Mary Christ Mass!

From Sadie's Desk..... 100% Catholic!    Smorgasbord Catholics will be highly irritated!                                          INTO A DARK WORLD, CAME THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!                                                                        J E S U S .....SON OF GOD...SAVIOR....KING OF KINGS.....GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST! Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus: We rejoice because the Son of God has come into this world...to bring us his light and salvation...however sometimes Christmas time can be a depressing time of year for many people...believers are not exempt from feeling like that too..because more often than not...there are family issues going on....or perhaps a loved one has recently passed....the reasons are many....but the feelings are the same.  A feeling of being alone; not appreciated; not loved; abandoned etc.. Let me encourage all of you with the blessed assurance that you are NOT alone...that your suffering, tears and all that you offer with your prayers, rosaries and masses to Our Lady are being used in a wonderfully miraculous way....a way that we will never understand on this side of heaven until we get there.That we, the "peculiar people" of God, (Exodus 19:5 -  If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine),  are not understood....no one in our families (who has not experienced conversion) understands us...wants to hear from us...sometimes even be near us.  Do not be disheartened!  Have faith in your prayers and in the promises of Jesus and Mary...and the promises in the Word of God.  Be strengthened by reading what those promises are. For all of us who have let the CHRIST KING, CHILD, BABE, SAVIOR into our lives and hearts.... ....there is where our treasure lies...our happiness...and there is peace...... because we have an absolute knowledge that living in the Divine Will of God, with the Prince of Peace and the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints....how can we say we are alone? For in the present moment we are pilgrims on our way home....Jesus came into the darkness of this world to show us the LIGHT, THE WAY, THE TRUTH......PRAISE BE TO GOD OUR FATHER, TO JESUS OUR KING, AND THE HOLY GHOST WHOSE VERY BREATH GIVES STRENGTH AND SPIRITUAL POWER TO OUR LIFE..... AS WE JOURNEY IN THIS LIFE MINISTERING AND GIVING WITNESS TO  THE PEOPLE GOD PUTS IN OUR PATHS........ NOTHING good that we do is of ourselves...it is GOD WORKING THROUGH US if we let Him.  His mercy is boundless; His love unfathomable; His Justice....terrible, BUT JUST.  For  such a long time we have had mercy....and mankind still rejects God and His Love.  Tonight and always, let us hide in the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary...there she will make sure we are safe, kept from all that is not the Divine Will of God, and she will lead us, guide us, and take us deeper and deeper into the heart of Jesus and the mysteries of God.. May you all experience this blessed peace, love and hope we have in Jesus!  Tonight we remember his birth....tonight the LIGHT COMES INTO THE WORLD....to show us the way home. His middle coming, or Eucharistic reign will be the Triumph of the Blessed Virgin Mary...and that light will shine on all darkness...sin and thoughts.  Let's be ready....vigilant and prepared like the 5 virgins.  Behold He comes quickly!  With much love, prayer and appreciation for all of you, I send you all prayers of special blessings today at Christmas and always.... MARY CHRIST MASS! LOVE in the Two Hearts, Sadie

The First Christmas by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

The First Christmas Excerpts from the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Sunday, November 11th 1821. For several days in succession I have seen the Blessed Virgin with her mother Anna, whose house is about an hour’s journey away from Nazareth in the valley of Zabulon. She was far advanced in pregnancy, and sat in a room working with several other women. They were preparing coverlets and other things for Mary’s confinement. Anna, who possessed pastures with flocks and herds, was well-to-do. As she thought that Mary would be in her house for the birth of her Child, she made all the preparations in a very lavish manner, with especially beautiful coverlets and rugs. November 12th. Joseph will arrive back in Nazareth today. As he (Joseph) was crossing the field of Chimki, six hours from Nazareth, at midnight last night, an angel appeared to him and warned him that he was to go to Bethlehem with Mary at once, for it was there that she was to bear her Child. He also indicated everything that she was to take with her for her use, explaining that they were to be few and simple things, and in particular no embroidered coverlets. Also, besides the ass upon which Mary was to sit, he was to take with him a she-ass one-year old that had not yet had a foal. He was to let her run free and was always to follow whatever path she took. Click here to read the rest of the article.

[Video] Benedict XVI: He is born! The light of God is in the world.

Benedict XVI: He is born! The light of God is in the world by vatican Do we really have room for God, when he knocks at our door? Do we have space for migrants, refugees, for our neighbors? These are the questions that Benedict XVI posed to faithful at the Christmas Eve Mass in the Vatican Basilica. Where God is forgotten or even denied, there is no peace. Today, the Pope added, widespread currents of thought assert the exact opposite: they maintain that monotheism, the belief in God, is a form of arrogance, because of intolerance, because by its nature it imposes itself with the pretence of being the only truth. While the misuse of religion in history is indisputable, however, is not true that "no" to God would restore peace. If God's light is extinguished, so is the d ...

POPE LEO THE GREAT: Sermon 21 – On the Lord's Nativity

Tribulation Times

NOTEWORTHY:  YEAR OF FAITH December 25, 2012 

THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN IN EARLY JANUARY 2013, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).  

(Luk 2:10-14) And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people: For, this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will. NEWS.VA: MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE 46TH WORLD DAY OF PEACE

POPE LEO THE GREAT: Sermon 21 – On the Lord's Nativity
Our Saviour, dearly beloved, is born today: let us rejoice. No trace of sadness may be permitted on this birthday of Life. This day abolishes the fear of death and fills us with joy by reason of the promise of eternal life. No-one is excluded from a share in this eagerness. The joy is for one and all: our Lord is the Destroyer of sin and death; he finds no-one free from guilt, so he comes to set every-one free.
Let the Saint rejoice, for he shall soon receive his palm; let the sinner be glad, for he is offered his pardon; let the Gentile awake, for he is summoned to life. When the fulness of time was come, that time ordained by the high and inscrutable counsel of God, the Son of God took flesh from our human nature, that he might reconcile that nature to its Creator, and that the devil, the inventor of death, might be overcome by that same flesh which had been the means of his victory.
God joins battle on our behalf, and there is a great and wonderful equity in the battle-array; for Almighty God comes forth to meet our raging foe, armed, not in his majesty, but in our weakness. He meets him with the same body, the same nature, even with a share of our mortality, yet with no spot of sin. How different is this Child's birth from all others; it is written: No-one is free from tainting sin, not even an infant that has lived but one day on the earth. Now no spot of the concupiscence of the flesh had penetrated into this unique Birth, no trace of the law of sin remained. A royal virgin of the stem of David was chosen; she who was to be pregnant with holy Fruit, conceived mentally before bodily that Offspring of hers who was both human and divine. While the counsels of heaven were yet unknown to her she was troubled at the strange annunciation, and so she learned from her conversation with the Angel that it was by the cooperation of the Holy Ghost that this thing was to happen to her: so she believed that without loss of her virginity she was soon to be the Mother of God.
Let us give thanks, dearly beloved, to God the Father, through his Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit; for God who is rich in mercy towards us, even when we were dead in our sins hath quickened us together with Christ, and made us to be a new creature in him, and a new workmanship. Let us put off the old man with his deeds: and let us obtain a share in Christ's sonship, laying aside the works of the flesh. O Christian, learn how great you have become, you who have been made a partaker of the divine nature. Do not return to the former vileness of your old and corrupt conversation. Remember the Head and Body of which you are a member. Never forget that you have been delivered out of the power of darkness and translated into the light and kingdom of God.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!  BLESSINGS FOR A JOYOUS NEW YEAR! FROM THE ZAMBRANO FAMILY

                                        
Zambrano Family in Church Foyer after Adrianna Maria's Confirmation                           

Mother and daughter bathed in the Holy Spirit 

Thoughts and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Love of One's Neighbor, Charity, Humility

16. Avoid over-eagerness and strive to model your interior and exterior upon the humble sweetness of the loving Heart of Jesus, doing each of your actions with the same tranquility as if you had but that alone to do.

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Prayer request?  Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com

This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

The Moynihan Report: Letter #40: Christmas Eve

December 24, 2012, Monday -- Waiting   Pope Benedict had some words for all of us on the eve of Christmas.   "Truth takes us by the hand"   In one of the Pope's recent Twitter messages -- the Pope began sending occasional "tweets," as the messages are called, on December 12, and is now "followed" by more than 2 million people -- he said something worth meditating on this Christmas.   "We do not possess the truth, the truth possesses us," the Pope wrote several days ago. "Christ, who is the truth, takes us by the hand."   Perhaps it is worth repeating: "We do not possess the truth. The truth possesses us..."   There is much room for reflection just in these two phrases. For example, this "personification" of truth as something which can "possess" a person -- as if truth itself is personal, alive, conscious -- may be as profoundly comforting as it may be surprising. That is, when we have come -- as it appears we humans are trying to come -- into the knowledge ("gnosis") of all the "things" of the universe, knowing the "truth" about everything from atoms and molecules and geology and astronomy and cosmology to forces and vectors and radiation and gravity and magnetism, and more, we will be in possession, still, of mere facts, mere "things," luminous and lovely, but ultimately impersonal. Having surveyed and grasped (possessed) all the things under heaven, we will still simply be on the path toward being possessed by something still higher than all of this, the transcendent, the metaphysical, the personal... the divine, who, by definition, is utterly and eternally worthy, because holy...   But here is not the place for a lengthy reflection; it is almost Christmas!   The essential point of the Pope in this message is this: when truth seems far away, when we fall into confusion and fear, the way forward, the way out of confusion and toward truth, toward the peace of faith which comes from knowing and assenting to the truth, is receptivity... to receive from outside of ourselves the truth which we may have lost sight of, which may have become obscured for us.   In other words, when we are lost, we do not have to find our own way home; someone else will come to find us and bring us home.   The value of this teaching is that, if followed, it frees us from the heavy burden of feeling we must cut through all confusion, all doubt, on our own, through our own reasoning, by our own power of intellect. This is a heavy burden indeed, under which many stagger and, in the end, fall.   No, the Pope is saying, that is not the way.   Rather, the way is to place onself in an attitude of receptivity, of expectation, in order for the light of God, of His truth, to shine upon us, into whatever dark spaces there may be within us -- especially at Christmas...   And this attitude of receptivity, or expectation, is, of course, the essence of Advent... to await the arrival of the expected Messiah.   Pope Benedict alluded to this same attitude of receptivity and trusting expectation when he prayed the noon Angelus yesterday.   From his study window overlooking St. Peter's Square, addressing pilgrims and tourists gathered below on the fourth, and final, Sunday of Advent, Benedict reflected on the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth -- the Gospel reading for the day.   “The episode does not represent a mere gesture of courtesy, but dramatizes with great simplicity the encounter of the Old Testament with the New Testament,” the Pope said.   For Benedict, the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary, both pregnant, was that "watershed moment" when the Old Testament, reaching its fulfillment (that fulfillment would come some 33 years later, in the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday) met the New Testament.   The new covenant was about to begin to be "actuated," or had just started to be actuated, after so long a period of waiting.   Elizabeth, elderly and yet, miraculously, fertile, is a figure of all Israel awaiting the Messiah, Benedict said.   The expression Elizabeth utters when she greets Mary -- “Blessed art thou among women” -- is one that, in the Hebrew Scriptures, is spoken to the warrior women Jael and Judith, whose efforts saved the nation of Israel from peril, he said.   “Now, it (this expression) is spoken to the gentle young woman who shall, before too long, give birth to the Savior of the World,” he said.   And so, in a sense, this meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is the first meeting between Judaism and Christianity, though both of the women are Jewish, and Christianity has not yet even begun to exist -- except in the sense that Mary has already conceived Christ in her womb.   So this meeting between two Jewish women is also between two Christian women, that is, two followers of the Christos, the Messiah, who is already present in Mary's womb, though he is not yet visible in the world.   At the moment of this epochal meeting, the two women embraced.   The two faiths were not yet sundered, because there was not yet any reason for their sundering.   Elizabeth and Mary embraced, and greeted each other, with much affection and love.   So the story of the Visitation expresses the beauty of mutual receiving and welcoming, the Pope said.   “Wherever there are those who welcome one another, where there is careful attention, wherever there are people who make room for another,” Benedict said, “there is God – and the joy that comes from Him." He added: “Let us imitate Mary in the Christmas season, visiting to those who are experiencing difficulty, especially the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly and little children, and let us also imitate Elisabeth, who received her guest as God, Himself.”   The Pope concluded by asking the faithful to pray that all men might seek God earnestly, and find that it is "God Himself who comes first to visit us.”   And so, as in the Pope's teaching above, it is God who comes first to visit us, no matter what dark night we may be passing through, who comes toward us, who takes us by the hand... After praying the Angelus, Pope Benedict greeted the pilgrims below in many languages. In English he said: "Today, as we approach the Solemnity of our Lord’s Birth among us, let us strive again to make room in our hearts to welcome the Christ child with love and humility before such a great gift from on high. In anticipation, let me already wish you and your families a holy and peaceful Christmas!"   =================================================   Our 2013 Pilgrimages all have openings, although some are filling up with past pilgrims.  For the 2013 schedule click here.

From Spiritdaily.com: MANY SOULS SAID TO BE RELEASED ON CHRISTMAS FROM TORMENTS OF PURGATORY

Aside from gift-giving and spending time with family and remembering the birth of Jesus, Christmas should be a day to pray for the deceased. It’s on Christmas — according to two highly reliable revelations — that most souls are released into heaven and thus are in need of final prayers.

One revelation was in 1879 to a holy nun in a French convent. Identified as Sister M. de L.C., she received revelations from a deceased nun who authorities identified only as Sister O — and who at the time was herself suffering the torments of purgatory. The revelation was granted an imprimatur from the Cardinal of Baltimore, Maryland, and was approved by noted theologians such as Canon Dubosq, promotor fidei of Saint Therese the Little Flower. The transcripts of what she said may be the most valuable we’ve seen on purgatory. 

“On All Souls’ Day many souls leave the place of expiation and go to heaven,” said the deceased nun. ” Also, by a special grace of God on that day only, all the suffering souls, without exception, have a share in the public prayers of the Church, even those who are in the great Purgatory. Still the relief of each soul is in proportion to its merits. Some receive more, some less, but all feel the benefit of this extraordinary grace. Many of the suffering souls receive this one help only in all the long years they pass here and this by the justice of God. It is not, however, on All Souls’ Day that the most go to Heaven. It is on Christmas night.”

This message was confirmed in dramatic style more than a hundred years later — in 1983 — when a seer at Medjugorje reported nearly the same message, and with virtually no chance of having been privy to the obscure French revelation (which had not been published). Said the Virgin at Medjugorje on January 10 of that year:“In Purgatory there are different levels. The lowest is close to Hell and the highest gradually draws near to Heaven.

It is not on All Souls’ Day, but at Christmas, that the greatest number of souls leave Purgatory.”

At Medjugorje it has been said that the Virgin appears in great golden splendor on special days like Christmas, and the French nun likewise said Our Blessed Mother goes to Purgatory on her great feast days. She takes souls that are ready — and all they may need is one final Mass, or even a final prayer. Those on the “threshold” can gain Heaven that day with our help, while those in deeper parts of Purgatory will be relieved of suffering.

“There are many souls in Purgatory,” said the Blessed Mother at Medjugorje. “There are also persons who have been consecrated to God — some priests, some religious. Pray for their intentions, at least the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be seven times each, and the Creed. I recommend it to you. There are a large number of souls who have been in Purgatory for a long time because no one prays for them.”

This puts an entirely new perspective on Christmas. It’s a time of great joy not only on earth but in the eternal and a day that our own joy must be joined with concern for those who have gone before us — who may be “graduating” that day.

Pray for them. Pray for everyone you have ever known who is deceased. Pray for every purgatorial soul on Christmas. If they don’t need the prayers, the Lord can designate them to souls who do.

And one day — perhaps on Christmas night — they’ll be there to help you. 

[Sister O's revelations are in a booklet called "An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory," available here]

From http://spiritdaily.com/

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/24/2012

 

Come and shine on those who dwell in darkness...  

 

J.M.J.      

December 24, 2012

 

Dear Family of Mary!

 

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death. (Antiphon for the Alleluia- Mass in the Morning)

 

"Dear children! Today I am calling on you to decide whether or not you wish to live the messages which I am giving you. I wish you to be active in living and spreading the messages. Especially, dear children, I wish that you all be the reflection of Jesus, which will enlighten this unfaithful world walking in darkness. I wish all of you to be the light for everyone and that you give witness in the light. Dear children, you are not called to the darkness, but you are called to the light. Therefore, live the light with your own life. Thank you for having responded to my call." ( June 5, 1986)

 

We have almost arrived. We are nearing Bethlehem, closing in on the spot where the Star has come to rest, approaching the little stable where Mary and Joseph will take cover for the night. We have waited and prayed, anticipated and desired this night. Our hearts are beating with excitement. The Desired of nations will be born tonight. The King of Kings will arrive in our midst. The Dayspring will burst forth in the darkest of nights, dispersing the gloom of our earthly lives. The Key of David will open the heavens, and Hosannas will ring out over the fields. The Root of Jesse will produce a shoot, the Deliverer of peoples. The Light will break forth for all to see, the Salvation of our souls. We have awaited this day and our hearts are glad.

 

Our Lady tells us that she wants us to "all be the reflection of Jesus, which will enlighten this unfaithful world walking in darkness." Of course we want very much to do as Our Lady asks us. But how?

 

Maybe tonight we will find out. As we enter the stable tonight, and peer down at the manger, we will look upon Him who has come to save us. And the Light from His tiny person will shine upon our faces and reflect outward, showing itself to all those we meet. Maybe as we contemplate the Newborn Jesus in His dark stable tonight, His glory will be reflected on our amazed faces, and we will bring His Light to our families, friends, neighbors and homelands. Perhaps, tonight, Jesus will shine out from our wondering countenances, and all will be glad!

 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2012

 

PS. The next reflection will be Tuesday, when I send out the Christmas Message through Marija. Till then, BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!!!

From The Friars eLetter: Emmanuel

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EMMANUEL (GOD WITH US) Sometimes in prayer, we hear God whisper something to us. Recently, I heard God tell me, “swing little brother swing.” At first I wasn’t entirely sure what this meant. As I prayed and thought about it, it became pretty clear: when I was younger, I used to play baseball and sometimes when I went up to bat, I would get nervous, really nervous. I would be afraid to swing the bat for fear of striking out and looking like a loser or feeling like a complete failure. So instead of really trying for a hit, I would secretly hope for a walk. Looking back at it now, I see that I was plagued, almost paralyzed, at those moments with a deadly combination of pride and fear: afraid to failure, pridefully thinking I needed to be better than I was. Even today, I recognize this misguided sense of self-protection within myself. I want to play it safe; I want people to think highly of me, I don’t want to make any mistakes. (Sound familiar?) While I say, “please let me get a walk,” Jesus says, “swing little brother swing.” Jesus says be free and joyful – don’t be a slave to the expectations of others, don’t be a salve to this nagging fear of inadequacy. Jesus says, don’t be so concerned with the results, be concerned with a confident, joyful attitude. How can this be when I am surrounded by so many pressures and demands externally and internally? At times it doesn’t seem possible. The only ray of hope I can decipher is the presence of God. If God is truly with me at every moment, in all circumstances, and never abandons me no matter what the results appear to be, then maybe, maybe I be can free and daring. Maybe, if the focus is on Him and what He can do and what He has done (and not on me and what I can’t do and what I haven’t done) then maybe I don’t have to take things so seriously. C. K. Chesterton says that this was the glory of St. Francis: that he saw the whole world turned upside down and hanging by a hair. We wasn’t afraid or intimidated by anything because he knew it was all passing away and he knew the love of God that never passes away. In other words, all the pomp, all the power, all the ‘coolness’, all the ‘success’, all the situation and things we fear are like a puff of smoke. None of these things are as important as the love of God that endures all things and lasts forever. If God is Emmanuel, then maybe, I can swing the bat and so can you. God bless you, Fr. Giuseppe Siniscalchi, CFR Most Blessed Sacrament Friary Newark, N] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We need your help! To make a donation click here (PLEASE DO NOT REPLY AS THIS ACCOUNT IS NOT CONNECTED PERSONALLY TO FR. GIUSEPPE - THANK YOU)

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/23/2012

The Visitation

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J.M.J.      

December 23, 2012

 

Dear Family of Mary!

 

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the desire of all nations and their Savior: come and save us, O Lord our God! (Traditional "O" Antiphon)

 

The Gospel for today is the recounting of the Visitation, that glorious moment when Mary and Jesus came to Elizabeth and John, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them in power and joy:

 

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (Luke 1: 41-43)

 

Those of us who have gone to Medjugorje, or have become united to Medjugorje in prayer, often want to cry out with joy, "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" We are filled with amazement and joy at the presence of Mary. She brings Jesus to us. She brings peace to us. She brings hope to us. She leads us to God. She once told us:

 

"Dear children! I come to you as a Mother with gifts. I come with love and mercy. Dear children, mine is a big heart. In it, I desire all of your hearts, purified by fasting and prayer. I desire that, through love, our hearts may triumph together. I desire that through that triumph you may see the real Truth, the real Way and the real Life. I desire that you may see my Son. Thank you." (March 18, 2007)
 

She desires that we receive the same anointing that Elizabeth and John received. She wants to bring to us the Truth, the Way and the Life! Jesus Christ, her Son! This is everything for us, everything!

 

May we, like Elizabeth and John, be ready for Our Lady's coming in our lives. May we be filled with the Holy Spirit at her greeting to us, through her messages. We are called, like John, to become apostles of the Lord, apostles of the good news that Jesus is with us. O Emmanuel, come!

 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2012

 

December 21, 2012 - The Day After...

December 22, 2012 A.D.

December 21, 2012, the end of the world according to Mayan calendar predictors, has come and gone. But we should not be so quick to laugh it off.

This above sunset taken in Medjugorje in front of St. James Church, was a film shot from The Lasting Sign, a 60-minute documentary produced in 1990 by A Friend of Medjugorje and ABC 20/20, with narrator Martin Sheen.

Around the time of the filming of The Lasting Sign, ABC producer Rob Wallace asked A Friend of Medjugorje if the Medjugorje apparitions were about the second coming of Jesus. A Friend of Medjugorje, answered, "Absolutely they are! Now whether the second coming takes place in 5 years or 500 years from now, is what we don't know."

Though most praying people knew nothing would happen on 12-21-12, it can be easy to laugh off the Mayan calendar as utter nonsense, and continue in our 'business as usual' life. But, God is actively sending us signs for these times. Our Lady of Medjugorje said on March 25 1990:
 

"...God wants to save you and sends you messages through men, nature, and so many things which can only help you to understand that you must change the direction of your life..."

It should come as no surprise that the Church near the end of the Church calendar reflects on the end of time, which we all should do in preparing our hearts to meet Jesus. Our Lady said on March 17, 1989:
 

"...Prepare yourself to look at Jesus ‘eye to eye.’"

Our life is preparation, spiritually and physically for the meeting with Jesus, which can only happen in striving everyday to live God's will. A Friend of Medjugorje tells us in Ready'ing' for the Storm, written in 1998:

"Our Lady is our hope. She is our ark. She is building within our heart the means to stay afloat when the storm comes. Jesus says it will come as a thief in the night. Our Lady said “pray, pray, pray.” Too many want to prepare physically and bypass spiritual preparation. Physical preparation is completely useless without a great deal, even years, of spiritual preparation. If one has to choose between the two, only the spiritual is important. God rained down manna from Heaven. He is certainly capable of doing it again. But how can anyone expect that to happen, or physical preparation to work, if the spiritual is lacking? Too many are out of focus.

"God’s Will is the only thing that is important. It is His wish that must prevail over man’s will. Man in his free will can contradict God’s will. His Will is His hope and wish for us, but we have freedom from Him to go against it. But how sad will be the day when the time of grace, the time of Our Lady being with us daily, will no longer be. Pray! Get on your knees and pray! Do not cease to pray! The only thing that is important today is to pray and do God’s Will. When we do God’s Will, it is the best for our own being that can be done.

"We may think what we do is best, but unless we really seek
and strive to know God’s Will in every part of our lives, we
will never have the best situation for ourselves. This is security.
He is “father,” the best of what we could even imagine
a father to be. His Will, even in our smallest action will bring
about perfection in one’s life. We must surrender our will to
His to be satisfied, content, and happy. Life will be whole and the fear many have today will be vanquished."

The Mayan calendar should be seen as yet another sign that we are living in an end of an age, and should be ready'ing' our hearts for Jesus by living in His will, for our present security and the future security of ourselves and our families.

 
More for your spiritual nourishment:

Booklet: Ready'ing for the Storm
Booklet: Entering a New Time
Booklet: A Time for Decision
Radio Wave: Tragedy Fills a Need
Radio Wave: She Knew What She Was Getting Into

via medjugorje.com

Confronting our Blindness to Money and Time

via us2.campaign-archive1.com

Where our treasure is…there will be our heart. Money simply causes more dependence on and pride in ourselves and less reliance on God…our only purpose.
Once we realize the blindness of pursuing more money… and the things we can do and buy with our money…we must deal with spiritual blindness to be truly “poor in spirit” the way God wants.
This means that clinging to our opinions when not of moral truth, being interested in admiration and praise for our conversation or jokes, being possessive of friends or family,
Seeking pleasure and rest at most moments beyond our duties…especially through reality television shows…and spending minimal time at daily prayer,
All of these are also major stumbling blocks…in addition to money and things… to having God as our only treasure.
Sadly, even 80% of Catholics who worship every Sunday fall into this blindness of the world and make no progress toward knowing and loving God.
All of which is why there is so much restlessness, selfishness, envy and evil today… and virtually no true joy in hearts.

Adapted from Sister Maria of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary

You can receive complimentary materials to make your Consecration to God through Mary’s Immaculate Heart ( important spiritual protection at this time in salvation history) at myconsecration.org... where you can also learn about Our Lady of Las Lajas.

You can learn more about our Lady of Fatima at www.wafusa.org.

God Bless you and your work,

Deacon Bob Tony

Deacon Bob Ellis Anthony Mullen
Executive Director MyConsecration.org
World Apostolate of Fatima, USA 647 Edmonds Avenue
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Pope in “Financial Times”: “No bowing to false gods”: A Time for Christians to Engage with the World

The Pope Publishes an Unprecedented Christmas Comment in the December 20 “Financial Times” of London
A Pope in the pages of an ordinary newspaper? As a columnist? Never happened before. But it happened yesterday. Pope Benedict was asked by theFinancial Times of London to write a brief essay for them related to his new book on Jesus, and he agreed. His essential message to London and the world: do not “bow down to false gods” of money and power but remember the true nobility of man and his eternal destiny. Here is the complete text of what the Pope said…
Benedict to the City of London: “Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today”
Benedict XVI has done it again: he has broken with past tradition by publishing an article in an ordinary newspaper, something no Pope before him has ever done.
Clearly, Benedict is willing to choose almost any means to reach out to everyone, in and out of the Church, with the message of the Gospel (as he also showed by launching his unprecedented “Twitter” account @pontifex on December 12, from which he is now sending “tweets” to those who have signed up to “follow” him, now numbering more than 2 million people).
What was his essential message in this extraordinary Christmas essay, which must have been conceived as something that would “hit home” to a very special audience: the financial and business “elite” of London, and, by extension, of the whole modern financial world?
Benedict’s message was simple: that the success and wealth and power of this world — money and capital and stocks and metals and derivatives — cannot ultimately satisfy men and women, who are actually made for something far higher, for communion with an eternal, infinite, personal God, who made (and continues to make) Himself known at Christmas.
It was a message especially tailored for those who “have everything” — or, perhaps, think they will soon have it…
A message aimed at provoking a reflection on whether they really do have what they, in the end, desire, even if they achieve (as Simon and Garfunkel put it in the song about the wealthy but unhappy Richard Cory) “power, grace and style.”
The Financial Times of December 20, regarded by many as the Number 1 financial paper of Europe, promoted the Pope’s piece on the front page, calling it “A Christmas lesson in times of austerity.”
There are some very powerful lines in Benedict’s essay. Lines filled with nobility. Lines which, if those who read his words — even CEOs and hedge fund managers — have ears to hear, may cause some to say, “Yes, this is what I believe in my heart to be true.”
Benedict laid things out with almost blinding clarity, very simply, very understandably.
Christians, he said, both under the Roman Emperors and in our own day, refuse to bow down to all “false gods.”
But why such stubbornness?
Because Christians have a vision they do not want to betray, indeed, feel they cannot betray, without risking losing their very selves, their souls, because they are “inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.”
And any other vision, any other proposal for mankind’s destiny seems so much less noble, so pointless, that to accept that alternative vision, to bow down to it, to live by its demands, seems ignoble, seems miserable, seems enslaving, seems, in a word, sad. And Christians seek happiness, blessedness, and so refuse to accept a stance toward reality, such a “bowing down” to gods or ideologies leading finally, to sadness.
Here is the key passage (italicized in the full text printed below):
“When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated world-view. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.”
These words are worth repeating: “Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today… because they are free…”
It cannot be stressed too much: this Pope is a lover and defender of human freedom.
He preaches, in fact, a profound form of “freedom theology” (it could also be called “liberation theology”).
Again: “Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods… because they are free from the contraints of ideology…”
What is an ideology? Why does an ideology create “constraints”? Why does an ideology diminish freedom, that is, bit by bit, enslave?
An ideology is “a set of ideas that constitute one’s goals, expectations, and actions” and “a comprehensive vision, a way of looking at things.” (Words like “communism,” “capitalism” and “socialism,” all are the names for ideologies, for a set of ideas that become a “comprehensive vision.”)
The key point is that an ideology is made up of ideas, thoughts.
This means an ideology is not, and cannot be, a living person.
And so an ideology cannot be loved as a person can be loved.
Ideas, thoughts, are inanimate things. They are “things thought” by persons who have the capability of thinking.
Thus an ideology can be like a “matrix” of thoughts, notions and slogans that descends on the mind, and on the heart, and persuades the person — the mind, the heart — to act in accord with it.
And so an ideological person, for “ideological” reasons, can run over another person, can be cruel to another person, can oppress another person, can despise or hate another person, without ever meeting or knowing that person at all.
The “ideology” determines behavior — not the meeting and knowing of an actual person.
And so Christianity, based completely on one person (and not on any ideology) can never fully embrace any ideology, but must always return to the deep source of personhood, to the logos… to Christ himself.
And, by returning to Christ, by being in communion with the person of Christ, nourished by the person of Christ, all ideology is relativized — all “false gods” (money, power, fame) are relativized.
And, for a god, to be relativized is, in the end, to be rejected.
To be overthrown.
And so the Pope — speaking to the “masters of the universe” in London and elsewhere (to use Tom Wolfe’s half-serious, half-mocking phrase in reference to the great “movers and shakers” of Wall Street in his 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities) explained why Christians throughout history have been unable to comply with “demands made by Caesar” (the greatest “mover and shaker” of any epoch).

Benedict said: “From the Emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian regimes of the last century [i.e., Communism, National Socialism, Fascism], Caesar has tried to take the place of God.” And precisely here is where Benedict adds his signature phrase: “When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated worldview. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.”
And so the Pope is making quite clear that no ideology, no Caesar, no old or new proposal of global order or government, can be embraced by Christians,can be “colluded” with.
Such “false gods” undermine the ultimate destiny of man (to become like Christ, to take on the divinity of Christ as he took on our humanity in Bethlehem, that is, to become divine).
The birth of Christ, the Pope says, “challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life.”
He added: “While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience. At the end of a year that has meant economic hardship for many, what can we learn from the humility, the poverty, the simplicity of the crib scene?”
A possible, partial answer: we can learn that God not only loves the poor, but that He Himself was poor. Yes, he was among the poor, but not only that! He actually was poor.
There was no room for Him at the inn… He was born in a stable… And so it is not so much amid great wealth and power, but in true humility and in actual poverty, that one may find Christ.

The Financial Times asked the Pope to write the reflection, and he agreed. As far as anyone in Rome knows, it is the first time ever that a Pope has written an article for a secular newspaper.
However, it is not the first time the Pope has accepted requests to appear in a secular media setting. He once appeared on the British network, BBC, three months after hios visit to Scotland and England in September 2010, and once agreed to respond to children’s questions on the Italian national network, RAI.
via moynihanreport.itvworking.com
The Pope’s article for the Financial Times (December 20, 2012) originates from a request from the editorial office of the Financial Times itself which, taking as a cue the recent publication of the Pope’s book on Jesus’ infancy, asked for his comments on the occasion of Christmas.
Despite the unusual nature of the request, the Holy Father accepted willingly.
It is perhaps appropriate to recall the Pope’s willingness to respond to other unusual requests in the past, such as the interview given for the BBC, again at Christmas a few months after his visit to the United Kingdom, or the television interview for the program “A sua imagine” produced by the RAI, the Italian state broadcasting company, to mark the occasion of Good Friday. These too have been opportunities to speak about Jesus Christ and to bring his message to a wide forum at salient moments during the Christian liturgical year.

“Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God,” was the response of Jesus when asked about paying taxes.
His questioners, of course, were laying a trap for him. They wanted to force him to take sides in the highly-charged political debate about Roman rule in the land of Israel.
Yet there was more at stake here: if Jesus really was the long-awaited Messiah, then surely he would oppose the Roman overlords. So the question was calculated to expose him either as a threat to the regime, or a fraud.

Jesus’ answer deftly moves the argument to a higher plane, gently cautioning against both the politicization of religion and the deification of temporal power, along with the relentless pursuit of wealth.
His audience needed to be reminded that the Messiah was not Caesar, and Caesar was not God. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish was of an altogether higher order. As he told Pontius Pilate, “My kingship is not of this world.”

The Christmas stories in the New Testament are intended to convey a similar message.
Jesus was born during a “census of the whole world” taken by Caesar Augustus, the Emperor renowned for bringing the Pax Romana to all the lands under Roman rule. Yet this infant, born in an obscure and far-flung corner of the Empire, was to offer the world a far greater peace, truly universal in scope and transcending all limitations of space and time.

Jesus is presented to us as King David’s heir, but the liberation he brought to his people was not about holding hostile armies at bay; it was about conquering sin and death forever.
The birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life. While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience. At the end of a year that has meant economic hardship for many, what can we learn from the humility, the poverty, the simplicity of the crib scene?
Christmas can be the time in which we learn to read the Gospel, to get to know Jesus not only as the Child in the manger, but as the one in whom we recognize God made Man.
It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily lives and their involvement in worldly affairs – be it in the Houses of Parliament or the Stock Exchange.
Christians shouldn’t shun the world; they should engage with it. But their involvement in politics and economics should transcend every form of ideology.

Christians fight poverty out of a recognition of the supreme dignity of every human being, created in God’s image and destined for eternal life.
Christians work for more equitable sharing of the earth’s resources out of a belief that, as stewards of God’s creation, we have a duty to care for the weakest and most vulnerable.
Christians oppose greed and exploitation out of a conviction that generosity and selfless love, as taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth, are the way that leads to fullness of life.
Christian belief in the transcendent destiny of every human being gives urgency to the task of promoting peace and justice for all.

Because these goals are shared by so many, much fruitful cooperation is possible between Christians and others. Yet Christians render to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar, not what belongs to God.
Christians have at times throughout history been unable to comply with demands made by Caesar. From the Emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian regimes of the last century, Caesar has tried to take the place of God.
When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated world-view. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.

In Italy, many crib scenes feature the ruins of ancient Roman buildings in the background. This shows that the birth of the child Jesus marks the end of the old order, the pagan world, in which Caesar’s claims went virtually unchallenged.
Now there is a new king, who relies not on the force of arms, but on the power of love.
He brings hope to all those who, like himself, live on the margins of society.
He brings hope to all who are vulnerable to the changing fortunes of a precarious world.
From the manger, Christ calls us to live as citizens of his heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that all people of good will can help to build here on earth.
From http://moynihanreport.itvworking.com/

Mary’s Virginity During the Birth of Jesus: The Catholic Church’s Perennial Tradition

via motherofallpeoples.com

Unfortunately, there has been some recent confusion about the dogmatic teaching of Mary’s Virginity during the birth of Jesus, one of the three essential aspects of Our Lady’s Virginity, which was defined by Pope St. Martin I in 649 at the First Lateran Council. This second Marian Dogma, Our Lady’s Virginity before, during , and after the birth of Jesus, has always included the traditional patristic and magisterial understanding that Mary gave “miraculous birth” to Jesus (in the words of Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943), without any violation to her physical, external virginity. As the Fathers of the Church explained, as “light passes through glass without harming the glass”, so Jesus was born with Mary’s Virginity “in tact”, that is with the preservation of her physical virginity, so that the Perfect Virgin would be an example of Christian virginity, in heart and in body, for all later Christians called to the special vocation of Christian virginity.

Read more...
http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/2012/10/marys-miraculous-birth-of-jesus-the...

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/22/2012

 
(c)Mary TV 2012 

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J.M.J.      

December 22, 2012

 

Dear Family of Mary!

 

O King of nations, and their Desired, the Cornerstone who makes all one: come and save our race, whom you formed out of clay. (Traditional "O" Antiphon)

 

"Dear children! With great joy I bring you the King of Peace for Him to bless you with His blessing. Adore Him and give time to the Creator for whom your heart yearns. Do not forget that you are passers-by on this earth and that things can give you small joys, while through my Son, eternal life is given to you. That is why I am with you, to lead you towards what your heart yearns for. Thank you for having responded to my call." (December 25, 2007)

 

In this Antiphon, Jesus is called the Desired. The Desired One, who will save us all, is Jesus, the tiny King of Peace. Our Lady tells us in this message that our hearts yearn for Jesus..."The Creator for whom your heart yearns." She says that she will lead us towards what our heart yearns for, eternal life given by her Son. She is with us to lead us to heaven, to Jesus and His Kingdom. She has come to save our race.

 

If our hearts do not reverberate with this desire, if we are a bit dead within, because of sin and wounds, disappointments and broken dreams, now is the time to empty those things from them, so that the strings of our hearts can vibrate with joy at the thought of Jesus. Now is the time to let go of the small joys of this life, in order to grasp and cling to the eternal joy of heaven. Now is the time to turn away from earthly attachments, and turn towards the King of Peace.

 

One way to test our hearts and discover if we are desiring only God is to pray the Magnificat of Our Lady. (It is the Gospel for today's Holy Mass.) The freer we are of earthly attachments, the more we will be able to sing with Our Lady this song of praise to God. It will make more and more sense to us, as we are cleansed of all that would deaden our desire for God. So let's sing!

 

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever." (Lk. 1 : 46-56)

 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2012