Fr. Martin’s reflection on - Our Lady’s Message
25th
March 2018
“Dear children, I am calling you to be with me in prayer in this
time of grace when darkness is fighting against the light. Pray, little
children, confess and begin a new life in grace. Decide for God and He will
lead you towards holiness; and the cross will be a sign of victory and hope for
you. Be proud that you are baptized and grateful in your heart that you are a
part of God’s plan. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters
of Medjugorje North East and beyond, Since the very first appearances of Our
Lady Queen of Peace in Medjugorje, in 1981, Mary has always emphasised time and
again, the reason for her coming. To
remind us that God exists, and that we can encounter him in Prayer. All of the messages invite us to Pray, to pray
often, and to learn to pray with and from the heart. that is to pray with love. Our Lady wants to bless all people with a new
and profound spirit of prayer. Because the world and the Church need this new
breath of prayer. So, our decision to pray
should be made with love, because once we have made this first step we have
already begun what Mary is asking of us. “I am calling you to be with
me in prayer.” - so begins this month’s message.
It is always dangerous if
we let our prayers depend on feelings or desires, then we may hardly pray at
all. Mary, asks that we “decide
for God” and this decision begins with the gift of our time
in prayer, then everything in us that should grow will grow when we are close
to the Lord in prayer. One of the
reasons why there is so much unbelief today, and lukewarmness
in the faith, and a great lack of peace in many hearts is because we are not
praying enough. Prayer, reawakens
Apostolic zeal and fervour in our love for the Lord.
Because we should not
underestimate the times we are living in Mary says, “When darkness is
fighting against the light” we are reminded of the spiritual battle
that the world and every believer is engaged in. This is, I sense, a wakeup call for all of us who have heard the call of the Queen of
Peace and try to live Our Lady’s messages.
“When darkness is fighting
against the light.”
The situation is really serious, but Mary is the woman of Faith and Hope who
shows us the way to the light, and who points us away from the powers of
darkness to the splendour of the light of truth. Let us not forget she is
the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and with the crown
of stars around her head. She will be victorious, but
has always told us she needs our prayers and Faith.
Following on from last
month’s message Our Lady points us to faith in the sacraments of the Church.
“Confess and begin a new
life of Grace, be proud that you are baptised.” On Calvary when Our Lord’s side was pierced,
“there came out blood and water,” (John:19:34) The
gift of the Holy Spirit, of God’s mercy and new life, Confession and Baptism.
This is the gift of Divine Mercy, and Mary asks us to be ‘proud’ of our Baptism
and grateful. Thank Jesus often for the day of your baptism, and the sacrament
of Reconciliation.
Dear Friends in this Easter
season, when Mary alerts us to the powers of darkness and deception let us make
a clear decision for God, for Prayer and Faith in Jesus Christ. A decision for God in these days means a
decision for Truth, Goodness, Love and Mercy. A decision for life.
“God from God,
true light from light.”
“This is what we have
heard from him, and the
message
we are announcing to you,
God is light, there is no
darkness
in him at all.
If we live our lives in the
light,
as he is in the light,
we are in union with him,
and one another,
and the blood of Jesus,
purifies us from all sin.
(1 John: 1:5-7)
A Happy
and Blessed Easter to you all, Fr. Martin