January 19, 2021 Reflection – Permit Jesus to begin to rule in your lives…
Permit Jesus to begin to rule in your lives… January 19, 2021 Dear Family of Mary! We continue to prayerfully consider the December 25, 2020 message through Jakov: “That is why, my children, surrender your hearts to Jesus and permit Him to begin to rule your lives, because only in this way, will you accept the present and be able to face the world in which you live today…” (12/25/20 – Jakov) Our Lady is determined to make one point in this message. That point is that we must surrender ourselves to her Son. We must recognize how much we need Jesus, and completely surrender our lives to Him. She is insistence on this point. I believe she sees the world from eternity, and she knows what is coming. And she knows that we will not be safe until we are completely under the authority of Jesus, safely standing under His leadership and command. “Surrender your hearts to Jesus and permit Him to begin to rule your lives…” What does it mean to permit Jesus to begin to rule our lives? How does Jesus rule in us? I believe it has to do with taking Jesus’ words and deeds into our hearts, where they can begin to change us and mold us into His image. It is when we get to know Jesus through prayer, through the Scriptures and through the Sacraments, that we slowly begin to see Him as our Lord. We see how worthy He is to be given authority over us, to be our teacher, our perfect example, our ideal, and yet our loving brother who desires only to be loved by us and to love us! St. Paul learned to love Jesus in this way. And he struggled to draw all men into that love, that compassionate rule of Christ. He wrote the Colossians about how to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts”. St. Paul wrote: Colossians 3: 1-17 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you once walked when you lived in them. But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth’ian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:1-17) “…only in this way, will you accept the present and be able to face the world in which you live today…” We live in a very dark time, in a very dark world. If we try to face this darkness on our own power, with our won wisdom, and our own strength, we will fail. The only we to face this present time in this present world situation is to allow Christ to face it in us and through us. Jesus wants to rule in us, to live in us in His fullness, so that He can overcome the world, and defeat the enemy of our souls. He needs our surrender so that He can take over in and through us. In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2021