November 29, 2018
Dear Family of Mary!
“…God is giving Himself to you that we may love Him above everything. Therefore, little children, open your hearts and families, so that this waiting may become prayer and love and, especially, giving…” (November 25, 2018)
Our Lady tells us that in this time of grace God is giving Himself to us. As we wait and pray, God comes to us. He wants to give us His love, and help us to love Him in everything. This exchange of love is everything! It is our eternal destiny, and our most concrete situation now.
We may not realize it, but we are not the only ones who wait in this time of grace. Jesus is also waiting, waiting for us to open the doors of our hearts to Him. He waits, and waits and waits. His heart suffers at our lack of openness to His love.
Mother Teresa would say that Jesus “thirsts” for our love. He is parched with thirst for our love. She wrote:
“Jesus is God, therefore His Love and His
Thirst are infinite. He, the Creator of the universe,
asked for the love of his creatures. He has thirst
for our love … These words:
“I THIRST” … Do they echo in our soul?
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
If we only understood how much Jesus wants to love us and be loved by us…If only we knew…
Fr. Joseph Langford, MC, wrote an extended meditation on this idea of Jesus waiting for our love. It is exquisite. It might be good for us to see the other side of the waiting process we are in. It is the heavenly and eternal side of things, where Jesus waits for us. Here is an excerpt of his meditation. There is a link below to purchase the meditation in pamphlet form which is perfect for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament:
Fr. Joseph Langford, MC:
It is true.
I stand at the door of your heart, day and night.
Even when you are not listening,
even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there:
waiting for even the smallest signal of your response,
even the smallest suggestion of an invitation
that will permit Me to enter.
I want you to know that each time you invite Me,
I do come always, without fail.
Silent and invisible I come,
yet with a power and a love most infinite,
bringing the many gifts of My Spirit.
I come with My mercy,
with My desire to forgive and heal you,
with a love for you that goes beyond your comprehension.
A love in each detail, so grand like the love
I have received from My Father
“I have loved all of you as the Father has loved me…”
John 15:10
I come longing to console you and give you strength,
to lift you up and bind all your wounds.
I bring you My light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts.
I come with My power, that allows me to carry you:
with My grace, to touch your heart and transform your life.
I come with My peace, to calm your soul.
I know you like the palm of my hand.
I know everything about you.
Even the hairs of your head I have counted.
Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me.
I have followed you through the years and I have always loved you
even when you have strayed.
I know every one of your problems.
I know your needs and your worries and yes,
I know all your sins.
But I tell you again that I love you,
not for what you have or ceased to do,
I love you for you, for the beauty and the dignity
My Father gave you by creating you in His own image.
It is a dignity you have often forgotten,
a beauty you have tarnished by sin.
But I love you as you are,
and I have shed My Blood to rescue you.
If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all
that needs changing in your life:
I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin
and from all its destructive power.
I know what is in your heart,
I know your loneliness and all your wounds,
the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations,
I carried it all before you.
And I carried it all for you, so you could
share My strength and My victory.
I know, above all, your need for love,
how much you are thirsting for love and tenderness.
Yet, how many times have you desired to satisfy your thirst in vain,
seeking that love with selfishness, trying to fill the void
within you with passing pleasures,
with the even greater emptiness of sin.
Do you thirst for love?
“Come to Me all you who thirst … ” (John 7:37).
I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be loved?
I love you more than you can imagine …
to the point of dying on a cross for you.
I THIRST FOR YOU. Yes, that is the only way
to even begin to describe My love for you.
I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you .
So precious are you to Me that I THIRST FOR YOU.
Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds.
I will make you a new creation and give you peace even in your trials.
(Excerpt of a Meditation written by Father Joseph Langford, MC,)
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2018
PS. The pamphlet of Fr. Langford’s meditation can be purchased from Our Sunday Visitor (in packets of 50) at this link: https://www.osv.com/shop/product?ref=article&productcode=P903
