Fr. Martin’s reflection on - Our Lady’s Message
25th
April 2018
“Dear children, Today I am calling you to live your new life with Jesus.
May the Risen One give you strength to always be strong in the trials of life
and to be faithful and persevering in prayer; because
Jesus saved you by His wounds and by His Resurrection gave you new life. Pray, little children, and do not lose hope. May
joy and peace be in your hearts and witness the joy that you are mine. I am
with you and love you all with my motherly love. Thank you for having responded
to my call.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters
of Medjugorje North East and beyond,
The word "New"
is a word that always appeals to us. "A new car, a new house, a new dress,
or a new shirt." The word "New" denotes a fresh
start, another opportunity, a different time. But in Holy Scripture we are told
that Christ came to bring us everything that is truly "new." Christ
himself, said St. Irenaeus, " is the Newness of the Father." Jesus is
our newness, and Our Lady uses this word twice in this month's message. "
Behold, I am making all things new." (Rev:21:5)
In the sacred scriptures we
see this newness of God in action in the Saving work of Jesus Christ. Our
Lord's healing's, his miracles, his encounters with different people, his call
to Conversion, and Repentance, were an invitation to the "newness" in
this life of God.
This month Our Lady begins,
"Today I am calling you to live your "New" life with
Jesus." We received this new life when we were Baptised, but I
think it also points us back to the Paschal Mystery we celebrated at Easter
time, when we entered into the saving Passion, Death
and Resurrection of our Saviour. This is the "New life” Mary calls
us to live. Christ is always offering us the "newness" of his
Grace. In him everything is made "New", every prayer we
make, every Sacrament received in Faith, each word of Sacred Scripture, every
difficult situation faced with love, opens for us the "newness" of
our life in God. It is a holy confidence Mary wants us to have in him who
Saves us, and to live our "new" life with renewed fervour. Our
Lady then tells us that our Risen Saviour will give us strength, "to
always be strong in the trials of life." It is to him she asks us to
turn, who upon the feeble bestows Divine strength. "And, to be faithful
and persevering in Prayer."
Mary, Queen and Mother of
Peace, points us to our true source of strength, her Risen Son. She wants
us to focus on him when especially the trials of life overwhelm us. This means
offering Jesus the gift of a loving and attentive heart in our prayers. Mary,
our Mother and Teacher reminds us that it is precisely at such times of trial
in our lives that we should turn to Prayer, because Jesus is Risen, and he will
give us strength.
"Because Jesus saved
you by his wounds, and by his Resurrection gave you new
life."
St.
Peter tells us, “He personally carried the load of our sins in his own body
when he died on the Cross, so that we can overcome sin, for by his wounds you
have been healed."(1 Peter: 2:24)
Do you feel bitter, angry, sad,
or maybe disorientated by the trials of life? Mary tells us to look at
the wounds of her Son. It is in the Crucifix that we see them. Look
at the crucifix, take it in your hands, hold it close, like the Saints do. When
we are feeling lost, sad, frightened, or in pain, let us look at our Salvation,
and enter into the wounds of Jesus. "Within
your wounds hide me." We pray in the 'Animae
Christi' at Holy Communion. Our Lady told us last year, that we
should often take hold of the Crucifix, and ask that evil and sin have no part
in us. So, let us be like St. Thomas and touch, hold and kiss the wounds
of Jesus Crucified and Risen,
"for by his wounds
you are healed." (1 Peter. 24)
On March 18th Pope Francis
said, "When a child gets hurt, his or her mam or dad, asks to
see the scratch or the bruise. They kiss it and say, ‘all better now’ Pope
Francis said, he imagines God doing the same, God wants to see the wounds of
his children, to touch them and heal them. "There in the encounter
of our wounds, next to the wounds of Jesus, which is the proof of our Salvation
there is the tenderness of God” (Angelus address, 18th March,
2018)
Dear Friend's, as we
reflect on this month's message of Our Lady, we cannot fail to think of the
statue of the Risen Christ in Medjugorje. A place of great healing and peace
where the pilgrims gather under the wounds of Jesus, and a stream of living
water flows. Mary reminds us that it is by his wounds we are saved and given "New
life”. May we always take heart that she tells us, "You
belong to me" and find our refuge and safety in the hope that comes
from the wounds of her Son.
"When it seems to you
that your suffering exceeds your strength contemplate my wounds." (Jesus to Sr.
Faustina)
God Bless, Fr. Martin