Author: Cathy Nolan

(c)Mary TV / Anthony Zubac November 18, 2019The Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul, ApostlesSt. Rose Philippine Duchesne Dear Family of Mary! We are in the last two weeks of this Liturgical Year – 2019. The readings we are hearing at Mass deal with the last things, with death, judgement and eternity. This makes us grow increasingly aware of our own future. We all have a future. But what that future will be depends on how radically we have chosen to follow Jesus. I hope to use these last two weeks as a time to reflect on what Our Lady has said to us about our own personal futures. She is not shy to talk about this reality. Maybe, with her help, we can reflect on this most important aspect of our lives. In 1986, she said to us: November 27, 1986 “Dear children! Again today I call you to consecrate your life to me with love, so I am able to guide you with love. I love you, dear children, with a special love and I desire to bring you all to Heaven unto God. I want you to realize that this life lasts briefly compared to the one in Heaven. Therefore, dear children, decide again today for God. Only that way will I be able to show how much you are dear to me and how much I desire all to be saved and to be with me in Heaven. Thank you for having responded to my call.” “Dear children! Again today I call you to consecrate your life to me with love, so I am able to guide you with love…” Our Lady begins this message by calling us to consecrate ourselves, our entire lives, all of our selves, to her. She wants to be able to guide us, with love. But she can’t do it without our consecration to her. It is easy to overlook this call to consecration. Most of us have done some kind of consecration to Mary in our past. But we may be forgetting it in our day to day lives.  We want to know what she has to say about Heaven. But we won’t get very far on our own steam with our own ideas. We have to surrender to Mary every day and let her lead us towards Heaven and unity with God. We have to make our consecration every day!! So before we go any further, let’s pray this short consecration to Our Lady. Say it with simplicity and trust. It will prepare us to hear the rest of the message: Act of Consecration to Mary O my Queen, O my Mother, I love you and give myself to you. I give to you this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole self. Since I am yours, keep me and guard me as your child forever. Amen. I think if we memorize this little consecration and pray it often throughout the day, we will begin to experience the power of living under Mary’s guidance. “I love you, dear children, with a special love and I desire to bring you all to Heaven unto God…” Once we have given ourselves to Our Lady, she will show us her special love. That love brings us to Heaven unto God! The fruit of our consecration to Mary will be an infilling of her love, which will change us. Her love will teach us what love really is, and we will begin to love as well. That love will help us to draw closer to the reality of Heaven. “I want you to realize that this life lasts briefly compared to the one in Heaven…” As we grow in Our Mother’s school of love, we will begin to have her eternal perspective on our lives. We will begin to comprehend Heaven in all its glory, and what the word “forever” really means. We will be able to see our earthly lives in comparison to the “forever life” of Heaven, and we will loosen our tight grip on the present. In comparison to “forever” what are a few years on earth? “Therefore, dear children, decide again today for God. Only that way will I be able to show how much you are dear to me and how much I desire all to be saved and to be with me in Heaven…” The bottom line is that if we are living our lives in consecration to Our Lady, and we begin to see our lives on earth as only a short preparation for eternity, we will be ready each day to decide for God! We will want to live for God, because our Mother lives for God, and we want to follow her lead. Her desire for our salvation will be an impetus for our own change of heart. We will want what she wants. And she wants us to become holy and live with her in God. Once we have done that, we will fall in love with God ourselves, and that is of course, Heaven. We want to be with God in Heaven forever!! So today, let’s consecrate ourselves to Mary, and see what happens. If we do it every day we will really see what happens! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan©Mary TV 2019

(c)Mary TV 2018   November 15, 2019St. Albert the Great Dear Family of Mary! “…The Heavenly Father gave Himself through a human face, and this face is the face of my Son. You, apostles of my love, you should always carry the face of my Son in your hearts and your thoughts. You should always think of His love and His sacrifice. You should pray to always feel His presence, because, apostles of my love, that is the way for you to help all those who do not know my Son, who have not come to know His love…” (November 2, 2019) A Litany of the Holy Face of Jesus(attributed to Sister Mary of St. Peter, Carmelite) Lord, have mercy on us.Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us.Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.Holy Virgin Mary,Pray for us. O Jesus, Whose adorable Face Mary and Joseph worshiped with profoundest reverence,Have mercy on us.* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is the masterpiece of the Holy Ghost, in which the Father was well pleased,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face ravished with joy the angels, shepherds and Magi in the stable of Bethlehem,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face wounded with a dart of love the aged Simeon and the Prophetess Anna in the temple,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face was bathed in tears in Thy holy infancy,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face at the age of twelve astonished the doctors in the temple,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is white with purity and ruddy with charity,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is more beautiful than the sun, brighter than the moon and more brilliant than the stars,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is lovelier than the roses of spring,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is more precious than gold, silver and gems,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face wins all hearts by its charms and grace,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is most noble in its heavenly features,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is contemplated by the angels,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is the sweet delight of the saints,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face was the joy of Thy Virgin Mother and Thy foster-father,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is the ineffable mirror of the Divine perfections,* O Jesus, the beauty of Whose adorable Face is ever ancient and ever new,* O Jesus, the modesty and mildness of Whose adorable Face attracts both just and sinners,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face appeases the Divine wrath,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is the terror of the evil spirits,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face is the treasure of grace and blessings,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face was exposed to the inclemency of the weather in the wilderness,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face was bathed with sweat in Thy journeys and scorched with the heat of the sun,* O Jesus, the expression of Whose adorable Face is wholly Divine,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face gave a holy kiss and blessing to the little children,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face sorrowed and wept at the grave of Lazarus,* O Jesus, Whose adorable Face was brilliant as the sun and radiant with glory on Mount Tabor,* V. The light of Thy Face has been shed upon us, O Lord.R. Thou hast given joy to our hearts. O Adorable Face, worthy of all reverence, veneration and worship,* O Adorable Face, sorrowful at the sight of Jerusalem and shedding tears over that ungrateful city,* O Adorable Face, bowed to the earth in the Garden of Olives and covered with confusion for our sins,* O Adorable Face, bathed in a bloody sweat,* O Adorable Face, kissed by the traitor Judas,* O Adorable Face, Whose sanctity and majesty smote the soldiers with fear and cast them to the ground,* O Adorable Face, struck by an infamous servant, blindfolded and profaned by the sacrilegious hands of Thine enemies,* O Adorable Face, denied with spittle and bruised by so many buffets and blows,* O Adorable Face, Whose Divine look wounded the heart of Peter with repentance, sorrow and love,* O Adorable Face, humbled for us at the tribunals of Jerusalem,* O Adorable Face, which didst preserve Thy serenity when Pilate pronounced the fatal sentence,* O Adorable Face, covered with sweat and blood and forced into the mire under the weight to the Cross,* O Adorable Face, the brow crowned with deep and piercing thorns,* O Adorable Face, wiped with a veil by a pious woman on the way to Calvary,* O Adorable Face, raised on the instrument of the most shameful punishment,* O Adorable Face, Whose eyes shed tears of blood,* O Adorable Face, Whose mouth was tormented with vinegar and gall,* O Adorable Face, Whose hair and beard were plucked out by executioners,* O Adorable Face, disfigured like the face of a leper,* O Adorable Face, Whose incomparable beauty was obscured under the fearful cloud of the sins of the world,* O Adorable Face, covered with the sad shades of death,* O Adorable Face, washed and anointed by Mary and the holy women, and covered with a shroud,* O Adorable Face, enclosed in the sepulcher,* O Adorable Face, all resplendent with glory and beauty on the day of Thy Resurrection,* O Adorable Face, all dazzling with light at the moment of Thine Ascension,* O Adorable Face, hidden in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar,* O Adorable Face, which will appear at the end of time in the clouds, with great power and majesty,* O Adorable Face, which will cause sinners to tremble with terror,* O Adorable Face, which will fill the just with joy for all eternity,* V. O Lord, show us Thy Face,R. And we shall be saved.    Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world:Spare us, O Lord! Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world:Graciously hear us, O Lord! Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world:Have mercy on us, O Lord! Let us pray:     I salute Thee, I adore Thee, I love Thee, O adorable Face of Jesus, my Beloved, noble seal of the Divinity! With all the powers of my soul, I apply myself to Thee, and most humbly pray Thee to imprint in us all the features of Thy Divine Countenance. R. Amen. We beseech Thee, O Almighty and merciful God, grant to us and to all who venerate the Countenance of Thy dearly beloved Son, all disfigured by our sins, the grace to behold It throughout eternity in the glory of its majesty. Through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is, with Thee and the Holy Spirit, every one God, world without end. R. Amen. O my Jesus! cast upon us a look of mercy; turn Thy Face toward each of us as Thou didst to Veronica; not that we may see It with our bodily eyes, for this we do not deserve, but turn It toward our hearts, so that remembering Thee, we may ever draw from this fountain of strength the vigor necessary to sustain the combats of life. Amen.   In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan(c)Mary TV 2019 

(c)Mary TV 2018   November 14, 2019 Dear Family of Mary! May 25, 2001 “Dear children! At this time of grace, I call you to prayer. Little children, you work much but without God’s blessing. Bless and seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead you at this time so that you may comprehend and live in the grace of this time. Convert, little children, and kneel in the silence of your hearts. Put God in the center of your being so that, in that way, you can witness in joy the beauty that God continually gives in your life. Thank you for having responded to my call.”   “Bless and seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead you at this time so that you may comprehend and live in the grace of this time….” First Reading for Mass, November 14, 2019 – Wisdom 7:22 to 8:1 I learned both what is secret and what is manifest, for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well. (Wis 7:21 to 8:1) “Convert, little children, and kneel in the silence of your hearts. Put God in the center of your being so that, in that way, you can witness in joy the beauty that God continually gives in your life…” In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan©Mary TV 2019   

(c)Mary TV 2019  November 13, 2019St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Dear Family of Mary! Today’s Gospel: Luke 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going, they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”  (Luke 17:11-19) Only 1 out of 10 is not a very good showing. Only one leper returned to thank Jesus. The other 9 went dutifully to the priests to show them they were healed and to be allowed back into Hebrew society. But they didn’t return to thank their healer. Maybe that process of rejoining society was so wonderful that they just forgot about Jesus. And maybe the Samaritan who would never be let back into Hebrew society had nowhere else to go? And so, he came back to Jesus, knowing from whence his healing came. It is very easy to think that the good things that happen to us come from others, like our family, our coworkers, our friends, etc. But ultimately all that we have and are comes from God. It seems important to not let our personal relationships or societal relationships cloud our thinking. Everything is from God and we can’t earn any of it. It is free gift, given from our loving Creator. So, like the Samaritan Leper, let’s return to Jesus, constantly. Let’s fall at His feet and give thanks for everything! Here are five messages from Our Lady that speak eloquently about giving thanks to God. We could use them as meditation during a Rosary today. October 3, 1985 “Dear children! I wish to tell you to thank God for all the graces which God has given you. For all the fruits thank the Lord and glorify him! Dear children, learn to give thanks in little things and then you will be able to give thanks also for the big things. Thank you for having responded to my call.” August 25, 1988 “Dear children! Today I invite you all to rejoice in the life which God gives you. Little children, rejoice in God, the Creator, because He has created you so wonderfully. Pray that your life be joyful thanksgiving which flows out of your heart like a river of joy. Little children, give thanks unceasingly for all that you possess, for each little gift which God has given you, so that a joyful blessing always comes down from God upon your life. Thank you for having responded to my call.” April 25, 1989 “Dear children! I am calling you to a complete surrender to God. Let everything that you possess be in the hands of God. Only in that way shall you have joy in your heart. Little children, rejoice in everything that you have. Give thanks to God because everything is God’s gift to you. That way in your life you shall be able to give thanks for everything and discover God in everything even in the smallest flower. Thank you for having responded to my call.”   September 25, 1989 “Dear children! Today I invite you to give thanks to God for all the gifts you have discovered in the course of your life and even for the least gift that you have perceived. I give thanks with you and want all of you to experience the joy of these gifts. And I want God to be everything for each one of you. And then, little children, you can grow continuously on the way of holiness. Thank you for responding to my call.”   July 25, 2001 “Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you to come even closer to God through your personal prayer. Make good use of the time of rest and give your soul and your eyes rest in God. Find peace in nature and you will discover God the Creator Whom you will be able to give thanks to for all creatures; then you will find joy in your heart. Thank you for having responded to my call.” August 25, 2003 “Dear children! Also today I call you to give thanks to God in your heart for all the graces which He gives you, also through the signs and colors that are in nature. God wants to draw you closer to Himself and moves you to give Him glory and thanks. Therefore, little children, I call you anew to pray, pray, pray and do not forget that I am with you. I intercede before God for each of you until your joy in Him is complete. Thank you for having responded to my call.”   In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan©Mary TV 2019

(c)Mary TV 2019  November 12, 2019St. Josephat Dear Family of Mary! “…My children, read the book of the Gospel. It is always something new, it is what binds you to my Son who was born to bring the words of life to all of my children and to sacrifice Himself for all…” (November 2, 2019) Our Lady instructs us to spend time daily with the Scriptures. Even just reading a verse a day can change our lives. And so many times, a verse we have heard many times will suddenly take on a deeper, living meaning for us. God’s word is living!! Take for example the Gospel for today. Jesus tells us: Jesus said to the Apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So, should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Lk 17:7-10) Well, of course this scripture teaches us about the right order between us and God. We are only unprofitable servants. We can’t even get our own little jobs right!! But as I read these words, I suddenly had a picture in my mind of another dinner table. Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” So, when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. (John 13:1-16) We see here that Jesus spoke the truth to the Apostles in the reading from Luke, but he acted out an even deeper truth at the Last Supper according to John. Jesus’ love is so much more than we will ever understand. But we will experience it, in part here on earth and in full in Heaven. Indeed, Scripture is always new! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan© Mary TV 2019

(c)Mary TV    November 11, 2019St. Martin of Tours Dear Family of Mary! Today I want to share with you a wonderful homily given at the International Mass on Saturday evening, November 9, 2019. It was given by Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo OFM. The Archbishop was on a visit to Medjugorje to speak with all the communities that have houses in Medjugorje. His homily is a great blessing to us all. You can listen for yourselves at this link: https://marytv.tv/more-from-medjugojre/  Sometimes it helps to read a homily after you have heard it, to reinforce what has been said. So here is the transcription (made from the English translation). Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo OFM – Secretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life  Nov 9, 2019 Homily and closing remarks at the International Mass in Medjugorje Homily: Dear Brothers and Sisters, I would like to greet you with the words of our Seraphic Father, St. Francis. “May God give you peace.” “One of the rules when discerning the vocation for life is to try to imagine oneself at the moment of death and consider there and then one’s own life, reviewing it and asking oneself what criteria I would have allowed to observe in that choice.” These are the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola who with these words referred to a long spiritual tradition which he experienced and lived when meditating of death. This is a certain spiritual exercise that asks us to meditate on death in order to be able to understand one’s life. This is not “in”, it is not fashionable now because thinking of death scares us. But I think that Ignatius was also right in his thinking because this form of meditation with help us to understand the profound reason of our existence. Such a meditation has its roots in a long Biblical experience. It is enough to think of Psalm 90 in which the psalmist prays to the Lord asking for the ability to count his days. And brothers and sisters that is the only way to obtain the true, profound understanding of our heart, and the wisdom of the heart. There are two ways to think about death. You can think of death as a dramatic end of life. Or we can think of it as a threshold in which we cross over and enter the fullness of life. Our culture, the culture of today tends to [ignore] death. The Sadducees we have heard in the Gospel had such an attitude. The did not believe in the Resurrection. They focused on only 5 books of the Old Testament. In the time of Jesus, the Sadducees were the fundamentalists of Palestine. And their dream was to enjoy life on earth the best they could. That is why they ignored death. They did not have any other logic than to be radically present in the moment, here, today. They wanted to be fortified in their own welfare. And I repeat this for the third time, that is the mentality of our time. We do enjoy what we have as much as possible without thinking of what will come. This attitude was disabling the Sadducees to generate life. That is why they went on and on about a woman who was married that many times and had no offspring. The Sadducees lived in the logic of having and enjoying. Not the logic of gift. Dear brothers and sisters, only if we are capable of living in the logic of giving ourselves away can we be capable of generating life. Only if we live in agape, that is the gift of becoming love without any limitation, then we can generate life – to continue to give birth to life. I believe that the Gospel we have heard today invite us to live in the logic of gift and giving. Because this is the logic of God. God gave everything to us in His Son. Without reserve. Without holding Himself back. Dear Brothers and sisters, I invite you, I invite myself to live in that logic. To give ourselves without limitation, living for God and for others. To live in this time in the way in which we are capable of dying to ourselves, and offering up to the Lord, and thus being able to generate life, to give birth to life, to eternal life. We have come in great numbers from different parts of the world to this place where you can touch the presence of Mary. Mary is that woman who lived completely and entirely that logic of giving. She gave herself to God. “Let it be done to me according to Thy word.” And she gave herself to others. Think of the Visitation. Mary hastened to help her cousin Elizabeth. Think of the Wedding at Cana. Mary realizes the difficulty in which the spouses found themselves running out of wine. Mary hastened to help them. Think of the Cenacle. The Blessed Mother accompanied the Apostles who were afraid. Here we are in the house of Our Mother [Medjugorje]. This is her place, her home. Let us leave it, convinced that our lives only make sense when we are giving ourselves away for the sake of others. First of all, to God. And then through God to all the others. When they encounter us in places where they live, that they may all say, “That person was in the house of our Mother. Certainly, that person prayed with Mother and to Mother. That person certainly listened to the lessons that Mother gives to all of us. Because Mary is Mother and Teacher. And therefore, she is the first follower of her Son. As St. Paul said in the second reading that we heard this evening, “God confirms us in all that is good. May He fortify us in it, as He fortifies us in faith in His resurrection.” May God reconfirm us in our ability to give ourselves without limitation to Him and to others. Peace and welfare, Brothers and Sisters. And after Mass: Thank you for your hospitality. Your hospitality has always been so brotherly, so fraternal! It is the grace of all of us who are religious, all of us who are Franciscan! Wherever we go…we are present in 163 countries of the world, and wherever we go we find our brothers. Thank you for always making me feel here, at home. And let us invoke a blessing on all of us here, and not just here but all our beloved ones at home. Let us invoke the blessing of the Lord on all of those who are sick, those who suffer in body, mind and soul. And let us pray until all of us become a blessing for the others. Let us return home [from Medjugorje], at least, a bit more converted than earlier. Let us return home holy and converted. Let us return home a little bit different than we were when we came here. Let us ask that grace from the Blessed Mother to become a blessing for the others. And say to all that Mary loves everybody. In the heart of Mary there is a place for everybody. Even there is a place for her children who are disgraced, the least fortunate ones. And, also, please pray for me. Pray for the Holy Father. Pray for the Church. Pray for peace in the world. You can listen for yourselves at this link: https://marytv.tv/more-from-medjugojre/ Thank you, Archbishop José, for your words of faith and wisdom. Indeed: “Here we are in the house of Our Mother [Medjugorje]. This is her place, her home.” Our Lady has told us the same thing. May 2, 2008 “Dear children, By God’s will I am here with you in this place. I desire that you open your hearts to me and to accept me as a mother. With my love I will teach you simplicity of life and richness of mercy and I will lead you to my Son. The way to Him can be difficult and painful but do not be afraid, I will be with you. My hands will hold you to the very end, to eternal happiness; therefore do not be afraid to open yourselves to me. Thank you. Pray for priests. My Son gave them to you as a gift…” Yes, we accept you, dearest Mother, as our Mother. Please do hold us to the very end, to eternal happiness. We live in order to be with God for Eternity! Amen! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan© Mary TV 2019

(c)Mary TV    November 8, 2019 Dear Family of Mary! “…Apostles of my love, carried by the love for my Son, bring love and peace to all of your brothers. Judge no one. Love everyone according to the love for my Son. In this way, you will also be caring for your soul, and it [your soul] is that which is most precious, which truly belongs to you. Thank you.” (November 2, 2019) Our Lady’s words of love remind me of this prayer that St. Faustina prayed early in her religious life. It is a most beautiful prayer to God, asking that she could become Mercy for others. We can pray it in response to Our Lady’s call in the November 2, 2019 message:   + O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify Your mercy.   +1 want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection, O Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor.   Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors’ souls and come to their rescue.   Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors’ needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings.   Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.   Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks.   Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor.   Help me, O Lord, that my hart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.   + You Yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy. The first: the act of mercy, of whatever kind. The second: the word of mercy – if I cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words. The third: prayer – if I cannot show mercy by deeds or words, I can always do so by prayer. My prayer reaches out even there where I cannot reach out physically. O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself, for you can do all things. (St. Faustina’s Diary, 163)     In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan©Mary TV 2019

(c)Mary TV   November 7, 2019 Dear Family of Mary! “…My children, read the book of the Gospel. It is always something new, it is what binds you to my Son who was born to bring the words of life to all of my children and to sacrifice Himself for all. Apostles of my love, carried by the love for my Son, bring love and peace to all of your brothers. Judge no one. Love everyone according to the love for my Son. In this way, you will also be caring for your soul, and it [your soul] is that which is most precious, which truly belongs to you. Thank you.” (November 2, 2019) One of the five stones of Our Lady is the Bible. She asks us to read the Scriptures every day and to give the Bible a prominent place in our homes. The Scriptures are living! They contain the Truth and convey grace to us when we read them with faith. The Holy Spirit speaks to us individually when we pray over the Scriptures. As Our Lady said in this message, “It is always something new…” As I was praying about this reflection, I noticed that the First Reading for Holy Mass today speaks to Our Lady’s November 2 message in which she says to us, “Judge no one.” Here is the First Reading for November 7, 2019: “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So each of us shall give account of himself to God. Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” (Romans 14: 7 – 13) – [I also added the next line, 14, since it reinforces Our Lady’s call to not judge.] So much wisdom is presented to us in so few words by St. Paul, under the influence of the Holy Spirit! His argument is clear. Why do we live? We all live for the Lord. So if we all live for the Lord, we have no business judging others. We are all in the same boat. Each one of us will be judged by God. So we should be minding our own business, not the business of others. And if anything, we should be helping each other in this life, in preparation for the next! Indeed, Our Lady also wants us to know that loving our neighbor will be good for us in the end!! “Love everyone according to the love for my Son. In this way, you will also be caring for your soul, and it [your soul] is that which is most precious, which truly belongs to you.”  By caring for others, we are actually caring for ourselves as well.  To love and not to judge!  It is the way to go! It is good to read a Scripture over several times, slowly, and let the Holy Spirit speak to us through the words. I also like to read Our Lady’s messages several times. Who knows what wonderful gifts are waiting to be unwrapped in the Word of God and in the loving messages of Our Lady!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan© Mary TV 2019

(c)Mary TV   November 6, 2019 Dear Family of Mary! “Little children, I am with you, and I love you and I bless you and I wish for every one of you to be in my embrace…” (August 25, 1995) Fr. Jacobson has captured the most wonderful image in this homily from Tuesday, November 5.  He shares with us exactly what it is about Medjugorje that we love so much, and need so very much: Homily for English Mass in Medjugorje for November 5, 2019Fr. Joseph Jacobson I want to spend a few moments today on our Psalm for today (Psalm 131). Because it is a gem, it really is! I knew a very prominent man who died, and I was told this was his favorite Psalm. And you would never have guessed this about him, that this would be his favorite Psalm, given how successful he was. A name some of you would recognize if I told you. This was his favorite Psalm. It is so short I am going to read it and comment on it just briefly. Psalm 131 “Oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me… We might say with tongue in cheek when we come to Medjugorje – “I do not look for signs.” I don’t look for signs. I don’t expect a sign to be given to me. I’m just here close to the Heart of Jesus through Mary. I’m not here to expect great and marvelous and earthshaking stuff to happen to me. “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother. My soul is like a weaned child in its mother’s lap… Now let’s think about that one for a bit. A weaned child. What has that child been doing up until that point? Suckling on the mother’s breast, right? And that bond is incredibly strong. It lasts for a lifetime. Suckling on the mother’s breast. But now the mother has said the child can’t do that any longer. I’m expecting and your little brother or sister will need to nurse. So, you can’t do it anymore. I’m weaning you. Here is a bottle, or a little solid food…But… you can sit on my lap! You can sit on my lap! That type of weaning is in contrast to my neighbor to the south – I live in a farming community in Central Alberta (Canada). When my neighbor to the south weans his calves in the fall, he’s got to do it because he is going to breed his cows so there will be more calves in the spring. And so those calves who have spent their entire life literally cheek to joule so to speak with their mother, are suddenly taken to a pasture far away where they can’t have any access to their mothers. And let me tell you if you live within a mile of that place you can’t sleep for two or three nights. The calves bawl and bawl and bawl, and the mothers bawl back. Bu eventually they get used to it and the alienation is complete and they go on with life. They begin to think well it isn’t the same of mother’s milk, but grass is ok. But that’s not the way it is with Mary. She does want to wean us from that infant state, but she does not send us away. She weans us on her lap. And we, her children, are children who have developed to a certain point. We have a certain element of independence that we didn’t have before. But not independence to the point where we don’t need our mother. That’s what is so beautiful about this Psalm. It tells us that even when we have reached the point when we have become humanly independent to a degree, our mother never rejects us. She’s got us on her lap. She’s holding us close to her breast, even if we can’t suck it anymore. She is there for us in every possible way. So, then I can end up as the psalmist does: “Oh Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time on and forever more.” (Psalm 131) It gives us such hope for the future that our Blessed Mother leaves us on her lap and holds us there, and holds us there as weaned children. And now I will close with this point: You know Jesus tells us, Scripture tells us “Only a wicked and perverse generation seeks a sign.” But He also told us that a faithful generation will receive a sign. Many signs. So, the difference is between seeking a sign for its own sake or doing what God wants you to do and God confirming it with a good sign. He says, “Yah, you’re on the right track, you are doing the right thing.” The whole history of the Church is filled with that. People who don’t seek signs, but seek the Lord receive signs all the time. You have too, haven’t you. Signs that keep us on the right track and keep us on the right way. A number of our pilgrims yesterday had an extraordinary experience of the miracle of the sun. They were not looking for it. The are going to go home now even better equipped than they are now to be faithful witnesses to the Gospel, to draw people into the love of Mary so that they can come closer to Jesus, and to radiate in their own parishes wherever they have come from, something that brings life to people because of that beautiful gift that God gave them yesterday. It reinforces so much! So God grant us all the grace today, we pray, to celebrate that we are weaned children on the lap of our Mother. (Fr. Joseph Jacobson, Nov 5, 2019 Medjugorje English Mass) Well, I have to confess that Psalm 131 is my favorite Psalm as well.  And Fr. Joseph couldn’t have explained it better!!  Let’s all take great hope from the fact that we can remain on our Mother’s lap, no matter how old we become.  She will always be there for us, always.  And don’t we need her in these days!!   In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan(c) Mary TV 2019 

(c)Mary TV / Anthony Zubac 2019  November 5, 2019 Dear Family of Mary!  “The Heavenly Father gave Himself through a human face, and this face is the face of my Son. You, apostles of my love, you should always carry the face of my Son in your hearts and your thoughts. You should always think of His love and His sacrifice. You should pray to always feel His presence, because, apostles of my love, that is the way for you to help all those who do not know my Son, who have not come to know His love….” (November 2, 2019)    Our Lady said these words to us on Saturday, Nov. 2. And on Sunday, Nov. 3, Fr. Leon gave this most exquisite homily for English Mass in Medjugorje. (Stephanie, our shipmate again generously transcribed it for us. Thank you, Stephanie!!) In the Gospel, Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus! He wanted to see Jesus’ face. And so, he climbed a tree. And his life was never the same again. Our Lady wants us to see the face of Jesus, her Son, and be changed irrevocably. Here is Fr. Leon’s homily: English Homily in Medjugorje Sunday, November 3, 2019 Fr. Leon Pereira   “Zacchaeus make haste and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”   In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.   There’s something about seeing, which is more than just believing. Seeing is also taking part. I remember when Pope Benedict came to England and Scotland. It wasn’t the same just to watch him on television. We had to see him with our own eyes to take part in that. Because everyone had feared it would be a disaster and it turned into a resounding success, contrary to all that the fear-mongers had said.     And all the people who came out, many of them, most of them non-Catholic, who saw, saw a humble man and they were entranced. You could see even the Queen was rather entranced by the Pope. So, seeing is more than believing. Seeing anchors us somehow in an event. It makes us more than just a feature on the fringe of the crowd.   Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. He could have listened to His teaching and had the same benefit as anyone else. But longing to see for himself, he climbs a tree. And swaying in the branches hanging on for a good view, he finds instead that he himself is seen.   “Zacchaeus come down quickly for I must stay at your house today.”   And with great joy he rushes down to welcome Jesus. What began perhaps as just curiosity flowers into a joyful home-coming, as Zacchaeus finds himself to have been already seen and known and understood.   And what happens next shows that Zacchaeus has started to see everything in a new way. If he can be seen directly, not hidden by the crowd, or lost in the tree’s foliage, then nothing in his life can ever look the same way again. The conversion he embraces is not a way of getting Jesus onto his side or earning His attention. It is the fruit of finding himself in the gaze of the Savior. And the life that he has lived is too small a thing to contain the promises and blessings that Jesus brings.   So often, we think we have to get God on our side. Come and see things from my perspective and give me what I want. Give me the heads of my enemies. Crush them. Destroy them. Give me all the things that I want, and then I will worship you the way you deserve to be worshiped.   That’s if we stay in the tree and look. But instead we find that we are the ones who are seen. Salvation, therefore, is as easy as climbing a tree. It’s about not settling for merely hearing. Jesus is our teacher and tells us how to live a new life. But He’s more than a teacher. He is that new life. He is that great event that we’ve been waiting for; the thing that we must not miss.   Our faith is not just that Jesus tells us what to do or how to live, but that in seeing Him, we pass beyond the old way of seeing – in which we are the center of all things – into, we pass into, the real world – where God is the true center: the Alpha and the Omega.   The life of sin flattens reality around us. It makes everything into an object for our use, for our gratification. And how miserable we are when we wallow in sin, when we have not succeeded in all the things that we’ve planned; but have been thwarted, thwarted by our own stupidity, by our own selfishness, by our sins. But God, too, we can make into an object in this world, of our world, to be weighed up, evaluated, and put to one side when inconvenient.   But coming to see Jesus is an experience that changes our whole way of seeing. Our salvation begins in the encounter with someone who is not another object in the world, but who reveals the personal depth of the Life of God. In Jesus, we learn to see ourselves as called to live in a world which is The Great Event of Divine Love – and not that empty space in which our own needs and desires are to be projected.   Salvation is as easy as climbing a tree; which is, of course, what Jesus does for us on the cross. He climbs the Tree of Life to open to us His own way of seeing, the resonance of the sound and shape of the Triune Love shared by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in all things. The cross reveals that we are not so much called to look at Jesus, as to see all things in Him, with Him, and through Him. He is the Light of the World, and in His Light, we see light.   So then, climb the tree. See Jesus in the light of faith. And begin to see how the world is not the empty, impersonal echo of blind forces. But a place of the encounter between lovers. The Tree of Life, where even, as Jesus says, the birds of the air find shelter, and where we discover that, all along, we have been seen, and known, and loved beyond all measure – beyond all that we dare to believe.   And then come down. For our God desires to dine with us. Jesus says, “I must stay at your house today.” And He also says, “For salvation has come to this house today.” In other words, Jesus is That Salvation.   That Salvation desires to dine with us… and, to receive. As we divest ourselves of all the things that we have held precious thus far, to be received, that is what He desires. And then let our true treasure be entrusted to us. For only one can climb that tree and be nailed and crucified to it, and then turn that into a Tree of Life. We must come down and let Him dine.   In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.   May we all see the face of Jesus and be saved! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!Cathy Nolan © Mary TV 2019