Fr. Martin’s
reflection on - Our Lady’s Message
25th
July 2020
“ Dear
children, In this peaceless time in which the devil
is harvesting souls to draw them to himself, I am calling you to
persevering prayer, so that in prayer you discover the God of love and
hope. Little children, take the Cross in your
hands. May it be your encouragement for love to always win, in a special
way now when the Cross and faith are rejected. You be a reflection and an
example with your lives that faith and hope are still alive
and a new world of peace is possible. I am with you and intercede for you
before my Son, Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call. ”
Dear Brothers and sisters
of Medjugorje North East and beyond some of the first words Our Lady spoke in
Medjugorje on 24th June 1981 concerned the gift of Peace. “Peace, Peace,
Peace, Peace must reign between God and Man” The peace Our Lady calls us
to, is not the peace we experience by the absence of war, but an interior peace
of body, soul and spirit.
“My Peace I leave with
you, my peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give.” (
John: 14; 27) This peace
concerns the reign of God in every person.
So, Our Lady begins this
month’s message by saying, “In this peaceless time.” These words are addressed to the human
condition, to all people who feel exposed and insecure at the deepest levels of
our being; God created the human person for happiness, and this can only be
found in Him. We cannot have real peace
without our creator.
Jesus Christ is the Prince
of Peace, and it is Our Lady’s desire that everyone should know His peace. In this way the expected Kingdom of Heaven on
Earth can begin in each human heart. In
this sense we should pray with great Faith the words we say at Holy Mass before
every Holy Communion. “My Peace I
give you, not as the world gives.” So Mary as the Queen of Peace calls us to create the conditions
for this peace, which means our personal conversion, growing in our friendship
with Christ, and allowing His reign within us.
The five stones of Our Lady are sure ways of arriving at this peace!
Our Lady links this ‘peacelessness’ in human hearts to the reign of evil.
“The devil is harvesting souls to
draw them to himself.” The devil
thrives where there is no peace. The
absence of God creates these conditions.
Our entire human life is marked by a spiritual battle between good and
evil. A message of May 25th, 1988, says,
“ Pray, little children, that satan
may not carry you about like branches in the wind. Be strong in God.”
“Away, with you satan,” says Jesus in his battle with the devil in the
wilderness. ( Matt: 4: 1-11)
Our Lady’s enemy is your
enemy, and your enemy is her enemy! We
are on the same side as Our Lady! God draws us to Himself, and He desires our
good. We participate actively on the
side of good by our thoughts, words and actions. Satan, on the other hand, fights to draw us
to himself. He presents evil in a good
light, he clouds our minds, and if we allow it, confuses us. This is why our
faith puts emphasis on the education of our conscience, through regular
examination and reflection, especially at the end of each day, and with regular
reception of the Sacrament of Confession.
So, let us not allow satan to create disorder
in our hearts, our families and communities. Above all we must not become discouraged,
this is his most subtle weapon.
Next Our Lady shows us how
to combat the devil. “I am calling
you to persevering prayer, so that in prayer you discover the God of
love and hope.”
“Persevering prayer” is when we pray when
everything seems to be against us, and when we do not feel like praying, when
the going is all uphill. It is precisely
at such times when we need prayer most.
For such times are the moments for discouragement and tiredness to creep
in.
“Persevering prayer”
is when we make a great deep act of entrustment to our Heavenly Father, calling
upon all our Faith and Love.
In these times Our Lady
tells us, “you discover the God of Love and Hope.”
In the school of Our Lady
this is her aim; to help us grow in our friendship with our Heavenly
Father. To pray means to be with
God. In prayer miracles can happen! We can encounter him who is our Love and
Hope.
“Little Children, take the
Cross in your hands, may it be your encouragement for love always to win, in a
special way know when the cross and faith are rejected.” Our Lady has often told us in Medjugorje,
that great graces are received when we pray before the Cross. This is why in
Medjugorje strong emphasis is placed on Cross Mountain, and adoration of the
crucifix. Our Lord himself asks us, “Take
up your Cross each day and follow me.”
( Matt: 16:24-25)
The crucifix is the sign of
total self-giving and of self-sacrificial love.
“ Being in the form of God, he
emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and became as all men are, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross, but God
raised him high and gave him the name which is above all names.” (Phil: 2:6-7)
A self-sufficient person
who relies on human strength alone, who does not want to serve will not
understand the Cross, but the one who acknowledges their weakness and
vulnerability, and relies on God’s grace, will know the power of the
Cross. May the crucifix always be with
us, may we take it in our hands often, and venerate the five wounds of Jesus,
for this is the triumph of Love, the encouragement that wins.
Dear brothers and Sisters
Our Lady concludes this message by asking us “to be
reflections, and good example of Faith and Love.” We live currently in a situation where
everything has become destabilised and there is much negativity for the
future. But Our Lady asks us to be the
reflections and the good example in these times.
When we speak good, good
multiplies when we are cheerful, cheerfulness increases. So, let us decide for the Faith, and the
Cross, for in these we have the Triumph of Love.
God Bless, Fr. Martin