A 33 Day Consecration to Our Lady of the Rosary! Day 21

September 24, 2019
33 Day Consecration – Day 21

Dear Family of Mary!

33 Day Prayer of Consecration to Our Lady of the Rosary – Day 21 Today we continue examining a conversation that Sr. Lucia of Fatima had with Fr. Fuentes in 1957, Part 5:

Yesterday, at English Mass, Bishop Vincent Horan shared with us what Mary, Our Mother, is doing in Medjugorje to meet the challenges to the faith in our world today. He is spot-on, and very clear: Our Lady is maintaining a spiritual Field Hospital for her wounded children who have suffered in this terrible “war zone” of our modern world. She truly is the seat of mercy, of goodness and of pardon, and a sure door through which we are to enter Heaven!!

 

Within a short time of assuming the Papacy, Pope Francis gave us an image of the Church as that of a field hospital in a war zone. Those in the front lines would be brought to the hospital with various injuries, or just for a time of recuperation. When better, they would return to the battle lines to take up their mission again.

 

In many ways, Medjugorje fits into this image of Pope Francis. We have all come here with our various ailments: physical, psychological, and spiritual. Some have come to rest with the Lord, as they feel that they are in a war zone with our modern world. Whether as priests, religious, or lay people, we often find that we seem to be losing the battle to keep the presence of Christ alive in our various societies, in the laws and customs of our countries. Like the Jewish people in exile in Babylon, we almost seem to be exiles in our world, to be cut off from the joys of our Christian faith, as we experience it here in Medjugorje during these days of pilgrimage.

 

But as we have seen in our first reading today, God did not leave His people in exile forever. The Lord roused the spirit of Cyrus to begin the work of reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem, so that the chosen people could return to their beloved homeland, purified and humbled by their punishment for their sins and unfaithfulness.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the 38 years since the apparitions of Our Lady began here in Medjugorje on the 24th of June 1981, more or less coincides with the most ferocious attack on the Church since the day of Pentecost. With the shocking revelations of sexual abuse by bishops, priests, religious and other Christians, the Church almost collapsed completely. For our punishment, we have been sent into exile to the margins of our societies.

 

But God has not abandoned us. As Mary was with the Apostles in the Upper Room, in the background, praying and supporting the ones chosen by her Son, so now Mary is among us now, especially here in Medjugorje, helping us to rebuild the temple of the Church on new foundations: on the foundation of humility, on the foundation of a personal commitment to Christ, Her Son.

 

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus and with His Mother? Have you established a personal relationship, perhaps with one of His saints? Like Padre Pio, for example, whom we are celebrating today. We can bring the peace of Medjugorje back to our homes, parishes and societies, only if we have a deeply personal and intimate relationship with Jesus.

 

Our faith is a love story. The more we give ourselves to Jesus in our various vocations, the more He gives Himself to us. With the love of Jesus in our hearts, with the peace of Our Lady, Queen of Peace in our hearts, we shall be a light to others; even when we are not intentionally wishing to be a light. That light, however, may both inspire others, or it may challenge others; as nothing can remain hidden before God’s light forever.

 

To return to the image of Medjugorje as a field hospital, I think we who come here on pilgrimage for a week or so, must take responsibility for the maintenance and work of this spiritual hospital. Obviously, Satan is not pleased with what is taking place here between the two hills. I ask that each one of us, as we return to our homes at the end of our pilgrimage, that each day we would pray for Medjugorje, for the Franciscan friars, for the sisters, for the visionaries, for the guides and helpers at the Shrine, and for all six-and-a-half thousand people who live now here in Medjugorje, that God would preserve their energies, that God through the intercession of Our Lady, would keep them zealous, and never allow them to become lukewarm, so that the treasure of Medjugorje may grow from strength to strength and become the New Jerusalem of our Christian faith, for the glory and praise of the most Holy Trinity.

Dearest Mother, thank you for your Immaculate Heart which is for us the Seat of Mercy, Goodness and Pardon. Through you we can find our way to God. We can be healed of all our wounds and become ready for Heaven. May the Field Hospital of Medjugorje grow stronger and stronger, as there are so many wounded children in this world. 

 

Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary:
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2019