Medjugorje Monthly Message – Seek the Grace of Conversion

My children, seek the grace of conversion

“Dear children! My prayer today is for all of you who seek the grace of conversion. You knock on the door of my heart, but without hope and prayer, in sin, and without the Sacrament of Reconciliation with God. Leave sin and decide, little children, for holiness. Only in this way can I help you, hear your prayers and seek intercession before the Most High. Thank you for having responded to my call.” May 25, 2011

Listen my friends to the heart cry of the Mother of God and how she is praying for us, especially those who seek conversion of heart.

She says we keep coming to her asking for her help in prayer, but we are marked with sin, and desperate and without hope. We cannot ask anything without faith. Remember, Jesus never performed a miracle without faith. It takes great faith to accomplish miracles.

Our Lady has been with us for so long, isn’t it about time we got it? We need to experience conversion of the heart. We need to change our lives, and our godless ways, and frequent the sacrament of reconciliation. Whose listening to her?

She is praying for us; YES THE MOTHER OF GOD IS PRAYING FOR US … that we leave the way of sin, and seek toward holiness in our vocations and in our present state in life. Return to God with all our hearts is her hearts desire for us. There is nothing and I mean NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT!

I don’t think men realize how offensive sin is to God, and how little we try to omit it from our lives, but go on as if we never once sin. Do we not know that the greatest sin of this century is the LOSS OF THE SENSE OF SIN? It is playing Russian Rulet my friends, a very dangerous way of life.

Holiness is a conscious decision that someone makes to do something, and then we have to act on it, and stay the course, no matter how difficult it may be.

God wants our salvation, nothing less. And He will permit crosses to come to us in order to obtain that salvation for us. Embrace your crosses my friends with great love.

When we embrace our cross, we are living the Christian way, just the way Jesus did. Not only until then is Our Lady able to help us. Remember the FIAT she gave to the world. She was not afraid to suffer for the sake of sinners. She embraced her suffering with great care, with a profound love for God. Even in her darkest hour she remained at the cross with her Son, never leaving her side.

This is what she does for us. This is where the power of grace comes. It is through our yes in our trials and tribulations. And through these daily crosses, grace is being won for us so that we have the strength the amend our lives, and change our hearts.

Everything in this time passes through her hands. Our Lady once said, “Give me all your problems and difficulties and pray for my intentions…” When we do this, she in turn will take what we offer to her, and give it to her Son, where she is unceasingly praying for the world.

Imagine her in this time standing at the foot of the cross, begging her Son to forgive the sins of the world. This is intercession. This is the most powerful ministry and gift given to mankind, and she is giving us an opportunity to share in it.

Let us all take these words to heart of the dear Mother, and ask her boldly what must change in your life for her to win your conversion of heart. We are coming into a time of Pentecost and Our Lady wants us to experience a new Pentecost. She wants us emptied of our self love and selfish desires, so we have room for the Holy Spirit to come. Remove sin and prepare the way of the Lord in your heart. Ave Maria.

“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God…” (Acts 19)

REMINDER, GET YOUR RESERVATION IN FOR OUR UPCOMING PILGRIMAGE TO MEDJUGORJE FOR THE 22ND ANNUAL YOUTH PRAYER FESTIVAL, AUGUST 4TH -AUGUST 16. AN AWESOME PRAYER EXPERIENCE AND RETREAT WITH THE MOTHER OF GOD.

“I Desire to SEE Your Yes…”

Dear children, I am with you and I pray for you before my Son...

“Dear children! In a special way today I desire to call you to conversion. As of today, may new life begin in your heart. Children, I desire to see your ‘yes’, and may your life be a joyful living of God’s will at every moment of your life. In a special way today, I bless you with my motherly blessing of peace, love and unity in my heart and in the heart of my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (3/25/2011)

Whew, it does not seem to be enough hours in the day these days. But I’ve been feeling Our Lady tugging my heart for these recent words she spoke to the world about.

As we seek wisdom with the Holy Spirit in this holy time of Lent, our Lady is reminding us what Lent is all about… “conversion of heart.” To experience conversion of heart we enter into a new birthing so to say; a new life in Christ in a new way.

Our Lady is here today very near to us. As the scripture says, “the Kingdom of God is at hand…” Our Lady brings to us her Son Jesus. He is the Kingdom in fullness.

Blessed Mother wants to obtain for us the graces we need to go deeper into our conversions. She asks us to press tightly to her motherly heart as an infant child would; who would want to be comforted, held and loved with the warmth of her embrace.

We are in the spring time of season…Our Lady desires a new life to come forth from our hearts. She has repeated this in her message of 2/25/2011. As with all of God’s creation on earth, the buds are coming forth and so are the flowers beginning to sprout from the earth. It is the same for us. These are signs for us to seek anew the beauty of God’s creation in the human being and the dignity of another.

She said in the above message, “Children, I desire to see your ‘yes’, and may your life be a joyful living of God’s will at every moment of your life…”

There is no play on words here. She did not say I desire to “hear your yes”. But she desires to see our yes. When we give her our hearts and we consecrate ourselves to her, she wants to see us take action. She wants to see we really mean what we say to her.

Now I am a mother. When my child makes a promise to me that they will do something, I have a level of expectation that they will complete what they have promised to do. If we say I give you everything of myself dear Mother, but I do not love my neighbor, or I go on committing the same sins, then I have fallen, and I must show that I am remorseful for the wrong I have done.

Can we make a promise to the Mother of God, and underneath our breath say no way, I’m not going to do that. She may be asking us to carry a burden or a cross that may help us to grow more in holiness. This cross may birth new graces for others to help them in their conversion.

Intercession is a powerful tool to obtain graces for others. It is the mission of Jesus in the most personal and intimate way, and the highest form of prayer to offer of oneself in the body through a simple word, “yes”.

If we say yes to our dear Mother in heaven for our crosses, then she is able to take us with seriousness, and pass our deeds of mercy on to her Son, who can multiply those graces to where ever they need to go.

For example, I had a recent experience through some dreams I have been having. They seem to be of the same meaning, but they’ve come in different ways. Most prominent was the one I just had last night. The Lord will often use dreams in our subconscience to convey to us what He wants to bring to conscience for us, or what He wants us to do for Him.

In this particular dream I saw two people, they seemed to be Japaneese in my dream, at least I awoke thinking this. But these two people were sinking in a mud pit, reaching out for help. Now in hindsight I would say the recent tsunami victims, at least I felt this in my heart. When I took this to prayer, the Lord was showing me, these were souls in Purgatory who are in need of prayer. So I understood they were souls crying out for prayer in their suffering state. So through the holy Mass today, with Our Lady I prayed for the poor souls.

Our Lady often says, “dear children, you are all important in this plan…with out you I cannot fullfill my plans….” If you are willing and you give your yes to her, when things such as dreams or inspirations come forth our prayer becomes one with the will of God, and the prayer is answered.

Isn’t that logical? If we know what God wants us to pray for, then the prayer will be answered? We must always be quiet to listen for those promptings of the Holy Spirit.

I get numerous requests from people who ask me to pray to God for discernment for themselves. My response always is, “I cannot discern anything for you that you don’t already know, because the Kingdom of God is within.” The problem is we are not listening, and we are deaf to His Word. I will pray with the one who asks, but in truth the discernment is between God and the one discerning.

The Lord will use the voice of others to confirm something we are discerning, the voice of His Church or his prophets. The ones who are open, who say “yes” to be empty vessels of the Holy Spirit, are the ones hearing the voice of the Lord. These are the ones who are being stripped of everything from worldly standards, and allowing more of the spirit of Jesus to dwell within. Remember, God is Spirit. He desires to be in full Spirit in the human being made in His image and likeness. We have to desire this, and work for this. That means sin has to go!

How are we living her call as being that joyful witness of living God’s call in our life? Are you ready to go to the cross if that be the will of God for you, in joy?

Living God’s will is not always easy. That means our will has to go. We have to pray as Jesus prayed, “not my will but yours be done in me.” This by the way was a prayer while Jesus was in the Garden in Agony. He layed down His will as much as He was suffering, and surrendered it all to the Father, because He had the full vision of the plan of God, knowing what He was going to endure was not in vain. In your prayer, beg God for the vision to help you press into the time of trial and not run from that cross.

That is the prayer that will be answered. Suffering always has redemptive value. But when we surrender to the perfect will of God, the pain of the suffering is lessened, and we are able to drink the chalice and go on.

This is the grace Jesus received from the angel. His surrender to the will of the Father strengthened Him to say yes every step of the way. It is the same for us. We have to say yes every step during our way of the cross, no matter how hard, how difficult or how many times we may fall. It is YES LORD, YES LORD, YES, YES, YES!!! This is when the grace comes, this is when the healing comes. With every crucifixion there is a resurrection and triumph.

Our Lady concludes her message with her blessing. Here is our consolation and hope. Remember the movie the The Passion of the Christ? Focus on this movie if you watch it again. Notice every time Jesus fell, and where was Our Lady in the scene? He looked at her, and he found strength to go forward. We are in Lent in this time. Our Mother is with us, as Jesus is becoming more incarnate in us. She is here to encourage us, to love us, and to help us gain strength for the sake of our salvation, and win the victory.

With her blessing, contains a tremendous gift and grace from God. Our Mother comes every day to bless the world. Every day you are getting blessed and you do not even know it.

Take it to prayer sometime and ask what this blessing really means and how often we take it for granted when we get blessed. Something happens to our souls in this blessing my friends. We should stop every day, and welcome her and her blessing in our hearts, to receive it with love and in fullness of the gift she is bringing us from heaven. It is a blessing she has obtained from the Father and the Son, fully packed with the Holy Spirit.

Let us all continue on with open hearts to her maternal love. And please thank God every day for this great gift that we are able to grow up with her, just like Jesus did in Nazareth.

There is a great mystery in this gift of our Nazareth years with the Mother of God. But remember, it came a time when Jesus was ready for his public mission and made His way to the Cross. We do not know how long the Father will permit her to be with us, but many of us feel the days are numbered my friends. Continue on and work all the more harder on the conversion of heart, so we are ready for the day that comes.

Ave Maria!

“For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly; but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguements and every proud obstacles to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete!” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Lent- 40 Days in the Desert – Are we Ready?

Jesus went up to the mountain to pray...

Lent is speedily approaching, and we have been given firm and clear direction of the Mother of God of what needs to be done this Lenten season. That is to work on our conversion for a new growth to spring forth in our hearts; (from her message of 2/25/11) and with fasting and prayer to strengthen our spirits to be able to do what she is asking of us in our conversion, so that we can live as her apostles of love.

There have been a few inquiries made to me about the spiritual practices that I live and what we live in our family together to help us grow in holiness. I am going to share some of the things that we will be doing as a family in later posts.

I have been getting inspirations of spiritual exercises to work on in my own conversion for the coming weeks of the Lenten season. God bless my family, as they usually work these exercises with me, and we are able to faith share in our evening prayer time and grow together in faith.

These will be exercises to use every day, based on daily scripture readings as we use them as the Word of God speaking to us directly to our hearts; along with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We will also incorporate the messages of our Lady, and some reflections from the saints. Through them it will be easy to see how walking with Our Lady and her Son, will be the quickest and fasted way out of the desert and defeating areas of sin in us.

We strongly recommend to frequent the sacrament of reconciliation to obtain the sacramental grace of Jesus to conquer and win small victories, pecking away at the vices and sin within.

This will be used on a daily basis during the 40 days of Lent, as the stones needed to fight the big Goliath sin in our hearts.

I hope you will join us on this journey together in these coming forty days, and maybe even dialog and faith share your experiences through these exercises as we get them posted. Let us know how you are doing, and we can all pray for each other.

This is a time to experience the love of God, and our opportunity to be reconciled with Him in the areas He desires to purge in us.

We are not leading ourselves, but the Holy Spirit will lead us into the desert as He did with Jesus. (Luke 4:1-2)

We will be tried and reproved to help make us stronger to defeat the sin in ourselves, just as the Lord was tempted in His weak moments. There is nothing to fear, for God will be our strength and Our Lady is with us every step of the way as she was with her Son on the way of the Cross. You will be able to experience the Lord in a way you did not know could be possible. Do not take your eyes off of Jesus or Mary; this is where you will draw your strength, and where you will find countless oasis of peace to quench your thirst.

Let us hold each other up, and any trials we may encounter, let us offer them up for each other to help us all make the Passover into the resurrection of a new way of life with God!

Hear the encouraging words of Our Lady as we begin to embark on this journey…

“Dear children! Also today, I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Especially now, in this time of grace, open your hearts little children and express your love to the Crucified. Only in this way will you discover peace, and prayer will begin to flow from your heart into the world. Be an example little children, and an incentive for the good. I am close to you and I love you all. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (3/25/04)

OPENING REFLECTION:

As we begin to contemplate with the Lord the areas that we will be battling in ourselves, I ask that you give some thought to the following.

I heard an awesome homily this morning about the need for fasting and prayer. It was a recording from a former priest who has since passed away. And the way he spoke about the times we are in, it was like the light bulb just clicked for me, and I said to myself, ‘that makes perfect sense…”

I hope I can do it justice and articulate what this beautiful priest said.

The homily was from the scripture in Luke’s gospel chapter 11:23-26 which says, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes he finds it swept and put into order. Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

The priest began to explain that there are now in the world today perfect possessions. There are people who willingly and knowingly choose satan and evil, and will these spirits into their being. Sick to imagine, but this is a fact.

But the worst situation right now for the Church is those baptized Christians, who are not living their baptismal promises. Keep in mind, that the rite of Baptism is an exorcism rite in the Catholic Church. For this purpose we are going to talk about the baptized Christian who has fallen from faith, and these of the ones Our Lady is sad about as she just spoke on 3/2/11.

Because of their willingness to reject their faith and their God by choosing worldly things and human ways, from their original state as baptized into the life of Christ, their current state of their soul is worst than their former state says this priest. In other words, they are willfully permitting evil spirits to enter their minds and hearts, because of their way of life and rejecting their baptismal life in Christ from the beginning.

In this scripture quoted, Jesus spoke of seven other spirits more evil than the former way which enter the man who is in this state. It could be that these seven spirits are seven capital sins, which most often are usually behind the driving force of all inherited sin in men from the beginning, but in a worst condition in the human person that rejects their baptismal promises.

This priest said, that any focus in ministry today, should be directed specifically at spiritual warfare ministry. And the way to defeat this battle is through fasting and prayer… “certain spirits only come out through fasting and prayer…” said Jesus to his apostles. And it is the same that Our Lady is saying to her apostles.

Countless times in sacred scripture the Lord had called the people to proclaim a fast. Armies fasted before the entered into battle with the enemy. And of course what we practice is for this Lenten season celebrating the forty days of Jesus in the desert who fasted and prayed to strengthen Him for His public mission.

Jesus was going to contend with not only sin in the desert, but He would come face to face with the many faces of satan and evil in His public mission. Empowered and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, He cast out evil, and His apostles did the same in His name throughout the book of Acts, throughout all of the Church fathers accounts.

Today is not any different. Only in this time of grace and mercy today, Jesus wants to encounter every individual heart. This battleground is in every human person in one way or another. It is time to make more room for Jesus to gain territory in the heart so He can conquer the evil and sin in us. There is nobody on this earth that is an exception. It does not matter how far advanced you may think of yourself as one growing in grace…you are already operating in your pride if you think so.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says this (paraphrase), “Jesus’ call to conversion and penance is like the prophets before Him, does not aim at the outward signs like the sackcloth and ashes, fasting and mortification; but of the conversion of the heart, interior conversion….interior conversion is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart and an end to sin turning away from evil with hatred for the sin we have committed; the human heart is hardened and God wants to give a new heart… (CCC 1430-32)

Can men do horrible things? Absolutely!

Let’s look at the baptized person who is under the influence of evil and habitual sin for example, steeped in darkness, doing evil deeds that is incomprehensible to themselves and to other human beings. They are driven by evil, and building evil upon evil, plagued, bound and chained to the evil, not knowing how to conquer it.

These are some of the major sins of the world today that are committed against the human body, and this list is not all inclusive; pornography, contraception, or other forms of sterilization, homosexuality, concentration camps (with wars); biotechnology, adultery (post marital sex outside of marriage, fornication (pre-marital sex); prostitutions, abortion, terrorist attacks such as blowing up the human body or directed at other human beings; cloning, experimentation on human beings, abuses, masturbation, and exploitation or immodest effects of the media that promotes such things.

We are so ingrained in these vices no one gives it any thought that it these are grave and moral offenses against God and His Commandments. We have made these practices a way of life which is even worst.

In both the gospel of Matthew and Luke, the scripture says, “…your eye is the light lamp of the body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light, but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness, therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright as when a lamp with its rays gives you light…” (Luke 11)

What are the things we are viewing most in our every day life?

The eyes are the window through to the soul. If we are viewing things on a regular basis filled with filth and disgust and all kinds of darkness, the mind and the heart are being filled with such darkness; which then bring thoughts to the conscience and sub-conscience evil thoughts, which are eventually acted out upon.

Children are at great risk today, because of the forms of media and entertainment they are exposed to, and parents are allowing them to view such things, thinking nothing of it. Parents are responsible for guarding and protecting the purity and innocence of their children and not to expose them to such darkness. Is it no wonder Our Lady says that parents are teaching their children the “wrong way” and leading them to perdition?

It all needs to be cut off. Adults aren’t any stronger in the spirit and willfully allow these vices through media to enter the homes. And then they wonder why their lives have become such upheaval and such a mess.

The human race is in a need of a new baptism of the Holy Spirit. A new Pentacost; or should I say a double dose of the Holy Ghost!

Our Lady said in January 2011 that the Holy Spirit is a work in the world through those who have said yes to her. The Holy Spirit is going to kick up the dust so to say, and begin to stir up a lot of things inside the human heart, bringing to light what must go!

As the great prophet St. John the Baptist said, “I must decrease, so that he may increase in me. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his path…” Where ever you find Our Lady, you will find the Holy Spirit. And when the great spouse of the Mother of God are united in one, Jesus Christ will be made incarnate in the flesh in your human body. Our Lady is determined to make it so, that Jesus become visible in you.

Christians must live their baptismal promises, that is to REJECT satan, vice and sin and all evil. And take up prayer, fasting and renunciation to defeat and conquer all darkness.
Our Lady often calls us to fasting with the heart. This could be in way of behavior and/ or attitudes, such as works of charity or mercy done in love…FIRST IN THE HOME and then out to others. Yes husbands and wives, this means with your spouses first!

Charity begins in the home, and needs to be modeled for your children as much.

Consecrate yourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus daily. The St. Louis deMonfort total consecration prayer and formula is a great way to learn how to renounce sin.

For this purpose, we will close at this time, and will continue in other postings for further reflections. And look forward to the upcoming spiritual exercises for the Lenten practices coming soon.

“…this rather is the fasting that I wish; release those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting the oppressed free, breaking every yoke, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall be quickly healed. Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call the Lord and He will answer you. You will cry for help and He will say, ‘here I am!’” (Isaiah 58:6-9)

Pre-Lenten Reflection-May Fasting and Prayer be Strength

Let Fasting and Prayer give you strength...my apostles

“Dear children, my motherly heart suffers tremendously as I look at my children who persistently put what is human before what is of God; at my children who despite everything that surrounds them and despite all the signs that are sent to them, think that they can walk without my Son. They cannot! They are walking to eternal perdition. That is why I am gathering you, who are ready to open your heart to me, you who are ready to be apostles of my love, to help me, so that by living God’s love you may be an example to those who do not know it. May fasting and prayer give you strength in that and I bless you with motherly blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Thank you.”

Our Lady was very sad. 3/2/11

You know it may be just me, but I my heart is deeply saddened by these words of the dear Mother of God. If she is sad, I am sad.

Here her cry. She is suffering tremendously, tremendously! I can only see her weeping at the foot of the cross on her knees with Jesus, just shaking her head asking why are her children behaving this way???

We are blind! We don’t even recognize the visible signs that are being given to help us along with our faith. But we are persistently chasing after the things of the world as if nothing is going on.

Remember the days of Noah, they were making merry all the way to the day Noah entered the Ark, and the day that God reveals Himself to the world will be in the same way, but surprise, and who will be ready for that great and terrible day?
Do not think if our dear Mother is suffering tremendously, that God will not react to her pain.

To you who are clinging to the material world; be forewarned that you are about to be stripped of your idols. Idol worship is an abomination to God and a grave offense to the First Commandment. That is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul, and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

I may sound redundant here but it but it bear repeating, there is no life without God. I mean not only in this life, but most especially in the next. If anyone is rejecting God in any way and choosing human things above God, then God will leave that one to themselves, and woe to them. As our Lady said, “you are walking to eternal perdition.”

If I can repeat it time and time again. This life on this earth is passing. It is short and it is a blink of the eye compared to eternity. Think of eternity as millions of years long, and who ever chooses to waste their life on this earth for temporal means, will waste their souls forever.

Over 30 years of apparitions, and our Lady has never said until now or mentioned her children walking the path to perdition (hell). These are people in God’s grace. I mean these are people in the Church she is speaking of. Her children, those who claim to be Christian followers of Jesus Christ.

These are the ones who are choosing heresy, sacrilege, and death in the world over life with God. Jesus called them the reprobates in His grace through the Fatima visionary. They are those who are living false pious lives.

Let’s look at her message again. Keep in mind when Our Lady comes on the second of the month to Mirjana, these are extraordinary apparitions that being given. Mirjana prays with the Mother of God for the “unbelievers of the world.” Mirjana says that Our Lady does not call them “unbelievers” but she says, “those who do not know the love of God.”

Dear reader, do you know the love of God? Have you been personally touched by the love of God? This message is for all of us, because we are all unbelievers in one way or another, when we lack faith in God, and when we don’t put God in the first place.

However, in the universal scope of things, beyond the human mind, but in heavens view of looking at the earth, the Mother of God is looking at her children, and is seizing in pain because of us.

Here these words, and imagine your own Mother saying this to you, who loves you with an ardent love….

“Dear children, my motherly heart suffers tremendously as I look at my children who persistently put what is human before what is of God…”

If your own mother were in this much pain, would you not have a soft heart for her to try to get her to feel better. Little children act this way. Little children who are filled with love for their mother and father, who know nothing but love, would run to a mother, with a Kleenex most likely and want to wipe her tears, not wanting to see her cry.

But she sees us, and we don’t care if she’s coming, we don’t care if she is hurting… because we are going along our merry way ignoring the fact that she is even coming to give you her blessing.

“Persistently” her children are putting human things above God. This is a very strong word. We are too attached to material consolations. It is epidemic and it is vice.

God is giving many signs to this world, visible signs of extraordinary measures, but the children of Mary are clinging on to their personal idols.

As if she is scolding her children, she said:

“….despite all the signs that are sent to them, think that they can walk without my Son. They cannot! They are walking to eternal perdition.”

There is no other way to sugar coat these words…this is damnation! There is no life without Jesus. Blessed Mother has made this crystal clear on countless times. But we persistently reject Jesus and choose the world. We want our vacations, we want our updated technology, the newest and the fastest this or that, we boast in ourselves in our careers or accomplishments, we put ourselves above God and His Commandments.

We have a president who openly today said to this nation and to God that He is wrong about marriage. What an Obamanation is being stated to the Almighty God! Do not tempt the Lord! The people of this nation should be outraged at such an offense to God, which is to be a nation under God. As one just quoted, you cannot be for the people and kill the people at the same time. Wake up America!

Our Lady continues to explain what she is doing in this time with those who have been faithful to her. She said…

“…That is why I am gathering you, who are ready to open your heart to me, you who are ready to be apostles of my love, to help me, so that by living God’s love you may be an example to those who do not know it…”

She is gathering her children, like a mother would into her embrace. I see the Mother holding us tightly under her mantle, in her home, as she is looking around and listening as the war is raging on the outside, telling her children, her faithful ones, to stay close to her; looking at each of her little ones saying, “help me please; you be love, you be my witness, I chose you as my apostles, I need you, you are important in this plan, it is up to you…BE AN EXAMPLE BY YOUR LIFE, to those who do not know God. Show them by your LIFE that God exists.

Pray openly, not just behind closed doors. Families make a statement that your are Christian/Catholic out in public, in restaurants pray together, or in public places, traveling. Wear your crucifix, let the rosary be in your had as a sign to satan that you belong to the Mother of God. Carry your weapon on you at all times…THE ROSARY.
Be a sign to this peaceless darkened world.

A quick example…my husband called from work the other day, and he was very upset at one of the vendors with his job. He called and was venting about the abuses of this person with his employees and began to speak in a way of how he was going to handle the situation. I felt the Holy Spirit move in my heart, who gave an insight of the client he was talking about.

I said, “What are you going to do about it? How are you going to be a light for this person? People handle stress in many different ways and through emotions. We do not know what is going on in the heart of another and why they behave the way they do. But that does not get you off the hook dear Christian/Catholic. Your OBLIGATION is to LOVE with the love of God.

Love bears everything for the sake of the Kingdom. (1 Corinthians 13). It does not matter how they treat you, the response should always be love. And yes I am preaching to myself too. I have to catch myself all the time!

But here is the remedy….

“May fasting and prayer give you strength in that and I bless you with motherly blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….”

FASTING AND PRAYER! STRENGTH IS IN FASTING AND PRAYER. Behold your Lenten obligation. It is time to suck up the pride, fast, pray and pour out the blessings of love! It is time for the children of Mary to shine in this time of darkness.

Jesus went to the desert to fast and pray to find strength to withstand the tactics of the devil, and to prepare for the public mission He was going to accomplish.

We are all going to pass through some very trying times in the coming days if you have not already noticed to this point, and I assure you, the heat is going to be turned up all over the world. Those who will survive this period of purification will find strength only in fasting and prayer and a strong sacramental life. There will be no one on this earth who will be spared the cross my friends. God is all business!

Our Lady is praying for you…lay everything down that you may endure and surrender it in her flaming Immaculate Heart, that you may win grace for yourself and those whom you love.

May God have mercy on us all. Be reconciled with God!!!

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days and afterwards he was hungry…” (Lk. 4:1-2, Mt. 4:1-2, CCC 538-540)

Live your Christian Vocation

Bring love into your families...

For several days now, I have been pondering this message that has come with the rosary novena we have posted for unbelievers. Over and over I keep hearing the words of Our Lady that says, “…your Christian vocation…” Below is the message for the sake of this posting.

“Dear children! Today I invite you to comprehend your Christian vocation. Little children, I led and I am leading you through this time of grace that you may become conscious of your Christian vocation. Holy martyrs died witnessing I am a Christian and I love God over everything. Little children, today also I invite you to rejoice and be joyful Christians, responsible and conscious that God called you in a special way to be joyfully extended hands toward those who do not believe and that through the example of your life, they may receive faith and love for God. Therefore, pray, pray, pray that you heart may be open and be sensitive for the Word of God! Thank you for having responded to my call.” (11/25/05)

This message hits me right where I am at in these days, and that is the call to go deeper into the mystery of the marriage vocation that I live as my way of salvation, for this the vocation I am called to.

Now does that sound odd to say? Well it’s true. It is not my marriage. The sacrament of marriage belongs to the original author of marriage and to the Church He established. I participate in the sacrament of marriage as the vocation I was called to by God; that is called to serve and the way I choose to live my cross through another.

The marital union has existed since the beginning of creation between a man and a woman, and from the beginning it was meant to be sacred and holy, as an imitation of the mystical union of Jesus Christ with His Bride, the universal Church, and before Jesus it was man’s relationship with God and how to live in fidelity as God’s people.

In the marriage union with Jesus Christ as the bridegroom, there are multiple parts of his body in the one union where the living members are called to serve in the body of Christ, and to become fully alive and one with her Head.

Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about fulfilling your Christian vocation:

CCC 2030 (Article 3; The Church, Mother and Teacher)

“It is in the Church in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of ‘the law of Christ.’ (Gal. 6:2) From the Church he receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the ‘way.’ From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of those who live it; he discovers it in the spiritual traditions and long history of the saints who have gone before him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the rhythms of the sanctoral cycle.”

According to paragraph 2030 here, the Christian finds the identity of his vocation in the Church for these reasons:

a. He receives the Word of God with the teachings of the Law of Christ
b. He receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the journey through life
c. He learns the example of holiness
d. He recognizes the model of holiness is from the source of all holy, the Virgin Mary whom Jesus patterned His bride after. (Just a note, what good Son wouldn’t want His bride to look like His own mother right – holy and pure, spotless and without blemish)
e. He discerns ‘authentic’ witness to those living the faith
f. He discovers his vocation in spiritual traditions and the long history of the saints who have gone before him, and in the continual cycle the liturgy celebrates

The primary order of man’s vocation in life is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with His creation in the image and likeness of God. (CCC 2085) Isn’t this what Our Lady is saying in her message when she said,

“….rejoice and be joyful Christians, responsible and conscious that God called you in a special way to be joyfully extended hands toward those who do not believe and that through the example of your life, they may receive faith and love for God…”

By your life give a visible witness that God is in the first place in your life. As a great saint said, ‘preach the gospel always, use words if necessary…’

The Christian vocation is a call to holiness in whatever state in life you live (Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium). That is the Christian is called to live a beatitude way of life as Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5). Blessed are you if you do these things He said. Not to talk about it, but live it.

More so, the Catechism speaks about how to live in the body for the Christian vocation….

CCC 2031 “The moral life is spiritual worship. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, (Rom.12:1) within the body of Christ that we form and in communion with the offering of His Eucharist. In the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments, prayer and teaching are conjoined with the grace of Christ to enlighten and nourish Christian activity. As does the whole of the Christian life, the moral life finds its source and summit in the Eucharistic sacrifice.”

We so often forget that our human bodies;

(1) Do not belong to us, but they belong to God;
(2) The human body is created in the image and likeness of God, it is meant to be kept holy for God;
(3) The human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit;
(4) The human body receives the living God in the Eucharistic species. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life IN you.” (John 6)

Stop for just a moment and carefully reflect on this one scripture for a several moments; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 if you question this saying.

This is only one of several scripture references that refers to the sacredness of the human body. And this scripture passage is most direct and to the point. You have been purchased at a price. Jesus paid a great price for the sake of your life. He shed His blood. Do not think that if we abuse the human body that this will not go un-noticed on the day of judgment, because God will not take that lightly. We need to repent of any evil done to the body.

Therefore, we must live a holy and chaste life in the body for the sake of the kingdom of God, and for the salvation of the souls. If we want to know what holiness looks like in the body, we only have to look as far as the Mother of God who is perfect in her body, spotless, without blemish, the Immaculate Conception.

However to understand, and to put things in its proper perspective, to live your Christian vocation is first and foremost the number one call of one who says they are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

Now a Christian vocation can look like any of the following in the whole scope of the universal church;

– Priesthood; men chosen by God to shepherd his people; and ordained sacrament of the Church
– Religious; consecrated men and women who offer their lives in the body to serve the Lord for the sake of His kingdom
– Missionaries; those who devote their lives to serve the poor and spreading the gospel to bring Jesus Christ into the world
– Marriage – instituted by God
– Even Singles but must live in chastity for the sake of the Kingdom of God
– Youth must live modestly and in purity in the bodies, obedient to their parents and guardians over them “in the Lord.” (that is children must obey under the law of God. If a parent is not living the law of God, the child is first to obey God).

Let’s put aside for a moment our careers as a though of a vocation. First and foremost as a Christian you are called to live the commandments of God, and the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and neighbor as yourself.

The vocation you participate in is primary to any other trade vocation you may participate in. There is a difference between your job as a trade vocation, and your vocation to serve God, which is for the sake of building the Kingdom on earth.

For a priest, he lives both his job and his vocation in the same as a man of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, and spiritual fatherhood to the Church whom He serves.

For a religious or missionary, the primary purpose one feels called to such a life, is the desire to serve God and His Kingdom through a life of prayer and serving the poor. Yet all is an offering to God first, and then to neighbor second.

The Sacrament of Marriage and Family life has its own unique role and is the make up of about 90% of the Church, and it is the most disordered in its primary purpose.

First of all, let’s look at the discernment process of these vocations. Keep in mind the gift of marriage is authored by God Himself. God had a design for marriage from the beginning of man’s existence.

However today, the majority of men and women don’t even give it a second thought of discerning their vocation, nor discerning their perfect spouse. Couples are too quick to jump into the fairy tale idealism of marriage for their own sake, and not for the sake of the Kingdom of God. I know this to be fact, one because I was one of them, and also because I am surrounded by countless couples who are married.

Now a priest or religious will discern for years their vocation all the way up to when they profess their final vows.

If married couples took the time to discern and digest what God’s plan is for marriage, and the in depth mystery of the vows that are said on that holy day, then I doubt that we would be having the crisis in marriage and the family that we are today, and we would see fewer divorces.

One of the beautiful gifts of the Croatian people in the marriage right unlike the American way is that the Croatian people profess their vows on the crucifix. They understand that the vocation that they are entering is their path of the cross through the other, and that they are choosing this path of salvation towards heaven. There are no divorces in Medjugorje. A miracle in itself!

The culture of this people know the meaning of suffering and hardship, for they lived under oppression for hundreds of years.

So what is it about our modern day culture that thinks of itself to be so advanced and progressive, and has lost is heritage? I say it’s but only a matter of convenience. It is easier to run from the cross than to face the cross.

Going back to the marriage tradition of the Croatians, that same crucifix that blessed their marriage is also what hangs over the marital bed of the couple, as a reminder of the vows they professed sealed in the blood of Jesus. It has to be taken to heart that these vows actually mean something.

Let’s just say for one moment, which would by the way never happen. But for the sake of discussion, what if Jesus said, “Ah, no thank you. I’m not going through that for the one I love…” Then those who died for his name, died in vain.

Jesus allowed himself to be crucified to show every generation of human beings that the price He paid is worth dying for. His hands and His feet are nailed to the cross. That means it is permanent and He’s not going anywhere. This is what He calls to those who say they are His, that they live their Christian vocation to the point of death, either dying for ones spouse to himself or herself, or shedding blood for the sake of His name.

Remember, Our Lady’s words above, “holy martyrs died witnessing, I love God above everything…” For the martyr it did not matter what the world thought about them, they had God in the first place, and just like Jesus died from the world, to prove to the world it was worth it.

Look now husbands and wives at your spouses.

Is your spouse worth dying for?

Are your children worth dying for?

Do you have the courage to die for another and lay down your own pride and your selfish desires?

Does it matter if they don’t show their appreciation in the eyes of God? No it doesn’t you must do the right thing anyways…as God sees all things and knows all things. Do what is good for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church…” (Eph. 5)

In other words, husbands die for your brides! Do what is necessary to let your wife know that she is loved by you. That is not run off with the boys and leave the wife behind. That is not chasing after the dream job at the cost of never being home with your family. The primary vocation of marriage is to serve God first, and then your spouse.

“…you husbands should live with your wives in understanding showing honor to the weaker female sex since we are joint heirs of the gift of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered…” (1 Peter 3:7)

Husbands do we hear these words? The salvation of your family is on you. The eternal future of your children depends on you. Are you leading your family to sin, or to life?

Your are the head of your family, and you will answer to God Himself who placed you in charge of your family to be his image, His representative of the Father’s love. You are to be the image of Jesus Christ and the model for your families. And the catch is here, is if you want God to hear your prayer, this is how you must live! God is watching!

Children are third in line, and then career. Another disorder in the family today is the parent putting children first before their sacrament. All the love is poured out to the children, their activities, their school and the days are busied up with busyness. Families need to be together in the homes, eating together and must above all things make time to pray together.

Now ladies, listen to these words, as a woman to other women, “Wives be subordinate to your husbands…” (Eph. 5) May women shutter at these words, I know this, because I used to be one of them. But I have learned and have come to a deeper understanding to its meaning and live it to see the fruits of this mystery.

If husband and wives are living under the plan of God, there is a natural order in God’s plan of creation. God created man says the book of Genesis, “he created him male and female…” in His image and likeness. (Genesis 1:27) Male and female are equal in their human dignity as both are in the image of God, but they are much different by their nature. Each man and woman has their own natural gifts.

The woman by nature is the weaker female sex. The make up of a woman is of a softer heart, and moves more with emotions. Men were created to guard and care for God’s creation as gift. Woman is created out of man and is God’s created gift for man.

The burden of responsibility falls upon man to lovingly give up His life for his bride. If the husband is living out his role as God has ordained to be, then wives will naturally follow the lead of the husband all in the name of love.

When a wife is combative with her husband, then problems usually result. It was because Adam listened to His wife and disobeyed God that sin entered the world. It was no mistake the serpent went to the woman first, who is the weaker of the sex. It knew what it was doing. But in the garden scene, God convicted Adam for not defending and protecting his wife, and from here is where the curse and divisions began. God made it very clear from the beginning, husband is head over his wife. (Genesis 3)

It was the sin of Adam that Jesus came to redeem who became the New Adam. And who was He giving His life for? His Eve, beginning with the New Eve who is the model and pattern of His Bride, the Church. But we need to pass through Jesus to be created as new creatures. And the way to Him is through the Blessed Mother.

This is such a beautiful mystery to behold. And this mystery is gifted in the gift of vocations founded in the universal Church.

If we understand our vocations as such then we have a new way and a deeper meaning for living them for the sake of God and His Kingdom.

Couples will not rush in haste to have the shot gun weddings, nor will they seek to co-habitate for self seeking pleasures for free sex. Living has a purpose and a meaning now.

Honestly there is so much more to be said here about living the Christian vocation, but this is something that must be searched for in the individual heart. Come to know your identity and who you are…seek the Lord with all your heart; and there is where you will find your treasure….

“Finally all of you be of one mind, sympathetic loving toward one another, compassionate, humble. Do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult, but on the contrary a blessing because to this you were called, that you might inherit a blessing…” (1 Peter 3:8-9)

“Holy Family Workshop, Tools for Todays Marriage and Family, Living the call of Medjugorje”

Heal from the Sins of Your Parents

"Father forgive them..."

“Dear children! Today in a special way, I invite you to take the cross in the hands and to meditate on the wounds of Jesus. Ask of Jesus to heal your wounds, which you dear children, during your life sustained because of the sins of your parents. Only in this way, dear children, you will understand that the world is in need of healing of faith in God the Creator. By Jesus’ passion and death on the cross, you will understand that only through prayer you too can become true apostles of faith, when in simplicity and prayer, you live faith which is a gift. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (3/25/97)

I have to say that I have been reflecting quite a bit again on this message that was given by our Lady in 1997. This message has particular meaning for me in my own life.

Not only do I feel that it touches my heart from the healing of my own woundedness, but I am also aware of the effects of my sinfulness upon my children and their behaviors because of the environment they grew up with living in our home.

Some days I wish I could just reinvent time; but I know it is not so. Our Lady often says in her messages begin ‘anew’ today…and to not look at the past but seek God’s mercy.

Many of us are stuck in our wounds and we do not know how to get out of them. And we have behaviors or should I say triggers that salt the wounds in our hearts that set us off and we lash out at our loved one, often not even giving second thought to why we reacted in such a way.

Let’s look at how Our Lady began this message. She said…

“Dear children! Today in a special way, I invite you to take the cross in the hands and to meditate on the wounds of Jesus….”

The key word here is “in a special way.” Our Lady is asking that we take the crucifix and meditate on the wounds of Jesus in a special way.

What would be a special way for us?

Let’s just say for example you are going through a very trying time like in your marriage, or having problems with your own children. Often in these times for me, I run to the crucifix I have in my home, which is fairly large. I will hold him not only in my hands but I will press Jesus to my heart, and seek refuge in Him. I gaze upon His wounds where his hands and feet are nailed to the cross. Whatever it is that I am going through I visualize not only Jesus on the cross, but myself or the one I love crucified on the cross.

I ask Jesus to show me how to pray particularly for this situation, and what He would like to do with it. Even most recent I have been suffering from worry and anxiety, and I asked the Lord to come into the area of my heart where this fear was coming from in His perfect love to cast it out. I was humbled by His response when I asked Him to do so. He said, “My love, let it be for now…”

Now when He responds in such a way, at least in this situation, I had a deep understanding I was carrying a burden for someone but I did not know who it was until later in the day, when I found my daughter was suffering in the same way.

We don’t always comprehend why we go through what we go through but when we do go through it, there is always a purpose behind it, either for our own spiritual growth and healing or it may be for someone else.

So Our Lady continues to say….

“Ask of Jesus to heal your wounds, which you dear children, during your life sustained because of the sins of your parents. Only in this way, dear children, you will understand that the world is in need of healing of faith in God the Creator…”

My friends look at what is happening here! Jesus wants to heal you and your wounded hearts. Let’s look at the world today and the given chaos and disorder the world is plagued with.

How many of us grew up in perfect God filled holy homes? I would say about 1% right? And if you did, God bless you! You can teach us much. But for the sake of the 99% of us who did not, it is clear why the world is such a mess.

Can the sins of parents be handed down to the children? Absolutely positively YES! We can begin with Adam and Eve as a matter of fact, as one example. Then we can look at the whole of the Old Testament by the curse of the people for who did not obey the Commandments of God. The Lord made it very clear that the sins of the parents would be passed on to the third or fourth generation! (Exodus 20:5-6, Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 5:9)

There are many examples in scriptures that give proof to the Word of God and keeping his commandments. However how about real life in a so called modern progressive society that thinks it does not need God or a Savior in the world.

Let’s take one example for now just for the sake of argument. Look at the sin of divorce. YES, divorce is a sin. The first cause and effect of divorce results in the sin of adultery, and leading ones spouse into adultery.

What are the effects on children of divorced parents?

Every child is affected from divorce in one way or another. Many children feel unloved, unwanted, abandoned, abused and more. They turn to drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, rebel, and more so…

If satan has succeeded in divorcing mother and father, he has succeeding in winning the soul of the next generation, that is your children.

Our Lady is leading us to a remedy in these situations. She is pointing the way to her Son, Jesus Christ crucified. She said meditate on the crucifix and ask Jesus to heal your wounds from the sins of your parents.

Were your parents, smokers, drinkers, divorced, argue a lot, violent home, living in unchaste relationships, multiple partners, reckless environment, drug users, addicted to pornography, sexual abusers, suffer from depression, gluttonous … and the list goes on. Even parents who suffer from forms of diseases have effects on their children.

Were you abandoned by a mother or father?

Do you fear being alone now?

Were your parents always away from the home, never taking the time with their children? Have you also picked up this behavior with your own family?

Have you picked up any of these behaviors or patterns?

How have these impacted your relationship with your parents?

If you have the same behaviors, how do you see it affecting your own children?

Do we really think that God does not know the pain we are carrying in our hearts?

Our Lady makes it very clear in her message. She continues to say,

“Only in this way, dear children, you will understand that the world is in need of healing of faith in God the Creator. By Jesus’ passion and death on the cross, you will understand that only through prayer you too can become true apostles of faith, when in simplicity and prayer, you live faith which is a gift…”

She clearly states that through Jesus Crucified is the “ONLY WAY” that the world will come to healing in faith in God, by His passion and cross. She makes it clear the world needs healing. Folks we are the world; we are the make up of the world, and it begins in my heart and your heart.

How many have lost faith in God because of experience they have had from the family or their parents. Do we not understand that children learn the love of God through their mother and father and the love they give. If there is no love in the home, then the perception of God’s love is lost!

Our Lady is making it so easy for us. But we have to come to the understanding, a complete and profound understanding that Jesus did not die in vain. He died for a purpose, to free us from sin, to heal our wounds, to bring us to new life IN HIM.

We are blind, deaf, dumb and mute to the love of God! He came to open the eyes of our hearts, to open our ears to His Word, and visibly see His body nailed to a cross for a purpose.

How can we not look at the crucifix and not ask ourselves why would someone willingly allow this event to occur if there was not a reason for Him to do so. This should raise the mind and the heart.

Do this…Take 5 minutes of your time, and gaze at Jesus crucified. Ask Him to teach you more about His love for you. Say nothing more, and just be silent with Him.

If you are not affected, then take more time, for the wounds in your heart are much deeper than you think. What would this crucified lover say to you in this moment?

If we only knew the love He has for us, there would not be enough gratitude in the world to thank Him for what He has done. Resolve now in this moment to crucified your pain to the cross, and unite it with Him who obtained the grace for you in it.

“I consecrate myself for them so that they may also be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for them, but for also those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you Father are in me and I in you that they may also be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory that you gave me so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, and that the world may know that you sent me and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me, I wish that where I am they may also be with me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world…” (John 17:19-24)

Do not think that if you follow Jesus, that you will not suffer. Because here it is by His word He said, “where He is, we will be with Him” all the way to the Cross. Give Him glory in your suffering that it may not be in vain.

Ave Maria!

“Holy Family Workshop, Tools for Today’s Marriage and Family” Live the Call of Medjugorje

Proper Prayer Comes from the Heart

I am He Who is called Faithful and True

I have taken some time now, as I have in my own private prayer and in prayer group setting to reflect more and more on the richness of the message of Our Lady that was just given on 2/2/2011 through Mirjana.
Here it is again for your review:

“Dear children, you are gathering around me, you are seeking your way, you are seeking, you are seeking the truth but are forgetting what is the most important, you are forgetting to pray properly. Your lips pronounce countless words, but your spirit does not feel anything. Wandering in darkness, you even imagine God Himself according to yourselves, and not such as He really is in His love. Dear children, proper prayer comes from the depth of your heart, from your suffering, from your joy, from your seeking the forgiveness of sins. This is the way to come to know the right God, and by that also yourselves, because you are created according to Him. Prayer will bring you to the fulfillment of my desire, of my mission here with you, to the unity of God’s family. Thank you.” (2/2/2011)

Our Lady said on 1/25/2011 that the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of those who said ‘yes’ to her. And here she is now giving detailed instruction on how to follow her teaching.

The first image I had when I began to reflect on her message was of a child’s game called pin the tale on the donkey. The focus was on the child who is blindfolded, spinning around and then trying to find its mark. And here is our Lady saying three times repeated, “you are seeking, your are seeking, your are seeking…” as if she is saying you are getting closer and closer, and closer to me….BUT….

“…you are seeking the truth, but you are forgetting what is the MOST IMPORTANT, you are forgetting to pray properly. Your lips pronounce countless words, but your spirit does not feel anything…”

Does this sound like your prayer life? Is it all repetition? Or do you feel you are just going through the motion, but not getting any where, and you are wondering why you even need to take the step to pray? What’s the purpose? Are you saying, “I’m not getting anything out of it?”

Most likely you won’t get anything out of it, if you are just praying with your lips, in a religious routine, reciting your words over and over, just to get the prayer done and out of the way. But you are not encountering God in your prayer. Your spirit is still in darkness and you are not quite there yet to meeting God.

The imagination wanders and you imagine God to be who you want Him to be, not who He is.

I find this very common among our Christian brothers and sisters. God bless them!

However, the lose term is “Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior.”

Is God a personal God? Can we make God what we want Him to be for us? Do we see a problem with this?

Let’s just think for a moment. If God is my personal God, then I am going to tell God what I want Him to do for me. Or I can go on sinning and have no accountability for my sin, because Jesus died for me and that is it! He saved me, so I am going to heaven.

This is so contrary to the gospels in this way of thinking. We forget that God is the Creator, and we are the creatures. God belongs to no body! But we belong to Him.

Here is a basic catechism lesson. Why did God create you? To know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this life so that we can be with Him in the next life. So many are asking, who is God? For most this will be kept a great mystery until the day of judgment.

For others however, we know God, because He has come in human form in the person of Jesus Christ. If you want to know the Father, you must know the Son. He is the way to the Father. Remember, Philip the apostle said to Jesus, “show us the Father and we will believe…” Jesus told Philip, ‘you have been with me this long, and you still don’t believe. If you see me then you see the Father…” Jesus is the way to the Father. “No one can come to the Father except through me,” said the Lord.

How quickly in our prayer do we run to the Father in our pride? Do we realize who we are encountering in this moment? Even Jesus humbled Himself before the Father, and said, “Equality to the Father is something to be grasped. Think about these words…

We really need to be careful in our spiritual life and fully aware of what we are doing, especially in the presence of the Father. It is wise and prudent to ask the Lord for the gift of Fear of the Lord, for in this comes all wisdom.

Our Lady continues on and speaks about prayer. She said,

“…Dear children, proper prayer comes from the depth of your heart, from your suffering, from your joy, from your seeking the forgiveness of sins. This is the way to come to know the right God, and by that also yourselves, because you are created according to Him….”

Wow! The key word here is ‘proper prayer.’ I have heard many times so many people say, ‘it does not matter how you pray, as long as you pray.’ Now there is truth to this, however the Mother is looking for a little more. The mother is saying, ‘proper prayer comes from the heart…”

Our Lady calls us to prayer with the heart and has done so on many occasions, and to make it all the more clearer, the prayer with the heart comes out of your suffering, out of your joy and when you are humbled asking for forgiveness when sin has been enlightened in you.

Now in reality, let’s look at suffering prayer. Don’t you think when the Father was looking at Jesus in his tormented agony praying from the cross, or praying in the garden of Olives that the Father had compassion on the Son? Of course He did! The Father was moved in grief to see His only Son suffer in the way He did so beautifully, laying His life down showing the Father everything that He created was good, and worth it to do what He had accomplished.

When someone is in joy, isn’t their heart rejoicing and the spirit is lifted high? So what do we do with this joy. We praise and thank God for giving us the gift of joy, and the gift that we are joyful for, with an ardent love for him in great gratitude, and maybe as a sign of our appreciation, we would make a special offering of thanksgiving to the Father for what He has done for us.

Prayer of the heart in seeking forgiveness. My friends, never forget the cross. Never forget what Jesus endured to save the soul. Here is the triumph of mercy for souls, in the cross. When we seek the Lord in His mercy and ask for forgiveness, there is no greater glory that is given to God, for we acknowledge our weakness, and give praise to Jesus on the Cross for our redemption.

For the one who is humble, and the one who has contrition for sin, there is nothing that the Lord will not do for such a soul. Jesus said to St. Faustina that we offend Him most when we do not trust in His mercy.

In the darkness, we are blind and we cannot see. Our Lady says we are wandering in the darkness, just like the image give above. We are disoriented and cannot find our way. Sin weakens the soul, and makes deaf our ears and eyes of the heart. That is when we are in sin, we cannot discern clearly the things of God, we lose our focus and fall off the path He has designed for us. We must always seek to remain in the light, and frequent the sacrament of reconciliation.

Do we see now that we cannot justify ourselves and our life styles to have God conform to us? NO! This is the lie. God is the same, and I will repeat this over and over. He is the same, yesterday, today, and will be in generations to come.
God cannot be made up in the imagination. He is Who He is, and in truth and in prayer we must seek Him for Who He is. You cannot create God to be what you want Him to be for yourself; that is ‘disordered.’ No! he created you to be who you are. He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. (Is. 44:2, Jer. 1:5, Is. 43:1)

Our Lady has come with a purpose. Her purpose, her desire is to convert sinners and return them back to her Son. She wants the world to convert. This leaves no one human person out. She said very clearly in this message:

“…Prayer will bring you to the fulfillment of my desire, of my mission here with you, to the unity of God’s family….”

Her mission is to bring the family of God back together as one. Yes, she repeated again what she just said last month; remember, she is praying that we comprehend that we are God’s family. And she has summed up the purpose for her coming for this very reason. God’s children must reflect the image of the Father, and who better than the Mother to form and to teach the children of the family of God. Isn’t this a Mother’s role after all in the home?

Well it is suppose to be. Blessed Mother is the true feminine. She knows her role to perfection, and she will not shrink from her role and mother to make sure that every child of hers is safely back with her.

Remember, God is Father. Our Lady is Mother, and this Mother is determined to transform her children in the image of Jesus. Remember, Jesus was the only acceptable sacrifice pleasing to the Father. If we want the Father to see us then the Father needs to see Jesus fully alive in us. That means someone has to go, and that is the I, I, I inside of me, me, me. As St. John the Baptist said, “I must decrease so that He may increase…” (John 3:30)

Our Lady came to Medjugorje on 6/24/1981; the feast of St. John the Baptist, the herald call of the prophet who said, “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His path.” She has come in the Spirit of Elijah to bring the triumphant reign of her Son in the world, and in human hearts. This is the mission. This is her plan. There is nothing short of this.

My friends, when Medjugorje is fulfilled, the power of satan will be destroyed. Mirjana said this. There will be nothing left but God and the sinner in fullness of truth. There are so many false claims of a final confrontation or the last battle. The battle is for your soul. God has already won the battle on Good Friday over 2000 years ago.

The enemy wants your soul, and will stop at nothing to claim it. Our Lady said in Medjugorje, it knows it has but a short time and it has become aggressive. The human spirit is so weakened by sin, it is just handing itself over into the hands of the enemy, without even reflecting on the eternal future.

Prayer and conversion are the only things that are important today. Satan wants you to think other wise and lures to worldly things which only distract the human intellect and heart from God. There is nothing more important than the salvation of your soul. If anyone can walk away from anything in reading these letters, I repeat again, your soul is more important than your home, your car, your bank account. Let’s get it all into perspective my friends. Convert!

I will continue on again in another posting, however for this purpose I feel I must stop here, to allow time for reflection. Take to heart the words and read them prayerfully with the help of the Holy Spirit, and pray for truth!

“The one who comes from above is above all. The one who comes from the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all…the Father loves the Son and has given everything over to Him. Who ever believes the Son has eternal life. Whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.” (Jn. 3:31, 35-36)

We Walk By Faith not by Sight

"Lord open his eyes that he may see" (2 King 6)

Believe the invisible…hard to swallow isn’t it? Believe the invisible. To believe in something we cannot see, and to trust in something we do not know, or do we?

Yet we walk by faith and not by sight right? St. Paul said, “no one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God…” (1 Cor. 12:3)

I often reflect on the people of Israel and how hard it had to be for them to believe in just a word of the testimony and witness of the prophets, and yet I find myself today in the same struggles. If it weren’t for the crucified, how difficult it would be for me to just believe a word…yet the Word of God was alive for this people who lived it and experienced it.

The Lord spoke to me on one occasion, and it was a powerful prayer experience with God. He spoke and said the same words given to St. John the Baptist by his father Zachariah… the Words were to me, “you my child shall be called the prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way, to give His people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall come upon you, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide their feet on to the path of peace.”

Now most of us have heard and prayed these words, and maybe feel it in your heart as you pray it, as it is part of the morning prayer in the divine office of the Church.

But it was different for me. This word was enfleshed in me. I felt these words in the very depth of my soul. My heart burns when I hear them, and the Lord has consumed me with such zeal for His house no words can describe. I was called “sunshine” by my birth father even to this day, affirming the words “the dawn from on high shall shine upon you…”

This prophetic voice came to my soul over 10 years ago at a time I was naïve, yet wisdom and experience have proven to me to be careful and prudent of what you say yes to.

I don’t want to be mis-understood here, because where I am today verses where I was then is clearly night and day, literally. But the Lord has raised me up as a prophet, and well we all know a prophet is never welcomed at his home town…that is those who know me cannot believe it is really me.

What I didn’t know then, and what I know now, but most especially by experience, none the less, is that a prophet lives in his body what God is conveying to His people by voice.

You see then I used to say like many unbelievers, “the bible is just a bunch of words written by men, and it doesn’t even apply today…”

God in His infinite wisdom called me out on this, in a most powerful way. Here I am today to say, “watch out unbelievers! You will be made an example of, if you don’t believe the spoken word of God in His holy text!”

I don’t even want to ask any more when I am reflecting about what something means in the bible, because the minute I ask, the Lord will show me, right in my own home…now I’m just kidding to some respect, but there is truth to this.

Why am I saying this? All of the experiences I have had to go through, not just myself, but with my husband, our marriage sacrament, our children, our family, has been nothing short of the crucible, the fiery furnace. When you walk with God, it will be so for your own good and salvation. I’ve had to live it to tell it!

I can honestly speak with experience the lessons taught in the bible first hand experience by living it first hand, and say with confidence this is why I am experiencing this, as atonement for sin, for intercession, for my own conversion, for the greater good of another and so on…

Now do I do this perfectly…ABSOLUTELY NOT. Because I never know when I am in the storm or going through the fire why it has come until I pass through and see it from the other side.

We have been writing a series of articles just about what has been on my own heart in prayer as I feel Our Lady and the Lord moving in my own private life. However, I am convicted in many ways, by the calls, e-mails and conversations I have with many that we are all in similar ways going through the same thing.

Our Lady just spoke to the world again yesterday about the way we pray (2/2/2011). I felt as if she is enforcing what we’ve already been talking about which I will put in another posting.

However as to continue from what we began last week, on the series of messages from 1992 and with her help in her recent messages, she said in my heart just today… “keep writing.” I said, “who is really listening, I am just a voice? Who wants to hear me?”

Ah ha, then the word came quickly, St. John the Baptist, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord…”

Oh but a heavy sigh, I said again, “Yes! Ok. I am just a voice of one, and I emphasize the word ‘one.’

There is a difference between a voice and the Word. You see Jesus is the Word flesh. Meaning His word is alive in the flesh.

I am a voice. A voice is empty and just makes noise and chatters. But if it has the Word of God, then there is some content to what is spoken. There is an experience in the Word, and this word can be lived and put to life.

The Lord has declared that His spoken word is made flesh in me. (Now of course this does not mean just me, because He is in all of us, but what He is saying to me in my own heart He is trying to get my attention to something more deeper inside of me).

So now I have to believe in faith, BY HIS WORD that what He said is true and that my one voice will be heard and stir the spirit in another. I can only speak by what He has put on my heart to speak, and trust that what is spoken He will do the work on His own in the heart of another and meet them where they are at.

So to continue with Our Lady message below which she gave to the world in 1992 is still present for today even though it was given 9 yrs ago-just like scripture it is a living word and used in the present moment.

What we do not understand my friends is heaven is on earth. Our Lady is bringing heaven to us; Yes! Just like we ask in the Lord’s prayer.

So we are in God’s time, her time right now in heaven. We are in a suspended time of history where heaven has come to meet earth and God wants His people to look toward Him again. Hence the meaning “time of grace, time of mercy.”

Mirjana (Medjugorje visionary) had an experience with Our Lady when she was a child in the early days. It was that her watch was running backwards. Keep in mind Fatima at this time and the third secret untold, which eventually made public was found that a nuclear war was to occur in the mid-80’s. This was a time of the cold war, between Russia and the United States. The threat of nuclear war was emanate. Lucia the Fatima visionary confirmed this in her testimony before she died and Pope John Paul II knew about it.

The visionary (Mirjana) understood that time was being reversed when she prayed about its meaning. Time was being suspended. The earth was given more time to convert; Blessed Mother obtained that grace from her Son.

And now Our Lady has as I have said in the past posting, ‘rolled up her sleeves, and is getting down to business to clean up the house of God, and tell her children its time for them to come home from their non-sense.’

Blessed Mother has just proclaimed to the world that hearts are changing now. In 30 years of apparitions, the Mother has never said this. She is saying this now! Hearts are changing and the Holy Spirit is at work! (1/25/2011) Praise God my friends, praise God!

But now, she doesn’t want us just to pray with our lips, she wants us to pray with our hearts, our whole being, not to pray for our gain, but to seek God for who He is. (2/2/2011). Well here’s a twist.

Do you know God? Do you know who He is? How are you going to know of Him if you do not spend time with Him and experience Him?

So I ask that you read the below message and ask yourself, is this the way I pray?

“Dear children, today also I invite you to prayer so that through prayer you come yet closer to God. I am with you and wish to lead you on the path to salvation which Jesus gives. From day to day I am closer and closer to you, although you are not conscious of it and do not want to admit that you are connected to me in prayer only a little bit. When temptations and problems arise you say: “Oh God, O Mother, where are you?” And I only wait for you to give me your yes so that I pass it on to Jesus and that He may bestow with you graces. Therefore, once again accept my call and begin anew to pray, until prayer becomes a joy for you. And then you will discover that God is Almighty in your everyday life. I am with you and I wait for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (5/25/92)

Let’s begin with the first part; Our Lady begins with her invitation to prayer. “…also today I invite you to prayer….SO THAT THROUGH PRAYER YOU COME YET CLOSER TO GOD….”

Prayer is a way to bring us closer to God. How can anyone say He knows God, if He is not praying? That’s a hypocrite! You don’t know anyone unless you spend time with them and they share their deepest darkest thoughts of their heart with you.

Jesus said, “I have called you friend, because I tell you everything I have heard from the father…” (Jn. 15:15)

Jesus wants to share in the most intimate way what we should know about the Father. However, to get close to the Father, we must pass through His Son.

Friend? Are we friends of Jesus? He said we are friends if we live His commandments, just as previously posted. (Jn. 15:14)

But most of us are not even living the commandments. A friend of Jesus is one who lays His life down for another because of love. This is friendship with God. Isn’t this what Jesus did?

Our Lady said at another occasion, “I call you to the love that is loyal and pleasing to God…” There was only one love that was loyal and pleasing to God, and that was His only begotten Son crucified on the cross. This is the love that is loyal and pleasing to God. You allow yourself to be crucified, and die to yourself because of love for another and for God.

That is true friendship. That is true love of a spouse or a husband for His bride. He’s not complaining, not begrudging, not accusing, but to do it because Jesus did it for you in love. This is only one part of your Christian vocation my friends.

Then our Lady continues, and she said…

“…I am with you and wish to lead you on the path to salvation which Jesus gives. From day to day I am closer and closer to you, although you are not conscious of it and do not want to admit that you are connected to me in prayer only a little bit.

The path to salvation is where she wants to lead us which Jesus gave is the “way of the cross.” That is the path to salvation. That means, your trials, your suffering, your burdens is your path to your salvation…taking up your “daily crosses” and follow Jesus the way He carried the cross and the way you carry your cross will determine how heavy or light the burden will be for you.

She is with us from day to day, and she is coming closer to us. Her holiness, her presence is going to stir up dust in us, because we cannot remain close to her nor to her Son if we have a spot of darkness. She will make sure is it wiped spotless from us. So you may experience stirrings of agitations around you, that are to get your attention to say… “hmm I am not liking this, I want this to change.” Yep! She wants it to change also!

I will share with you a moment of agony and suffering in my own life. Now I have experienced God’s power in my life in a most tremendous way on multiple occasions. I have seen and witnessed things that there is no doubt in my mind God exists.

But even because of this I am fully aware of the weakness in my own humanity, of who I am, and knowing I am powerless.

Our family is going through a tremendous trial in this time. Now, no body would know this, because it is a silent suffering. Those on the outside would never know if we did not bring it to light. But all the more, knowing what I know about God, travailing is not any less, because we are human, we have emotions, we exist in this world, and we are not always going to be strong and for certain we are going to suffer.

But I got to experience today the power of the sacrament of marriage in a way that I have not before. I was consumed with anxiety and a fear today over a situation with our family, feeling helpless and desperate, still knowing nothing is in my control, nothing is in my power to change it. I had to just press into the pain, and seek refuge with the Lord.

I went deeper into my prayer, talking to Jesus and Blessed Mother in my heart telling them all my feelings about what was going on. I grabbed my crucifix and I carried it around the house with me, holding my mystical spouse tightly, and looking at him, knowing I was in the marriage bed with him on the cross in agony and in tears; and with all my heart in one breath asking why, and the other breath saying let it be.

The struggle within me was intense, and I clutched Jesus all the more, and my tears are covering the crucifix pouring over him.

My husband in the midst of all of this called me on the phone demanding to talk to me through my daughter. I said I was not able to talk right now, because I did not want him to know how much pain I was carrying, because I did not want him to worry about me.

When I took his call however, he began to share with me, how he was feeling this weight come over him of this cross we are carrying and asked me if we could just sit together tonight, that we didn’t even have to pray, but to be silent together. I could hardly hold back the tears. He didn’t know what I was experiencing in this time, because I never told him. Only Jesus crucified knew who I was holding in my arms in this moment.

But you see what you all don’t know is that I have been praying to see Jesus in my spouse for many years, to open my eyes so I could love my spouse the way I love Jesus and love Jesus in him.

And through this agonizing experience, I was able to unite my suffering on the cross, struggle in it, and a beautiful grace came in it. The burden is still there, but there was a peace that came in the voice of my spouse; that is my husband and Jesus speaking through him. I can hardly hold back the tears as I am writing about this now.

The Lord then gave me a flash of an image. I saw my husband in the person of Jesus. First it was Jesus and then it was him, flashing in and out, carrying the cross. I then experienced Jesus’ love for me carrying this burden on His shoulders as my own mystical husband, and is giving my husband the grace to carry it for me.

I don’t understand why God does what He does and His ways, but this is a most intimate experience that know body knows about (of course until now because I have just shared this in the book of my life).

So as I reflect today on this message of Our Lady when she said…

“… When temptations and problems arise you say: “Oh God, O Mother, where are you?” And I only wait for you to give me your yes so that I pass it on to Jesus and that He may bestow with you graces…”

I had to find the strength in my heart knowing God was listening to me, to cry out and say … “Yes! I will carry this cross! I remember you Blessed Mother with St. Joseph and your struggles as a husband and wife waiting upon the Lord, and I affirm loudly, “I believe in the love of God for me, I believe He has the power to deliver us from this darkness, this is why I need you God in my life! I cannot carry these burdens alone…”

And then the Lord proved by this experience, He not only heard my prayer, but He let me experience the power of my vocation and the sacramental grace in it with a small consolation of His love for me in my spouse.

In this moment, I was able to experience “God Almighty” today in my life as our Lady promised in this message through prayer. I don’t know the future, I only know what is present and I am here to proclaim, “My God reigns!”

Maybe this will help someone reading this, to go deeper into their heart in the midst of the fire, and cling to Jesus as He has taught me. Let the Church the bride of Christ, cling to her spouse! Ave Maria!

“I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit and everyone that does He prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word I spoke to you. Remain in me as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit because without me you can do nothing….” (Jn. 15:1-5)

Accept the Call with Seriousness

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful...

God is good! Picking up from where we left off yesterday, and reflecting on the series of the messages of Medjugorje from the spring of 1992, I came across a reflection from St. Louis deMonfort from “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

If you recall the message I posted on 1/24/2011 from 3/25/92, the Blessed Mother said that her children were losing interest in her and her messages, and taking the message “superficially” as if this word was carefully used to describe the lukewarmness of the hearts of many so called devotees of Our Lady.

This is what the great Marian saint said about “superficial devotees.”

“Superficial devotees are people whose entire devotion to Our Lady consists in exterior practices. Only the externals of devotion appeal to them because they have no interior spirit. They say many rosaries with great haste and assist at many Masses distractedly. They take part in processions of our Lady without inner fervor. They join her confraternities without reforming their lives or restraining their passions or imitating Mary’s virtues. All that appeals to them is the emotional aspect of this devotion, but the substance of it has no appeal at all. If they do not feel a warmth in their devotions, they think they are doing nothing; they become upset, and give up everything or else do things only when they feel like it. The world is full of these shallow devotees, and there are none more critical of men of prayer who regard the interior devotion as the essential aspect and strive to acquire it, without however neglecting a reasonable external expression which always accompanies true devotion.” (96)

St. Louis deMonfort is describing those literally who just go through the motion; for example let’s say just praying the rosary with the lips, but there is no heart to heart union or contemplative reflection on the life of Jesus in the rosary. The rosary is a prayer of the gospels. They rush through the rosary, and are seen in the church as pious devotees however, there is no relationship with Our Lady or their God.

They have no interest in changing their lives or following the way of the cross as true devotees, in fact are put off by it. They look for spiritual consolations to make themselves feel good, but quickly find dryness in their prayer; kind of a “what’s in it for me attitude.”

St. Louis de Montfort called them ‘shallow devotees’ and are very critical of those seeking the interior life. They will not go deep into their hearts to look at themselves.

There is a danger here in this practice, because of self-righteousness, and false piety.

In her message of 3/25/92, the Blessed Mother admonished these superficial devotees, and said because of their coldness and disinterest in her, the messages or her Son, they leave themselves prey for the enemy. Simply because they are not seeking holiness, nor do they desire holiness, they do not root out the sin inside of them, nor practice their virtues and do not move toward conversion of heart.

So their spirits are left empty and void of God’s grace. If God is not filling the soul or spirit, there is only one thing left that can fill the spirit, and that is the wiles of the enemy.

Again, for your discernment dear reader, contemplate and read this slowly and prayerfully with the heart with the help of the Holy Spirit to help understand a deeper meaning for you.

It is very easy for anyone to fall into complacency; but there comes a point to where we have to pick ourselves up, and seek again that ardent and fervent desire to press on in the journey.

The following message came the next month. Keep in mind of the war that was occurring in the region at the time of this message.

Again I also remind the reader that Our Lady was sent by God to call the world to conversion, which she began at Fatima. The world rejected her call and World War II began as she said it would, and the spread of communism and godlessness throughout the world.

So here we are on the verge of a heated war ensuing in the Baltic region in 1990’s which was waged against Christian Catholics, (a sign perhaps foreshadowing the attack on the Church, Christians of the world…who knows-that is for your discernment); but keeing in mind that Our Lady just said to the world the month prior that we were not taking her messages with seriousness, and because of this, she is not able to help us.

I am sure those who lived in the region seeing the effects of the war, and their loved ones whose lives are threatened, were most likely listening very intently to what she was saying, and increased their prayer to God for help. Here is her message:

“Dear children, today also I invite you to prayer. Only by prayer and fasting can war be stopped. Therefore, my dear little children, pray and by your life give witness that you are mine and that you belong to me, because satan wishes in these turbulent days to seduce as many souls as possible. Therefore, I invite you to decide for God and He will protect you and show you what you should do and which paths to take. I invite all those who have said ‘yes’ to me to renew their consecration to my Son, Jesus and to His heart and to me so we can take you more intensely as instruments of peace in this unpeaceful world. Medjugorje is a sign to all of you and a call to pray and live the days of grace that God is giving you. Therefore, dear children, accept the call to prayer with seriousness. I am with you and your suffering is also mine. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (4/25/92)

“…but woe to you earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in a great fury for he knows he has but a short time…” (Rev. 12:12)

Here it is the remedy to defeat the enemy and sin…”prayer and fasting” Prayer and fasting can stop wars! Now look throughout biblical history how many times God wanted to chastise the people because of their sin. But when the people repented of their sin, they prayed and fasted, and put on sack cloth as a sign to God of their repentance.

Here in lies the majority of the call of Medjugorje, “prayer, penance and fasting…”

Through this form of penance there is a dying to ourselves in the flesh, which brings greater strength in our spirits.

Many are familiar with this message from Our Lady, which is common on many of her prayer cards. For this purpose though it bears repeating. She said:

“Dear children, I invite you for your individual conversion. This time is for you! Without you God’s plan cannot be realized. Dear children, grow day by day closer to God through prayer. I give you the weapon AGAINST YOUR GOLIATH, here are your little stones: (1) Prayer WITH THE HEART: ROSARY, (2) Eucharist; (3) Holy Bible, (4) Fasting, (5) Monthly confession.” (emphasis added)

Your Goliath, that is your giant sin that you just cannot defeat in you. The big sin in you where the enemy has the stronghold over you, where he agitates you, salts the wound, triggers you to react and fall into further sin. The weapons she is leading you to are the core themes of her messages.

So if we go back to her invitation to prayer and fasting to stop wars, the first step is to stop the war that is going on inside of the heart. Because war begins in the heart, with anger, hatreds, revenge, retaliation and so on. Your weapons to defeat this battle is the use of unceasing prayer, the sacraments and practice of penances, frequenting the sacrament of reconciliation.

The second part of this message of 4/25/92 she said;

…”Therefore, my dear little children, pray and by your life give witness that you are mine and that you belong to me, because satan wishes in these turbulent days to seduce as many souls as possible…”

Give witness that you are hers, she wants to protect us from the attacks of satan as in the way I said above. These are turbulent days she said.

Keep in mind of the words our Lady carefully uses here “turbulent”. The meaning of this word from the dictionary is, confusing, unstable, disordered, disorderly, chaotic, tumultuous, in turmoil, violent, rowdy, unruly, riotous, quarrelsome, restless…does this describe our world today? I should say so. And who is behind it? She named it, satan.

How many can honestly say that our surrounding enviornment most often is filled with as we described above “turbulence?”

These people of that region had to choose God or satan. It was a matter of life or death for them. They were facing possible death by the effects of war, a war that resulted in deep seeded hatreds of culture, religion, politics and race. Our Lady was asking them to be a witness of good against evil, as a sign that she was really appearing there. She gave a promise and said,

“Therefore, I invite you to decide for God and He will protect you and show you what you should do and which paths to take. I invite all those who have said ‘yes’ to me to renew their consecration to my Son, Jesus and to His heart and to me so we can take you more intensely as instruments of peace in this unpeaceful world…”

“Decide for God”…to decide for God is an act of the will and a conscious choice, one that we make with firm decision in our hearts first, and then we bring this witness to life. If you decide for God, you will show others that the Cross is worth living, and you can live it without fear. You decide by living His Commandments, obeying His Word and His authority.

Our Lady promised protection for those who “decided for God.” And by this firm decision, God protected the children of Our Lady and showed them how to avert the war and bring peace to the region. It began with reconciling among themselves, and lowering their egos to be humble enough to take the first step of reconciliation with their enemies and neighbors.

Now realistically this did not occur over night. The war went on for a few years, because to convert a region there has to be the cooperation of many hearts. Now we are lookiing at a conversion of the whole world. It is no wonder she remains with us for this long.

Fr. Jozo gave an incredible witness and testimony to this type of reconciliation, by stopping in the mass, and everyone that is everyone in the Church needed to go and reconcile before he would continue the mass. It was a powerful witness to the people, but it birthed a grace for the world to becoming still what it is today.

Our Lady didn’t stop there, not only did she say decide for God, but in addition invited all those now who did decide, those who said yes, no matter if it meant life or death, to now make an act of consecration, so that she could see not just in word, but now in deed that they really meant what they say in their choosing.

Therefore, trials would come their way, persecutions and tests of faith, which they would all have to persevere through still in virtue and as a witness to peace.
At the conclusion of this message she made a bold statement to the world about Medjugorje. She said,

… “Medjugorje is a sign to all of you and a call to pray and live the days of grace that God is giving you. Therefore, dear children, accept the call to prayer with seriousness. I am with you and your suffering is also mine. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

“Medjugorje is a sign to all of you and a call to pray and live the days of grace that God is giving you. I hear and feel the firmness and seriousness of these words in the depth on my heart. Accept this call with seriousness.”

Let’s just understand here for a moment, not in human terms, but in eternal, universal Godly terms, the words…”accept the call with seriousness.” God is serious, and means business.

If a father is serious about something with his child, how does a father respond to the child? Now let’s step it up for example in a family environment. If the mother is disciplining the child and the child does not respond to the mother, most often the mother turns to the father to intercede with greater authority. Is it any different for an Eternal Father? Actually most severe, and a great spanking is warranted.

Our Lady is determined to defeat satan in the world. (Rev. 12) Our Lady is fighting this battle along side of us, those who are devoted to her, she is there on the front lines with us, and with Jesus who is the General, the King leading the battle.

Our weapon is her weapon, the weapon of the King of Peace, who carries to two edge flaming sword into battle. Ephesians 6 describes this part of the armor as the “sword of the spirit” or the living Word of God, powered by the Holy Spirit. The breath of God will defeat the enemy, and Our Lady is carrying the full armor and clothing her children in it.

We need to be clothed with the power of the Most High God to win. We need the Holy Spirit fully alive in our hearts to defeat evil and sin in the heart, first in our own hearts, and then around us.

Folks the battle is “not out there,” the battle is in the heart. If every human being lived this call of conversion, frequently lived the sacraments given by the Church, how much more of the Spirit of Jesus will be in the world?

Instead because of sin and the infestation of sin, the spirit of evil is triumphant in many, many hearts.

The mother said that the world is spiraling into sin and it cannot help itself. She came to help pull it out of the pit of darkness. She comes with a great plan of God who is the master builder to reconstruct the human temple, and build a kingdom for her Son, to reign triumphant in us.

So the question comes again…”what are you devoted to?” Is it important enough for you to act and begin a new?

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. But the one who restrains is to do so only for the present, until he is removed from the scene. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and render powerless by the manifestation of his coming…” (2 Thes. 2:7-8)

Nine Day Novena for Families

Pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on your families and your parish...

My Friends our Lady is in need of your prayers. Today I sat with Jesus for a short time before the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Our Lady moved my heart in a powerful way. She said to my heart very simply:

“My little one, pray in a special way for the youth and families. Your Mother prays with you. Pray! Pray! Pray!”

I asked her in what way did she need my prayers. I understood she is asking for a novena and that we offer not only prayers in a special way, but fasting, penance and sacrfices for the youth and families.

I invite you all to join me in prayer, as I will begin to post the novena each day with the daily reflections.

I ask you to dedicate one rosary for this intention with the reflections for families and especially for the young people. And if your heart is moved to offering sacrifice or fasting, please give it all to Our Lady.

Those who are joining us on our March 14-24th 2011 pilgrimage. This novena is a great way to also prepare your heart for a meeting with Our Lady, and her plan for you.

Every day begin with the prayer to the Holy Spirit below and the reflection from Our Lady:

On Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit

On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses I offer myself, soul and body, to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light and listen to Your voice and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring his opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Ghost, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant heareth.” Amen

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

O Lord Jesus Christ, who before ascending into heaven, You promised to send the Holy Spirit to Your apostles and disciples.

Grant that the same Spirit may perfect in our lives the work of Your grace and love.
Grant us the Spirit of Fear Of The Lord that we may be filled with a loving reverence toward You. Grant us the Spirit of Piety that we may find peace and fulfillment in the service of God while serving others; the Spirit of Fortitude that we may bear our cross with You and, with courage, overcome the obstacles that interfere with our salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge that we may know You and know ourselves and grow in holiness; the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten our minds with the light of Your truth; the Spirit of Counsel that we may choose the surest way of doing Your will, seeking first the Kingdom; Grant us the Spirit of Wisdom that we may aspire to the things that last forever; Teach us to be Your faithful disciples and animate us in every way with Your Spirit. Amen.

Then Conclude the novena with the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Family Consecration, and prayer of Parents for their Children

The Litany of Loreto was originally approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God.
have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.*
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of the Church,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Savior,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of angels,
Queen of partiarchs,
Queen of prophets,
Queen of apostles,
Queen of martyrs,
Queen of confessors,
Queen of virgins,
Queen of all saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of families,
Queen of peace,
Lamb of God, You take away
sins of the world; spare
us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away
the sins of the world; graciously
hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Your take away
the sins of the world; have mercy
on us.
V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ.
* Pray for us is repeated
after each invocation.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beg you, O Lord God,
that we your servants
may enjoy lasting health of mind and body,
and by the glorious intercession
of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin,
be delivered from present sorrow
and enter into the joy of eternal happiness.
Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

Family Consecration

O God of goodness and mercy, to your fatherly guidance we consecrate our family, our household and all our belongings to you. We commit all to your love and to your keeping. Keep far from us above all else the blemish of sin and do Thou alone reign in your midst by your Law by your most holy love and by the exercise of every Christian virtue. Let each one of us obey You, love You and set ourselves to follow by example the life of Jesus Mary and Joseph. Protect us and our home from all evils and misfortunes, but grant that we may be ever resigned to your divine will even in the sorrows which is shall please you to send us. Finally give unto all of us the grace to live in perfect harmony in the fullness of love toward our neighbor. Grant that every one of us may deserve by holy life the comfort of your holy Sacraments at the hour of death. O Jesus, bless us and protect us.

A prayer of Parents to the Holy Family

O Jesus only begotten Son of the Eternal Father, well beloved Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary and child of St. Joseph, we most fervently implore thee through Mary your ever blessed Mother and St. Joseph your mortal father to take our children under your special charge and enclose them in the love of your Sacred Heart. They are the children of your Father in Heaven, created after His own image; they are your possession, for you have purchased them with the price of your own precious blood. They are the temples of the Holy Spirit, who sanctified them in baptism and implanted in their hearts the virtues of faith, hope and love.

O most loving Jesus, rule and guide them, that they may live according to the Holy Catholic faith, that they may not waiver in their confidence in you, and that they may ever remain faithful to your love.

O holy Mary, our Mother and most Blessed Mother of Jesus, grant to our children a place in your pure maternal heart! Spread over them your protecting mantle when danger threatens their innocence; keep them firm when they are about to stray from the path of virtue, and should they have the mistfortune of falling into mortal sin, then raise them up again, reconcile them with your divine Son and restore them to sanctifying grace.

And please, O holy father St. Joseph, do not abandon our children! Protect them from the assaults of the wicked enemy and deliver them from all dangers of soul and body. O dear parents of the holy child Jesus! Intercede for us as parents also, that we may bring up our children in the love and fear of God and one day attain with them the beatific vision. Amen.

Daily Reflection

“Dear children, I beseech you to start changing your life in the family. Let the family be a harmonious flower that I wish to give to Jesus Dear children, let every family be active in prayer for I wish that the fruits in the family be seen one day. Only that way shall I give all like petals as a gift to Jesus in fulfillment of God’s plan. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (5/1/86)

Day 1 –
“Dear children, tonight I wish to tell you during the days of this novena to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on your families and on your parish. Pray, and you shall not regret it. God will give you the gifts by which you will glorify Him till the end of your life on this earth. Thank you for having responded to my call.” 6/2/84

Today pray as Our Lady asked of you, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on your family and your parish, to receive the gifts of God that will remain all your life.