Dear Family of Mary

 
Vicka in prayer! Body and soul in communion with God!
(c)Mary TV 2014

J.M.J.  

April 27, 2015

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! I am with you also today to lead you to salvation. Your soul is restless because your spirit is weak and tired from all worldly things. You, little children, pray to the Holy Spirit that He may transform you and fill you with His strength of faith and hope, so that you may be firm in this battle against evil. I am with you and intercede for you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call." (April 25, 2015)

Our Lady continues to be serious about the battle that we are in. She wants us to be equipped for the fight against evil. Maybe the most important preparation for us is a good understanding of who we are. We have been living in a society that seems to want to walk away from God and not recognize that we are creatures made by Him. We are being fed lots of misinformation about who we are and how we are made. Our enemy will use this misinformation to confuse us and tempt us away from God and His plan for us. And so Our Lady is giving us the truth about ourselves.

In this message she brings up something that can be a bit difficult to understand. She says: "Your soul is restless because your spirit is weak and tired from all worldly things." As soon as I read this sentence I realized that it is easy to be confused about soul and spirit. What is the relationship between our soul and our spirit? Are they the same thing?

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church there is a discussion called "Body and Soul but Truly One" (n. 362 to 368) in which we are taught about our being, soul and body:

The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Gen 2:7). Man whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person. But "soul " also refers to the inner most aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.

The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit. (n. 362 - 364)

Our soul is our spiritual principle and makes us capable of communion with God. But the Catechism does talk about soul and spirit, though briefly:

Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly," with "spirit and soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming (1 Thess 5:23). The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. "Spirit" signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God. (367)

I had to read this several times before it started making sense. I think the Church is saying that spirit and soul are both aspects of our spiritual being, but that they are not separate entities. Our soul is our spiritual principle, and because it is spiritual, or spirit, it orders us toward God who is supernatural and Spirit. It is because of our spirit that we can communicate with the Lord and receive from Him.

The Church works very hard to make us understand that we are not a conglomerate of different things somehow loosely pasted together. Just as our body and our soul are one being, so in our soul there is spirit but it is not distinct from our soul. It is important. Dualism can result in much abuse of our person. We can't dissect ourselves and examine our parts. The body and soul and spirit are one unit, completely necessary to our person.

Well, I am babbling. But I think it is important to work at understanding this point, because the new age and other philosophies are wreaking havoc with lives by changing the understanding of who we are and how we were made.

That said, Our Lady does talk about our spirit and our soul, and how they interrelate. Tomorrow I want to share a very nice email I received about our tired spirit and our restless soul. Christina from New Jersey makes some very good points from Scripture for us to pray about.

So, for now, let's puzzle this out as best we can, so that we can really follow Our Lady well. As she told us, "I am with you also today to lead you to salvation."

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2015

Our Lady's Message to Marija of April 25, 2015

Come Holy Spirit, Come through the
heart of Mary

"Dear children! I am with you also today to lead you to salvation. Your soul is restless because your spirit is weak and tired from all worldly things. You, little children, pray to the Holy Spirit that He may transform you and fill you with His strength of faith and hope, so that you may be firm in this battle against evil. I am with you and intercede for you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call."

The Medjugorje Message: Archbishop testifies to the fruit of Medjugorje

Photo by Bernard Gallagher
http://crownofstars.blogspot.com/

The Medjugorje Message: Archbishop testifies to the fruit of Medjugorje: Mgr Salvador Piñeiro García Calderón, the Archbishop of Ayacucho and President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, was in Medjugorje this ...

The Spirit and the Word

THE PEOPLE OF THE WORD

"The members of the church who had been dispersed went about preaching the word." -Acts 8:4

The Jewish people loved God's Word. God called them to meditate on it day and night (Jos 1:8; Ps 1:2). They considered it more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Ps 119:72).

However, Christians were even more devoted to God's Word than the Jews. After Jesus spent the day of His resurrection teaching the Bible for about seven miles in the afternoon (Lk 24:27) and for several hours in the evening (Lk 24:45), the early Christians got the message that God's Word was extremely important. From the moment the Church began at Pentecost, the members of the Church devoted themselves to learning, living, and teaching God's Word (Acts 2:42). The apostles concentrated on the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4) to the point that they were repeatedly thrown in jail for their uncompromised and unstoppable proclamation of God's Word (see Acts 5:42).

 Stephen proclaimed God's Word so boldly and courageously that he became the first martyr (Acts 7:2ff). Philip preached the Word even as he was escaping persecution (Acts 8:4-5). Moreover, the Spirit even told Philip to run up to a stranger from Ethiopia and teach God's Word (Acts 8:29ff). The first believers ever called "Christians" were only given that name after a year of intensive Bible study (Acts 11:26). The members of the church at Beroea welcomed the Word with great enthusiasm and studied God's Word each day (Acts 17:11). The spirit of the early Church is well expressed by St. Jerome: "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ" (Catechism, 133).

 Father, may our hearts burn as the risen Jesus interprets the Scriptures for us this Easter season (see Lk 24:32).

"No one who comes will I ever reject, because it is not to do My own will that I have come down from heaven, but to do the will of Him Who sent Me." -Jn 6:37-38

Why is American Catholic Media so Afraid of Medjugorje?

Why is American Catholic Media so Afraid of Medjugorje?

By Stephen Ryan Author of The Madonna FIles     Search Medjugorje  in “Google News” and you  will find dozens of articles from European magazines, particularly glossy Italian magazines discussing news worthy events and celebrations taking place in Medjugorje, now one  the fastest growing tourist destinations in Europe.   You will also find a handful of stories about Medjugorje written by American journalists, but the content there is not so happy.  American Catholic media publishes stories about Medjugorje that are positioned  in a negative light – articles about censorship of Medjugorje public events, limitations on Medjugorje “Seer” activities, Pope Francis NOT going to Medjugorje.  Medjugorje is a “fraud!”, etc.   American Catholic media reporting on Medjugorje is universally negative. In stark contrast, last week, Italian magazines gleefully reported a meeting between Pope Francis and  Paolo Brosio. Paolo Brosio is  a famous Italian journalist, TV personality and now full time advocate for Medjugorje .  The writers wrote about the warm welcome the Pope gave the Medjugorje promoter. The articles were accompanied by large glossy photographs of a smiling Pope including one of Pope Francis happily receiving gifts from Medjugorje.  It was reported that the Pope recognized Mr. Brosio’s Medjugorje experience as the Virgin Mary’s work: “He hugged me, I told him my story. And he said that is definitely the work of the Madonna which is great. I gave him the shirt (for Brosio’s current Medjugorje hospital project, ed.), I had a picture taken, and look at it: it says more than a thousand words. I understood that he is very much aware of Medjugorje as a great confessional. The impression is that there is a large opening and a great willingness,” Brosio told the Italian news portal The news magazines reported that Pope Francis had asked for the private meeting to specifically talk about Medjugorje. The meeting lasted forty minutes as Pope Francis encouraged Mr. Brosio to tell him about his personal conversion and all that he knew about the fruits of Medjugorje. Source Wayne Weible/ Medjugorje Today In an  interview for the Italian magazine Chi, Mr. Brosio said that during meeting at the Vatican Pope Francis said:  “GO TO MEDJUGORJE and tell everyone you have spoken to the real Pope.”  Please like us on Facebook  The dichotomy between USA Catholic media reporting on Medjugorje with that of European is so striking that it begs the question of its origin. Why is America Catholic media so collectively negative towards Medjugorje? It seems European media reports on Medjugorje for what it is – an extremely intriguing spiritual mystery important to millions of Catholic and non-catholic alike. Millions of people have been to Medjugorje. Medjugorje is a hugely popular tourist destination. The Vatican is deeply involved in an extensive investigation of Medjugorje. American journalist, on the other hand, takes a passive approach on Medjugorje. Rather than report on the extraordinary activity taking place at Medjugorje they, almost cowardly, hide behind proclamations issued by American bishops on how to speak about Medjugorje. Where is the journalistic freedom and investigative reporting we should expect from our Catholic media? http://www.ministryvalues.com/

The Medjugorje Message: Pope tells journalist: “Go to Medjugorje”

The Medjugorje Message: Pope tells journalist: “Go to Medjugorje”: Interviewed for the Italian magazine Chi , Paolo Brosio said of his recent meeting at the Vatican with the Pope: Francesco said to me: ...

Pray and Fight

(c)MaryTV 2014

J.M.J.  

April 20, 2015

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! Also today the Most High permits me to be with you and to lead you on the way of conversion. Many hearts have shut themselves to grace and have become deaf to my call. You, little children, pray and fight against temptation and all the evil plans which the devil offers you through modernism. Be strong in prayer and with the cross in your hands pray that evil may not use you and may not conquer in you. I am with you and pray for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (March 25, 2015)

I believe that Our Lady is quite serious in this message, that she is warning us that one of our hardest battles in these days will be temptation from the enemy. He will attack us with lies, evil insinuations, distrust of God and our friends and family, fear of the future and exaggerated fear for ourselves. He wants to sidetrack us from our life of prayer and service. He wants us to be paralyzed by fear. He wants to conquer in us and draw us into despair.

We must be doing something right for the enemy to pay any attention to us! We are on the right path with Our Lady.

This weekend I experienced a battle during the night. I was not feeling well, and sleep was difficult. But it was the terrible influx of fearful and disparaging thoughts that made me toss and turn. I remembered this message, and immediately got my rosary out, and began to pray. I prayed and prayed, trying to ignore the thoughts that were bombarding me. It was the rosary that kept me at peace, and finally the temptations ceased.

The next morning, in prayer, I asked St. Faustina to speak to me through her Diary and opened to this remarkable passage:

January 17, 1938. Today, since early in the morning, my soul has been in darkness. I cannot ascend to Jesus, and I feel as though I have been forsaken by Him. I will not turn to creatures for light, because I know that they will not enlighten me if Jesus wills to keep me in darkness. I submit myself to His holy will and suffer. Still, the struggle is becoming more and more desperate. During Vespers, I wanted to unite myself with the sisters through prayer. 

When I went, in my thoughts, to the chapel, my spirit was plunged into even greater darkness. Total discouragement came over me. Then I heard Satan's voice: "See how contradictory everything is that Jesus gives to you: He tells you to found a convent, and then He gives you sickness; He tells you to set about establishing this Feast of Mercy while the whole world does not at all want such a feast. Why do you pray for this feast? It is so inopportune." My soul remained silent and, by an act of will, continued to pray without entering into conversation with the Spirit of Darkness. Nevertheless, such an extraordinary disgust with life came over me that I had to make a great act of the will to consent to go on living....  

And again I heard the tempter's words: "Ask for death for yourself, tomorrow after Holy Communion. God will hear you, for He has heard you so many times before and has given you that which you asked of Him." I remained silent and, by an act of will, I began to pray, or rather, submitted myself to God, asking Him interiorly not to abandon me at this moment. It was already eleven o'clock at night, and there was silence all around. The sisters were all asleep in their cells, and my soul alone was struggling with great exertion.

The tempter went on: "Why should you bother about other souls? You ought to be praying only for yourself. As for sinners, they will be converted without your prayers. I see that you are suffering very much at this moment. I'm going to give you a piece of advice on which your happiness will depend: Never speak about God's mercy and, in particular, do not encourage sinners to trust in God's mercy, because they deserve a just punishment. Another very important thing: Do not tell your confessors, and especially this extraordinary confessor and the priest in Vilnius, about what goes on in your soul. I know them; I know who they are, and so I want to put you on your guard against them. You see, to live as good nun, it is sufficient to live like all the others. Why expose yourself to so many difficulties?"

I remained silent, and by an act of will I dwelt in God, although a moan escaped from my heart. Finally, the tempter went away and I, exhausted, fell asleep immediately. In the morning, right after receiving Holy Communion, I went immediately to my cell and falling on my knees I renewed my act of submission in all things to the will of God. "Jesus, I ask You, give me the strength for battle. Let it be done to me according to Your most holy will. My soul is enamored of Your most holy will."

At that moment, I saw Jesus, who said, I am pleased with what you are doing. And you can continue to be at peace if you always do the best you can in respect to this work of mercy. Be absolutely as frank as possible with your confessor.

Satan gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter into conversation with him. Continue to act in this way. You gave Me great glory today by fighting so faithfully. Let it be confirmed and engraved on your heart that I am always with you, even if you don't feel My presence at the time of battle. (1496 - 1498 Diary)

Notice how the enemy uses some familiar tactics to draw us out of God's will. He makes it sound like he is on our side, that God is unfair, the God will change His mind and we will have wasted our time. He turns our gaze in on ourselves, on our needs and fears, rather than on God. He would have us close in on ourselves. He tries to tell us not to trust our confessor, and not to share what we are experiencing with those who love us, so that we end up isolated and alone. All these tactics have one aim, to make us stop trusting in God and the Church. It is easy to see the lies after the fact, but when we are suffering or alone it can be difficult.

It was a comfort to know that St. Faustina experienced this kind of attack, and that she won against it by prayer and silent trust in God. This is our strength! I believe that one of our great works for God is to stand firm, and pray in the midst of temptation. We can save many others who do not know how to fight through our steadfastness and faith. We can help Our Lady to defeat her enemy. For it is she that he hates the most.

I knew that Our Lady was with me, as I prayed that night. I didn't feel her presence, but I believed that she was with me because she has told me so in her messages many times. "I am with you and pray for you." I have also heard from some of you that you have been experiencing this kind of battle. Eunice told me that she plays a recording of the rosary all night long as she sleeps, so that whenever she wakes, the Hail Mary is sounding in her ears. Denis does the same thing with his iPhone. He plays our daily rosary as he goes to sleep and it helps in the fight.

We must be really gaining ground for the Kingdom of Heaven! Be encouraged and keep up the fight!! We are winning!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2015

The Medjugorje Message: Mercy and Medjugorje

Photo by Bernard Gallagher
http://crownofstars.blogspot.com/

The Medjugorje Message: Mercy and Medjugorje: Come back to Him. I am with you because He, in His mercy, sends me. November 2, 2009 So why did Our Lady Queen of Peace, sent by God, ...

Medjugorje Minute by Wayne Weible 04/17/15

BLESSED ARE THOSE PERSECUTED

"That day saw the beginning of a great persecution of the church in Jerusalem." -Acts 8:1

Jesus says the persecuted are happy and the kingdom of God is theirs (Mt 5:10). We should be glad and rejoice if insulted, persecuted, or slandered because of our faith in Jesus (Mt 5:11-12). "Happy are you when you are insulted for the sake of Christ, for then God's Spirit in Its glory has come to rest on you" (1 Pt 4:14). The Bible clearly teaches persecution makes us happy. But we're not persecuted much in this country at this time. Could it be that this is why we're not happy?

We live in an age of persecution. Christians in almost half the world face savage persecution because of communism and totalitarian regimes. Yet these Christians are happy because they are seeing great revival and evangelization, just as Philip saw in Samaria. "There were many who had unclean spirits, which came out shrieking loudly. Many others were paralytics or cripples, and these were cured. The rejoicing in that town rose to fever pitch" (Acts 8:7-8).

Look at the persecution and evangelization throughout Africa and South Korea. Look at the unprecedented revival of Christian communities in South America, Central America, and the Philippines. Persecution prepared the way for these great movements of God. However, we in the USA sit on the sidelines. Let's repent, commit ourselves to Jesus as Lord, receive the Spirit, and become mature Christians. Let's become persecutable and get in on God's action.

Jesus, may I let You get me off the bench and into the game.

"No one who comes will I ever reject." -Jn 6:37

Fr. Joe Whalen's Corner

Fr. Joe's Corner:


"FORGIVENESS is necessary before we receive God's healing graces and for spiritual growth.

Even little forgotten unforgivingnesses keep us bound in suffering after death.
Your forgiveness can trigger someone else’s conversion!
Spiritual healing precedes physical healing. God wants to heal you from the inside out.The most powerful healing we can receive on earth is our reconciliation with God broken through sin. There is no limit on how many times we can receive the great Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the graces we receive are limitless!
When we are truly sorry for offending God, and breaking His Commandments, confession becomes transformation.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation doesn’t just empty us of the past; it also fills us with God’s grace for the future.
In confession, Jesus lifts the weight of our past sins from our shoulders so that we can go out into the world free from guilt, inspired by grace to say an even firmer no to sin than before.
Jesus has given us the grace of confession not only to forgive us but also to strengthen us against temptation.
Don't miss the opportunity to go to confession.
And when you do, know that the grace is there both to absolve and to fill you with divine grace.
A Grace that brings you closer to Jesus and strengthens you against temptation."

Only by the Holy Spirit can we recognize the risen Christ

THE GOLDEN ARCH

"He Whom God has exalted at His right hand as Ruler and Savior is to bring repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We testify to this. So too does the Holy Spirit, Whom God has given to those that obey Him." -Acts 5:31-32

To have Easter, we must have Pentecost. Only by the Holy Spirit can we recognize the risen Christ. To receive the Holy Spirit and to live our new life in the Spirit, we must obey God (Acts 5:32).
The Greek word translated "obey" in Acts 5:29, 32 is not the common Greek word for obedience. It includes the prefix "arch," connoting "first" and "authority." In English, we use this prefix in the words "archbishop" and "archangel." Thus, to receive the Holy Spirit we need "arch-obedience." We need more than a utilitarian or even begrudging obedience. We need obedience in which we are consciously submissive to God-given authority. We also need an obedience in which God is put first, and all authorities contrary to Him are disobeyed (Acts 5:29) if they are contrary to God. In "arch-obedience," we are humble before God and rebellious against all authorities rebelling against God. Therefore, "arch-obedience" is confrontational and dangerous. All martyrs had "arch-obedience" and therefore had the Holy Spirit.
Be "arch-obedient." Receive the Holy Spirit. Meet the risen Christ.

 Father, may I love You so much that I am willing to risk my life for You.

 "Whoever believes in the Son has life eternal. Whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure the wrath of God." -Jn 3:36

Prayer...'O Loving Jesus, Meek Lamb of God

Prayer 'O Loving Jesus, Meek Lamb of God. . .' attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux 

 O Loving Jesus, Meek Lamb of God, I miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy Most Blessed Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins and to lead me on towards Heaven along the Way of Thy Cross.

 According to Saint Bernard, he asked Jesus which was His greatest unrecorded suffering and the wound that inflicted the most pain on Him in Calvary and Jesus answered: "I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men. Honor this Wound with thy devotion and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit and in regard to all those who shall venerate this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins.

" In the twelfth century Pope Eugenius III approved of the promises with regards to this prayer.

Divine Mercy Cuteness

 

Photo taken in Brazil

Joy of the Risen One

Featured article from April's Spirit of Medjugorje

Joy of the Risen One

By Cathy Nolan

    “Dear children! I am looking at you and in your hearts I do not see joy. Today I desire to give you the joy of the Risen One, that He may lead you and embrace you with His love and tenderness. I love you and I am praying for your conversion without ceasing before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call” (October 25, 2011).

      Our Lady wants to give us the joy of the Risen One. She wants us to be filled with the new life that Jesus offers us through His death and resurrection, the new life of freedom from our sins. Jesus Himself waits in the confessional to embrace us with His love and tenderness. This is where we can meet Him and receive His joy! [My husband] Denis and I just watched a video on the Mary TV website that captures this process of Our Lady leading someone to Jesus for this tender embrace. It is the testimony of Fr. Rick Wendell, given at the Notre Dame Conference a few years ago. 
     Fr. Rick describes his encounter with joy during his talk. I will quote a bit now. But I highly recommend that you all go to our website and watch his testimony. It is found on the “Fruits of Medjugorje” archive, #42. Fr. Rick talks about his confession, penance and healing in Medjugorje: 
     “So I met this guy [a priest in Medjugorje] and I immediately knew that he would understand the gravity of the things that I had done. So I went to look for confession. And I went down [to the church], and it was kind of raining out, so there wasn’t anyone outside. And I thought ... ‘Lord, I really would like to go to confession with Fr. Mike,’ and he walked right into my peripheral vision, just right there, with an umbrella! He sat down and he heard many hours of my confession. And he had those gifts of the confessional for when we get to the really difficult things that we have said and done that are so humiliating that we don’t even want to go there in our mind. But Father Mike would say, ‘This is what you were doing, but this is what you were thinking.’ For hours [he heard my confession]...When he laid his hand on my head for absolution, heat came out of his hands. I didn’t know what it was; I just knew that it was. 
     “Then he gave me a non-standard penance. I had tried to go to confession before about the same stuff but the priest would say, ‘For your penance say 5 Hail Marys…’ Now, that’s not the priest’s problem, but it just didn’t seem enough...5 Hail Marys....maybe for the first bad thought I ever had, but not the rest...Then he said, ‘I want you to go to Krizevac and take your shoes off ...and that’s not penance, that’s just to equalize you to the people who come here who are older, infirm, incapable of doing it. You are young and strong. You take off your shoes and then you are to pray for every person you have hurt.’

Confessionals in Medjugorje

      “The next morning I got up and I walked across the fields. It was early dawn, because I didn’t want anybody to see what I was doing, right... did not want anybody to see what I was doing. I was looking to the stray dogs for company. I was dreading it. I got to Krizevac, took off my shoes and I left them at the bottom... the thing was, that when I went up and started praying, I could remember the names [of everyone I had hurt]. I could remember the lies, the seductions, the bad business deals, all the things I had done. I could remember the people’s names. So I sobbed all the way up. I knew the gravity of what I had done. All the way up and all the way down. There was a crucifix at the bottom, and I threw myself at the foot of the cross and I begged for my life, because I knew that I could live a perfect life from then on and never make up for it all [my sins]. There were people who died because of me. I could never make it up. But somehow I really felt forgiven. Really! 
     “I put my shoes on. And I walked down to the church. I got down there and ran into Fr. Mike Canary, and he said, ‘Come with me.’ He took me into one of the classrooms and there were 20 people there that I didn’t know. They were praying...the never ending ‘Amen’ song etc. He said it was a healing service and he put on a little mini stole, the traveling purple stole, and he prayed over people. Nothing happened to anyone. I walked up, I wasn’t thinking, and I get about three feet away from him and out of my mouth came, involuntarily, ‘I have many scars on my heart and what I want is the Holy Spirit.’ I thought to myself: ‘That’s pretty weird!!’ I wasn’t expecting to say anything, let alone that... 
     “He didn’t say anything. He took some blessed oil and made the Sign of the Cross on my forehead. He put one hand on my head and the other on my heart, and the Holy Spirit came down with power!!! It was so powerful that I got frightened, not in the scared sense, but in the awesome sense, like ‘OH MY!!’ For me it was like, for those who know Star Trek, if you ever stuck your head in the ‘anti-matter.’ It was a regular field of power. And it stopped above my heart. And then he spoke directly to it, and said, ‘Let there be no more doubt, let there be no more fear.’ And it was like the biggest breath of air I ever took, all of a sudden, right down to the bottoms of my feet, filled beyond my imagination, an ecstatic experience – more fun than any drug experience, by a long shot...It was better than Christmas magnified. It was like way out there...And the more I opened my heart, the more He filled me; the more I opened myself, the more He filled me; the more I opened myself, the more He filled me, until I really couldn’t even make a distinction between God and myself. It was just union...I didn’t know how long you could stay there. Again, a timeless experience. 
     “Then I kind of relaxed away from it, and as I did, I realized I was lying on the floor, my body was stiff. It was so stiff it was like you got plugged into a bazillion volts and my toes were straight out, and I was so stiff you could have put me on the back of two chairs like magicians use with their dummies...I was really that stiff. Fr. Mike was on one side with his hand on my chest, and Bill Curry (18 years old, six months before had been an absolute drunk and God had delivered him from being face down in the gutter) was praying on the other side, and into this relaxation came this warmth. I had known winning the big game, falling in love, all those kinds of things, but in my life, I had never known JOY! It was sappy. Father Mike said I nearly broke his back I hugged him so hard. I loved everybody! I ended up walking around in a tee shirt because I was emanating heat all the time.” (Fr. Rick Wendell - Notre Dame Conference. 2008. View it at http://www.marytv.tv/
     What a great description of the joy of union with God, through redemption! Fr. Rick Wendell was given a foretaste of heaven that day in Medjugorje. He was forgiven, did penance, and received the Holy Spirit in power! Union with God is JOY!! This is what Our Lady wants for all of us. Oh, come Holy Spirit, come!!

“Confession is the soul’s bath. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust. Return after a week and you will see that it needs dusting again!” ~St. Pio of Pietrelcina.

The First Encounter of the Charismatic Prayer Groups begins in Medjugorje

date: 10.04.2015.

As the first encounter of the Charismatic Prayer Groups, coordinated in Renewal in the Holy Spirit of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, is about to begin here in Medjugorje, we had a chance to talk to Damir Zukanom and Lordan Ljubenkov, the representatives of the Initiative for joining the prayer communities in Renewal in the Holy Spirit “There will be more than 1000 members of the communities who will participate in this encounter in Medjugorje.

 This idea has been burning for many years in the hearts of members of these communities from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the fruit of the desire which grew in our hearts and which has brought us together here in Medjugorje.

 There are around 60 prayer communities in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina which were like isolated islands in their regions. This is the first initiative to bring together every one of these community from our countries ”, said Damir and Lordan. This encounter is taking place in Medjugorje from April 10-12, 2015.

http://www.medjugorje.hr/en/

Pope Francis, Now Is The Time For Mercy

Pope Francis venerates the cross on Good Friday 2015. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano.

By Ann Schneible

Vatican City, Apr 11, 2015 / 11:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a world marked by suffering and fierce persecution – especially of Christians – now “is the time for mercy,” Pope Francis said, speaking at the vigil for the Feast of Divine Mercy.

Reflecting on the ongoing persecution faced by Christians, the Pope said, “our prayer is all the more intense and becomes a cry for help to the Father, who is rich in mercy, that he may sustain the faith of our many brothers and sisters who are in pain.”

For our part, we are to seek the grace of “conversion of our own hearts,” whereby we are moved “from indifference to compassion,” he added.

The pontiff made these remarks during his homily for Evening Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica, minutes after a public proclamation of the Jubilee for Mercy in front of the Holy Door.

The Jubilee is an Extraordinary Holy Year that will open this year on Dec. 8 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – and will close Nov. 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

The Pope first announced the Year of Mercy on March 13, the second anniversary of his pontifical election, during a Lenten penitential liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Mercy is a theme that is dear to Francis, and is the central topic of his episcopal motto “miserando atque eligendo,” which he chose when ordained a bishop in 1992.

Speaking the evening before the Feast of Divine Mercy, which falls on the first Sunday after Easter, Pope Francis recalled Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Peace be with you!”

During the Easter season, he said, this concept of peace “remains the desire of so many people who suffer unprecedented violence of discrimination and death simply because they bear the name ‘Christian’.”

Regardless of life’s difficulties and sufferings, the pontiff said – citing St. Paul – the hope of salvation won for us the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection “continues to grow.”

“The mercy of God is poured out upon us, making us just and giving us peace,” he said. “This is a time for the Church to rediscover the meaning of the mission entrusted to her by the Lord on the day of Easter: to be a sign and an instrument of the Father’s mercy.”

Pope Francis explained that he declared this Jubilee of mercy because we are living at a “time of great historical change” which calls the Church “to offer more evident signs of God’s presence and closeness.”

This period in history is a time where the faithful “need to be vigilant and to reawaken in ourselves the capacity to see what is essential,” he said.

“This is the time for mercy.”

The aim of Jubilee Year of Mercy is to encourage the faithful to “welcome the numerous signs of the tenderness which God offers to the whole world,” the Pope continued.

These signs of God’s tenderness are especially offered to the suffering, the alone, the abandoned, and those “without hope of being pardoned or feeling the Father’s love.”

“It is the favourable time to heal wounds,” he stressed, “a time not to be weary of meeting all those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs of the closeness of God, a time to offer everyone the way of forgiveness and reconciliation.”

Pope Francis concluded his short address by calling on Mary to help the faithful “comprehend the task to which we have been called” during this Holy Year of Mercy, helping to experience the year “as faithful and fruitful witnesses of Christ.”

Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ARE DETAINED IN PURGATORY

 
(c)Mary TV 2015 

J.M.J.
April 10, 2015
Easter Friday
Divine Mercy Novena - Day Eight

Dear Family of Mary!

Today we pray for the Souls in Purgatory. Jesus told St. Faustina that between Him and all souls there is a bottomless abyss that separates us from Him. But He told her this abyss is filled with His Mercy which lifts us to Himself. May the Souls be lifted up to Jesus on this Feast of Divine Mercy! 

"Dear children, give the gift of your life to me and completely surrender to me so that I may help you to comprehend my motherly love and the love of my Son for you. My children, I love you immeasurably and today, in a special way, on the day of the birth of my Son, I desire to receive each of you into my heart and to give a gift of your lives to my Son. My children, Jesus loves you and gives you the grace to live in His mercy, but sin has overtaken many of your hearts and you live in darkness. Therefore, my children, do not wait, say 'no' to sin and surrender your hearts to my Son, because only in this way will you be able to live God's mercy and, with Jesus in your hearts, set out on the way of salvation." (December 25, 2012. Jakov)

Jesus speaks to with St. Faustina:

+ Hail to You, Eternal Love, my Sweet Jesus, who have condescended to dwell in my heart! I salute You, O glorious Godhead who have deigned to stoop to me, and out of love for me have so emptied Yourself as to assume the insignificant form of bread. I salute You, Jesus, never-fading flower of humanity. You are all there is for my soul. Your love is purer than a lily, and Your presence is more pleasing to me than the fragrance of a hyacinth. Your friendship is more tender and subtle than the scent of a rose, and yet it is stronger than death. O Jesus, incomprehensible beauty, it is with pure souls that You communicate best, because they alone are capable of heroism and sacrifice. O sweet, rose-red blood of Jesus, ennoble my blood and change it into Your own blood, and let this be done to me according to Your good pleasure.

Know, My daughter, that between Me and you there is a bottomless abyss, an abyss which separates the Creator from the creature. But this abyss is filled with My mercy. I raise you up to Myself, not that I have need of you, but it is solely out of mercy that I grant you the grace of union with Myself.

Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to My mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy.

Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is - trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts. (1575 - 1578 Diary)

Divine Mercy Novena Day Eight:

Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ARE DETAINED IN PURGATORY, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice.

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.


The Chaplet may be found at this link:

http://thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/praythechaplet.php 
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2015

Divine Mercy Sunday--They need our prayers

This Divine Mercy Sunday is the time to pray for souls in purgatory

The Medjugorje Message: Pope invited Medjugorje promoter to Vatican

http://crownofstars.blogspot.com/

The Medjugorje Message: Pope invited Medjugorje promoter to Vatican: Journalist Paolo Brosio, perhaps the most active promoter of the Medjugorje phenomenon in Italy, met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican...

Paul Harvey explaining how he would destroy us [America] if he were Satan…

Paul Harvey

Prophetic words of Paul Harvey from 1965

“If I were the devil, I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree—Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first—I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to pray after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’ And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors on how to lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches that war that themselves, and nations that war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flame. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, and neglect to discipline emotions—just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door. Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography—soon I could evict God from the courthouse, and then the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle. If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. What do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would question against extremes and hard work, and Patriotism, and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were to devil I’d keep on doing on what he’s doing. Paul Harvey, good day.”
Video Paul Harvey " If I were the Devil "   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSC21kRGseM

Medjugorje Minute by Wayne Weible 04/07/15

God’s Great Gift to You: The Priesthood

Priesthood: God’s Gift to You

 

Unveiled: The Vital Role of the Priesthood

By Fr. Daniel E. Doctor:

Holy Thursday we celebrate the institution of two of the most important sacraments; the Holy Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood.  For without the Holy Eucharist we would have no priesthood and without the priesthood we would have no Holy Eucharist.

“Jesus Christ is the great High Priest who has passed through the heavens.  Let us hold fast to our profession of faith. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness. But one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet never sinned. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favor and to find help in the time of need.” These are the words of the Letter to the Hebrews – these are the wo

rds of faith and hope that were preached to these first followers of Christ by their priests.

This Great High Priest Jesus Christ has not left us and His Church alone but has provided for our spiritual well-being with His very self.  Let us hold tightly to this teaching of the Apostles.  Let us profess it with great devotion and love.

St. Paul tells us, “what I received from the Lord I also handed on to you … proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.”

Our Lord was not a priest because He was begotten eternally of the Father … the Second Person of the Trinity. He was a priest because of the human nature He assumed and then offers on the Cross, as a priestly sacrifice with Himself as both the victim and as the One who offers the sacrifice.  He does this out of love for us and our salvation.

Every priest is an alter Christus  “another Christ” because he has a vertical relationship to Christ in heaven and a horizontal relationship to every person on earth. This then forms the cross of Christ in every priest.  The priest is called by the Holy Spirit and has the responsibility, according to Church Teachings, to teach the Catholic faith.  Not his own beliefs does he teach, but that of Christ, the High Priest as revealed and passed on to us in both Sacred Scripture and Tradition.

The priest is called to govern, to regulate, and to celebrate the sacraments with the same love that Christ instituted them. The priest is called to sanctify not only his own life but the lives of sinners and saints, to make holy all who come to him in their need of the Church’s Sacraments and God’s sanctifying graces.  It is a very true statement that, to the point that others see Christ in His priests, depends on whether His priests act like Christ their Master ….  The reason the priesthood has lost its influence in the world is because in many circumstances we, priests, don’t appear to the world as different from anyone else.  It is in direct proportion in which the priest seeks what the world can give that the priest will become unable to give the world what it really needs most and that is Jesus Christ Himself.

Christ came to serve not to be served.  And, through His priests He has assured that He will be able to do this here on earth until the end of time sanctifying us, teaching us, and governing us as though He had never left.

Just as the Eucharist Lord is pure gift of Himself so too is His priesthood by which the Eucharist remains with us. And what has been true is always true.  God gives holy priests to holy people. So we all play our part in the kind of priests that we will have.

Through our prayers, devotions, penance, reverence, and worship of the Eucharist, by following the teachings of the faith we inspire young men to live their faith and in this way we truly ask God for good holy priests.

The Great Archbishop, Fulton Sheen said, “The search for priestly vocations begins on our knees in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament.”

We your priests need your prayers.  We need your kind words of support, too.  Three out of every four seminarians indicated that their mothers were a major inspiration in the development of their vocation, a major inspiration!  We need to be good Catholic mothers and fathers who influence their children with more than just material successes.

Every priest realizes some time in his priesthood the words of Jesus, “You have not chosen me; but I have chosen you.”  And, He has chosen His priests to go out and bear much fruit to offer the
Church’s Sacraments and to offer Her sacrifices for the salvation of souls; to absolve sinners from sin and to cast out evil; to lead sinners to Christ and in Him find salvation and peace for their souls; to preach and teach a Gospel that is firm, truthful and counter cultural that “comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.”

Priests are meant to be instruments in the hands of Jesus Christ for the education, sanctification, and salvation of souls.  For it is in the Consecration and Elevation of the Body and Blood of Christ at every Mass that the priest exercises fully the power of his priesthood.

Bishop Fulton Sheen continued, “Every woe, every wound in the world is ours as priests … every soul is either a potential convert or a potential saint. No priest is his own he belongs to Christ, to the Church, to his people.” There is a dangerous tendency among many of us in these modern times to divorce Christ from His priests.

But we must remember it is the priest’s unity with Christ’s death, His sacrifice on the cross, that gives all the sacraments their power.  It is from the very side of our Savior that the Church and all her sacraments were born, including the priests who serve you.

St. Catherine of Siena taught that contained in the Sacred Heart of Jesus before His death was the Church, all of us, and His Sacraments.  When His side was pierced so was His Sacred Heart, and flowing out from His wounded Heart came His bride, the Church, and all of us as her children. In one instant, “all we need was provided for us by so great a redeemer.”

But Christ’s lifeless body was dead on the cross Who would now bring these sacraments that He borne for us by His suffering and death? Who would go out in loving service to bring these sacramental graces to the world? to those in need of His grace, His healing?? Who would go out to all the world and provide these sacraments of Christ for His Bride?

“Do this in memory of me” has echoed through the centuries.  Do these mystical things that Christ did that bring us life. Jesus says in the Holy Thursday’s Gospel, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”  With these words the apostles were ordained His first priests, given the task of completing the work He started.  A life of administering the sacraments, a life of preaching His Gospel, a life of being the new ministers of this new covenant.  His Bishop’s/His Priest’s chosen to lead, to govern, to ordain to make holy all those who will come to them through the sacraments, He gave us, to give us this  holy and abundant Life.

This is the vocation of every priest who is ordained by a bishop who follows in the apostolic linage back to Christ Jesus Himself that on this night, Christ being “fully aware” as the gospel tells us. He instituted the sacraments of the priesthood and the Holy Eucharist so that His sacramental graces would continue to flow from His side through His Church, first and foremost, for our for sanctification and resulting in the final act of our salvation.

This is what we celebrate on this holy of nights this is our faith as Catholics. That the night before He died; He left us two of His greatest gifts; Himself in the Blessed Sacrament and His sacred and royal priesthood to continue this unbloody sacrifice of the Mass in remembrance of Him for the remission of sins until He comes again in glory.

GOD'S BLESSING

Fr. Edward Sousa Jr. giving God's blessing to
Nancy Latta

"God Bless You! 

For the feast of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the Jews have a beautiful tradition: They offer one another a symbolic fruit, a pomegranate, (reminiscent of The Song of the Songs), and say, “May God give you as many blessings as there are seeds in this pomegranate!”

So, in this first month of the year, I too wish you this great abundance of blessings for 2012! Above all, let's remain in deep communion with our Pope  who fights for the Church and counts on our prayers!

It is important to remember that all true blessings come from God and not from luck or chance. Luck does not really exist because God is master of all things and He leaves nothing to chance. Chance is a fabricated invention of man, and when someone tells me “Good luck”, I answer, “God bless you!” Just like the seeds of a pomegranate have no space left between them, but are instead beautifully interwoven into each other, God leaves no space to void.

Medjugorje is a place of great blessings; this is no secret. But, by living the messages of Mary, abandoning sin and adjusting our lives to the Gospel, every one of us can become a blessing for others, and make of their work, their home, their life, a flood of blessings.

Priests are the ones who give the greatest blessings. The Gospa said, “When a priest blesses you, dear children, it is my Son who blesses you. The blessing of a priest is greater than mine.

 If priests knew what they give when they bless, they would bless day and night!” In January, at Medjugorje, the Franciscans go to the homes of the Croatians to bless their houses and families. May all the parishes of the world resume this powerful tradition!

A friend from Kerala, a father of a family very close to God, told me that one time he was attending Mass but he had to leave the church quickly after Mass because of an important trip to another town. Since the mass lasted longer than usual, he first considered leaving before the end. But then he thought to himself, “No, I do not want to miss the final blessing!” and he stayed to receive it. Later on, as he was driving, he was caught in a very serious accident that involved many cars around him. It was a very bloody scene. But though he was in the accident, he was left completely uninjured, which was inexplicable. He then heard an inner voice saying, “Because you received my blessing at Mass, your life was spared!”    Excerpt from http://www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/