Day: May 11, 2018

The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan Luminous Mysteries in Medjugorje May 12, 2018 Day Two – Novena to the Holy Spirit The Spirit of Sonship! Dear Family of Mary! This is Day Two of our Novena to the Holy Spirit. Today Our Lady prays that the action of the Holy Spirit in our hearts will strengthen us, heal us, and make us children and apostles of Jesus. St. Paul tells us that “you have received the spirit of sonship” (Rom 8:14). May we receive the Holy Spirit as children of God, and be made strong in love. “Dear children, I love you all. All of you, all of my children, all of you are in my heart. All of you have my motherly love, and I desire to lead all of you to come to know God’s joy. This is why I am calling you. I need humble apostles who, with an open heart, will accept the Word of God and help others to comprehend the meaning of their life alongside God’s word. To be able to do this my children, through prayer and fasting, you must learn to listen with the heart and to learn to keep submitting yourselves. You must learn to keep rejecting everything that distances you from God’s word and to yearn only for that which draws you closer to it. Do not be afraid. I am here. You are not alone. I am imploring the Holy Spirit to renew and strengthen you. I am imploring the Holy Spirit that, as you help others, you too may be healed. I am imploring Him that, through Him, you may be God’s children and my apostles.“ (September 2, 2013) St. Paul wrote to the Romans about the action of the Holy Spirit. The entire letter to the Romans is a school on the Holy Spirit! But especially here in Chapter 8 we hear the call to become children of God: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8: 14-17). One of the most wonderful actions of the Holy Spirit is that of Baptism, when we are born into the family of God and become sons and daughters of God. We are included in the family of Heaven, made participants in the light of God’s truth! But we must constantly choose to remain in God’s family. This is done through the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist. Through the action of the Holy Spirit we, who stray from the truth and commit sin, can be reattached to the vine, the Family of God, and be nourished even daily to stay strong on the way of love. We can live our true life as sons and daughters of God. Let us pray: Prayer to Live as a Child of God Father in Heaven, when the Spirit came down upon Jesus at His Baptism in the Jordan, You revealed Him as Your Own Beloved Son. Keep me, Your child, born of water and the Spirit, faithful to my calling. May I, who share in Your Life as Your child through Baptism, follow in Christ’s path of service to people. Let me become one in His Sacrifice and hear His Word with faith. May I live as Your child, following the example of Jesus. Amen. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2018

  The Coming of the Holy Spirit Bronze Relief on Apparition Hill, Medjugorje by Carmelo Puzzolo May 11, 2018 Novena to the Holy Spirit, Day 1 Springs of Living Water! Dear Family of Mary! Today we begin the Novena to the Holy Spirit which will culminate with the Feast of Pentecost! This year I want to keep the readings and prayers simple and short. We will consider a message from Our Lady of Medjugorje, read a scripture and then pray a prayer to the Holy Spirit. Let’s ask Our Lady to guide us in this novena, preparing us as she prepared the Apostles in the upper room on that first Pentecost! Our Lady spoke to us on April 2, 2014: “Dear children, with a motherly love I desire to help you with your life of prayer and penance to be a sincere attempt at drawing closer to my Son and His divine light – that you may know how to separate yourselves from sin. Every prayer, every Mass and every fasting is an attempt at drawing closer to my Son, a reminder of His glory and a refuge from sin – it is a way to a renewed union of the good Father and His children. Therefore, my dear children, with hearts open and full of love, cry out the name of the Heavenly Father that He may illuminate you with the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit you will become a spring of God’s love. All those who do not know my Son, all those thirsting for the love and peace of my Son, will drink from this spring. Thank you. Pray for your shepherds. I pray for them and I desire that they may always feel the blessing of my motherly hands and the support of my motherly heart.” (April 02, 2014) This reminds me of Jesus’ words in John, Chapter 7: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, `Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (Jn 7: 37-39) When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, our hearts become springs of living water, springs of the love of God, which flow out on those who do not know the love of Jesus. The Holy Spirit makes us capable of loving others. This is a great thing. We can change the world, if we learn to love and are empowered to love by the Spirit. Prayer: O Holy Spirit Uncreated Love of the Ever-blessed Trinity, you are living Water and living Fire. Fill my heart with the streams of your grace, and make it clean before you. Fill my heart with the fire of your love, and burn up all the dross in it, that it may be bright in your eyes. Lord Jesus, let your Holy Spirit dwell ever more and more in my heart. Amen In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2018