Daily Reflections
by Cathy

The December 30, 2020 Reflection – I am carrying to you little Jesus…


I am carrying to you little Jesus…

December 30, 2020
Sixth Day of the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord

Dear Family of Mary!

“Dear children! I am carrying to you little Jesus who brings you peace, Him who is the past, present and future of your existence…” (December 25, 2020)

As we live these days of Christmas, we want to meditate on Jesus, the Son of God, who became Man to save us.  There is so much to take in.  Father Leon Pereira’s homily for Christmas Day offers us a beautiful meditation on the gift of God, Jesus, Incarnate.  Enjoy!!

Homily, Christmas Day, English Mass in Medjugorje.  Father Leon Pereira:

This season of Christmas highlights the rift between riches and poverty in our society, not just materially but spiritually. You can be poor despite having riches (in having all you want) and be rich despite your poverty (in having what you truly need).

Let’s contrast these two things: possessions and being, between presents and being present. We take possession of things. Even with gifts we can either receive them or refuse them. Taking is essential to possessions. Being or life, on the other hand, can’t (in this sense) be taken. It can only be sheer utter gift. Anyone can give a present – but not everyone can give the gift of being present…. Only a true friend can do that. In this time of isolation, poverty, antisocial distancing, the covering of faces and depersonalisation, in this time of economic and social stress, when purpose of life and goals are denied many people, we can see more clearly what matters, and what makes us truly rich.

We cannot speak of the literal riches of God because God does not have and could not have possessions. It is true that the Bible uses images, as though God possessed the earth: ‘In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His.’ But these are images of God, just like the images of God as a warrior or a rock or an eagle.  They are not to be taken literally. We cannot speak literally of the possessions of God for He could not take anything to use for His own purposes. Nothing acts for the benefit of God because He needs nothing.

We cannot speak literally of the riches of God, but we can speak literally of the poverty of God. His poverty is, of course, not the same as our poverty, just as His wisdom is not like ours. God is literally poor because He simply and literally has no possessions. God takes nothing for His own use. He only has life and being. And, if you want to press the point, He does not even have life and being, just as he does not have wisdom or goodness. In God, being alive and being wise and being good are simply being God and nothing more, nothing extra he has. It is what He is. So, for us to aim at poverty, is to aim in the direction of the simplicity and poverty of God – is a move away from possessing to being.

When God creates all things it is an act of poverty, for God gains nothing by it. God makes without becoming any richer. His act of creation is simply and purely for the benefit of his creatures. If we ask what motive God had for making the world, the question is absurd. It is only created things which gain by God’s act of creating them. It is a purely gratuitous act of love, that characteristic act of love which is the giving of life – the very opposite of trying to possess.

When we aim at possessing, we think if only we had such and such, then we could be happy, or content. If only I had money or more money or the respect of my peers. If only I had a happy family, or a family at all. If only people did what I wanted. If only people admired me, my wit, my looks. We fall into depression when what we want to possess is threatened with being taken away. Christmas can become an exercise in possession. We strive to play Happy Families, even though such things do not exist. We struggle to have all our loved ones with us, even though it is practically impossible for most people, and not advisable for many.

Or we can aim at poverty, at being, at what we need rather than what we want. The one who aims at poverty knows that we can only live by giving ourselves, as Jesus says, “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17.33). We can’t live by building a buffer of possessions around ourselves, by controlling those we claim to love. We live by giving to others the space to live. To the extent we live as genuine friends, we imitate and share in the inner life of the Blessed Trinity. In our own created and finite way we can live by the free gift we make to others: the free gift of ourselves. It is a question of which direction we are aiming for.

The God we serve, the true and Living God, emptied Himself and became one of us, born poor, and cold, sheltering in a stable with His first worshippers: His mother Mary, His foster father Joseph, an ox, and an ass. He does not try to possess but gives Himself for our happiness. God, who needs nothing from us, becomes a baby, a baby who needs everything from us. And the baby Jesus needs us, not for His sake, but for ours. Don’t say you have nothing to offer him, because the truth is you have everything to offer Him, the most precious thing about you which you will only keep if you give it away. In the words of my favorite Christmas carol:

What can I give him, Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man, I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him — Give my heart.

https://marytv.tv/english-homily-in-medjugorje-2/?smid=rWTyWZsYfh9&slid=IRBKmbjFsDA

Thank you, Father Leon!  Merry Christmas everyone!

In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2020

PS.  The Christmas Greetings from our shipmates are just wonderful!!! You can view them in our video library window – “More from Medjugorje.”  Thanks to all who contributed!!!  We love you all!!

 

 

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Mary TV is a lay apostolate founded to put at the Gospa’s service (Our Lady’s service) modern communication technologies to bring her presence in Medjugorje – and her school in Medjugorje – to the world.

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“Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!”

Pope St. John Paul II – February 24, 1990

“Dear children, my real, living presence among you should make you happy because this is the great love of my Son. He is sending me among you so that, with a motherly love, I may grant you safety!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – July 2, 2016

“Rejoice, little children, because God is merciful and loves you all with His immeasurable love and leads you to the way of salvation through my coming here!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – June 25, 2018

“My Son promised me that evil will never win, because you, the souls of the just, are here!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – November 2, 2014

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Our Lady Speaks

Vicka's Note MaryTV

Vicka, one of the visionaries in Medjugorje, wrote the note (above) after Our Lady spoke with her during an apparition in Medjugorje in April, 1999, about Mary TV’s  plan to build a television facility in Medjugorje.

Vicka wrote to Denis: “Our Lady says that the plan is good – but you need to wait a little.  Now you can get prepared little by little, until Our Lady tells when the right moment is.  You don’t need to hurry, make haste, but to be patient.”

When Our Lady said this to Vicka, the technical genius in Medjugorje that she had her eyes upon, who would begin Mary TV’s live streaming from Medjugorje, was seven years old.

Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)

Immaculate Conception, Mary my Mother, Live in me, Act in me, Speak in me and through me, Think your thoughts in my mind, Love through my heart, Give me your dispositions and feelings, Teach, lead me and guide me to Jesus, Correct, enlighten and expand my thoughts and behavior, Possess my soul, Take over my entire personality and life, replace it with Yourself, Incline me to constant adoration, Pray in me and through me, Let me live in you and keep me in this union always.

Our Lady gave this prayer 25 years before She started appearing in Medjugorje. This prayer is being answered through Our Lady’s presence in Medjugorje and through Her messages. Mother Immaculata writes: “This is Mary’s hour and She is about to crush Satan’s head. Her very being is like incandescent heat in the center of the Trinity and the manifestation of Her power is growing daily. The Immaculate Conception prayer (which is what Our Lady called the prayer she gave me for union with Her) has been used by exorcists who have told me that the devil reacts violently to it and is subdued by it. We are praying daily for the success of Mary TV!“

Our Lady Gives A Sign…

Mary_with_Sun

MARY TV was LIVE STREAMING Ivan’s May 24, 2013 apparition on Mt. Podbrdo (Apparition Hill) in Medjugorje. My wife, Cathy, was praying in front of her computer in the US, connected through the Internet, welcoming Our Lady along with everyone gathered on the mountain. She couldn’t see anything on her computer screen because it was late at night and Ivan had said, “No lights.” She found herself asking Our Lady for a sign – a little light – as a sign that MARY TV was on the right track and really serving her. Just after the apparition, when she went to give an account on Mary TV’s Facebook page, the page opened with this picture that she had never seen before, captioned: “MARY APPEARS OVER BUILDING IN MEDJUGORJE, PHOTO TAKEN BY PILGRIM.” Our Lady is standing directly over MARY TV’s studios, her feet right where we have two POV cameras STREAMING 24/7 LIVE TO THE WORLD Apparition Hill & Cross Mountain!

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Our Lady spoke to Vicka during an apparition in Medjugorje in April, 1999, about the importance of Mary TV’s mission. At that time she told Vicka that she herself (Our Lady) would begin Mary TV! She did! But she didn’t do it alone. The generosity of her children made Mary TV a reality for her. Your generosity is needed now for it to continue!