Author: Cathy Nolan

You MUST pray with the heart!   September 23, 2023 Feast of Padre Pio Dear Family of Mary! In Chapter 5, Father Shamon tells us “Prayer is a dialogue with God!” Fr. Shamon wrote: Chapter 5: Prayer is a dialogue with God. Perhaps the most constant urging of Our Lady at Medjugorje is for prayer. “Pray, pray, pray,” She repeatedly says to the visionaries. On September 10, 1984, Our Lady said to Jelena: “Dear children, You must understand that you have to pray. Prayer is not a trifle. Prayer is a dialogue with God. You must hear the voice of God in every prayer. It is not possible to live without prayer. Prayer is life.” Mary said: You have to pray– no choice. If you want to be saved, you have to pray — period! That is why to pray or not to pray is not trifling matter. Eternal salvation hinges on it. Mary defined prayer as “a dialogue with God.” How simple, how beautiful! We all know what dialogue is. How human it is. To have a dialogue demands two persons. A dialogue is not a monologue, but a two-way street: one party does not do all the talking. There is give and take. you talk, the other listens. The other talks and you listen. The “other” in prayer is God. He talks to us in our hearts and through Scripture. St. Augustine said: “When you pray, you talk to God; when you read Scripture, God talks to you.” One of the great helps to prayer is the reading of Scripture. Such reading helps one especially in meditating on the mysteries of the rosary. Thus Our Lady asks us to read the Bible at home every day. And she said for us to put the Bible in a prominent place in our homes so that it will remind us to read it (10/18/84). Sometimes you can have a dialogue without saying a word. In The Merchant of Venice, Bassanio went to the merchant, Antonio, to borrow 3000 ducats so that he could woo and wed Portia. Antonio asked: “How do you know Portia loves you?” Bassanio answered: “…sometimes from her eyes I did receive fair speechless messages.” Just as the heavens speak in silence of the glory of God, so in prayer heart can speak to heart. When a simple workman made long visits to the Blessed Sacrament, a priest asked what he said to the Lord. The man replied; “I say nothing. I just look at Him and He looks at me.” Isn’t that the way two people deeply in love relate? Again, on October 20, 1984, Our Lady said to Jelena and her prayer group: “…you must pray more. Prayer is a dialogue with God. Prayer means understanding God. Prayer is necessary, because after it everything will become clear…Prayer is not a trifle. Prayer really is a dialogue with God.” Fr. Albert Shamon. “Our Lady teaches about Prayer at Medjugorje.” Our Lady told us: April 2, 2011 “Dear children; With motherly love I desire to open the heart of each of you and to teach you personal unity with the Father. To accept this, you must comprehend that you are important to God and that He is calling you individually. You must comprehend that your prayer is a conversation of a child with the Father; that love is the way by which you must set out love for God and for your neighbor. That is, my children, the love that has no boundaries. That is the love that emanates from truth and goes to the end. Follow me, my children, so that also others, in recognizing the truth and love in you, may follow you. Thank you.” In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023  

We must pray with the heart!   September 22, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! In Chapter 4, Father Shamon tells us “You must pray with your heart…” Fr. Shamon wrote: Chapter 4: You must pray with the heart! To pray well, prayer needs a proper setting. Soi many do not progress in prayer, because they never get ready to pray. Athletes limber up before a game. Opera stars vocalize before a performance. Pray-ers need to prepare for prayer. The first prop needed for prayer is a proper atmosphere: silence. How can on dialogue in a noise room or in a tumult? That is why Our Lady suggested we have a prayer corner in our home or a prayer room. When milk stands still, the cream rises to the top; when we are still, we are in the best position possible for the “cream” – to hear God speaking. Silence is simply the stilling of one voice to hear another. You can sit or kneel, which ever suits you better. If your body is at rest and your muscles relaxed, you will have one less distraction in prayer. Your heart, too, has to be at rest to pray. That is why Our Lady urges us to get rid of sins by confession and to dump worries through abandoning ourselves to God. We must be unhampered and unhindered by sins and worries when we pray. We must clear the decks, so to speak, when we engage in the action of prayer. One caution: when you pray, pray slowly, not hastily. Pray like a child secure in its mother’s arms. Once Fr. Vlasic asked Our Lady through Jelena: “Dear Mother, how was Jesus able to pray all night?” Our Lady replied: “He had a great desire for God the Father and the salvation of souls.” That is one key to prayer: desire! Do you want to pray? How strong is your wanting? Do you desire to meet God, to experience Him, as a hungry man desires food or a thirsting man drink? The strength of your desires will determine whether or not you will pray, how often you will pray, and how well you will pray. We might even define prayer as the expression of desire. How can one best learn to pray? There is no best way to learn. Just be yourself! Prayer cannot be learned by techniques, but only by praying. You learn to pray by praying. Isn’t this true of other skills? You learn to type by typing. To play an instrument, by playing it often. To speak a foreign language by speaking it. We learn to pray well by praying and praying often! However, Our Lady did describe a best way to pray. She said: “Pray from your heart!” Again and again she asked for this kind of prayer. “Dear children…I invite you to prayer of the heart and not only by habit…”(5/2/85). “I am calling you again to prayer of the heart…” (5/30//85). Dear children, I invite you again to prayer of the heart…” (1/23/86) “I am calling you, dear children, to pray with your heart” (4/25/87). And so she pleads again and again. What is Our Lady asking for? It is simply that our prayers be heartfelt. That we really mean them. It is the difference between “saying prayers-words, words, words; and “Praying -meaning what we say. The difference between lip-service and worship in spirit and in truth. Once when Jelena recited the rosary with Our Lady, she prayed it “as she was taught it in church.” Our Lady said; “This is not the rosary. You prayed only with your lips. You must concentrate. You must sit down without moving and enter inside.” Our Lady further explained heart-prayer this way. She said in effect, “Don’t just stand before me or beside me. Take me into your hearts.” Consider, for instance, Shakespeare’s great lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Just suppose I were standing right next to Juliet, I would not be so close to her as her Romeo, because, even if he were miles away, he would be closer, for he would be in her heart! So, Mary asks us not just to kneel before a statue, but to have her in our hearts. Unless love for the Madonna prompts us to pray and unless prayer is the expression of that love, then our prayer is but words: it comes not from the heart, but from a sense of duty. Such prayer draws no one closer to God, nor deepens one’s love for Him. Unless prayer reaches the heart, it leaves on untouched. Our Lord warned against this kind of praying: “Unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of God.” (Mt. 5:20) A surgeon absorbed in his work sent his wife to a psychiatrist, because she was becoming hyper, tense, nervous. After examining her, the psychiatrist called the surgeon to explain what was wrong with his wife. It was very simple. “You don’t have any time for her,” the psychiatrist said. “She feels rejected, unwanted, frustrated. So I want you to set aside some time for her each week, to be with her. God to dinner and a movie together, or something else like that- but be with her.!” Well the surgeon did just that. He gave his wife more time, went to dinner with her, then to a movie; but still there was no change in her. She did not get better. The psychiatrist called the surgeon again. “You misunderstood me,” he said to the surgeon. “I did not tell you just to take your wife to dinner and a show every week. It isn’t the dinner or the show that she wants; she wants you. What is meant was that you must show your love for her by taking time for her, to be with her. You must enter into her life and let her enter into yours. Show her you really do care for her. Then she will get well.” This time the surgeon got the message. He began loving his wife, taking her into his heart. And when he did, there was not further need for a psychiatrist. Similarly, with prayer. It must be more than a duty or habit for you. It must be an encounter of love. It must come from your heart, be heartfelt- a dialogue between lovers. Fr. Albert Shamon, “Our Lady teaches about prayer at Medjugorje.” p. 19-23! I think this chapter is one of the most challenging for me. It will take some time to reach the point of prayer with the heart. But it is not impossible!! Our Lady told us: July 25, 1997 “Dear children! Today I invite you to respond to my call to prayer. I desire, dear children, that during this time you find a corner for personal prayer. I desire to lead you towards prayer with the heart. Only in this way will you comprehend that your life is empty without prayer. You will discover the meaning of your life when you discover God in prayer. That is why, little children, open the door of your heart and you will comprehend that prayer is joy without which you cannot live. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Amen! Show us the way, dearest Mother! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023

We need to pray…   September 21, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! Fr. Shamon tells us that we need to pray! Our Lady does too: January 25, 2019 “Dear children! Today, as a mother, I am calling you to conversion. This time is for you, little children, a time of silence and prayer. Therefore, in the warmth of your heart, may a grain of hope and faith grow and you, little children, will from day to day feel the need to pray more. Your life will become orderly and responsible. You will comprehend, little children, that you are passing here on earth and you will feel the need to be closer to God, and with love you will witness the experience of your encounter with God, which you will share with others. I am with you and am praying for you but I cannot without your ‘yes’. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Our Lady’s message is full of hope! But her hope hinges on our decision to pray! We need to pray, and to pray more and more! It is a need!!! Fr. Shamon wrote: Chapter 3: You need to pray! Because we do not see the value of prayer, we say we have no time for prayer. First, We need to pray, because our salvation depends on it!! St. Alphonsus Ligouri said; “If I had only one sermon to preach, I’d preach it on prayer.” “For,” he said, “if you pray, you will be saved; if you do not pray you will be lost.” Someone put it this way in rhyme: If you pray well, you’ll live well. If you live well, you’ll die well. If you die well, you won’t go to hell. And if you don’t go to hell, then all is well. The plight of the world today and and the victories of Satan in the world can be attributed to the single fact that we are relying too much on our own resources – ourselves, our sciences, our technologies- and not at all on prayer. Yet St. Paul warned us, “Our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers and the evil spirits in regions above. You must put on the armor of God…at every opportunity pray…” (Eph. 6:12-13, 18) In reality, prayer is searching for God. When we do not pray, as our Lady asked, we are fighting without the armor of God. We are defenseless and vulnerable, sitting ducks for Satan. And he, with his angelic powers, is making fools out of us. Believe it or not, he even has Satan worshippers in this supposedly so enlightened nation of ours. Prayer-less, one becomes Godless. Godless, one can turn to demons. This is actually happening here in America [Here Fr. Shamon quotes Mike Warnke who lists thousands of satanic cults and practices in America, which we all know.]…Hence the urgency of Our Lady’s call to prayer. “Prayer has no sword nor saber, no mighty bayonet. Threats not to crush its neighbor ‘neath it’s heel; and yet, when all else fails, prayer prevails.” It is significant that Mike Warnke, a former Satanist high priest, was able to break his ties to Satan, only through prayer – His own prayers and especially those of his devout wife, Sue. Mike advised: “Fight fire with fire. Go directly to the greatest source of supernatural power of all. Pray. Pray for all of us…and also pray for specific people involved in the occult… Pray-Pray-Pray – Jesus is the only effective answer to those who want deliverance from the occult…Don the full gospel armor, pray, and ask others to pray that He will guide you. He will! Secondly, we pray to meet God. Why did the Wise Men follow a star? Was it not to find God? Why does Our Lady appear at Medjugorje? To lead us to Christ! That is why prayer requires time. We pray to meet God, but we must pray long and often in order to become friends with God. Aristotle said: “To become friends, you must eat a bushel of salt together.” At every meal, you eat at most only a pinch of salt. To eat a bushel would require countless meals together. What Aristotle meant, the, was that forming a friendship demands countless encounters together. Likewise, intimacy with God demands continuous prayer. Thirdly, we pray to be changed. St. Thomas wrote; “You pray not to make your needs known to God; but to make known to yourself your need for God. “You pray not to change God’s mind, but to change your mind to Him. “You pray not to move God to do your will, but to be moved to do God’s will” (II-II, q. 83, A. 2) If prayer is not changing you, then you are not praying well. Our Lady asked: “Why are you praying? to be with God, to experience God within. After five minutes for prayer something ought to happen within you, if you do it properly.” Lastly, we pray to open up the hearts of sinners. In our prayers, we should pray for the opening of hearts gripped by sin. On April 18, 1985, Our Lady said: “Dear children,…pray so that the hearts which are under the burden of sin may open up. I so desire it.” Our Lady requested such prayer from Mirjana, perhaps because at the University of Sarajevo she no doubt was having firsthand experience of atheism. Our Lady begged for prayers for unbelievers and atheists, because, as she said to Mirjana, “They are my children too and I suffer much because of them.” She suffers especially for them, for she knows the hell to which their atheism can lead them. Thus Our Lady went on: “If they only knew what would happen to them, if they are not converted. Mirjana, pray for them!” (3/18/85) Our Lady is asking us to have both Jesus’ and her scope of vision in prayer: to pray for everybody, especially sinners. She made the same request at Fatima when she asked us to pray after each decade of the rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Draw all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Your mercy” – namely, poor sinners. (From “Our Lady teaches about Prayer at Medjugorje”, by Rev. Albert J.M. Shamon) We need to pray! Our entire destiny depends upon it! Prayer is the first and most important message Our Lady has given to us. And yet it is the easiest thing to forget. We need to pray!!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023

To pray, you must take time! (Pictured is our dear Franjo Zubac! He was a member of the prayer group Our Lady began and has never stopped living her program of prayer! Pray for us, Franjo!)   September 20, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! Here is the August 25, Message again: Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling you to prayer with the heart. May your hearts, little children, be raised in prayer towards Heaven, so that your heart may feel the God of love who heals you and loves you with immeasurable love. That is why I am with you, to lead you on the way of conversion of heart. Thank you for having responded to my call. (August 25, 2023) Today we are on Teaching Two in Fr. Albert Shamon’s little booklet on prayer. Fr. Shamon makes the case that prayer requires a commitment of time, lots of time!! We can’t just fire off a rosary and think we are finished with our prayer!! Fr. Shamon wrote: Chapter 2: To pray you must take time Prayer is a meeting with our Lord. If you want to meet with someone, you have to take time for them. You have to sit down, have a cup of coffee or lunch together and talk. The important thing is, you have to take time! Our big sin today is that we have not time for God. Our Lady said: “The sin of the world consists in the fact that people are not interested in God. The cities and villages are full of churches…but people do not go to ask how they must live. The sin of the world today lies in this, that there is not interest in or time for God.” (8/25/82) We have time for everything else; but when you say you have no time for prayer, you are really saying, I have no time for God. Our Lady begs us to take time for prayer. She said: “Pray when you can. Pray how you can, but always pray more and more.” Then she added “Each of you could pray even for four hours a day. But I know many people do not understand this, because they think they can live by there works alone.” Ah, there’s the rub! We still think God is of no use to us. We think what counts most in life is our own efforts, our own endeavors, our works. So again Our Lady warned; “Do not forget: man does not live by work alone but also by prayer. Your work will not go well without prayer.” You can work continuously and come up with nothing. Or you can pray, as you should, and come up with everything. If you don’t believe that, read the prophet Haggai. When Israel neglected God, their works were in vain–“He who earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it.” (HG. 1:6) So on July 5, 1984, Our Lady again pleaded: “Dear children…Always start our work with prayer and end your work with prayer…These days you have been praying too little and working too much. Pray therefore. In prayer you will find rest.” In the Our Father, Our Lord taught us to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” The great temptation today is to depend totally on our own resources, to try to go it alone without God. The truth still is “without Me you can do nothing” – absolutely nothing! When two people are in love, time stands still for them. They love to spend time with the beloved. When we do not want to spend time in prayer, what is that saying? It is saying, “We really do not love God.” It is saying, “We are sick spiritually.” If you don’t want to eat, you are physically sick. If you don’t want to pray, you are spiritually sick. If you have to be forced to eat, you are sick-you’ve lost your appetite for food. If you have to be forced to pray, you are sick- you’ve lost your appetite for God. We have basic needs, like eating and sleeping. When you don’t eat, you feel hungry. When you don’t sleep, you feel sleepy. When you don’t pray and you don’t feel anything then God is no longer basic to your life. You’ve lost Him. We try to gloss over this atheism by pleading we are too busy. Yet we have time to eat, time to sleep, time to work, time for television (sometimes three or four hours a day)- but no time for God? That means we are in reality, atheists. We have lost the faith! Our Lady went so far as to tell the visionaries; “You can pray even four hours a day.” When someone said that’s asking a lot, Our Lady answered: “It is only one sixth of a day.” The paradox is, If we give time to God, then God will give us all the time we need for everything else. If we have not time for God, we shall soon discover that we shall be pressed for time to do even the things we must do. Our Lady asked Jelena to form a prayer group (June 24, 1983). “I wish to have prayer groups,” she told her. “Everyone can participate, but i commend it particularly to young people (because they are free from engagements) and especially to those young people who wish to lead a consecrated life.” To Jelena’s prayer group, Our Lady asked for at least three hours of prayer each day – three hours! At least one half hour in the morning and one half hour in the evening. If you praying the morning and in the evening, it prevents your day from unraveling. You’ll find you will finish your work in a shorter time than before and you will have time on your hands-more than you need. Our Lady asked Jelena’s prayer group to devote themselves to the prayer group for four years before choosing any vocation, whether it be to the religious life or to marriage. When Our Lady was asked, “Why this wait-especially if one wanted to go into religious life?” The Mother of God replied: “…the most important thing is to enter into the depth of prayer and then you will be able to make the right choice.” So there you have it. How much time do you spend in prayer? Our Lady is telling us that what is needed is more than quick, off-the-cuff prayers; more than conscience-easing prayers at the beginning and the end of the day. She wants us to become prayerful persons committed to prayer, persons who are dissatisfied with the meager crumbs of prayer that so often are thrown to God. Our Lady is asking us for a major, not a minor, commitment to prayer.! (From “Our Lady teaches about Prayer at Medjugorje”, by Rev. Albert J.M. Shamon) We can see that the pilgrims in Medjugorje find themselves living just such a life of prayer while they are in Medjugorje. Usually they have morning prayer with their group, Mass in the morning in their language group, the rosary prayed while climbing Apparition Hill or Cross Mountain, meditation at the Risen Christ Statue, and the evening program of prayer which is easily three hours long. It sounds impossible to pray that much, but not when we are being guided by Our Lady. Prayer becomes the air we breathe in Medjugorje!! Let’s try to live Medjugorje at home!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023  

Obstacle 2! WORRY   September 19, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! Here is the August 25, Message again: Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling you to prayer with the heart. May your hearts, little children, be raised in prayer towards Heaven, so that your heart may feel the God of love who heals you and loves you with immeasurable love. That is why I am with you, to lead you on the way of conversion of heart. Thank you for having responded to my call. (August 25, 2023) Today we take on Obstacle 2 to praying with the heart…Worry! Fr. Shamon wrote: Chapter 1, Teaching One: In every apparition at Medjugorje, Our Lady asks for prayer. “Pray, pray, pray.” On April 25, 1987, she begged the children (and that includes each of us) to pray, pray, pray with our hearts. To pray, we must first remove the two obstacles to prayer; sin and worry. (b) WORRY The Second obstacle to prayer is worry! First of all, you cannot be preoccupied with two things at the same time. If a bottle is filled with vinegar, it has to be emptied before you can fill it with honey. It is upsetting when you are talking to someone and that person is not paying attention. Generally, you stop speaking. When as kids, if we were not paying attention in class, the teacher would just stop teaching. Our Lady mentioned this problem in praying. She said: “Your hearts are still taken up by earthly things and they worry you.” Worry is fear of the future- of an impending evil. The future belongs to God. He has a No Trespassing sign there. When you trespass into the future, the penalty or fine for so doing is worry. Someone said: “Sorrow looks back, Worry looks ahead, and Faith looks up!” What Our Lady advised was for us to cast out worry by looking up to God. The biblical section she asks us to meditate upon again and again is Matthew 6:24-34. Your worries, your problems, must not mean more to you than God Himself. If you are full of worries, you are closed to God. Put God first, and the problems will become manageable. It is as simple as that. Our Lord Himself said; “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you” (Mt. 11:28) In His last talk to His own, Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and faith in me” (Jn. 14:1). St. Peter echoed the same thought; “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you” (1 Ptr. 5:7) Some unknown poet explained why you can in “The Weaver.” My life is but a weaving Between my Lord and me; I cannot choose the colors, He worketh steadily. Oft-times He weaveth sorrow, And I, in foolish pride, Forget He sees the upper, And I the under side. Not till the loom is silent And the shuttles cease to fly, Shall God unroll the canvas And explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful, In the Weaver’s skillful hand, As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern He has planned. He knows, He loves, He cares- Nothing this truth can dim; He gives the very best to those, Who leave the choice with Him. Therefore, Our Lady asks that we abandon ourselves totally to her. “Dear children, surrender yourselves to me so that I can lead you completely” (7/17/86). “Dear children…my Son is happy for your abandonment” (5/17/84). “Dear children…I am always with you, so do not be afraid of the trials, as God always watches over you…” (7/19/84). “Dear children. Pray with your hearts and abandon yourselves in prayer to Jesus…” (8/9/84). (From “Our Lady teaches about Prayer at Medjugorje”, by Rev. Albert J.M. Shamon) In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023  

  September 18, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! Our Lady told us in her last message that we need to “feel the God of love”. She knows how easy it is for us to fall into habits of prayer that are routine and done out of duty rather than out of love. We are human! We get used to things and do them almost mechanically. But our relationship with God cannot be routine and mechanical. It is an insult to the Lord to approach Him in any way but with our hearts wide open and ready to receive Him! Here is the August 25, Message: Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling you to prayer with the heart. May your hearts, little children, be raised in prayer towards Heaven, so that your heart may feel the God of love who heals you and loves you with immeasurable love. That is why I am with you, to lead you on the way of conversion of heart. Thank you for having responded to my call. (August 25, 2023) So how do we pray with the heart? How do we raise our hearts towards Heaven? How do we convert continually? Fr. Albert Shamon wrote a little pamphlet in 1988 in which he gave very good advice on prayer with the heart, according to Our Lady of Medjugorje!I would like to share a few things from it with you. Fr. Shamon wrote: Chapter 1, Teaching One: In every apparition at Medjugorje, Our Lady asks for prayer. “Pray, pray, pray.” On April 25, 1987, she begged the children (and that includes each of us) to pray, pray, pray with our hearts. To pray, we must first remove the two obstacles to prayer; sin and worry. (a) SIN To sin is to turn your back on God; to pray is to turn your countenance to Him. But you can’t face two directions at the same time. Therefore, to pray well, you have to get rid of sin. On April 26, 1985, Our Lady said: “Dear children. Today…begin to cultivate your hearts in the way you cultivate your fields…” Cultivating a field not only takes time, but great effort. If what you plant is to bear fruit, you have to pull out the weeds that can choke the plant. The weeds are sin. You must root out sin. The way to uproot sin is by confession. Confession is one of the forgotten truths in the Church today. One of the purposes of apparitions is to recall forgotten truths. On August 2, 1981, the visionaries of Medjugorje were praying in a woods with forty or fifty other people. Our Lady appeared. At one point the seers said; “Our Lady allows those who wish to do so to come and touch her.” One after the other drew near and some really felt the presence of a being. When Our Lady disappeared, Marija started to cry. A man asked her why. She answered, “Because people have made Our Lady dirty. When some of them touched her, they soiled her garments.” Later, Marija asked Our Lady why this had happened. She replied; “Those who live in sin have dirtied me. Tell people to go to confession and to make amends for their sins.” In the summer of ’82, Our Lady asked that we go to monthly confession. If a person is very sick, it is often necessary to operate, to cut one open to see what is the matter inside. So it is necessary, Our Lady says, monthly to open up in confession in order to discover what is wrong inside ourselves. Sin is a terrible ailment. And it gets inside us. In fact, the vowel in the middle of the word “sin” is “I”. Confession means to discover our egoism, our attitudes toward others, toward our problems, difficulties, crosses, happenings – and to change them. Thus on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation (March 24, 1985) Our Lady said: “Today I want to invite you to confession, even if you have already been only a few days ago…I invite you to be reconciled to the Lord…” The closer you come to God, the more unbearable becomes even the smallest neglect or failure that might separate you from Him. To lovers, the smallest neglect is big! Confession helps you to know yourself. Furthermore, confession offers opportunity for spiritual guidance, increases grace, unites you more closely to God, and preserves you from sin and from Satan! Ah if we really knew the true value of confession, we would be fighting to get into the confessional. (From “Our Lady teaches about Prayer at Medjugorje”, by Rev. Albert J.M. Shamon) I will share about worry tomorrow!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023      

Our Lady of Sorrows   September 15, 2023 Our Lady of Sorrows Dear Family of Mary! On this beautiful Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, we are given a great gift.  We can compassionate with Our Lady.  We can think about her life, and all that she sacrificed and suffered for our sake, and we can thank her.  On this day we can stop thinking about ourselves for a moment and think about Our Lady.  We can wonder at her patience and humility, her constant selfless service to Jesus, Joseph, and all those who entered their lives.  We can ache with her as Jesus was rejected and misunderstood.  We can cry with her when Jesus was condemned by the leaders of the Jews, mistreated and reviled, scourged, crowned with thorns, and forced to carry the Cross.  We can remain silent with her underneath the Cross as Jesus died for our sins.  And we can weep with her  at His tomb. We may wonder how we could ever be like Mary, so able to suffer with love.  In this message she gave us some advice that will help us: February 2, 2016  “Dear children, I have called you and am calling you anew to come to know my Son, to come to know the truth. I am with you and am praying for you to succeed. My children, you must pray much in order to have all the more love and patience; to know how to endure sacrifice and to be poor in spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, my Son is always with you… His Church is born in every heart that comes to know Him. Pray that you can come to know my Son; pray that your soul may be one with Him. That is the prayer and the love which draws others and makes you my apostles. I am looking at you with love, with a motherly love. I know you; I know your pain and sorrows, because I also suffered in silence. My faith gave me love and hope. I repeat, the Resurrection of my Son and my Assumption into Heaven  are hope and love for you. Therefore, my children, pray to come to know the truth; to have firm faith which will lead your heart and which will transform your pain and sufferings into love and hope. Thank you.” If you have time today, pray this litany.  May Our Lady’s Sorrows teach us how to love. Litany of Our Lady of Sorrows V. Lord, have mercy on us. R. Christ, have mercy on us. V. Lord, have mercy on us. V. Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of the Crucified, Mother most sorrowful, Mother most tearful, Mother afflicted, Mother forsaken, Mother bereft of thy Son, Mother pierced with the sword, Mother consumed with grief, Mother filled with anguish, Mirror of patience, Rock of constancy, Joy of the afflicted, Ark of the desolate, Refuge of the abandoned, Shield of the oppressed, Conqueror of the incredulous, Solace of the wretched, Medicine of the sick, Help of the faint, Strength of the weak, Haven of the shipwrecked, Calmer of tempests, Companion of the sorrowful, Treasure of the Faithful, Theme of Prophets, Staff of the Apostles, Queen of Martyrs, Light of Confessors, Pearl of Virgins, Comfort of Widows, Joy of all Saints, Pray for us, most Sorrowful Virgin, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world. Spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world. Hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world. Have mercy upon us. Let us pray. Imprint, O Lord, thy wounds upon our hearts, that we may read therein sorrow and love; sorrow to endure all suffering for thee; love to despise all love but thine; who lives and reigns, world without end, Amen. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023

  The Exaltation of the Holy Cross September 14, 2023 The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Dear Family of Mary! Our Lady encouraged us to venerate her Son on the Cross from the early days of her presence in Medjugorje. Along with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Thursdays, she began the practice of venerating the Holy Cross every Friday evening after the Mass in Medjugorje. Here is a message in which she encouraged this veneration; Saturday, May 28, 1983 (To Jelena): “It is very beautiful to remain Thursdays, for the Adoration of my Son in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. It is likewise beautiful to venerate the Cross each Friday. I wish that every Saturday, which is the day that the Church had dedicated to me, you will consecrate to me at least a quarter of an hour. Meditate during this time, on my life, my messages, and pray.” Our Lady has built this Veneration of the Holy Cross into the weekly schedule of St. James Parish. And it has become a beautiful time of prayer for all of us. Jesus speaks eloquently from the Cross. It is His pulpit! From the Cross all graces flow! In the following message Our Lady gives us beautiful direction for our spiritual life, which culminates in the Cross: February 2, 2020 “Dear children, by the act of the decision and love of God, I am chosen to be the Mother of God and your mother. But also by my will and my immeasurable love for the Heavenly Father and my complete trust in Him, my body was the chalice of the God-man. I was in the service of truth, love and salvation, as I am now among you to call you, my children, apostles of my love, to be carriers of truth; to call you to spread His words, the words of salvation, by your will and love for my Son: that with your actions you may show, to all those who have not come to know my Son, His love. You will find strength in the Eucharist – my Son who feeds you with His Body and strengthens you with His Blood. My children, fold your hands [in prayer] and look at the Cross in silence. In this way, you are drawing faith to be able to transmit it; you are drawing truth to be able to discern; you are drawing love that you may know to love truly. My children, apostles of my love, fold your hands [in prayer], look at the Cross. Only in the Cross is salvation. Thank you.” Thank you, Dearest Mother, for teaching us to venerate your Son’s Cross. It is through that Cross, that Jesus saved us all. We humbly thank Him, and praise Him for His love. And we thank you, Mother, for drawing us ever closer to Jesus. Amen In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023

Seek what is above…   September 13, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! I believe that one of the most important things Our Lady has come to teach us is the reality of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. And I believe that this reality is the key to surviving in these most desperate of times. Without a deep conviction that God is real, that Heaven and eternal life is real, and that we are called to that life, we could be swept away by the false doctrines that are swirling around us today. In the first reading today, St. Paul gives very concrete advice on how to walk through this life with the truth before our eyes: Brothers and sisters: If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4) Constantly think of what is above, in the Heavenly places. Let Heaven be our reality, and this life be the passing thing it is. All that is good and beautiful here only points to the perfect goodness and beauty of Heaven. We are on a journey, and our eyes must be on God. Our Lady has given us so many messages in which she calls us to think of Heaven and the things of Heaven. She relentlessly calls us to look up, to look to God in Heaven, to yearn for Heaven, to long for eternal life. Here is one such message: January 25, 2018 “Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer, so that the Holy Spirit, through prayer, may descend upon you and give you conversion. Open your hearts and read the Sacred Scripture, that through the testimonies you also may be closer to God. Above everything, little children, seek God and the things of God and leave earthly ones to the earth, because Satan is attracting you to the dust and sin. You are called to holiness and created for Heaven; therefore, seek Heaven and the things of Heaven. Thank you for having responded to my call.” It is very important that we retrain our eyes to seek God and the things of God. Our Lady is here with us to help us. Her messages are designed to keep us looking above. May we receive the Holy Spirit who will give us conversion of heart. May we seek Heaven and the things of Heaven! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023    

  The Most Holy Name of Mary September 12, 2023 Dear Family of Mary! Today we honor the Name of Mary! We know that God has raised Our Mother, Mary, to the highest heaven, where she sights beside her Son, and intercedes for us! She is the Woman, clothed with the Sun! She is Immaculate and Holy! And she is our mother! We can join the Church today in honoring her name, and calling upon her to intercede for us as we gratefully cling to her motherly love. Here is a message in which she asked us to call upon her: May 2, 2009 -Our Lady was very sad. She blessed us and gave this message: “Dear children! Already for a long time I am giving you my motherly heart and offering my Son to you. You are rejecting me. You are permitting sin to overcome you more and more. You are permitting it to master you and to take away your power of discernment. My poor children, look around you and look at the signs of the times. Do you think that you can do without God’s blessing? Do not allow darkness to envelop you. From the depth of your hearts cry out for my Son. His Name disperses even the greatest darkness… I will be with you, just call on me: ‘Here we are Mother, lead us.’ Thank you.” Our Lady’s words are serious, but she assures us that if we call upon her Son, Jesus, and call upon her name as well, we will have all the support and strength we need in these difficult days! Let’s call upon the Name of Mary with this Litany!! Litany of the Holy Name of Mary For private use only. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Son of Mary, hear us. Son of Mary, graciously hear us. Heavenly Father, of Whom Mary is the Daughter, Have mercy on us. Eternal Word, of Whom Mary is the Mother, Have mercy on us. Holy Spirit, of Whom Mary is the spouse, Have mercy on us. Divine Trinity, of Whom Mary is the Handmaid, Have mercy on us. Mary , Mother of the Living God, pray for us. Mary, daughter of the Light Eternal, pray for us. Mary, our light, etc. Mary, our sister, Mary, flower of Jesse, Mary, issue of kings, Mary, chief work of God, Mary, the beloved of God, Mary, Immaculate Virgin, Mary, all fair, Mary, light in darkness, Mary, our sure rest, Mary, house of God, Mary, sanctuary of the Lord, Mary, altar of the Divinity, Mary, Virgin Mother, Mary, embracing thy Infant God, Mary, reposing with Eternal Wisdom, Mary, ocean of bitterness, Mary, Star of the Sea, Mary, suffering with thine only Son, Mary, pierced with a sword of sorrow, Mary, torn with a cruel wound, Mary, sorrowful even to death , Mary, bereft of all consolation, Mary, submissive to the law of God, Mary, standing by the Cross of Jesus, Mary, Our Lady, Mary, Our Queen, Mary, Queen of glory , Mary, glory of the Church Triumphant, Mary, Blessed Queen, Mary, advocate of the Church Militant, Mary, Queen of Mercy, Mary, consoler of the Church Suffering, Mary, exalted above the Angels, Mary, crowned with twelve stars, Mary, fair as the moon, Mary, bright as the sun, Mary, distinguished above all, Mary, seated at the right hand of Jesus, Mary, our hope, Mary, our sweetness, Mary, glory of Jerusalem , Mary, joy of Israel, Mary, honor of our people, Mary, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption, Mary, Our Lady of Loreto, Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, Mary, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Mary, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mary, Our Lady of the Angels, Mary, Our Lady of Dolors, Mary, Our Lady of Mercy, Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, Mary, Our Lady of Victory , Mary, Our Lady of La Trappe, Mary, Our Lady of Divine Providence, Mary, Our Lady of Medjugorje, Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord Jesus. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord Jesus. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us, O Lord Jesus. Son of Mary , hear us. Son of Mary, graciously hear us. V. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. R. I will praise thee in the assembly of the faithful. Let Us Pray. O Almighty God, Who beholdest Thy servants earnestly desirous of placing themselves under the shadow of the name and protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, that by her charitable intercession, we may be delivered from all evil on earth, and may arrive at everlasting joys in Heaven, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. R. Amen. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2023