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Day: December 16, 2020

The December 17, 2020, Reflection – Jesus gives Himself to each of us…

Jesus gives Himself to each of us! December 17, 2020 Christmas Novena Day 3 Dear Family of Mary! “…Open your hearts to Jesus who gives Himself to each of you…” (11/25/20) Our Lady has asked us to open our hearts many times throughout her almost 40 years with us in Medjugorje.  As our Mother, she has tried to teach us to live simple lives, completely given over to God.  She has wanted us to live out of a deep faith and trust in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  That deep trust creates an openness towards God which allows the Lord to come to us and even enter into our hearts. I always think of Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel: Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) Doesn’t this promise of Jesus make you shiver with joy?  If we love Jesus, and we keep His word, which is do everything He has taught us the best we can, then His Father will love us!  And Jesus and the Father will MAKE THEIR HOME WITH US!!! I think opening our hearts to Jesus has everything to do with loving Him and keeping His word.  If we do these two things, we open the door of our heart wide!  We say “Welcome” to Jesus and to the Father and of course the Holy Spirit.  And then we find we have made our heart a home!!  A home for the Trinity! Of course, Jesus started this process first, by becoming a Man, by choosing to become one of us.  And in that human estate, doing everything He possibly could to teach us about Himself, His love for us, His desire for us to be healed, His gift of the truth to us so that we would no longer sin, His sacrifice on the Cross, so that we could be forgiven and reunited with His Father.  Jesus offers Himself to us over and over again, day in and day out.  He makes the first move.  He never lets up.  He loves us so much.  But never the less, we are the ones who have to love Him back and make some kind of move in His direction.  Only then can He enter our hearts. This brings me back to the understanding we had yesterday of how Jesus can be born in our hearts.  “He can bring that moment of His birth into our moment in time.  And somehow, He can make each of our hearts into that stable, that poor, lowly place where He was born.  And we can welcome Him in our poverty and emptiness, just as the stable did.  We can welcome Our Lady and St. Joseph and the animals and the stars and the shepherds into our hearts, so that we can all adore the Christ Child together there.  Jesus can do that.  All we have to do is pray for it and permit Him to do it!” This could be the best Christmas we have ever had! Let us pray: Dearest Baby Jesus.  I love You.  I can’t take our eyes off of You.  I long for You.  And I pray to You, please come and be born in my heart today.  And I say to You: I give you permission to be born in my heart right now, today.  I give you permission to use my poor stable of a heart as your birthplace.  I open the doors of my stable/heart, and I say to You, come!  Come with Your Father, Your Holy Spirit, Your Mother, Mary, and with Your foster father, Joseph, and find in my heart, a place to rest and be born.  I welcome You with wonder and awe.  And I love You with all of my strength.  Come and take over my stable of a heart.  It is Yours forever.  Amen. In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2020

The December 16, 2020, Reflection – Pray that little Jesus can be born in your hearts!

Pray, little children, that little Jesus can be born in your hearts! December 16, 2020 Christmas Novena, Day 2 Dear Family of Mary! “…Pray, little children, for little Jesus to be born in your hearts…”  (11/25/20) Over the years, Our Lady has told us several times to pray for little Jesus to be born in our hearts.  Each time she seems to assume that we know how to pray for such a startling and unusual gift. But do we actually think that Jesus can be born in our hearts?  How on earth can this happen? She gave us these instructions in 2009: “Dear children! All of this time in which God in a special way permits me to be with you, I desire to lead you on the way that leads to Jesus and to your salvation. My little children, you can find salvation only in God and therefore, especially on this day of grace with little Jesus in my arms, I call you to permit Jesus to be born in your hearts. Only with Jesus in your heart can you set out on the way of salvation and eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (12/25/2009) Our Lady told us that she was carrying little Jesus in her arms, actually bringing Him to us.  But that was not enough.  She told us we must permit Jesus to be born in our hearts!  The key word is “permit”.  I have never thought of giving Jesus permission to be born in my heart.  I never thought it was possible, or even likely that Jesus would want to be born in my heart. Well, with these two messages I pick up that we must pray for Jesus to be born in our hearts and we must permit Jesus to be born in our hearts.  We need to ask Him to be born in our heart and give Him permission. This is the way God relates to us, isn’t it.  He desires to make His home in our hearts, but He will not come unless we pray for it (desire it) and give Him permission to come (give Him authority to come into our very heart).  This is the wonder of our freedom and autonomy.  We have been given the incredible dignity of our own freedom and privacy. But then there is the question of the birth.  What does that mean?  Jesus was born, once and for all in Bethlehem in a stable to Mary and Joseph!  He can’t be reborn in millions of people.  No, but He can bring that moment of His birth into our moment in time.  And somehow, He can make each of our hearts into that stable, that poor, lowly place where He was born.  And we can welcome Him in our poverty and emptiness, just as the stable did.  We can welcome Our Lady and St. Joseph and the animals and the stars and the shepherds into our hearts, so that we can all adore the Christ Child together there.  Jesus can do that.  All we have to do is pray for it and permit Him to do it! Maybe it is just this moment, the Birth of Christ in the Stable, that we need to have alive within us every day.  Maybe it is this reality that we need to live every hour of every day.  Why?  Because it is the Miracle of God’s love for us!  The Miracle of God’s salvation.  The Miracle of God’s tender Mercy.  It is the Gift of our Redeemer, come as a newborn Child.  And we will have nothing to fear because Jesus will be born in our hearts this day and every day, until we arrive in Heaven.  Jesus’s birth in us will continue to heal and purify us until the day we enter Heaven. Let us pray: Dearest Baby Jesus.  I love You.  I can’t take our eyes off of You.  I long for You.  And I pray to You, please come and be born in my heart today.  And I say to You: I give you permission to be born in my heart right now, today.  I give you permission to use my poor stable of a heart as your birthplace.  I open the doors of my stable/heart, and I say to You, come!  Come with Your Mother, Mary, and with Your foster father, Joseph, and find in my heart, a place to rest and be born.  I welcome You with wonder and awe.  And I love You with all of my strength.  Come and take over my stable of a heart.  It is Yours forever.  Amen. In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2020 P.S. The parish of Medjugorje continues the Novena before Christmas today! Each day the parish will climb Apparition Hill, praying the Rosary. Mary TV will stream this event, live, each day, at 2:00 pm Medjugorje time. You can join in on our Channel at www.marytv.tv