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Love the Lord with all your heart…

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016

 

July 17, 2018

Dear Family of Mary!

“And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

These are the words of a lawyer who asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him that he was right and if he did this he would live. How many times have we heard these same words, but have not comprehended them? How difficult it is for us to do anything with our whole heart, our entire soul, all our strength and all our mind (will). And yet, Jesus calls us to love Him first and entirely.

Our Lady gave a beautiful message in which she encouraged us to this wholehearted love:

November 02, 2016 “Dear children, to come to you and to make myself known to you is a great joy for my motherly heart. It is a gift from my Son for you and for others who are coming.

As a mother I am calling you: love my Son above everything. In order to love Him with all your heart, you need to come to know Him. You will come to know Him through prayer. Pray with the heart and with your feelings. To pray means to think of His love and sacrifice. To pray means to love, to give, to suffer and to offer. I am calling you, my children, to be apostles of prayer and love.

My children, it is a time of vigilance. In this vigil I am calling you to prayer, love and trust. As my Son will be looking in your hearts, my motherly heart desires for Him to see unconditional trust and love in them. The united love of my apostles will live, will conquer and will expose evil.

My children, I was a chalice of the God-man; I was God’s instrument. That is why I am calling you, my apostles, to be a chalice of the true and pure love of my Son. I am calling you to be an instrument through which all those who have not come to know the love of God – who have never loved – may comprehend, accept and be saved. Thank you, my children.”

Our Lady tells us to love her Son above everything, to love Him with all our heart. And she explains how we can do it. Through coming to know Him. And we come to know Him through prayer with the heart, with our feelings, while thinking of His love for us. We have to spend time with Jesus, lots of time. We have to grow in our understanding of His life, and how He loved us to the end. We need to contemplate the mysteries of His Passion and Death. We need to live the Liturgical Year with the prayers of the Church and become filled with the life of Jesus.

Then we will be able to love Him more and more. And that is when we will become apostles of His love. That is when we will change the world. That is when we will be chalices of the God-man, holding the Eucharistic Jesus in our hearts like living tabernacles. We will contemplate our loving Lord and love Him back.

So let’s not allow these words from the lawyer to bounce off of us like water on a rock. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Amen, may it be so!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

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Be a sign!

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016

 

July 16, 2018
Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Dear Family of Mary!

Our Lady has often asked us to be a sign for others. She wants us to become apostles of her love. Her heart goes out to all those who do not know her Son, those who do not know the love of God. Here are five messages that Our Lady has given us over the years in which she asks us to become signs for others of the love of God. We might use these messages as meditations between the decades today. Enjoy:

January 25, 2007 “Dear children! Put Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your family and read it. In this way, you will come to know prayer with the heart and your thoughts will be on God. Do not forget that you are passing like a flower in a field, which is visible from afar but disappears in a moment. Little children, leave a sign of goodness and love wherever you pass and God will bless you with an abundance of His blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

August 25, 2009 “Dear children! Today I call you anew to conversion. Little children, you are not holy enough and you do not radiate holiness to others, therefore pray, pray, pray and work on your personal conversion, so that you may be a sign of God’s love to others. I am with you and am leading you towards eternity, for which every heart must yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

February 25, 2011 “Dear children! Nature is awakening and on the trees the first buds are seen which will bring most beautiful flowers and fruit. I desire that you also, little children, work on your conversion and that you be those who witness with their life, so that your example may be a sign and an incentive for conversion to others. I am with you and before my Son Jesus I intercede for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

August 25, 2013 “Dear children! Also today, the Most High is giving me the grace to be with you and to lead you towards conversion. Every day I am sowing and am calling you to conversion, that you may be prayer, peace, love – the grain that by dying will give birth a hundredfold. I do not desire for you, dear children, to have to repent for everything that you could have done but did not want to. Therefore, little children, again, with enthusiasm say: ‘I want to be a sign to others.’ Thank you for having responded to my call.”

September 25, 2015 “Dear children! Also today I am praying to the Holy Spirit to fill your hearts with a strong faith. Prayer and faith will fill your heart with love and joy and you will be a sign for those who are far from God. Little children, encourage each other to prayer with the heart, so that prayer may fulfill your life; and each day, you, little children, will be, above all, witnesses of serving God in adoration and of your neighbor in need. I am with you and intercede for all of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2018

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Living the true life…

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016

 

July 13, 2018

Saint Henry

Dear Family of Mary!

“…My children, do not lose the truth and true life so as to follow the false one.By life in truth, the Kingdom of Heaven enters into your hearts, and that is the Kingdom of peace, love and harmony. Then, my children, there will not be the selfishness which distances you from my Son. There will be love and understanding for your neighbors. Because, remember, again I repeat to you, to pray also means to love others, your neighbors, and to give yourself to them. Love and give in my Son, and then He will work in you and for you. My children, ceaselessly think of my Son and love Him immeasurably and you will have true life, and that will be for eternity. Thank you, apostles of my love.” (July 2, 2018)

Our Lady speaks of the truth and the true life. The truth is Jesus, who is the revelation of the Father. And true life is to live the way Jesus lived. All the virtues are designed to help us live the true life. They move us to love one another as we have been loved by God.

To live the true life, we must become like Jesus, live with Him, get to know Him, follow Him, contemplate His words, think about Him…become connatural with Him. We must develop the sensus fidei, the sense of faith. We must be able to feel the truth!

And so Our Lady says; “My children, ceaselessly think of my Son and love Him immeasurably and you will have true life, and that will be for eternity.”

If we ceaselessly think of Jesus and love Him immeasurably we will be able to intuit His every wish and desire, we will be able to understand what Jesus would do, through holy empathy. This will be how the truth takes over in our lives.

Our Lady is calling us to a very important mission. We are to become those who comprehend – even if sometimes we do not understand the words- and within ourselves feel what the truth is! In our pure and simple hearts, we will become real apostles of love!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

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Feeling the Truth!

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

 

July 12, 2018

Dear Family of Mary!

“…You, with pure and simple souls comprehend-even if sometimes you do not understand the words-and within yourselves you feel what the truth is…” (July 2, 2018)

What does Our Lady mean – “and within yourselves you feel what the truth is…”? I was puzzled at first by her words. How do we feel what the truth is? But then I remembered a phrase that was used by St. John Paul II, and by Vatican II, etc. It is “sensus fidei”. It means the “sense of the faith”, and describes exactly what Our Lady was talking about.

Our Lady said that it is the pure and simple souls who can feel what the truth is. These souls simply and purely love Jesus and listen to His words in Scripture with the heart. They pray with the heart. And so they understand Jesus with the heart. This heart understanding gives them the sense of the faith, the understanding of the truth that comes from knowing Jesus.

There is a document that describes the sensus fidei. It was written by the International Theological Commission, and is called “Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church.” It was written in 2014. I want to quote part of the introduction. I think it helps to make clear what Our Lady is talking about:

The sensus fidei as an instinct of faith
49. The sensus fidei fidelis is a sort of spiritual instinct that enables the believer to judge spontaneously whether a particular teaching or practice is or is not in conformity with the Gospel and with apostolic faith. It is intrinsically linked to the virtue of faith itself; it flows from, and is a property of, faith. It is compared to an instinct because it is not primarily the result of rational deliberation, but is rather a form of spontaneous and natural knowledge, a sort of perception (aisthesis).
50. The sensus fidei fidelis arises, first and foremost, from the connaturality that the virtue of faith establishes between the believing subject and the authentic object of faith, namely the truth of God revealed in Christ Jesus. Generally speaking, connaturality refers to a situation in which an entity A has a relationship with another entity B so intimate that A shares in the natural dispositions of B as if they were its own. Connaturality permits a particular and profound form of knowledge. For example, to the extent that one friend is united to another, he or she becomes capable of judging spontaneously what suits the other because he or she shares the very inclinations of the other and so understands by connaturality what is good or bad for the other. This is a knowledge, in other words, of a different order than objective knowledge, which proceeds by way of conceptualisation and reasoning. It is a knowledge by empathy, or a knowledge of the heart.

We see that the sensus fidei is more of a feeling or perception than it is a rational deliberation. Exactly what Our Lady meant when she said: “even if sometimes you do not understand the words…” This sense of the faithful comes rather from some other kind of knowing than intellectual discovery. It is not through verbal discourse but through a language of the heart that the simple and pure come to the truth. Why? Because through prayer and the simple reading of Scripture, they come to know Jesus as one would know his best friend. They know how Jesus thinks, what He finds important, what pleases Him. And in that knowing they come to know everything good, because Jesus is all goodness, all truth. They know Him, and so they can just intuit or feel what Jesus would do or say in a situation.

This is what the document expresses as “connaturality”. It is the knowledge that comes from being with and loving someone so much that you just know their inclinations and desires as you do your own. You just know them. And when it is Jesus we know, then we have a deep sense of what is true, because Jesus is Truth.

I love this whole idea. No wonder Our Lady has urged us to pray, pray, pray. No wonder she has called us to Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder she has counseled us to read Holy Scripture. These are the ways that we come into a deep relationship with her Son. And once we have come to know him intimately, we will feel the truth.

This poor, confused world we live in needs to encounter the Truth now more than ever. If we follow Our Lady, we will become living signs of the Truth through our deep relationship with He who is the Truth. It is a gift we can give to others.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2018

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Choose the Good – Part 5

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

 

July 11, 2018
St. Benedict

Dear Family of Mary!

“…My children, you are given the freedom to choose, but, as a mother, I implore you to choose the freedom for the good…” (July 2, 2018)

Our final virtue, and the most important of all is Charity (love)! As you can tell from the Catechism, love is the essence of God and our goal in life. All our actions must be motivated by and imbued with love. Because love is God and God is love.

Charity

1822 Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

1823 Jesus makes charity the new commandment. (Jn 13:34) By loving his own “to the end,” (Jn 13:1) he makes manifest the Father’s love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. Whence Jesus says: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.” and again: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 15:9)

1824 Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” (Jn 15:9-10)

1825 Christ died out of love for us, while we were still “enemies.” (Rom 5:10) The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself. (Mt 5:44)

The Apostle Paul has given an incomparable depiction of charity: “charity is patient and kind, charity is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Charity does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13:4-7)

1826 “If I . . . have not charity,” says the Apostle, “I am nothing.” Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, “if I . . . have not charity, I gain nothing.” (1 Cor 13:1-). Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Cor 13:13)

1827 The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which “binds everything together in perfect harmony”; (1 Cor 13:13) it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love.

1828 The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who “first loved us”: (Col 3:14)

If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children. (Jn 4:19)

1829 The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.

Our Lady calls us to love in this message:

“Dear children! Today I call you to love with all your heart and with all your soul. Pray for the gift of love, because when the soul loves it calls my Son to itself. My Son does not refuse those who call Him and who desire to live according to Him. Pray for those who do not comprehend love, who do not understand what it means to love. Pray that God may be their Father and not their Judge. My children, you be my apostles, be my river of love. I need you. Thank you.” (March 18, 2010)

“Be my river of love.” Oh how much we want to respond to this call from Our Lady. May we become rivers of love, rivers of hope, and rivers of faith. May we become true Apostles of Our Lady!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2018

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Choose the Good – Part 4

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

 

July 10, 2018

Dear Family of Mary!

“…My children, you are given the freedom to choose, but, as a mother, I implore you to choose the freedom for the good…” (July 2, 2018)

Today we reflect on the Theological Virtue of Hope! This wonderful virtue powers us through the most difficult trials and keeps our eyes fixed on Heaven. It helps us to endure our troubles and choose the good, because of the joy that is set before us in Christ. Here is the Catechism’s description of Hope:

Hope

1817 Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:32-32) “The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:6-7.)

1818 The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

1819 Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice. (Gen 17:4-8) Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations.” (Rom 4:18)

1820 Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. the beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the “hope that does not disappoint.” (Rom 5:5.) Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (Heb 6:19-20) Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: “Let us . . . put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” (1 Thess 5:8.) It affords us joy even under trial: “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation.” (Rom 12:12.) Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.

1821 We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. (Cf. Rom 8:28-30; Mt 7:21.) In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere “to the end” (Mt 10:22) and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for “all men to be saved.” (1 Tim 2:4) She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. (St. Teresa of Avila, Eccl. 15:3)

Our Lady calls us to accept Jesus in our hearts, and carry hope to the world:

November 25, 2008 “Dear children! Also today I call you, in this time of grace, to pray for little Jesus to be born in your heart. May He, who is peace itself, give peace to the entire world through you. Therefore, little children, pray without ceasing for this turbulent world without hope, so that you may become witnesses of peace for all. May hope begin to flow through your hearts as a river of grace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

May hope begin to flow through our hearts as a river of grace!!!!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2018

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Choose the Good – Part 3

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

July 9, 2018
St, Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

Dear Family of Mary

“…My children, you are given the freedom to choose, but, as a mother, I implore you to choose the freedom for the good…” (July 2, 2018)

The Cardinal Virtues help us to build habits of acting that lead to the good. They give us the means to choose the good in our everyday life. But there are other virtues that are necessary in this process, in fact they precede the Cardinal virtues. They are the basis of our relationship to God. They are the Theological Virtues, and are given to us by God, infused, to help us draw close to Him.

Here is what the Catechism says about the first Theological Virtue, Faith:

II. The Theological Virtues
1812 The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature: (2 Pet: 1:4) for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.
1813 The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity 1 Cor 13:13)
Faith
1814 Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason, the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith “work(s) through charity.” (Rom 1:17)
1815 The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But “faith apart from works is dead”: (Jas 2:26) when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.
1816 The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 10:32-33)

Faith gives us the fundamental believe in God that commits us to all that the Lord has told us, all that the Church says to us, so that we can become united with God and one with Him. Faith is the portal through which we enter into the life of God. Our Lady gave a very powerful message about faith, which echoes this description in the Catechism.

March 25, 1997 “Dear children! Today, in a special way, I invite you to take the cross in the hands and to meditate on the wounds of Jesus. Ask of Jesus to heal your wounds, which you, dear children, during your life sustained because of your sins or the sins of your parents. Only in this way, dear children, you will understand that the world is in need of healing of faith in God the Creator. By Jesus’ passion and death on the cross, you will understand that only through prayer you, too, can become true apostles of faith; when, in simplicity and prayer, you live faith which is a gift. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady tells us to take the Cross and meditate on the wounds of Jesus. The Cross becomes a mirror in which we see our wounds, those interior wounds that we have received in our families, back through the generations. We see all the pain we have caused others and the pain they have inflicted on us, and we realize at last how much we need Jesus. We see how much we need to return to our Creator, who is the only one who can heal us. This is Faith!

Then once we see our wounds and our need for healing, we realize how much the whole world is reeling under the weight of sin, millions of wounded souls who need Faith. That is when we can become apostles of Faith, those who communicate with their lives that God is real and that He loves us. God can heal us and He wants very much to do so. This is then the victory of Faith!!

Yes, Faith is a gift! And it is a powerful virtue, because is connects us with our God who loves us. Through Faith we are healed. And when we witness about that Faith we become part of the healing of the world, even when we are persecuted. In simplicity and prayer may we become Apostles of Faith!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

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Choose the Good Part 2

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

July 6, 2018
St. Maria Goretti
First Friday

Dear Family of Mary!

“…My children, you are given the freedom to choose, but, as a mother, I implore you to choose the freedom for the good…” (July 2, 2018)

Here is something to chew on over the weekend about virtue, about choosing the good. It is again from “The Catechism of the Catholic Church”, Part Three, Section One, Chapter One, Article 7, 1. The Human Virtues:

The cardinal virtues

1805 Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called “cardinal”; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. “If anyone loves righteousness, [Wisdom’s] labors are virtues; for she teaches temperance and prudence, justice, and courage.” (Wis 8:7) These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.

1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.” (Prov. 14:15) “Keep sane and sober for your prayers.”(1 Pet 4:7) Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. (St. Thomas Aquinas)It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. the prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

1807 Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. the just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.”(Lev 19:15)”Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”(Col 4:1)

1808 Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. the virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. “The Lord is my strength and my song.”(Ps 118:14) “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”(Jn 16:33)

1809 Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. the temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: “Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart.”(Sir 5:2) Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: “Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites.”(Sir 18:30) In the New Testament it is called “moderation” or “sobriety.” We ought “to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world.”(Titus 2:12)

To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul and with all one’s efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only (God) (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence)(St. Augustine)

The virtues and grace

1810 Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God’s help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. the virtuous man is happy to practice them.

1811 It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ’s gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow his calls to love what is good and shun evil.

Oh I love to read these words, knowing that Our Lady is asking this of us. She wants us to choose the good, habitually!! She wants us to train our hearts and minds to be more and more holy, like hers. Why? Because this is the way to true happiness!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
© Mary TV 2018

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Choose the Good!

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2017

July 5, 2018
St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Dear Family of Mary!

“…My children, you are given the freedom to choose, but, as a mother, I implore you to choose the freedom for the good…” (July 2, 2018)

Our Lady often reminds us that we are free. God has created us with autonomous wills. We must choose the way we will go in life. In fact, our lives are filled each day with choices. And she wants us to practice choosing the good, always!

Mother Church teaches us about our freedom and our choices in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. In Part Three, Section One, Chapter One, the Catechism explains the dignity of the Human Person. In Article 7 it talks about the virtues (those habits that orient us towards the good) in this way:

1803 “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”(Phil. 4:8)

A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.

The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God. (St. Gregory of Nissa)

1804 Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.

The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.

As Our Lady implores us, let’s desire to choose the good, using our God-given freedom for the good!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

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I am praying to my Son for you….

(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2018

July 4, 2018

Dear Family of Mary!

“…I know that you seek me and that is why I am praying to my Son for you, my Son who is united with the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit-the Paraclete-my Son who leads souls to the Kingdom from where He came, the Kingdom of peace and light…” (July 2, 2018)

Our Lady tells us that she knows we are seeking her. Those of us who go to Medjugorje, and who live her messages, are indeed seeking her. We want very much to know our Mother, and live with her as her children. And she wants that too.

But having Mary as our Mother means a great deal more than just having her motherly care. It means that we become those who seek Jesus, because Mary will only lead us to Jesus. He is everything to her. There is no separation. That is why she tells us that she will pray to her Son for us. She takes our desire for her, and through it leads us directly to Jesus, who is her sole desire as well.

St. Louis de Montfort understood Mary to be the best and surest way to Jesus. “True Devotion to Mary” is all about Mary leading us to Jesus. He wrote in paragraph 50:

Since she is the sure means, the direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him, it is through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity must find him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find Mary who does not look for her. No one can look for her who does not know her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown. Mary then must be better known than ever for the deeper understanding and the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity.

In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally, she must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for his cause. (n50. True Devotion to Mary)

Mary always leads us to Jesus who in turn will lead us to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and to heaven. St. Louis is inspired when he says that to find Jesus, in these days, souls much find Mary. That means they must be told about her. She needs apostles who will lead souls to her, so she can lead those souls to Jesus. In these latter days, Mary has been sent on a rescue mission for all of us, because these are the final days of spiritual warfare, in which many souls are in danger of being lost forever. She must be made know, so that she can make Jesus known. She is the light bearer in our times.

Our Lady prays for us to her Son, and her Son asks us to make His Mother more known, so that all souls in danger will find their way to Him through Mary. That is the plan of salvation in these most terrible times. Mary is the sure way to Jesus. We are on that way. May we show others that way as well.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018

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