OUR LADY OF MEDJUGORJE’S MESSAGE OF NOVEMBER 25, 2009
“Dear children! In this time of grace I call you all to renew prayer in your families. Prepare yourselves with joy for the coming of Jesus. Little children, may your hearts be pure and pleasing, so that love and warmth may flow through you into every heart that is far from His love. Little children, be my extended hands, hands of love for all those who have become lost, who have no more faith and hope. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Prepare Yourselves with Joy for the Coming of Jesus
A. Renew Prayer in Your Families.
Renewal includes returning to some of the basics of authentic prayer. Jesus taught one of His devotees the following….
1.Principal #1: Delight in being with Jesus. Jesus told the person simply to go into Church, genuflect, and smile; say nothing. The smile is an expression of joy and a sign that you love being with Jesus. This is basic.
2. Principle #2: Be personal: Greet Him with a personal title. Who is Jesus for Me? He is the source of all your blessings. Say something like…
a. My Savior: He rescued you from eternal darkness and continues to protect you by preserving you from danger. Recently, Our Blessed Mother asked us to say often this beautiful prayer: “Jesus, Mary, preserve me from every kind of evil, and lead me, guide me.”
b. My Shepherd: Jesus cares for us at every moment and leads us to good pastures and the springs of happiness. “I know mine and mine know me; they listen to My voice and they follow Me.” (John10)
c. My Friend: Mary says that Jesus is our very Best Friend – He died for you! Jesus is our constant companion, supporting us in every trial, and waiting for us to acknowledge His presence with love.
3. Principle #3: Open your heart. Jesus told the person that this is the very height of mystical prayer – sharing what is exactly in our hearts – our concerns, our joys, our sorrows, our hopes, our needs. Above all, we should believe deeply in the value of group prayer. Remember what Vicka said: “There is no evil that can resist a complete Rosary prayed by a group, especially family groups, prayed from the heart.”
B. Purify Your Hearts.
1. Through Confession. Mary: “Let Confession be the first act of your conversion.”
a. Catalina Rivas, the famous mystic from Bolivia, was given a commentary on the Mass by Jesus and Mary. At Holy Communion, Our Lord said: “Wait a minute, I want you to observe something.” A woman who had just gone to Confession before Mass received the Sacred Host and white light flashed through her person and all around her. Jesus said: “This is how I Myself rejoice in embracing a soul who comes to receive me with a clean heart.”
b. St Therese of Lisieux prepared for Holy Communion by asking Our Lady to clean all the rubbish in her soul and then to share her own sentiments.
c. Our Lady’s suggestions are contained in her recent Message (Nov. 2, 2009) to Mirjana: “I ask you to look into your hearts and see how much you love the Father. Is He the last to be loved? Surrounded by material goods, how many times have you betrayed, denied and forgotten Him? Do not deceive yourselves. Your soul is more important than your bodies; cleanse it.”
2. Through Good Works. Prayer is a purifying experience, because it raises our minds and hearts from this earth to heaven. Charity covers a multitude of sins.” (James 3) Reaching out to our neighbor with a smile, a good word, a helping hand cleanses us of our selfishness, the root of all sin.
3. Through Surrender. Ivan said once that Mary was giving him a “college course” on prayer of the heart in which he was trying to surrender to Jesus all the unnecessary things in his heart, his attachments, frivolous activities, etc. Our Lady indicated to him that Jesus seeks a peaceful heart in which to rest.
C. Prepare Yourselves with Joy. Mary: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” – she rejoices because salvation has now appeared. (Luke 1:47) Jesus rejoices over the Father’s revelation to the “little ones.” Mary wants us to be her “extended hands” through the joy of our faith and the warmth of our love extended to those who have no faith. She asks us to approach Bethlehem as the shepherds did.
-Rev. Robert Hughes, S.M.