Daily Reflections
by Cathy

Stretch out your hand!

At prayer before Our Lady’s statue in front of St. James Church
(c) Anthony Zubac 2018

 

January 23, 2019
St. Vincent, St. Marianne Cope

Dear Family of Mary!

The Gospel reading for Holy Mass today is from Mark. It is the story of the healing of the man with a withered hand. It is short, and to the point. Here it is:

Jesus entered the synagogue.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death. (Mk 3: 1-6)

It would seem this scene was a set-up. The men in the synagogue wanted to see what Jesus would do about the man with the withered hand on the sabbath. They wanted to accuse Him. But Jesus would not cower. He boldly asked the man with the withered hand to step up before them all. Then he confronted the Pharisees about their legalistic view of the sabbath. “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Their silence revealed their duplicity. And so, Jesus turned to the man.

This is what was interesting to me. Jesus had invited this man to come to the front of the synagogue. “Come up here before us.” The man came up. And after the confrontation with the Pharisees Jesus said, “Stretch out your hand.” Jesus gave him two commands. Each one of them required a voluntary response, a response that would show some kind of trust, some kind of openness to Jesus. If the man had been afraid of the Pharisees, he would not have come up or stretched out his hand. If he was looking back (feeling self-conscious), he would have been full of shame at his disability, and maybe he would have declined being in the spotlight. This man clearly had to make a decision to trust Jesus and to follow His commands.

It is clear that the healing that ensued was the result not only of Jesus’ power, but of this man’s cooperation with Jesus. He obviously had come to trust Jesus, to surrender to Jesus, to reject fear and to expectantly open his heart to Jesus’ love. That was his part in the miracle that followed. He had to make a choice to say ‘yes’ to Jesus, in public and at a moment of tension and conflict. The man with the withered hand chose Jesus!

Now read Our Lady’s message through Jakov on Christmas, 2018, again.

“Dear children, on this day of grace, I am calling you to love. Little children, God loves you immeasurably and that is why, little children, full of trust and without looking back and without fear, completely surrender your hearts to Him so that God may fill them with His love. Do not be afraid to believe in His love and mercy, because His love is stronger than every one of your weaknesses and fears. Therefore, my children, full of love in your hearts, trust in Jesus and say your ‘yes’ to Him, because He is the only way which leads you to the Eternal Father.” (December 25, 2018 Jakov)

 

I believe Our Lady is leading us to the same kind of moment of choice that the man with the withered hand was at. She is calling us to the same kind of surrender and trust that he had, so that we can also be healed by Jesus, our Savior and Lord. She knows that Jesus has many graces to give us, but that we need to stand up, come to the front of the room and stretch out our hands and our hearts to Jesus. We all need miracles. Maybe we need a miracle every day! And so, we need to approach Jesus in our prayer in this very same way every day!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2019

Mission Statement

Mary TV is a lay apostolate founded to put at the Gospa’s service (Our Lady’s service) modern communication technologies to bring her presence in Medjugorje – and her school in Medjugorje – to the world.

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“Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!”

Pope St. John Paul II – February 24, 1990

“Dear children, my real, living presence among you should make you happy because this is the great love of my Son. He is sending me among you so that, with a motherly love, I may grant you safety!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – July 2, 2016

“Rejoice, little children, because God is merciful and loves you all with His immeasurable love and leads you to the way of salvation through my coming here!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – June 25, 2018

“My Son promised me that evil will never win, because you, the souls of the just, are here!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – November 2, 2014

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Our Lady Speaks

Vicka's Note MaryTV

Vicka, one of the visionaries in Medjugorje, wrote the note (above) after Our Lady spoke with her during an apparition in Medjugorje in April, 1999, about Mary TV’s  plan to build a television facility in Medjugorje.

Vicka wrote to Denis: “Our Lady says that the plan is good – but you need to wait a little.  Now you can get prepared little by little, until Our Lady tells when the right moment is.  You don’t need to hurry, make haste, but to be patient.”

When Our Lady said this to Vicka, the technical genius in Medjugorje that she had her eyes upon, who would begin Mary TV’s live streaming from Medjugorje, was seven years old.

Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)

Immaculate Conception, Mary my Mother, Live in me, Act in me, Speak in me and through me, Think your thoughts in my mind, Love through my heart, Give me your dispositions and feelings, Teach, lead me and guide me to Jesus, Correct, enlighten and expand my thoughts and behavior, Possess my soul, Take over my entire personality and life, replace it with Yourself, Incline me to constant adoration, Pray in me and through me, Let me live in you and keep me in this union always.

Our Lady gave this prayer 25 years before She started appearing in Medjugorje. This prayer is being answered through Our Lady’s presence in Medjugorje and through Her messages. Mother Immaculata writes: “This is Mary’s hour and She is about to crush Satan’s head. Her very being is like incandescent heat in the center of the Trinity and the manifestation of Her power is growing daily. The Immaculate Conception prayer (which is what Our Lady called the prayer she gave me for union with Her) has been used by exorcists who have told me that the devil reacts violently to it and is subdued by it. We are praying daily for the success of Mary TV!“

Our Lady Gives A Sign…

Mary_with_Sun

MARY TV was LIVE STREAMING Ivan’s May 24, 2013 apparition on Mt. Podbrdo (Apparition Hill) in Medjugorje. My wife, Cathy, was praying in front of her computer in the US, connected through the Internet, welcoming Our Lady along with everyone gathered on the mountain. She couldn’t see anything on her computer screen because it was late at night and Ivan had said, “No lights.” She found herself asking Our Lady for a sign – a little light – as a sign that MARY TV was on the right track and really serving her. Just after the apparition, when she went to give an account on Mary TV’s Facebook page, the page opened with this picture that she had never seen before, captioned: “MARY APPEARS OVER BUILDING IN MEDJUGORJE, PHOTO TAKEN BY PILGRIM.” Our Lady is standing directly over MARY TV’s studios, her feet right where we have two POV cameras STREAMING 24/7 LIVE TO THE WORLD Apparition Hill & Cross Mountain!

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