Tell me about everything that concerns you…
(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017 J.M.J. September 18, 2017 Dear Family of Mary! August 25, 2017 “Dear children! Today I am calling you to be people of prayer. Pray until prayer becomes a joy for you and a meeting with the Most High. He will transform your hearts and you will become people of love and peace. Do not forget, little children, that Satan is strong and wants to draw you away from prayer. You, do not forget that prayer is the secret key of meeting with God. That is why I am with you to lead you. Do not give up on prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call.” On August 25, 2017, Our Lady called us again to prayer. She told us to be “people of prayer”, to “pray until prayer becomes a joy for you and a meeting with the Most High.” She doesn’t give up on this call. It is essential to her plan for us. What does she mean by “a meeting with the Most High”? For one thing she doesn’t mean a public meeting with God. Though public prayer is indispensable to our Christian life, it does not meet all our needs as God’s children. We need time with our Father. We need time with Jesus, our Brother, to be with Him. We need time with the Holy Spirit, who envelops us in love. It has to be one-to-one time, intimate and personal. We are meant to have this kind of relationship with the Lord. He wants it. Take this conversation between St. Faustina and Jesus, for example: February 6, [1937]. Today, the Lord said to me, My daughter, I am told that there is much simplicity in you, so why do you not tell Me about everything that concerns you, even the smallest details? Tell Me about everything, and know that this will give Me great joy. I answered, “But You know about everything, Lord.” And Jesus replied to me, Yes, I do know; but you should not excuse yourself with the fact that I know, but with childlike simplicity talk to Me about everything, for My ears and heart are inclined towards you, and your words are dear to Me. (St. Faustina’s Diary, 921) “Why do you not tell me everything that concerns you…” This may sound a bit too much. But I believe that Jesus means it! He wants us to tell Him everything, in detail. There is much He can do for us in such conversations. There is much to learn in the telling. As we recount our sorrows, our fears, our joys, our hopes and dreams, Jesus pours out His light upon them. He listens with complete love and patience. And He cares about each little thing. And, as we tell Him each thing, we learn about ourselves. Have we been jealous of someone? Jesus can alleviate our self doubt. He can show us how much we are loved and take away the need to envy someone else. Have we been angry about something. Jesus listens with peace, and slowly injects His peace into our hearts. This peace shows us the way out of anger, the way to forgive, and to be constructive in love. Have we been mourning? He holds us close to His Heart, where we find the warmth of His love, and the courage to hope in the eternal reunion that awaits us. As Our Lady says in her February 2, 2011 message: “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.” When we tell Jesus everything, He can teach us about who we are, in Him. We are made according to Him. He is the blueprint of humanity, and we can find ourselves in Him. This is what we so need, to know who we are in Christ. That knowledge frees us from the lies of our enemy and sets us on the road to joy! Jesus told St. Faustina that her words were dear to Him. He says that to us as well. He wants us to speak to him, at length, not with empty words, but from the depths of our hearts, our pain, our sorrow, our anger, our passions, our longings and our fears. He wants it all. He can transform us if we tell Him everything. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2017