous weight. See how everything is so perfectly arranged that there is no collision or interference.

The marvelous order imprinted by the Divine Wisdom shines forth everywhere in nature. Only man, only the human heart can abuse the power of his will, the gift of freedom. He seems to delight in destroying this divine order. How sad! No matter how charming and sublime nature appears in its wise arrangement, there is no more beautiful sight than a well ordered heart with all its movements and aspirations directed towards God. Is your heart like this, or must you realize with sadness the disorder that prevails in it?

And this disorder might perhaps be enormously devastating. Disorder is uncontrolled passions, in unmortified senses, in an unruly heart.

Every sin is a disorder. If sin abides in you what will be the state of your heart? The supreme law which should govern your life is this: Man has been created for the purpose of praising, revering and serving the divine majesty of God.

How do you keep this rule? Thus you can gauge the degree of order in your soul.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

VERY LATE NIGHT REFLECTION

Our Lady gave this Message #50 to Fr. Gobbi on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Mother Mary has gathered some of Her priest-sons together for rest and prayer, and abundant graces for the task She has for them in Her great plan to save humanity! She says that She wants to manifest to them all the benevolence and the predilection of Her motherly Heart.

See, Our Lady only wants to do good to Her favorites! Are you one of Mary's favorites? By consecrating ourselves to Her Immaculate Heart we will be! By wearing Her Brown Scapular as a sign of that consecration, we will be! By praying Her Holy Rosary, we will be!

In this short Message, Mother Mary's last words are: I place you in the burning furnace of the Heart of My Son; and I bless you!

Thank You, dearest Mother!
Roman Deacon

Prayer of Saint Augustine

Breathe in me O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.
Amen.

THE HEART OF MARY

4. Your Own Heart.
Now let us apply all the foregoing to our own hearts. God wants us to share in the excellence, sanctity, and beauty with which He entrusted the Heart of our Mother. He expects our heart to become similar to Hers. He wants to place His complacency also in us.

Of the Son of Mary He could say, Behold My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased! He wants to say the same of us. He wants us to be like Jesus, a child of Mary, a child of His by adoption. And through this adoption He wants to establish with us that intimate communication, that close union He had with the Heart of Mary, making us thereby partakers of the same divine life.

The Holy Spirit wants our heart to be His temple and shrine. And He gives us the graces necessary to purify and beautify it and render it worthy. Happy the heart which is chosen by the Divine Trinity for their throne. Happy the heart which knows how to rise to that great dignity. Is your heart so? Do you know how to approach that gift of God which calls you to partake in divine life?

Search your conduct and see whether you are corresponding to the grand plan framed for your eternal happiness by the wisdom and love of God. Grand indeed if you strive to direct and unify your intentions, your desires, your affections, your loves in accordance with the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Most Pure Heart of Mary. See whether, indeed, this Most Pure Heart is your model. See whether you make any effort to become similar to God through this ineffable union with God which was the source of the excellence, sanctity, and beauty of the Heart of Mary. Entreat Our Blessed Lady to be your perfect Mediatrix in the surrender of your heart to Jesus. Hand over your heart to Her entirely, seriously and permanently and leave Her free to do with it whatever She wills until finally She shapes it to the likeness of the Heart of Jesus.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

MY LATE NIGHT REFLECTION

Message #47 'The Prayer of My Priests.'

Our Lady tells Fr. Gobbi that She wants Her priest-sons close to Her Heart in prayer, detached from the convulsions of the world and even in the Church! Stay by Her alone, She says. These are grave moments which demand very much prayer! The prayer of Her priests is necessary for the salvation of the world.

But how do priests pray? Well first and foremost is their daily Mass; the Holy Sacrifice must be celebrated well! And every priest should say Mass or con-celebrate every day, if possible! Mass should be lived by Her priests, Our Lady says. Also the whole day should be consecrated to Mary by praying the Liturgy of the Hours. And Our Lady's beloved Rosary, so intimate that Mary speaks to Her little children and they speak and listen to Her, a real conversation in the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary!

And so every action becomes a prayer and the Holy Spirit groans within them, crying out and invoking God as a Father. Mary says, Seek the Father; cry out to the Father; yearn for the Father; all of us can do this, She says.

Each day I do what Our Lady asks, crying out to the Father for the Triumph of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, That His Kingdom of the Divine Will will reign in the hearts of all mankind! I ask Him to send the Holy Spirit to "renew the face of the earth," and I ask the Father to send world peace through Our Lady, Queen of Peace. What do you ask the Father for?

One last word from Mother Mary: We will be disposed to continuous prayer, prompted by the sufferings around us. The moments are approaching that are more serious than anyone of us can imagine. We are being prepared by Her so that we are ready and that's why we must pray, pray, pray!
Roman Deacon

THE HEART OF MARY

3. Its Beauty.
The sanctity of this Most Pure Heart renders it most beautiful in the sight of God and of the angels and men who contemplate it. If the Heart of the Virgin is holy, with the holiness it shares with God, it must also be most beautiful with a beauty taken from God. The Divine Essence is the source, cause and origin of all that is beautiful. Should the sun stop shinning, all the things of the earth would lose their beauty. We do not conceive natural beauty with out the light of the sun. So it is with the beauty of the soul. Without God there would be no beauty whatsoever, either in the natural order or especially as regards the supernatural beauty of the souls.

And since the Heart of Mary partakes of the beauty of God Himself, to the extent that it appears to be identically the same, how great and beautiful must be the Heart of Our Mother. The real and abiding beauty is that of the heart. The external beauty is just a reflection, a glimpse, of the eternal beauty. You can then imagine how all the beauty of Mary was contained and summed up in Her Heart.

The Church, ecstatic in front of the beauty of the Heart of Mary applies to Her the lyrical words of Holy Scripture: How beautiful Thou art! Thou art all shining. There is no stain to tarnish Thy beauty. Thou hast wounded the Heart of Thy Divine Spouse. The daughters of Sion, on seeing Thee, blessed and praised Thy beauty. Grace and charm has spread over Thy lips and spreads over Thy face. On account of Thy beauty God has blessed Thee from without. Prosperous walk on with the shining of that peerless beauty, ruling over all hearts as a Queen of incomparable splendor.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

In hope of a cure at Lourdes.

LATE NIGHT REFLECTION

A Message #46, from Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi is titled: 'My Beloved Children.'

Fr. Gobbi is in Lourdes, France on this day and Our Lady speaks to his heart with such love and beautiful words. She says She has a great tenderness for all these children of mine. Imagine the crowds of people there, the sick and infirm, the devout and the humble faithful. So many wanting to be healed, body and soul! And Mother Mary says that She will reveals Herself to the little and the innocent. Remembering St. Bernadette and how pure and innocent and sickly she was.

Yes, Our Lady talks about the virtue of purity. How sad the world is today, so impure, so full of filth! Everywhere you go, whatever you look at, there are signs of this grossness. The TV, the Internet, the magazines and newspapers, but especially the movies, which have corrupted this generation, has turned its morals up-side-down!

Mary says that if we only knew how much Her Motherly Heart loves and cherishes purity. Souls who practice this virtue are open to receive special graces and love from the Immaculate Heart, which allows them to see and feel Our Lady's presence. Do you practice this virtue? Then you too will feel Mother Mary at your side.

Remembering Our Lady's words at Fatima: Many souls go to hell because of the sins of impurity and because they have no one to pray for them." Let us pray every day that souls will be saved through Our Lady's Immaculate Heart. She is our Gate to see Jesus in the Father's Kingdom. Pray for the virtue of purity for ourselves and for the whole world!
Roman Deacon

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)

THE HEART OF MARY

2. Its Sanctity.
From this most perfect union between both Hearts spring the marvelous sanctity of the Heart of Mary. Sanctity consists in a participation with God, in a love which transforms the soul into God, in an elevation which makes our soul a true image and likeness of God. God fixed this aim when creating man and shaping his heart. He wanted the king of creatures to be according to His own image and likeness.

That is why a human heart reaches the perfection of being God's image, of having in itself a likeness to the heart of God, when He is able to exclaim with St. Paul, It is not I, it is Christ that lives in me. Then he has reached this perfection, he has attained sanctity.

But which heart could in this compare with that of Mary? Which heart was closer, more intimately united and more perfectly partaking in the life of God than Her's? Which heart was more totally transformed into God's? Which could claim more truly to be image and likeness of God than Her's? Where could be found a better mirror without blemish, capable of reflecting the sanctity of God more perfectly and faithfully? To which heart could those words of St. Paul, It is Christ that lives in me, more fittingly apply than to the Heart of Mary, not excluding the heart of St. Paul or of any other saint?

If you pause to consider each of the most important perfections of God and you apply each to our Heavenly Mother, you will see all those divine perfections reflected in Her heart by virtue of this close union and ineffable communication of Her Heart with that of God.

The Heart of Mary is the tabernacle of the Godhead. It is the living temple of the Divinity, where God has come down to fix His dwelling, where He wishes to abide forever.

All is holy in this Heart; nothing in it, not the lightest movement, no thought, no desire, no love, no word, no action which is not utterly holy. Everything is saintly in it.

Now place your poor heart in front of this seat of sanctity, of this mirror without blemish and compare yours with Hers. Confronted with Mary's you will easily detect some vice, some fault, some imperfections in your heart. Insist and study this comparison, because you will certainly derive from it a great increase in your love towards the Most Pure Heart of Mary and an increase in the contempt of self and of the imperfections and faults which so deform your heart.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

MY EVENING REFLECTION

Message #45 is titled 'I Will Give Them This Water'.

What is this water that Our Lady says She will give to Her priest-sons? She explains to Fr. Gobbi that the Church, (in those days of 1974), was parched with the dryness of confusion, the souls of Her beloved priests were parched and many were defecting from the holy priesthood. I remember those days when so many left their vocation for the secular life, some even marrying, breaking their vows of chastity. Yes, even some of my own priest friends left us in shock and totally confounded.

But Our Lady wants to give these priests pure water, crystal-clear water to quench their great thirst for the truth! She Herself will give them this water of truth! But Her priest-sons must make themselves available for this water. They have to detach themselves from the world and all its seductions. They must free themselves for the sake of Our Lady and Her Movement.

Now these priests cannot do this alone. They need each others support and love. They need to help each other, encourage each other, walk the path together. As they abandon the world, they will rely more on Our Lady. She promises to provide everything for their living; a home, clothing, food, etc., because as Mother She knows what Her child needs.

And they need to ask for things! Our Lady says that She feels joy in Her Heart when Her priest sons ask Her for something. Ask especially everything for their brother-priests, because each one needs so much from Her Immaculate Heart. Ask and you will receive! Why? Because this is the beginning of the great Triumph in Her priest-sons!
Roman Deacon

Meditation 86

THE HEART OF MARY

1. The Excellence of This Heart.
Let us take for our consideration some of the treasures which God was pleased to store in the Heart of His and Our Mother. The excellence of the Heart of Our Lady depends on its union with the Divine Heart of Jesus, that is to say, with the very same Heart of God. How intimate and true was Her union with the Divinity!

On account of Her dignity of Mother of God Mary had been admitted to share in God's life as much as it is possible for a creature. There was one time in Her life where really the life of God was the life of Mary. The life of God-made-man depended on the life of Mary. The Heart of God beat under the throbbings of the Heart of Mary. The union of both Hearts was such that there was a common life shared by both.

But the Heart of Mary always continued this life of union with the Heart of Her Son. That Heart had no other love, no other will, no other sentiments than those of the Heart of Jesus. Mary's Heart always responded like an echo to whatever took place in the Heart of Her Son.

Hence the excellence of this Most Pure Heart of Mary. Hence it was that this Heart of Mary loved God more than all the creatures of heaven and earth together. Hence it was that God was pleased with this Heart and with its love more than with that of all the angels and men together. We can imagine how beautiful it would have been if man had never sinned after the fall of Adam and that the hearts of all men had given themselves above all up to the love of God. And yet all this would have been insignificant, a something much below what is due to God.

The only heart that loves God with the love He deserves is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and after Him, but together with Him and through Him, the Most Pure Heart of Mary. This is the heart and this is the love with which God is certainly well pleased.

The Heart of Mary and the Heart of Her Son is a sublime union thanks to which the divine life of God flows down to, is shared and is loved by, the Heart of Our Lady.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

A SUNDAY NIGHT REFLECTION

From the MMP Blue Book Message #44 is titled: 'Let Them Offer Me Their Sufferings.'

Do you offer your sufferings to Our Lady? Everyone has some cross to bear, some sufferings to endure. Why waste them. Give them to Jesus through Our Lady. Mother Mary says that the road to Heaven is difficult. It is strewn with difficulties and sorrows, but do not be discouraged or frightened because She will lead you, just remain in Her Heart.

Give Our Lady all the difficulties, the sufferings and the abandonment that you are experiencing. Mary says this comforts Her Sorrowful Heart because She knows that you offer them to Her in love! And then She adds, Even Jesus willed to offer to the Father all His sufferings through and with Her. Wow! That's very powerful!

Mary says this is Her task as Mother and Co-redemptrix. When we offer Our Lady our sufferings it allows Her to do Her job, so to speak; to save souls redeemed by Jesus but so many far away from Him. Together with the Blessed Virgin Mary we can pay for souls; just "offer it up", as we Catholic like to say.

So, again, prayer and suffering will comfort the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary and assist Her in Her great plan of mercy which She is about to realize in this, our time! Together let us save souls! Pray the Morning Offering! Then your whole day is offered to God through Mary; all your trials and tribulations; your joys and bliss, your tiredness and humility; all for the glory of God!
Roman Deacon

Morning Offering

O Jesus, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, for the intentions of Mary, Our Mother, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

THE HEART OF MARY

3. The Final Grace. 

This is the climax of all the graces and promises of the Divine Heart. Final perseverance, the final grace, the grace of a happy death --who is not preoccupied about this problem? Which of us can with poise and serenity face that step into eternity, aware as we are of its uncertainty? When and how shall we get across? How much depends on that step! 

The eternity which follows that step is a frightening thought: to be eternally happy or eternally lost. What a terrible alternative. 

And a most frightening circumstance is that when you are making that step nobody is going to help you. Your soul will find itself all alone. Nobody will see or accompany you. Your soul abandoned, alone, will have to plunge into eternity; willy-nilly, well or ill-prepared, in grace or in sin. See yourself at that moment, that moment which one day you will certainly have to face. Take a glimpse at the eternity awaiting you. The mere consideration of it makes one tremble. How shall we feel when we shall be called on not only to take a mental glimpse but actually to take the plunge? 

Oh consoling devotion to the Sacred Heart! The Sacred Heart of Jesus who knows all things well, understands this well and hastens to help you. And how great is His help! Wanting to render this frightful step easy for you, how well He does it. He only asks you to love Him, to give Him your heart through the Heart of Our Lady, to devote yourself entirely to the devotion of the Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus. Could there be anything easier? Anything more reasonable and just? And in return He promises you final perseverance. He guarantees to you final victory; your triumph will be complete, your reward and crown eternal. 

Listen then to, and impress deeply upon your heart those most consoling words of Our Lord: My Divine Heart will become for them a safe shelter at that last hour.

And, too, God will send the Most Holy Virgin to help, to console and welcome the souls of those who practice this devotion. She will take them to dwell eternally within the very same Heart of Jesus. 

To live and to die within the Sacred Heart! Could there be anything more glorious? You will certainly achieve this if you learn how to shut yourself inside the Most Pure Heart of Mary. 

Promise once more you will do so. Beg Her pardon for not having done so in the past. Give Her your heart once forever and entreat Her to accept your miserable gift by counting you in the number of Her true devotees.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

NIGHT REFLECTION

Message #43 titled: 'Place Them in My Maternal Heart.'

Our Lady is so happy when we gather together in prayer. And because She loves each one of us so dearly, She wants us to know, meet, and love each other. What a great Mother She is! Every mother wants her children to love and take care of each other. It's usually the oldest or first born that takes the lead, becoming a little momi or popi for the rest of the siblings.

I was the oldest and first born. We had five of us kids in the family. Because my father died early of TB, I watched over the little flock as Mom had to work long hours as a waitress to support us. It sure taught me a lot about life at an early age and when I was seventeen, I joined the Navy and was able to take care of myself quite well because of those early days of my life.

Mary says that when we are gathered together in prayer with Her, She is truly present. She emphasized: 'truly present.' And She says that She would even give sure signs of this presence. Maybe that's why so many statues and holy pictures are crying tears and even tears of blood and oil! Could this be the signs She meant? Whatever, it is certainly a beautiful gift to have Our Blessed Mother with us when we pray.

Are we reaching out to others to form a MMP Prayer Cenacle? Our Lady's last words for today are: Gather them into my cohort; place them all in my maternal Heart!'
Roman Deacon

The Marian Mysteries

Tonight, August 4, 2007, the Eve of Mary's Nativity, the Community of Caritas will be gathered outside, with friends, and will be praying the Marian Mysteries of the Rosary. Tonight, gather your family, go outside, light candles, and pray these Mysteries. Invite others to join you for this special rosary for Our Lady's birthday.

CLICK HERE: http://mej.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&Itemid=45

THE HEART OF MARY

2. Sanctifying Grace.
A consequence of the foregoing is that all actual graces rendered efficacious by this devotion will necessarily bring about a phenomenal increase of spiritual life, namely of sanctifying grace.

We have already considered something of this; but we can never dwell on it too much. Keep in mind that this sanctifying grace is a rich treasure, in fact the life of your soul. It is your capital, your personal fortune, the only one you will really possess, the only one worthwhile, the only one which one day will accompany you before the judgment seat of God. God granted you His first grace at holy baptism. It was, at it were, the initial capital that God invested in your soul and which He entrusted to your administration. He wanted that through your good works and especially through the loving reception of His holy sacraments you should enhance and increase it. But what have you done with that capital? Has it grown in your heart? Is it frozen, dissipated, lost, or inactive? Happy you are if it is yielding an ever mounting interest. But most unhappy if it is not. Devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary ensures life and growth in your soul. The fundamental practice of this devotion is love, a pure exercise of the love of God, and it is precisely the love of God that keeps, fosters and increases grace in our souls. St. Catherine pointed out that if one drop of the love of God fell into hell, hell would instantly be transformed into heaven and all the devils immediately changed again into angels. If this be so, what wonders will the practice of love work in a soul? And as the devotion to the Heart of Jesus is naught but the practice of love, is there any wonder that His precious promises are fulfilled? A man dying of asphyxia is restored by establishing again the rhythmical movements of his breathing. In the case of heart trouble an injection is given which quickens and stimulates the beating of the heart which otherwise might fail. This is what the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus does with us. It injects into us the love of God. It restores the breathing, the pulsation, the life of our soul by restoring in it the exercise of the love of God. That is why sinner there find pardon while the just find sanctification.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

EVENING REFLECTION

Message #42 titled 'I Give You the Joy of the Cross.'

Now here's some great spirituality from Our Blessed Mother! That's why this MMP Blue Book is so important in the lives of Our Lady's devotees! Are you one? Let Mother Mary guide you and She will make sure you get to heaven! As She says to Fr. Gobbi, 'Let yourself be led by me at every moment, and you will find peace, even in sorrow, even in abandonment, even in contradictions . . .'

Many of us have our sorrows and contradictions. Some of us have been abandoned and rejected; even by our own, whether it's our families or loved ones, our employment, and even our Church! We all have run into difficulties which we could not overcome, and those around us, the supports that we thought we had, have failed us. Some of us suffer in silence, feeling helpless to act on our own. We wait in holy patience for it all to go away. Our Lady says this is a purification for us.

But Mother Mary inspires us to suffer in joy! How? By offering all your sufferings to Our Lady of Sorrows like a child makes to its mother and She will accept your gift and turn it into joy for you. Why? Because you will be united with Jesus on the Cross and Mother Mary at the foot of the Cross; your sufferings will become redemptive and used for the glory of the Father! Wow! Just imagine that. We will never be alone, never abandoned, never rejected, never contradicted, because we will be in the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, united closely with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The final word from Our Blessed Lady is that She will lead us, in love, in suffering, in the joy of the Cross! And through our suffering She will be able to act for the salvation of the world; She only asks for trust, prayer, simplicity, and silence . . . Could we have a better vocation than this? The vocation of suffering!
Roman Deacon

FROM MY FRIEND MARK MALLETT:

Mark Mallett

—Spiritual Food For Thought—

The Coming Ascension

Mary, prototype of the Church:
The Assumption of the Virgin, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1670's

 

IF the Body of Christ is to follow its Head through a Transfiguration, Passion, Death and Resurrection, then it will also share in His Ascension.

 
UNFOLDING SPLENDOR

Several months ago, I wrote how the truth—the "deposit of faith" handed on to the Apostles and their successors—is like a flower which over the centuries has been unfolding (see The Unfolding Splendor of Truth). That is, no new truths or "petals" can be "added" to Sacred Tradition. However, with each century we come to a more profound and deeper understanding of the Revelation of Jesus Christ as the flower unfolds.

Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. —Catechism of the Catholic Church 66

This pertains also, and especially, to those latter days when the book of Daniel is to be unsealed (see Is the Veil Lifting?). Hence, I believe we are beginning to see more clearly a picture of the "end times" unfolding, perhaps exponentially.
 

TWO MORE ANTICHRISTS?

I have written at length about what St. John the Apostle, the Church Fathers, and early Ecclesiastical writers refer to as a "period of peace" or "era of peace" which is preceded by a tribulation in which Antichrist manifests as the Man of Sin. After that tribulation when the "false prophet and the beast" are thrown into the "lake of fire" and Satan is chained for a thousand years, the Church will enter, through the power of the Holy Spirit, into an immaculate state in which she is adorned with virtue and made holy, becoming a purified bride ready to receive Jesus when He returns in glory.

St. John tells us what occurs next:

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle… But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The Devil who had led them astray was thrown into the pool of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were… Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it… (Rev 20:7-11)

That is, God, in His mysterious plan of salvation, will permit Satan one last opportunity to deceive the nations and attempt to destroy the people of God. It will be a final manifestation of the "spirit of antichrist" incarnated in whom St. John calls "Gog and Magog." However, Antichrist's plan will fail as fire will fall, destroying him and those nations aligned with him.

It is difficult to comprehend why God would permit evil to arise toward the end of the Era of Peace. But it must be understood that even in that period of unprecedented graces and divine life for mankind, man's basic human freedom will remain. Thus, until the end of the world, he will be vulnerable to the enemy's temptations. It is one of those mysteries which we will only understand fully at the end. But one thing is certain: the final conquering of evil will reveal to all of creation the hidden mysteries and redemptive plan of God since the beginning of time:

Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog… In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. (Ezekiel 38:14-16) 

Then will come the Final Resurrection or coming Ascension.
 

THE TRUE RAPTURE

It is at that time that the Church will indeed be "caught up together" in the clouds (1 Thess 4:15-17) in a rapiemur or "rapture." This differs from the modern heresy which claims that the faithful will be snatched into the sky before the tribulation which contradicts, first of all, the teaching of the Magisterium:

Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers… The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.  —Catechism of the Catholic Church 675, 677

Second, Sacred Scripture clearly indicates the timing:

And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:15-17) 

The "rapture" occurs when the dead in Christ rise, that is, at the Final Resurrection when "we shall always be with the Lord." It involves, also, those who have lived through the Eucharistic reign of Jesus during the Era of Peace, those "who are alive, who are left" after the chastisement or "minor judgment" which occurs before the Era of Peace (see Understanding the Urgency of Our Times). [Note: this "minor judgment" is the dawn of the "Day of the Lord" which St. Faustina says will come after the "day of mercy" which we are currently living in. This Day will culminate when the last night of Satan—Gog and Magog—overshadows the earth, but ends in the final conflagration when the heavens and earth and all that is darkness passes away (2 Pet 3:5-13). Thus begins that day which will never end…]

After this Ascension of the Body of Christ comes the Final Judgment, thus, concluding time and history. This will usher in the New Heavens and New Earth where the children of the Most High will live and reign forever and ever with their God.

The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.  —Catechism of the Catholic Church 677

 

THE VOICE OF TRADITION

Once again, the flower of Tradition in earlier centuries was in a more primitive state. As such, the early Church Fathers and writers often give us a more vague picture of the latter days. However, in their writings we often see implied what has been described above:

Therefore, the Son of the most high and mighty God… shall have destroyed unrighteousness, and executed His great judgment, and shall have recalled to life the righteous, who… will be engaged among men a thousand years, and will rule them with most just command… Also the prince of devils, who is the contriver of all evils, shall be bound with chains, and shall be imprisoned during the thousand years of the heavenly rule…

Before the end of the thousand years the devil shall be loosed afresh and shall assemble all the pagan nations to make war against the holy city… "Then the last anger of God shall come upon the nations, and shall utterly destroy them" and the world shall go down in a great conflagration. —4th century Ecclesiastical writer, Lactantius, "The Divine Institutes", The ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 7, p. 211 

A false prophet must first come from some deceiver; and then, in like manner, after the removal of the holy place, the true Gospel must be secretly sent abroad for the rectification of the heresies that shall be. After this, also, towards the end, Antichrist must first come, and then our Jesus must be revealed to be indeed the Christ; and after this, the eternal light having sprung up, all the things of darkness must disappear. —St. Clement of Rome, The Early Church Fathers and Other Works, The Clementine Homilies, Homily II, Ch. XVII

We shall indeed be able to interpret the words, "The priest of God and of Christ shall reign with Him a thousand years; and when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison;" for thus they signify that the reign of the saints and the bondage of the devil shall cease simultaneously… so in the end they shall go out who do not belong to Christ, but to that last Antichrist… —St. Augustine, The Anti-Nicene Fathers, City of God, Book XX, Chap. 13, 19

 

Published in: DAILY JOURNAL, THE ERA OF PEACE | on August 3rd, 2007 |

Meditation 85

THE HEART OF MARY

1. A Well-Spring of Actual Graces.
Let us go deeper into this subject until we are persuaded that we must profess devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You remember the promises that the Sacred Heart of Jesus has made in favor of His devotees. They may be arranged in three groups: 1, actual graces; 2, sanctifying grace; 3, final grace, namely that of reaching the possession of God in Heaven.

All souls, even the holiest ones, stand in need of those divine helps which are called actual graces, since indeed without them no meritorious act can be done, no supernatural act can be performed. These actual graces are a loving present proffered by the divine bounty. Man does not deserve them but God gives them abundantly and generously.

The source whence they spring is the Sacred Heart of Jesus who in this manner shows us the love He has for us. But the channel through which they flow into our heart is always Our Blessed Lady in whose most Pure Heart all those graces are stored like waters in a reservoir. Thence they flow to us. Do you now see where you will find those graces? Do not go to the throne of justice because nothing is due to you out of justice. Go to the throne of bounty and mercy of the very Heart of God. But which is that throne, where is it to be found? Nowhere elce save in the Most Pure Heart of Mary Our Beloved Mother.

It all, then, depends on you. You have the final word in the seeking out of that well-spring, in the approaching of this reservoir to draw from it those graces which you need and which God is most desirous to grant. In fact He does on a thousand occasions grant them to you even at times before you ask for them.

But now meditate on this one point. God always grants you sufficient actual graces according to your state and condition so that nothing is left undone on His part in order that you may save your soul and sanctify yourself. But it depends exclusively upon you whether you do so or whether you choose to harden yourself in sin, thus choosing your own condemnation. You yourself by your behavior, by your correspondence to grace, render those graces efficacious or inefficacious, useful or even totally useless. All this depends exclusively upon you. To you alone will one day be imputed your falls and faults. From you only will a strict account be demanded about the right or wrong use, the esteem or contempt of those graces. Will you, then, not turn to useful and efficacious count those graces which God gives you?

The chief interest of this devotion derives from these consideration. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Heart of Mary becomes easier. If you know how to get inside these two Hearts your soul will benefit incalculably. You should not fail to notice how in the promises of the Sacred Heart, the array of graces and favors promised is so abundant and so manifold that one might almost say that the Sacred Heart of Jesus wants to make sure that we profit to the utmost from this devotion.

There are promises for the sinners, even for the most hardened ones, for the tepid and cold, for the fervent striving after sanctity, for laymen, for religious, for religious communities, for individuals, families, nations, priests and apostles: to all an abundant shower of graces is promised; and above all, the efficacy of those graces is guaranteed.

Jesus will see to it that for His devotees these graces are not useless and void. Is there anything else you can think of, of more importance, or of greater interest for your soul? Why have you not embraced this true and solid devotion with all your might? Beg from the Heart of Our Lady to teach you how to know and love the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

A LATE-NIGHT REFLECTION

Message #41 is titled "Great in Love."

In this Message, Our Lady continues to shape us into the image of Jesus that She wants us to be. But we have a long way to go! Mary encourages us by saying that when things are not going the way we thought they would, especially with our spirituality, She is the one who is allowing those contradictions so as to make us trust more in Her.

We are the ones who are resisting. We are holding back. In our consecration to Mary we are not giving Her everything! And so Our Lady complains about our holding back, our not giving ourselves completely. She wants our consecration to be total. Remember Pope John Paul II's motto: “Totu Tuus(I am Completely yours, 0 Mary”.


So that's the secret of becoming Mother Mary's littlest child, and the smaller we are, the happier will be Our Lady with us; perfect in spiritual childhood; our only concern is to be led by trust in Mary, then we will be able to do great things for God and give Him glory!

Otherwise, Our Lady says, if this giving of ourselves is not perfect, we bind Her hands and She will not be able to give us the special graces we need to be like Jesus! Her last words today are: "Oh, give yourselves completely to me, O generous and dearly beloved children of mine!"
Roman Deacon

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS

Today is an important feast day for Franciscans. It is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula. The reason I am posting this today is to remind you that if you attend Mass at a Franciscan Church, you will gain plenary indulgence.

To learn more about this feast day, visit Catholic Tradition

IMPORTANT MEDJUGORJE UPDATE

Thursday	August 2, 2007

Mirjana Appeared Shocked At
What Our Lady Showed Her

Beyond any doubt, today’s second of the month apparition for nonbelievers was the largest crowd to gather for Mirjana’s apparition this year. The crowds were massive. They are in the second day of the Youth Festival in Medjugorje and so a great number of youth were present for today’s apparition. Crowds of people had already arrived before 4:00 a.m., though the gates did not open for another hour. Once the gates opened, pilgrims streamed in and didn’t stop for the next four hours, even right up to the moment of the apparition at 9:00 a.m. The apparition lasted about 5 minutes.

Because of the Youth Festival, the music that was played leading up to the Rosary in preparation for Our Lady’s apparition was very festive and the youth were very active in singing and clapping their hands to the songs. Outside the building many of the youth and adults also joined in with the singing. With so many people present and more and more arriving at every moment, there was a feeling of expectancy and excitement as the time of the apparition drew near. You could see, as well, many people, individuals and small groups, preparing themselves in a more interior manner to receive Our Lady.

Mirjana arriving just before the apparition. Those watching her face during the apparition said at the beginning She appeared “shocked” at what Our Lady showed her that is waiting for all those who do not have the holiness in their hearts and brotherly union with Christ.

The mood and message of Our Lady, however, were in sharp contrast to the festive spirit of those gathered. The translation of Our Lady’s words into other languages went on for five to ten minutes and the message could be clearly heard by most people through the loud speakers. People listened to the words with seriousness, wanting to hear what Our Lady had said this day, but once the translations were completed and Mirjana had left the building, the festive music began once again to express the joy of having Our Lady there with them, it is as if they did not grasp the graveness of what Our Lady just said. However, some did leave the apparition with seriousness and in silence, fingering their Rosaries as they contemplated the strong words of warning just issued from the Queen of Heaven. It seemed the vast majority, chattered and sang, moving on to the next events of the day, and it made one wonder if they truly had heard, with the heart, what Our Lady had said. Had they understood? Did any of them really understand? In some ways, it is not only sad, but scary to be so close to Our Lady and yet have hearts be so impenetrable. Scripture says, “They were eating, drinking, and marrying right up to the time of the flood.”

One person only understood with the deepest clarity what had happened. One person only left the apparition today unable to shake off the seriousness of Our Lady’s words. For she carried with her not only the words of Our Lady, but the face of Our Lady as She spoke those words and actual images taken from our future and the future of the world if we do not heed Our Lady’s imploring call. Mirjana left the apparition today, knowing what no one else on the face of the earth knows about our future. Upon leaving the apparition, eye witnesses said that Mirjana looked very, very, very sad.

Our Lady Queen of Peace of Medjugorje August 2, 2007 Apparition to Mirjana for Nonbelievers

“Dear children! Today I look in your hearts and looking at them my Heart seizes with pain. My children! I ask of you unconditional, pure love for God. You will know that you are on the right path when you will be on earth with your body and with your soul always with God. Through this unconditional and pure love, you will see My Son in every person. You will feel oneness in God. As a Mother, I will be happy because I will have your holy and united hearts. My children, I will have your salvation. Thank you.”

At the beginning of the apparition, Our Lady showed Mirjana what is waiting for us if there is not the holiness in our hearts and our brotherly union in Christ. Mirjana said, “It was not nice at all.” She asked us to pray for our shepherds because She said that without them there is no unity.

It is with great importance that Our Lady not only speaks words, but purposely communicates to us or in the way She does what She does in the apparition. This is why it is important to know the correct details about the apparition.

The Youth Festival this year began in Medjugorje August 1st. Tens of thousands of youth are called to the village of Medjugorje. People are staying in Mostar because there is no more room in Medjugorje or the surrounding villages. In this setting, Our Lady, calling so many to Medjugorje and speaking so strongly, tells us that Her heart is overwhelmed, “physically afflicted” with pain just simply by peering into our hearts. What must this mean, that the look of Our Lady at our hearts seizes Her heart with pain?

Francesco, seer of Fatima, at six years old, was horrified when shown hell and screamed to Our Lady to take the scene away. This is understandable for a six year old. What then are we to think of a grown person who is shown by Our Lady a vision at the beginning of the apparition in which Mirjana had a look of shock and appeared horrified over what Our Lady was showing for the many who do not have holiness in their hearts and authentic brotherly unity in Christ? Not through the flesh as many youth and most adults do, but true union with Christ, with a purity that connects us to our brothers. The youth control the world because they are always coming of age transferring into adults. What afflicts the youth, afflicts all adults, for it is in the youth you learn holiness, purity, and pure love for God, or you learn impure things, love of what is not God – all of which elevates or afflicts you as adults. The world is seized with various forms of atheism and paganism, even amongst Christians. Our Lady gives a gift today in this message. She gives us a simple prescription through Her message of how to know your prognosis, a medical test for the condition of your soul, of how to know if you are right in your path going to God. You do not have to wonder, guess, or be in confusion about your destiny. This little simple prognosis is the exam to know if you need treatment, applying Our Lady’s words for a cure, or if you are growing healthier and can continue progressing on the path your soul is walking.

Many left the apparition festively, but those who were reflective and thoughtful, joined Mirjana’s concern and were disturbed by so many who are unaware of the graveness of our situation today.

Mirjana’s second of the month apparitions is the thermometer showing us that we are growing closer to the secrets being released, especially by the fact in the joy in the Youth Festival, She shows a shocking scene in Mirjana’s vision of what is waiting for us if there is not the holiness in our hearts and brotherly union in Christ.

Please remember August 5th is Our Lady’s birthday. We will publish the “Marian Mysteries” of the Rosary tomorrow, along with how we will celebrate Our Lady’s birthday on Mary’s Eve, August 4th and Mary’s birthday, August 5th.

With Love,
A Friend of Medjugorje
On behalf of Caritas of Birmingham
Operated by the Community of Caritas

P.S. Words of Our Lady to better understand what She meant when She said, “...my Heart seizes with pain...”

November 14, 1985

“…I feel pain for each one who goes astray, I forgive easily and am happy for every child who returns to me…”

September 25, 2005

“…I feel pain for each one who is far from my heart; but I do not leave you alone. I believe you can leave the way of sin and decide for holiness…”

June 24, 1983

“…No pain, no suffering is too great for me in order to save you. I will pray to my Son not to punish the world; but I plead with you, be converted…”

Prayer for Nonbelievers

Come Mary,
Come tomorrow again and again.
We will pray with You.

Bring back our loved ones
Who have left the Church,
Those who have left God.

We will join You on the second of each month.
We will pray for greater graces
To be attached to Your intention.

We will pray that the dam of love,
Of God’s mercy, will break forth,
That Your new prayer be released soon.

We will pray that it will flow out
As a river to all the nations,
That as the rivers fill the oceans,
Your love of God will fill the earth.

We wait.
We anticipate that great day,
And we call You as You have called us,
To add our prayers, fasting, and sacrifices
To Mirjana’s in order that You may
Obtain all Your wishes for the world.

O loving Mother,
Thank You for the gift
That the world is on the brink of receiving!

- A Friend of Medjugorje, 1996

©SJP Lic. Caritas of Birmingham

THE HEART OF OUR LADY

3. Even Selfishness.
Rightly understood, even selfishness is a virtue. We say that charity begins at home and certainly, in matters of salvation and sanctification, we are bound to look after our soul more than we do after the others. That is a holy selfishness, nay it is a necessary, a compulsory selfishness. This should also embrace the precious devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In fact the fruits promised are so excellent. Remember the promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary. I promise you that My Heart will be so enlarged as to share the wealth of this divine love amongst those who honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus and invite others to do likewise. And that wealth is infinite.

Certainly the greatest reward is love itself. We cannot be better paid than by the Sacred Heart of Jesus admitting us to His love and allowing us to enter into It. What better could we expect than to love Him and to be loved by Him? Yet the Lord has enhanced His condescension with such valuable promises that, indeed, out of selfishness we should run to the practice of this devotion. And if you have not so far done so, by whom are you prevented except by your enemy the devil?

Examine the cause of this apathy and this cowardice of yours in a business of such importance, and reflect that perhaps your failure to have devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is because you have not gone through the Heart of Our Heavenly Mother. Consider that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will give you all He has promised, through the Heart of His Mother. Go to Mary then. Take shelter in Her Heart, abandon yourself there. Those who are lost in the Heart of Mary are bound to find themselves in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]

MY REFLECTION FOR TODAY

From the MMP Blue Book Message #40, titled 'It Will Begin with My Priests.'

I love reading and reflecting on these Messages from Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi and us! It really helps me understand what God wants of us, how much He loves us and has Divine Mercy for us. The Father sent His only-begotten Son to redeem us. Then the Father and the Son sent their Holy Spirit to sanctify us. And now, in these latter times, the Triune Godhead has sent to us Mary, our Heavenly Mother, to prepare us for Christ's Second Coming!

Our Lady is in Paradise, assumed body and soul into Heaven. And yet She says to Fr. Gobbi: 'My paradise is that of being close to each one of you.' She loves us so much and especially priests because, they are called to be other Christs. And so, Mary shapes them, forms them into images of Her Jesus.

What does She ask of Her priests? They should give themselves to Mother Mary completely and never become discouraged even if they should fall. These are times of great confusion; the faith of many priests is diminishing. Their trust in God and Mary is wavering. Bad example is everywhere; and so many priests and us too, are distraught. What do we do?

Mary says, 'Call on Me, yearn for Me.' Then She says She will reveal Herself to us. She will respond to our cries. Cries of little children. Mother Mary says, 'Can a mother not be moved before her little child who is crying?' Because of our tears Our Lady will intervene in an amazing and terrible way. Because of Her beloved priests' sons tears, Her Triumph will begin! Her final word is that soon God will bring torrents of pardon and mercy on His and Mother Mary's poor children , to gush through the whole world! May the Divine Mercy be in our souls!
Roman Deacon

THE HEART OF OUR LADY

2. The Will of God.
God has given us no explicit injunction to honor the Heart of Our Lady, yet it is evident that God wants it and ardently desires it. We know that He invites us to fix our abode in His loving Heart. Then how can we enter it? There is no other way than through the Heart of Our Heavenly Mother.

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the best road, the most fitting way to acquire a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

If it is God's Will that we should honor His Divine Heart, it is also His clear and precise Will, implicitly contained in the former, that we should honor the most pure Heart of His Mother. Behold this Heart that has so much loved men! says Jesus, inviting us to His love. The same, identical words may be applied also to Mary. There is no heart after that Heart of Jesus which has loved us so much; there is no heart which has taught us so well to love God, as the Heart of Mary. No heart can be our model so well as Her's.

The tender complaint of the Sacred Heart of Jesus where He deplores the ingratitude of men applies to us all. When the Lord complained of our want of correspondence He was thinking of every one of us. He was hinting at the behavior of us all. Your heart will certainly endorse this statement. But the Heart of Mary is not like that. The Heart of Mary was the only one which was excluded from God's loving reproach. Jesus has no complaint about the Heart of His Mother. Must we not regard this model and there learn how to love the Heart of Christ? Would God not wish it? Do not say that He has not ordered it expressly. Was there any need for Him to command such an obvious duty?

Your heart should be enclosed in the Heart of Jesus. Consequently you must enclose it in that of His Mother. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus presupposes a tender devotion to the Heart of Mary for this is the obvious Will of God.

But there is something more. God's Will in this regard has been manifested especially and precisely in these modern times. Life today has the hallmark of selfishness. Every day man's heart has become more self-centered, more self-seeking, more oblivious of God, more forgetful of his neighbor. Where are those today who would sacrifice themselves for the love of God and of souls? What are the chief pursuits of the modern world? Even those who are good and even think themselves rather holy, what fire of charity have they? Do we not see them daily pursue their own profit, fight for the triumph of their self-love and self-interest? Shame! How unpleasant must this appear in the sight of the angels!

God demands the heart of men. He seeks man's love, and finds instead nothing but selfishness everywhere. It is on account of this, in order to cure this sick world of its want of love, that He has in these days, torn open His breast, shown us His Heart and has through the example of His Divine Heart sent us an invitation to love.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the solution and the remedy which God has prepared to cure the modern sickness of the human heart. Be persuaded then; devotion to the Heart of Mary is an actual, urgent need; a pressing duty. We must waste no time. The heart of man cannot disregard this invitation which the Lord makes through His own Heart and through the Heart of His Heavenly Mother.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]