Day: December 16, 2018

Priests and religious at Mirjana’s Apparition exercising the gift of hope! (c) Mateo Ivankovic 2017 December 17, 2018 Christmas Novena Day 3 – Hope! Dear Family of Mary! Today we are praying for an increase in our hope. Hope can be a tricky virtue to understand. We can think that hope has to do with achieving or receiving the things we think we need in this life. We can set God up as the one who will give us what we hope for, forgetting that God has a much bigger plan in mind and that our hoped for desires may actually be detrimental to us. The Catechism tells us: Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 1817) The hope that comes from God is a gift that helps to purify our desires! We start to want the things of heaven more than the things of earth. We start to have a fire in our hearts for Jesus and His love which burns away all our lower desires and helps us to see our life in terms of eternity. The Virtue of Hope sets our eyes on God. It shows us what is awaiting us, and keeps us positive and moving ahead because we know that God is faithful and will not let us down. Our hope is secure in God! It is nearly impossible to live without hope. So that is what the enemy does to us, takes away all hope, because we lose sight of what we should be hoping for and feel only the loss of the things of earth. In this message Our Lady gives us everything we need for a solid Hope: December 25, 2016 “Dear children! With great joy, today I am carrying my Son Jesus to you, for Him to give you His peace. Open your hearts, little children, and be joyful that you can receive it. Heaven is with you and is fighting for peace in your hearts, in the families and in the world; and you, little children, help with your prayers for it to be so. I bless you with my Son Jesus and call you not to lose hope; and for your gaze and heart to always be directed towards Heaven and eternity. In this way, you will be open to God and to His plans. Thank you for having responded to my call.” How can we lose hope when we have such a Mother!! How can we lose hope when Jesus is our Brother and Lord? Let us pray: May the Virgin Mary help us to open the doors of our hearts to Christ, Redeemer of man and of history; may she teach us to be humble, because God looks upon the lowly; may she enable us to grow in understanding the value of prayer, of inner silence, of listening to God’s Word; may she spur us to seek God’s will deeply and sincerely, even when this upsets our plans; may she encourage us while we wait for the Lord, sharing our time and energies with those in need. Mother of God, Virgin of expectation, grant that the God-who-comes will find us ready to receive the abundance of his mercy. May Mary Most Holy, “Woman of the Eucharist” and Virgin of Advent, prepare us all to joyfully welcome Christ’s coming and to celebrate worthily his sacramental presence in the mystery of the Eucharist. -St. John Paul II We can add our Rosary to these prayers as part of the Novena! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2018

The joy of this little one is an image of the joy that Baby Jesus can give to us if we open ourselves to Him this Christmas! (c) Anthony Zubac   December 16, 2018 Third Sunday of Advent Dear Family of Mary! Today the priest wears rose colored vestments to signify that we should rejoice because our Savior has come and will come again! We are saved by the Blood of the Lamb, and our life with Christ is secured! The words of the Collect for this day say it well: “O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever.” So today we will pray for the gift of joy! Our Lady has often encouraged us to be joyful. Here is one message: “Dear children! Today I am with you in a special way, holding little Jesus in my lap and I invite you, little children, to open yourselves to His call. He calls you to joy. Little children, joyfully live the messages of the Gospel, which I am repeating in the time since I am with you. Little children, I am your Mother and I desire to reveal to you the God of love and the God of peace. I do not desire for your life to be in sadness but that it be realized in joy for eternity, according to the Gospel. Only in this way will your life have meaning. Thank you for having responded to my call. (December 25, 1996) Baby Jesus calls us to joy!!! Is it not true that babies call us to joy? You cannot look upon a little one without smiling inside and out. Their innocence, their inquisitiveness, their openness and trust, their beauty, everything about them calls forth a response of joyful delight in us. How much more does the Baby Jesus evoke joy in our souls as we behold Him in His Nativity in Bethlehem. Our Lady brings Jesus to us in a special way at Christmas. In this apparition, she was holding Him on her lap. She wants us to be intimate with Her Son. This is all she desires, to bring us into close proximity to Him, and to let His pure love penetrate us to the depths. May we meditate on the Infant Jesus every day of this novena and every day afterwards. Baby Jesus is calling us to joy! May we respond to His call with open hearts and trust! Let us pray: May the Virgin Mary help us to open the doors of our hearts to Christ, Redeemer of man and of history; may she teach us to be humble, because God looks upon the lowly; may she enable us to grow in understanding the value of prayer, of inner silence, of listening to God’s Word; may she spur us to seek God’s will deeply and sincerely, even when this upsets our plans; may she encourage us while we wait for the Lord, sharing our time and energies with those in need. Mother of God, Virgin of expectation, grant that the God-who-comes will find us ready to receive the abundance of his mercy. May Mary Most Holy, “Woman of the Eucharist” and Virgin of Advent, prepare us all to joyfully welcome Christ’s coming and to celebrate worthily his sacramental presence in the mystery of the Eucharist. -St. John Paul II We can add our Rosary to these prayers as part of the Novena! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2018