Day: February 12, 2020

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us! Our Lady of Medjugorje, pray for us! February 12, 2020 Dear Family of Mary! April 25, 2015 “Dear children! I am with you also today to lead you to salvation. Your soul is restless because your spirit is weak and tired from all worldly things. You, little children, pray to the Holy Spirit that He may transform you and fill you with His strength of faith and hope, so that you may be firm in this battle against evil. I am with you and intercede for you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Yesterday, at the Evening Mass in Medjugorje, a young priest gave a beautiful homily for the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. He spoke about the apparitions in Lourdes, and then made a comparison with the apparitions in Medjugorje. I have transcribed the second half of his beautiful homily, so that we can hear his words about Our Lady and what she is leading us to in this day in Medjugorje. You can hear the entire homily on Mary TV in the Archive of the Evening International Mass in Medjugorje (https://marytv.tv/english-mass-in-medjugorje-13/  ) After describing the amazing events in Lourdes, the homilist continued: The Blessed Virgin Mary once again today invites us to become part of her legion in the battle against the powers of evil, even in the Catholic Church! As a sign of our participation in her offensive, for centuries she has asked of us conversion of heart, great dedication to Holy Confession, Holy Eucharist, the daily prayer of the Rosary, endless prayer, and accepting suffering for the salvation of the world. Brothers and sisters, it could seem to us that this is to little. But in the Hands of the Good God, in whom nothing is impossible, this is a very strong weapon. As at that time when little David with a little stone and sling shot, defeated a giant, Goliath, who was armed with a sword. We today, armed with the little beads of the Rosary in daily prayer, can strongly resist our wicked opponent, and conquer and defeat him. The battle between God and His enemy has always been through history, very severe, and that is the same today as well. The Church today is deeply in the swamp of secularism, which desires to turn the world away from God, to be without God and without God’s law. And the swamp of relativism which desires to blow away the unchangeable truth about God which is the Gospel. And religious indifference which remains unchanged and does not value the higher things which are of God and eternal life. The battle, brothers and sisters, has many victims. Many families and individuals are destroyed. Even before he was elected pope, St. John Paul II, as Cardinal Wojtyla in 1976, said: “We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up and face courageously…”  Relativism has entered into the Church and that is why it is shaken at this moment. Brothers and sisters, the Church doesn’t have a problem with unbelievers, pagans who belong to false religions or atheists. Today the problem is the unfaithful believer, who instead of loving his fellow man and carrying the light into the world, remains unfaithful to his task.   But one thing is certain. The ultimate victory belongs to God. And that will become true thanks to Mary as well. The Woman of the Book of Genesis and the Woman of the Book of Revelation, who confronts the old enemy, Satan. And she will crush his head. At the Grotto of Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin Mary told us that true happiness, perfect happiness is only in heaven. Man has no peace under this sky if he does not accept the eternal truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Our Lady of Lourdes said. “I cannot promise you that you will be happy in this world, but in the next.” Brothers and sisters, this is what we truly need today. The life of Bernadette very clearly showed. She was blessed to see Our Lady, but a cross was deeply planted in her. She was worn out by Tuberculosis and she died at the young age of 35. But she accepted to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The example of such saints we need so much today. We must not allow ourselves to adjust to the world. We must fight for the light of Christ. So that it may enter my own life, so that it may enter my family, and that it may enter the peoples of the world. Not the customs of human emptiness, not our ways but Christ’s way. Only then will a new spring come to the Church, that will be reflected to the entire world. The transformation of Christians will happen, if they receive the power and strength from above. Mary is full of grace. Because of that, brothers and sisters, she is crushing satan. Only Christians, in prayer, in penance, and in the grace of Christ Jesus, Our King, can resist and win as Mary did. She, Woman and Mother, remains for all times as a role model of faith to us. A role model of persistent love and the battle for the good of man. Her example of life, her suffering, her presence at the Cross on Golgotha, must be deeply imprinted on our hearts when we find ourselves alone on our own Golgotha’s. Then we can call to her and ask her, with her Son, to be with us on our journeys to heaven. Brothers and Sisters, God created us for heaven. He created us for eternity. He created us for Himself. That is why Mary remains the Morning Star which always illuminates and gives light through the centuries and directs us to God’s love for every single person. For ever and ever. Amen In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2020