From The Friars eLetter: Advent & a Lame-Footed Friar Revisited

Advent & a Lame-Footed Friar Revisited If you saw the first blog I wrote it tells of my injury where I broke my foot. Many things in my life changed as a consequence and honestly most of it just made me frustrated and angry. I am weak, broken (literally), and desperately in need of others (especially if I want a cup of coffee – which I don’t have a free hand to carry – in the morning), and most of all in need of God. But I don’t like any of that. I prefer to be doing for others, to be independent and in control. One of the practical consequences of my injury is that at Mass each day the priest brings the Eucharist to me where I am seated in the chapel. This has been going on for over a month now and it wasn’t until a few days ago that the Lord revealed to me a deep truth in this experience. The priest was coming toward me, and in my heart I was crying out for the Lord to help me in my weakness. Suddenly I realized that I was even too weak to go to Jesus where he was, he had to come to me! And He spoke to my heart saying simply: “I come to you. I love you, you don’t have to strong, Malachy, just open up your heart to receive me.”  My heart experienced a deep peace and immediately I thought of the mystery of Christmas we are preparing to celebrate. Each of us, in fact the whole world was and is too weak and broken to “go to Jesus,” and so in His tremendous love and mercy for us he comes. He comes into our poverty and weakness. He comes into our sin. He comes into our sickness. He comes into the darkness of our lives, our world. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us!” Jesus comes and is coming again this Christmas, all we need to do is open our hearts and receive Him! + Br. Malachy Joseph Napier, CFR Harlem, NY [Top row, 2nd from left] ----------------------------------------------------- We need your help! Donate here

From The Friars eLetter: Advent & a Lame-Footed Friar

Advent & a Lame-Footed Friar Reflections of a lamed-footed friar: Believing is seeing… About five weeks ago I had an accident while climbing on some rocks that resulted in my heel being broken. In my normal stubbornness I refused to go to the ER immediately, but eventually the pain won out I discovered that I couldn’t simply “push through” and continue life as usual if didn’t want to permanently damage my foot or risk needing surgery. So contrary to all of my natural inclinations I decided to listen to the doctor and “stay off it” for a while. The transition from MACH 3 living to literally having to ask others to do even simple things like carry a cup of coffee to a table, fix me food, etc was perhaps more painful than the broken foot. One step at a time going up and down in the friary, having to sit and rest after going from one place to the next. I hardly went outside for a month and was pining for freedom from my unexpected encounter with the cross. And then it happened. I looked out the window of my room and I saw a tree! I know it sounds woefully mundane and ordinary, but I had looked out my window countless times and never noticed it right there in front of me. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It was screaming with existence and there were tiny drops of water clinging to all its naked branches twisting about like the hair of someone who just finished sticking their finger in a socket to see if there was power or not. And as I thanked God for this simple tree and its beauty I began reflecting on the mystery of God’s presence all around us. How many times had I passed Him by? How many moments of my life was the Lord of All present and I was simply unaware or too busy to notice or care. And then I thought about those shepherds who left there work in the fields to go to a stable and look on the face of a child. What did they see? I don’t imagine it was a radiant face, but the simple face a human child that yet when looked upon with “eyes that could see”, a heart that believed, revealed a tremendous Presence – the Presence of Emmanuel, God-with-us! Lord gives us “eyes that can see” so we recognize you not simply in a distant history or beautiful story, but in the reality of our own lives, where You desire to reveal your beauty and love to us each day. + Br. Malachy Joseph Napier, CFR Harlem, NY ----------------------------------------------- We need your help! Donate here

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/19/2013

  
 
Comforting Jesus
(c) Mary TV 2013


J.M.J.

December 19, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! Today I call all of you to prayer. Open the doors of your heart profoundly to prayer, little children, to prayer with the heart; and then the Most High will be able to act upon your freedom and conversion will begin. Your faith will become firm so that you will be able to say with all your heart: 'My God, my all.' You will comprehend, little children, that here on earth everything is passing. Thank you for having responded to my call."  (November 25, 2013) 

Yesterday I shared the transcript of Fr. Maximilian Dalvai's homily on December 10. It was a homily on the parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine in search of one lost sheep. Fr. Maximilian used this opportunity to talk about the greatness of God's love for us. And I was struck by one point he made. He talked about the power of our faith. Here is the comment:

With eyes full of goodness, He [Jesus] follows each one of our steps. We should recognize that in our faith. Sometimes we might get the feeling... here in Medjugorje we feel it. We come and wow! Mary is there. I feel free, and I feel everything, but what about back home, when the work is there, and heavy days come...believe it in faith, and give Jesus the joy, the consolation of your belief. In our first reading we hear consolation..."Comfort, give comfort to your people." But we should also give comfort to Jesus. How can we do that? Believe in His love. More we cannot do, but we can believe. We can abandon ourselves.

What Father Maximilian said really stayed with me. He points out that we are sometimes given an experience of God's infinite love. Many people report such experiences when they go on pilgrimage to Medjugorje. We feel deep peace in Medjugorje, which I believe is the effect of Our Lady's presence. She is like an open door to heaven, and when we are near her, we feel the powerful love of God coursing over us. We feel His deep acceptance of us. We feel His "eyes full of goodness" following each of our steps there. Somehow we come in contact with His Heart of love, and we are at peace.

But when we go home, that experience may wane. Usually it does. Trials come. Daily life returns like the tide, bringing with it boredom, anxiety, fatigue. We just don't feel God with us as much. And it is then that we can do something special. "Comfort, give comfort to your people"... As Father Maximilian said, when we don't feel God's love, when we don't feel Jesus' presence, and things are tough, we can make an act of faith in His love. We can believe without seeing or feeling it. And in this way we can comfort Jesus.  

Jesus said once in the Gospel, "Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Lk 18:8). I think He was sharing an ache in His Heart with these words. For after all He was about to do for us in His Passion and Death, He was still faced with the fact that many of us would not believe in His love, even then. And that was a deep wound for Him, maybe the worst wound.

And so, we can make an act of faith, as Our Lady tells us in the November 25 message: "Your faith will become firm so that you will be able to say with all your heart: 'My God, my all.'" Through intense prayer with the heart we can choose to believe in God's love, and give ourselves totally to Him at each moment. In doing this, we will comfort Jesus.

What a gift we can give Him this Christmas. We can believe in His love. And our belief will be the best Christmas Gift we could give our Savior.

Yes, Lord, I believe in Your love for me. I abandon myself to Your love. I accept it, even though I may not feel it right now. I trust in Your Sacred Heart, full of tender love for me. Thank you, dearest Lord, for loving me!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2013

Once again (It is such a wonderful time of prayer, and I feel like I am back in Medjugorje!):

Christmas Novena of St. James Parish, Medjugorje!

St. James Parish will climb Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary, for nine days before Christmas. 

The novena began on December 15, and will end on December 23.

Mary TV will stream the novena - live - starting Monday, December 16,

 2:00 pm Medjugorje time (8:00 am EST).

Join the parish in this wonderful novena in preparation for the coming of Baby Jesus at Christmas!

 "Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"   

Blessed John Paul II  -

Be connected! 

www.marytv.tv

 

Christmas in the Midst of All that Really Matters By Fr. Gordon J. MacRae

If you're stressed or depressed by the sales and the tinsel, by Christmas with the cranks, or by all the rest of this generic 'holiday cheer' then join us for a few moments behind These Stone Walls, and share with others "Christmas in the Midst of all that Really Matters"

At Christmas in prison for the 20th time, Fr Gordon MacRae looks for its bare essentials. Under the rubble of tinsel, noise and haste are the Gifts of the Magi.


--
Sent on behalf of 

These Stone Walls

www.TheseStoneWalls.com

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/18/2013

The more little we are the more we are at the Heart of Jesus...
(c) Mary TV 2013


J.M.J.
December 18, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

Today I am giving you another Christmas present!!  The second homily of Fr. Maximilian which was given on December 10, 2013 at the English Mass at St. James, Medjugorje!!
I find Father's words to be very healing and like oxygen for the soul! 

Fr. Maximilian Dalvai

December 10, 2013

Homily at St. James English Mass

A parable, and especially this parable is not meant to be taken in a passive way, to be taken into our memory as a nice teaching, but it involves us. It starts with a question, "What is your opinion?" And it makes us go on a journey. It depends on us, the outcome, because it is not clearly defined. So we have to go on a journey and ask ourselves what really is our opinion.

Think to whom Jesus spoke in His time. He spoke to shepherds, simple people of Galilee of this time. So what would they have said? "A hundred sheep! You leave the ninety-nine in dangerous mountains, in deserted mountains, and you go for one?" They would have said, "That is insane. That is foolish! You leave the ninety-nine in danger and go for the one." They probably would have said that.

What is your opinion? Leave ninety-nine for one? No way! I feel sorry for the one sheep, but the ninety-nine...that's it. Normal reason! We have to go on a journey. They would have said, "Jesus! Who is that insane pastor who would do such a thing?" He would have answered, "This pastor is God the Father. And the sheep is you." God loves each one. That is the mystery of the love of God. God loves each soul like all together. The love of God is not divided. You know, He loves you a little bit, He likes you a little bit more or a little bit less, no...Each one has the full love of God. That is difficult to understand. Because the love of God is so great!

But you see, even here on earth we have a sign, a symbol of this love. Let's just go to the sun. If you go out into the sun...today is a sunny day, thanks be to God...so we go out and we look at the sun, and each one has the full sun. It is not that if you look at the sun, I get less. We have all the full sun! Because the sun is so great! But we have to understand that the sun is very little before the love of God. So with what a burden, with what a weight of love is He looking upon you! On each one of us!! With what eyes does God look upon each one of us! With tender eyes...the first reading speaks about the tenderness of God. And our Pope Francis continues it and invites us! We do not have a cold and distant God, a rational God, a logical God...no! God's love to our reason is foolish. None of us would do that...we have to be honest and not say, "Oh that is nice, God, yes..." Think of it, you would not do that! We don't have such great love. But we can receive that great love! That is the more important part.

With eyes full of goodness, He follows each one of our steps. We should recognize that in our faith. Sometimes we might get the feeling, here in Medjugorje we feel it. We come and Wow! Mary is there. I feel free, and I feel everything, but what about back home, when the work is there, and heavy days come...believe it in faith, and give Jesus the joy, the consolation of your belief. In our first reading we hear consolation..."Comfort, give comfort to your people." But we should also give comfort to Jesus. How can we do that? Believe in His love. More we cannot do, but we can believe. We can abandon ourselves.

Mary said here in one message, "The greatest thing you can do is to abandon yourselves to Jesus." But this is not so easy for us. Especially because we are educated, and our mentality is formed by philosophies since centuries which teach us auto-sufficiency. The philosophy says that you are thrown into existence. And so many people feel this. Maybe some have the fortune to have certain securities like good families, and that is very important. Or to have good money, so I have money, and I am strong. Or I have good culture or good education, or good talents, whatever, but we need deeper roots. That is not enough. We can stand with these roots maybe ninety years, but then....

We need Christ as our root. He is our true root. We have to find Him in us. There lies our strength and then we can be little. We don't have to be a strong man, a strong woman, capable of everything, governing, managing the world, and going on and making a lot of disasters.

I have a friend, before I left Rome, who said to me, "Let's try to make the least amount of damage!" Because as humans we always make disasters. Let's try to make the least possible. So let's ask God to work more and more through us and with us. Let Him do it! It is His doing. We are His handiwork. And how happy He is if He can work in us and through us. But then we have to become little.

You see, the more little we are - you see the lambs are carried, the sheep are not. The sheep are guided, the shepherd feeds them and guides his flock, leading the ewes with care. Leading them, but the little ones, the lambs, he carries on his bosom, on his heart. The more little we are the more we are at the Heart of Jesus.

And so we don't have to serve a distant, stern God who looks to us with clear eyes, and so we tremble a little bit and we sing His praises more out of fear than out of love. Let's believe in the tenderness of God, again and again, believe in the forgiveness of God. It is a joy for Him to forgive. It is the greatest joy that God has, to forgive us, and as Pope Francis says, He never gets tired of forgiving. So we can always give God joy if we run into His arms trusting in His mercy and love.

May we ask Him in the Christmas time, that as He Himself becomes little, we can carry Him in our arms. Surely as Mary gives Him to us, we can take Him in our hands, into our hearts in Holy Communion. Don't be afraid of our littleness. Don't think we have to do it all by ourselves. May we learn to trust more and more in His care, His tenderness and His love. Let us serve Him, not because we are afraid. We sing His praises and that is beautiful! And it is the duty of creation to give glory to God, sure, but we should do it out of love. But if we praise Him out of fear, or because I we like it, I think it is less beautiful for the Heart of God than if we simply lean our heads on the Heart of God and rest in simple silence and in tender abandonment on His breast. I think that there He receives more glory, more comfort and joy, and He can give us more comfort and joy, than with all the things we can do for Him.

Let's first receive, and then with His grace, we can give back and enter the flow of the Trinity that God so much wants. And yes, we ask that we do not put all of ourselves in, which destroys continuously the work of God. That we can always let Him act, and He will do marvelous things. And especially He will let us experience His tender, forgiving, merciful love, so we can share it with others.

Thank you, Fr. Maximilian, for taking us under your care with these homilies.  They will help us prepare for Christmas! 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

(c)Mary TV 2013

Once again:

Christmas Novena of St. James Parish, Medjugorje!

St. James Parish will climb Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary, for nine days before Christmas. 

The novena began on December 15, and will end on December 23.

Mary TV will stream the novena - live - starting Monday, December 16,

 2:00 pm Medjugorje time (8:00 am EST).

Join the parish in this wonderful novena in preparation for the coming of Baby Jesus at Christmas!

 

 "Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"   

Blessed John Paul II  -

Be connected! 

www.marytv.tv

 

 

From The Friars eLetter: Darkness and Advent

Darkness and Advent Advent is one of my favorite times of the whole liturgical year! Even though there is lots of cold and dark these common things we don’t think too much about, can help us enter in more deeply to Gods plan for us. Darkness: it makes us hungry for the light. I remember when I was hiking in college with one of my best friends. We had been looking for a while to find this cave that other students had explored. We eventually found it and, of course, we went inside. I learned a lot from this experience (besides nearly getting stuck inside)! We turned off our flashlights at one point… it was the darkest place I had ever been: I could not even see my hand when I put it up to my face! But to my surprise, when, fumbling, I lit a match in the dark: the light from it was surprisingly bright. I would have never expected so much light from one match. The whole season makes us feel the very same hunger for the coming of the Messiah that the people of Israel felt for centuries. They felt like God might have abandoned them, and things all around seemed only to get more and more dark. All of the readings for Mass and the songs we sing (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!) are meant to make our hearts stretch and remind us to live in expectation of Jesus! But when he came, what was it like? Not flashy, not with big fanfare and Times Square billboards. No, he came with one “yes” from a heart totally waiting and ready for him. And the light he brought into the world was nothing like what we could have imagined. Who could possibly think that God would become an infant, born in a stable? It began as one small light burning in the heart of Mary, in her womb, in her arms, and at rest in the stable of Bethlehem. Like one candle burning in a dark place, he came into the world to set it all afire with his love. He wants to do the same in our hearts in a new and unexpected way this Advent… to come into the dark places of our lives still awaiting the fire of his love to come, to make us free, to make us new. Let us give permission as Mary did, that Jesus can come to give us his light and joy. + Br. Pius Marie Gagne, CFR Newark, NJ ---------------------------------------------- We need your help! Donate here

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/17/2013

    
  
 
I am the Immaculate Conception
(c) Mary TV 2013


J.M.J.
December 17, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

I am going to give you a Christmas present, early!!  Here is the transcript of Fr. Maximilian Dalvai's homily on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Medjugorje! It is long, but you have to read it all at once!! 

Fr. Maximilian Dalvai

December 9, 2013 (Immaculate Conception)

What a great feast day we celebrate today! I would really so much like to be able to transmit this, but my English is poor, and for a long time I haven't celebrated English Mass. It is my first time in a long time, but I will try my best. Let us ask the Holy Spirit that He will help us to enter into the beautiful grace of today. Because each time we celebrate the Eucharist it is a most marvelous grace. That is obvious. But each Eucharist has always a special grace. The gifts of God never repeat. He is always new.

And we should ask Mary to help us, because this particular feast is today very "actual" (Do you say that in English?). There is an actuality of the feast of today. For in the first reading from Genesis, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between her offspring and your offspring." Think of this God given enmity. The God who is love, who wants everything to unite in his Love, He created an enmity. And it is important to understand where we are. We are with the Woman. To be with the Woman is important.

The past 200 years we have seen more clearly than ever this enmity. Mary from the beginning started her plan of battle. I say it like this because Maximilian Kolbe used this language. Do you know Maximilian Kolbe? Yes, he used this kind of language. He spoke of battle. So nearly 200 years ago, she started to prepare her weapons. I will use this language, as it is my joy! I am called Maximilian. So in 1830 she made the weapon. But it is not a weapon of the world. It is a sign. It's a blessing, a grace, a little medal. The Miraculous Medal, it is called. If you want to study it, Ratisbonne it was a Jew, an antichristian, who converted to Catholicism and became a priest because of this medal. If you want to study this on the internet, it is easy.

What this medal did and does! So Mary created this weapon, this medal in 1830 and what is this medal? "Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." O Mary, conceived without sin... that was 1830! There was no dogma made of the Immaculate Conception. That was nearly 30 years after in 1854. And when the Pope wanted to make this dogma, he was opposed by quite a few bishops, especially in the north. But he felt it was the Holy Spirit who told him to do it, to go along.  And then 4 years after as you know well, in 1858, Mary confirmed it at Lourdes. And as the Pope proclaimed the words (This is a historical fact we can prove, and that is important, and we need also this.) it was a very cloudy day in Rome as the Pope solemnly proclaimed this doctrine of our faith, revealed by God for us. It was a very cloudy day in Rome, worse than today for us, but at the moment he said the words, a ray of light flashed through the clouds and enlightened the face of the Holy Father. This was written in the newspapers of that day at that time because it was so obvious. Everything was cloudy and, boom, he was enlightened. Today we would use special lights, special effects, to do this, but in 1854 there was no such special effects. You could say that the first special effects were made by the Lord himself!

Then in Fatima she confirmed, and she said, "There will be times of trouble, but in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph." And so she came here in Medjugorje where she said, 1991, the 25th of August, "I will complete here what I started in Fatima." So there is an evolution, there is a battle going on between good and evil, and Mary has a special place. But we all have a special place because she said, "You don't realize, you cannot know how important is your role in the great plan of salvation."

Now certain theologians who say that it is Christ who crushes the head of the devil and his seed. Others say no it is Mary, no it is Christ, no Mary...You know about this?? The theological dispute. But I think we have to go beyond it. We have to open to the Holy Spirit, because it is obvious it is Christ, but it is also obvious that He does it through the heel of His mother. Because God (In the Magnificat Mary says it, and the whole Bible is full of it) humbles the proud. Now the devil who sinned through pride, would not be humbled if he was crushed by Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Eternal Word. That would be no humiliation at all. But to be crushed through the seed of a humble woman, that is most terrible for him. Do you understand, do I make myself clear??

But now God through His mother wants to go even further. He wants to do it through us. This is something great. This is something marvelous, and so we are part of the mystery. We are the Body of Christ today here in this world. And today Mary says, "Please help me." It is a collaboration we have to make. It is not this distance, there is God and here we are, and we just have to worship Him and then we go home. No, we are the Body of Christ. You are the light of the world, He says. And so there is collaboration. We have to enter into this grace. Because it is a grace even to us, and it is a special grace. This is the time of grace, as Mary says here.

So, Mary has a special role, she is the new Eve, as some Church Fathers say. And today we thank Mary, not just because of the gift she received, because she received it as one of us, she received that special gift. But she was faithful to that gift. That is important. For that we thank Mary. For the gift she received we thank God, it is so wonderful. But thank you, Mary, because you remained faithful to that gift. Now we ask her to help us who must remain faithful to the gift we receive every day in this time of grace.

Mary said, and this is very important, in Lourdes as you already know, not "I was immaculately conceived..." No, she said, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Maximilian Kolbe would say it, to make a comparison, that you can say that there is ivory white, there is snow white, and there is "whiteness". She said, "I am whiteness. I am the Immaculate Conception." So Maximilian Kolbe says to us that she is like the blueprint for a new humanity. And therefore this is so important for today, God wants to make in these times when we see so much the clash between light and darkness, a new springtime. Mary spoke about the springtime here. He wants to make something new with humanity. His mercy is so great that we cannot imagine it at all. And so He wants to use Mary as a mold, as always the words of Maximilian Kolbe, a mold where we can form ourselves. The more Mary lives in us, the more Christ can live in us.

Some people are afraid, because they know from human experience, that it is very deep in us, spiritually, psychologically, that whenever we enter into relation with a person, we enter also into relationship with his sinfulness, with that person's egoism, through which he is trying to get something out of us. That is human. And so we get afraid, and we say to ourselves, just God alone. We don't need to be afraid of that, of that specific fear, with Mary. Because she wants nothing for herself. That is the Immaculate Conception. She is so pure, she takes nothing for herself. She is just like an airplane to God. If you are on an island, you want to go to another island or to the continent, you can swim by yourself or you can take an airplane. Mary is the shortest route, in that sense, the airplane. The more we are with her the more we are with God, with Christ.

But she, living in us, forms in us her Son. As He was formed 2000 years ago in her womb, so today again. We don't need to be afraid. This fear is because we still have a sense of sinfulness. In faith we could say that we don't believe that humanity can be truly pure, truly holy, I speak of pureness in its spiritual sense, we might not believe that. And so we have this unconscious fear. So, just God alone, just Christ. We don't understand that God wants us all to be holy and blameless, immaculate...He wants to make us all like that. So we have to go to "The Immaculate Conception", to "The Whiteness"...to make the comparison of Maximilian Kolbe. She is the blueprint of a healed humanity.

What can we do, in conclusion? Let's listen to her. Let's be docile to her. Let's ask her without fear to enter into our life. God is not just an island alone. God is communion, God is family. And so we can enter into the Communion of Saints. Mary has said here, "Use the saints as a model." It is much more beautiful and enriching this way of living Christianity. That is the Communion of Saints amongst us. So there is a fullness.

Now let's listen to what she says to us today. In one of her last messages she talks about union with the Father and union with the Son. She wants to bring us to union with the Father and union with the Son. I think it is a lack of humility to think I can do that all by myself. I think it is more beautiful to say to God, "If you wanted to use Mary to come to the world, I want to use Mary to come to You." We can use her, we can use our Mother. Children use their mother. They can give nothing. They need everything from her. They give her just a smile. They say thank you. So we can use her. She said, "I am here for you. Use me. I want nothing for myself, but everything for your salvation." And we have to understand that in this battle, what is at stake in the end is our soul. Our souls, the souls of humanity.

And so she says, and I will conclude with this, "Give yourself to me. Consecrate yourself to me. Consecrate yourself to my Immaculate Heart." She said that already in Fatima. Now here she repeats it. And she said, "Renew your consecration. Give yourselves to me." Let's do that without fear.

I don't know if I was able to explain a little bit, to do this without fear because she is Immaculate. Think today what it means to be Immaculate. Ask that this grace of the Immaculate Conception can enter into us so that we can from now and ever more stand in the presence of God, holy and without blame, immaculate.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

(c)Mary TV 2013

Once again:

Christmas Novena of St. James Parish, Medjugorje!

St. James Parish will climb Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary, for nine days before Christmas. 

The novena began on December 15, and will end on December 23.

Mary TV will stream the novena - live - starting Monday, December 16,

 2:00 pm Medjugorje time (8:00 am EST).

Join the parish in this wonderful novena in preparation for the coming of Baby Jesus at Christmas!

 "Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"   

Blessed John Paul II  -

Be connected! 

www.marytv.tv

 

 

Mary TV Daily Reflection 12/16/2013

Apparition Hill
(c) Mary TV 2013


J.M.J.

December 16, 2013

Dear Family of Mary!

December 5, 1985

"Dear children! I am calling you to prepare yourselves for Christmas by means of penance, prayer and works of charity. Dear children, do not look toward material things, because then you will not be able to experience Christmas. Thank you for having responded to my call."

On December 15 the parish of St. James, Medjugorje, began a Christmas Novena. Starting on that day, for nine days, the pastor, Fr. Merinko, will lead the parishioners up Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary. It is a big commitment. The winter weather is unpredictable, and the climb is difficult because the earth has been worn away, and the rocks are jagged and slippery. But with joy, the parish will pray and climb to the original apparition site, and ask Our Lady to prepare them for Christmas.

Our Lady has consistently taught the parish and the pilgrims that true happiness, true joy, comes from God and the things of God, not from material things. Penance, pray and works of charity help to free us from our desire for the material. This novena is a very good way to prepare our hearts for Jesus!

Great news! Mary TV will be streaming the Christmas Novena, live, from Apparition Hill starting today (Monday). It will begin at 2:00 pm Medjugorje time (8:00 am EST). The prayers will be in Croatian, but we can all follow along in our own language, since it will be the Rosary!

The live streaming will be on the Mary TV home page! Join us for this wonderful opportunity to prepare for Christmas as Our Lady asks!

December 12, 1985

"Dear children! For Christmas my invitation is that together we glorify Jesus. I present Him to you in a special way on that day and my invitation to you is that on that day we glorify Jesus and His nativity. Dear children, on that day pray still more and think more about Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call."

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

(c)Mary TV 2013 

Once again:

Christmas Novena of St. James Parish, Medjugorje!

St. James Parish will climb Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary, for nine days before Christmas. 

The novena began on December 15, and will end on December 23.

Mary TV will stream the novena - live - starting Monday, December 16,

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‘Rejoice in the Lord always’

Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tribulation Times

Week of December 15, 2013   

(Luk 1:31-32) Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. 

CRISIS MAGAZINE: An Advent Paean to Christian Hope by Regis Martin

EXCERPT ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. CHAPUT, O.F.M. CAP.: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’

One of the biggest sadnesses of modern life is this: We’ve mistaken comfort for happiness, and as a result, the pursuit of satisfaction has taken away our joy. We live in a culture increasingly based on the strange idea that whatever we want, we deserve — and we should have it, right now; a culture that constantly teases our appetites, fabricates new “needs” and then urges us to want more. This is a recipe for discontent.

As C.S. Lewis said more than 50 years ago, it’s little wonder that many people, including many Christians, become so fed up with the “holiday” season’s frenzy that they endure it rather than enjoy it, and can’t wait for it to be over.

In contrast, the more deeply we live Advent, and the more prayerfully and patiently we wait for the coming of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, then the more fully we experience the joy of Christmas. For Catholics throughout the centuries, Christmas Eve begins the Christmas season, which continues through the Epiphany to the Baptism of the Lord. As the popular saying rightly goes, Jesus is the reason for the season.

Taking Christ out of “the holidays” removes any real joy — the winter solstice is an interesting natural fact, but the shortest day of the year is a pretty thin reason to celebrate — and it makes “peace on earth” a well-meaning but implausible platitude. There is no peace on earth; nor can there ever be without the cross of Jesus Christ.

RON ROLHEISER, OMI: To make a festival of Christmas, to surround Jesus' birthday with all the joy, light, music, gift-giving, energy, and warmth we can muster is, strange as this may sound, a prophetic act. It is, or at least it can be, an expression of faith and hope. It's not the person who says: "It's rotten, let's cancel it!" who radiates hope. That can easily be despair masquerading as faith. No. It is the man or woman who, despite the world's misuse and abuse of these, still strings up the Christmas lights, trims the tree and the turkey, turns up the carols, passes gifts to loved ones, sits down at table with family and friends, and flashes a grin to the world, who is radiating faith, who is saying that we are meant for more than gloom, who is celebrating Jesus' birth.

CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY MINISTRY: Contemplating  with Joseph
RON ROLHEISER, OMI: Joseph and Christmas

EXCERPT: The Prince Of Peace: Meditations (1915) by Alban Goodier, S.J.
VIII.-THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS

"His name was called Jesus, which was called by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb." LUKE ii. 21.

1. It is not difficult to meditate upon the Holy Name, or to use the Holy Name in prayer. More than any other name, perhaps alone among all proper names, it is appropriate to the One Who owned it. Usually the names of men are given at random; they mean nothing in themselves; a man who happens to be called John might just as well have been called Thomas or William· the mere name tells us nothing about him; it is a convenient means of distinguishing him from others, a label put upon him and little or no more. With a few human beings it has been otherwise: Adam, Abraham, Josue, John the Baptist were given names that signified the men on whom they were bestowed. But with none is this so true as it is with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With care it was repeated to Joseph: " "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for. He shall save His people from their sins."

2. The Name stands as a complete sum mary and description of our Lord's character and office, and it is under this aspect that it has been regarded by thousands of saints, whose hearts have melted at its mere sound. To them Jesus is their God, Jesus is their King, Jesus is their Redeemer, Jesus is their Mediator, Jesus is their Saviour, Jesus is their great Priest, Jesus is their Intercessor, Jesus is the Captain under Whom they fight, Jesus is the Leader Whom they follow, Jesus is their Teacher, Jesus is the Giver of their law, Jesus is the Spouse and Shepherd of their souls, Jesus is their Light Jesus is their Life, Jesus is the Judge before Whom they rejoice to think that they must one day stand, Jesus is their final and eternal Reward, for which alone they live.

3· But He is also to them the mirror of all the most glorious and winning virtues. He is, and His Name tells them that He is unbounded Charity, infinite Mercy, extremest Kindness, deepest Humility, most devoted Piety, transparent Simplicity, uttermost Poverty, Chastity without a stain. It is the prerogative of love to transform those who love into the likeness of Him Whom they love; and as the mere name of one who is loved cannot sound in the ear or be thought of in the mind without adding to the love which is already there, so the thought of the Holy Name and the mention of the Holy Name have a kind of sacramental power in the hearts of His saints. They seem to convey the grace which enables men to think like Him, to speak like Him, to act like Him, to sacrifice themselves like Him, and to Him, and for Him, and along with Him, to make Him known to others, not by word only, but also by reproduction of Him in themselves, and to win all men to love Him.

The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Self-Control

52. He also said, 'The serpent whispered to Eve and cast her out of paradise. The man who whispers against his neighbours is like the serpent. He condemns the soul of whoever listens to him, and he does not save his own.'

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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.

[Video] He Must Increase; I must Decrease!

Man of Light Man of Light by apostleshipofprayer http://youtu.be/maJG8T_3Yf0 Reflection for 12/15/13 www.apostleshipofprayer.org

Spiritual Gems-When was the Last Time You Went to Confession? Part 3-December 14, 2013

When was the Last Time You Went to Confession? Part 3

A few years ago, a gigantic Men’s Promise Keepers Movement, which filled the largest stadiums, sprung up among evangelicals.  Part of this movement was for each man to confess his sins to another man.  The Movement did not teach that the other man could forgive sins, it just saw the value of confessing sins to someone else on a regular basis.  Each man had the same ten questions.  Interestingly, the tenth question was, “Were you honest in answering the other nine?” 

Promise Keepers logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The ten questions of Men’s Promise Keepers were based upon the Ten Commandments.  Answering them might bring personal sins out of the memory’s darkness into the light of truth.  Sin is like mushrooms.  It grows quickly when in darkness.  Asking ourselves questions, based on the Ten Commandments, brings these sins to light.  This is the beginning step.  Finding forgiveness is the full gift.

Guilt is as normal as pain.  Pain says that something is wrong with my body and I need to do something.  Guilt says that something is wrong with my soul. Many people go to therapists, wanting to reveal inner feelings when they can no longer handle their guilt.  Fortunately, Catholics have a sacrament.  They have a priest, who is so united to Jesus Christ that he can say “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood”.  He also has the power to say “I absolve you from your sins”.  When he does, then Jesus Christ himself speaks these words.

For most of her life, St. Faustina suffered from tuberculosis and had many stays in hospitals.  During one stay of two weeks, an angel brought her Holy Communion every morning.  One day, she asked the angel to hear her confession.  The angel replied, “I do not have the power to forgive sins. Only a priest does.”  On another occasion, she was surprised that her confessor came into her hospital room.  She sensed an even deeper kindness.  After her sins were forgiven, she saw that Jesus himself had come to her in the appearance of her confessor.  Catholics do not need extraordinary experiences.  By faith, they believe that every priest has the same powers as Jesus.

From a very holy priest.

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