Tuesday, October 28, 2003
I was looking at this month's Medjugorje message:
Message of October 25, 2003
"Dear children! I call you anew to consecrate yourselves to my heart
and the heart of my Son Jesus. I desire, little children, to lead
you all on the way of conversion and holiness. Only in this way,
through you, we can lead all the more souls on the way of salvation.
Do not delay, little children, but say with all your heart: "I want
to help Jesus and Mary that all the more brothers and sisters may
come to know the way of holiness." In this way, you will feel the
contentment of being friends of Jesus. Thank you for having
responded to my call."
and had the following thoughts:
Our Lady says:
"Dear children! I call you anew to consecrate
yourselves to my heart and the heart of my Son Jesus. I
desire, little children, to lead you all on the way of
conversion and holiness. Only in this way, through you,
we can lead all the more souls on the way of salvation."
In Hebrew, the word for holy, Kaddesh, means set apart
(for a sacred purpose). By consecrating ourselves to
the work of true Christian living, we are being set
apart, to become holy tools that our Lord works with.
(It is true that at times, we may feel like flawed
tools, incapable of doing anything for Jesus, but we
need to let him be the judge of that! You might be
amazed at what good you do, seeds you plant!)
Whatever consecration prayers we like, we are making a
conscious decision to live for Christ, to, as St. Paul
said, "let Christ live through me". If we are
sincere, this desire to belong to God bears its fruit
in its own way and time, as we work with God for God,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the
intercession of our Lady, and bit by bit, we become a
channel of God's blessing through our lives. I like
St. Francis' instruction on this: Preach Christ
always, and if necessary, use words. We share Christ
through our lives and and our prayers, through our
choices of what to do during the day, what books to
buy, what entertainment to enjoy, what type of clothes
we wear, how we treat our friends, how we treat those
who aren't our friends. Everything we do should and
can reflect our commitment.
I like what our Lady said next: Do not delay, little
children, but say with all your heart: "I want to help
Jesus and Mary that all the more brothers and sisters
may come to know the way of holiness."
Someone once said, "Now is the time of salvation."
Jesus, when asked by a man who wanted to follow him,
but not quite yet, let us know that we are either
working with him or not. Wanting to do this when it's
convenient means we will never do it. We will never be
good enough, or have enough time, or will have escaped
from life's constant chain of crises. And as our Lord
said, "The harvest is rich but the workers are few!"
Look at the world! In my mind it's never been more in
need of the message of Christ, of God's love for man,
of the true way of peace. People want to kill their
children because they are unborn and inconvenient or
alive but brain damaged. Anger is rampant, as the many
examples of terrorists killing indiscriminately for
their cause. The many civil wars over the earth, the
selfishness, the polarization between the haves and
havenots, the ruthless exploitation of the vunerable
and weak and poor, the war against religion, all of
these must scream out to heaven.
We are so lucky we have a merciful God who loves us and
understands us. When I see these things, and think of
what Jesus did, I want to run to our Lady and cry on
her shoulder, and cling to the foot of the cross and
say, "I am so, so sorry, Lord, for what a wicked place
this is. Forgive me for all the times I looked with a
hard heart or an unseeing eye. What can I do to help?
Use me how ever hard you want, but only save those poor
suffering people."
It is amazing how simple it is the way we can help.
Pray. Convert. Fast. Put away those things which
separate us from God. Then we live our lives as
responsive to God as we can be, and he touches those
around us. Those touch others, and those touch others.
We form a network of light and love that can
profoundly affect those whose lives we encounter.
But we cannot do this unless we are willing to be a
consecrated people, set apart to be God's tools.
Pray, my brothers and sisters, that we will always be
open to the call of the Spirit, to answer our Lady's
requests, and draw ever closer to her Son.
Message of October 25, 2003
"Dear children! I call you anew to consecrate yourselves to my heart
and the heart of my Son Jesus. I desire, little children, to lead
you all on the way of conversion and holiness. Only in this way,
through you, we can lead all the more souls on the way of salvation.
Do not delay, little children, but say with all your heart: "I want
to help Jesus and Mary that all the more brothers and sisters may
come to know the way of holiness." In this way, you will feel the
contentment of being friends of Jesus. Thank you for having
responded to my call."
and had the following thoughts:
Our Lady says:
"Dear children! I call you anew to consecrate
yourselves to my heart and the heart of my Son Jesus. I
desire, little children, to lead you all on the way of
conversion and holiness. Only in this way, through you,
we can lead all the more souls on the way of salvation."
In Hebrew, the word for holy, Kaddesh, means set apart
(for a sacred purpose). By consecrating ourselves to
the work of true Christian living, we are being set
apart, to become holy tools that our Lord works with.
(It is true that at times, we may feel like flawed
tools, incapable of doing anything for Jesus, but we
need to let him be the judge of that! You might be
amazed at what good you do, seeds you plant!)
Whatever consecration prayers we like, we are making a
conscious decision to live for Christ, to, as St. Paul
said, "let Christ live through me". If we are
sincere, this desire to belong to God bears its fruit
in its own way and time, as we work with God for God,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the
intercession of our Lady, and bit by bit, we become a
channel of God's blessing through our lives. I like
St. Francis' instruction on this: Preach Christ
always, and if necessary, use words. We share Christ
through our lives and and our prayers, through our
choices of what to do during the day, what books to
buy, what entertainment to enjoy, what type of clothes
we wear, how we treat our friends, how we treat those
who aren't our friends. Everything we do should and
can reflect our commitment.
I like what our Lady said next: Do not delay, little
children, but say with all your heart: "I want to help
Jesus and Mary that all the more brothers and sisters
may come to know the way of holiness."
Someone once said, "Now is the time of salvation."
Jesus, when asked by a man who wanted to follow him,
but not quite yet, let us know that we are either
working with him or not. Wanting to do this when it's
convenient means we will never do it. We will never be
good enough, or have enough time, or will have escaped
from life's constant chain of crises. And as our Lord
said, "The harvest is rich but the workers are few!"
Look at the world! In my mind it's never been more in
need of the message of Christ, of God's love for man,
of the true way of peace. People want to kill their
children because they are unborn and inconvenient or
alive but brain damaged. Anger is rampant, as the many
examples of terrorists killing indiscriminately for
their cause. The many civil wars over the earth, the
selfishness, the polarization between the haves and
havenots, the ruthless exploitation of the vunerable
and weak and poor, the war against religion, all of
these must scream out to heaven.
We are so lucky we have a merciful God who loves us and
understands us. When I see these things, and think of
what Jesus did, I want to run to our Lady and cry on
her shoulder, and cling to the foot of the cross and
say, "I am so, so sorry, Lord, for what a wicked place
this is. Forgive me for all the times I looked with a
hard heart or an unseeing eye. What can I do to help?
Use me how ever hard you want, but only save those poor
suffering people."
It is amazing how simple it is the way we can help.
Pray. Convert. Fast. Put away those things which
separate us from God. Then we live our lives as
responsive to God as we can be, and he touches those
around us. Those touch others, and those touch others.
We form a network of light and love that can
profoundly affect those whose lives we encounter.
But we cannot do this unless we are willing to be a
consecrated people, set apart to be God's tools.
Pray, my brothers and sisters, that we will always be
open to the call of the Spirit, to answer our Lady's
requests, and draw ever closer to her Son.
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