Medjugorje Message: April 25, 2019
Dear children! This is a time of grace, a time of mercy for each of you. Little children, do not permit that the wind of hatred and peacelessness rule in you and around you. You, little children, are called to be love and prayer. The devil wants peacelessness and disorder, but you, little children, be the joy of the risen Jesus who died and resurrected for each of you. He conquered death to give you life, eternal life. Therefore, little children, witness and be proud that you have resurrected in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.
River of Light
May 2019
Our Lady’s message calls us to live the true meaning of the Easter season: “This is a time of grace, a time of mercy for each of you.” As St. Augustine said, “We are an Easter people and ‘Alleluia’ is our song.” At this time our hearts should be bursting with joy in the risen Lord and in our own eternal destiny. But clearly Our Lady also knows the dark truth of what is going on in our world, in our culture, and in our personal lives during this holy season of Resurrection glory: “Little children, do not permit that the wind of hatred and peacelessness rule in you and around you. You, little children, are called to be love and prayer. The devil wants peacelessness and disorder, but you, little children, be the joy of the risen Jesus who died and resurrected for each of you.“
Our Lady knows well the sudden chaos of violence, natural disasters, accidents, and illness that are plaguing our lives, as well as the vitriolic “Twitter world” we inhabit today with the “wind of hatred and peacelessness” raging like a deadly hurricane “in and around” us. In addition to the shocking and difficult vicissitudes of everyday life, we are all being “gamed and played” every day by the manipulation of cable television, radio, and social media (that might better be called “sociopathic media” ) in its divisiveness.
This manipulation on all fronts targets our “ego-brain” —that “fallen” aspect of our human condition or “False Self” that can only see the world in rigid dualisms of black or white, yes or no, left or right, liberal or conservative, male or female, pro or con, win or lose. In other words, the “dog with a bone” argumentative-mind or conflict-brain that is constantly and automatically attracted and attached to OPPOSING DIFFERENCES in an antagonistic, adversarial way—needing always to dominate, conquer, win, separate and EXCLUDE, no matter what! In a word, this is the humming inner ego-engine of our “hatred and peacelessness” that Mary says “the devil WANTS.”
But Our Lady tells us firmly: “DO NOT PERMIT this…hatred and peacelessness to rule IN you and AROUND you.” This means we must first confront and dethrone the devil’s most beloved ally—this “ego-brain” WITHIN us, our very own dualistic thought process and aggressive manner of reacting to life through our usual self-centered words and behavior. Once we begin to deal with this INNER demonic ego, we must then address its “rule” in the OUTER world “around” us by skillfully interacting with every other person who—under the dominion of their own ego-brain—“pushes our buttons” of conflict, division, hatred, and peacelessness. What are we to do? Our response to others’ “ego-bait” must be to consciously exude the Easter glory of our own salvation. Our Lady says we must “BE love and prayer” ; we must “BE the joy of the risen Jesus who died and resurrected for each of [us].” This Resurrection Attitude is the most disarming counterpoint to demonic ego—both OURS and OTHERS’.
From our baptism on, we are meant to “follow Jesus” in His paschal mystery of “dying AND rising.” This is not the dualistic “either/or” division that our ego-brain loves; it is rather an ALL-INCLUSIVE “both/and” package deal! No crown without the cross, no glorious victory without the humility of loss; no true and lasting life without death to the False Self that is powered by the ego-brain.
All of nature models this mystery of death and resurrection, of course—clearly visible in the annual calendar of seasons passing from green life to brown dissolution and death, then back to greening rebirth and new life each Spring. Likewise, the cells of our human body undergo the same “paschal pattern” of dying and rising in renewal and regeneration, as our systems’ cells are replaced millions of times throughout our life. It is the cruciform pattern of all creation, evident to all who have the eyes to see.
As Christians, we should be more keenly aware and attuned to this Paschal Mystery Pattern of Life than anyone, for we have the Lord Jesus as our supreme human/divine example to follow from cross-to-grave-to-New Life—which must happen every day. As Our Lady says, “grace and mercy, love and prayer” are the means by which RESURRECTION happens in our world of tragic conflict, division, hatred and peacelessness. Because the followers of Jesus Christ SEE AND BELIEVE in the Resurrection Power at the center of all life and all creation, we are to be the conscious living embodiment—the “Incarnation“—of this Reality for others to see and experience. In US they must see the faith, hope, love, trust, confidence, peace, and joy of RISEN LIFE, of Resurrection Power, and of the Divine Mercy that overcomes the death and grave of all sin. Practically speaking, this means that we must be the most compassionate, loving, patient, merciful and FORGIVING of all people—“other Christs”-–in all of our relationships and interactions. This is what it means to be “an EASTER PEOPLE.”
Our Lady says we are to “BE the joy of the risen Jesus who died and resurrected for each of you. He conquered death to give you life, eternal life. Therefore, little children, witness and be proud that you have resurrected in Him.” Indeed, as St. Paul wrote, we have all died and been raised with Christ through baptism, which has sealed us with a new, resurrected and divinized identity for which, Our Lady says, we can be “proud,” and to which we must “witness” in the world. With St. Paul, we can now “BE JOY”— wanting only “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death…so as to attain the resurrection of the dead.” (Phil 3:10)
+ + + + + + + +
What the Resurrection of Jesus promises is that things can always be new again. It’s never too late to start over. Nothing is irrevocable. No betrayal is final. No sin is unforgivable. Every form of death can be overcome. There isn’t any loss that can’t be redeemed. Every day is virgin.
Resurrection assures us that God never gives up on us, even if we give up on ourselves. We can regain lost innocence and move beyond bitterness. In a scheme of things where Jesus breathes out forgiveness on those who betray him and God raises bodies from the dead, we can begin to believe that in the end all will be well, including our own lives. The challenge of living this out is not just in believing that Jesus rose from the grave, but also, to believe that no matter our age, mistakes, betrayals, wounds, and deaths, we can begin each day afresh. No matter what we’ve done, our future is forever pregnant with new possibility.
Resurrection is not just a question of one day, after death, rising from the dead, but about DAILY rising from the many mini-graves within which we find ourselves. We are human and cannot avoid falling—into depression, bitterness, sin, betrayal, cynicism, and the tiredness of age. Like Jesus, we too will have our crucifixions. More than one grave awaits us. Yet our faith in the Resurrection invites us to live beyond these.
—Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI
+ + + + + + + +
When another’s words or actions crush my tender heart or a long-fought battle ends with no clear victor…hurt and disappointment quickly turn to anger, anger to justification, and justification to self-righteousness. I rally a quorum of those who agree with my position…and before I know what has happened, my tender heart hardens.
When the world gives me permission to shun and deny others, when this behavior is considered acceptable, as God’s child I am called to gaze on the cross and remember. I am called to contemplate how my Lord, beaten and scourged, bruised and spat upon, gazed into the faces of those who dealt the blows and said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” In that moment Jesus overflows with mercy.
My hardened heart aches with the realization that his words are uttered for me. Before I even knew what happened, I had fallen prey to earthly expectations and failed to offer the forgiveness given freely to me—denied the balm of mercy and compassion that allows a heart to remain tender.
—Jennifer Hubbard
+ + + + + + + +
Acknowledge your dignity, O Christian. You partake of divine nature. Do not return to your old sin by adopting a way of life unworthy of your race. Remember the head and the body of which you are a member. Remember that you were snatched away from the powers of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light, that of God. By the Sacrament of Baptism, you have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not put to flight a host of such quality by the depravity of your actions and do not place yourself again under the domination of the devil; for the price of your ransom is the blood of Christ.
—St. Leo
+ + + + + + + +
Easter is not just the final chapter of Jesus’ life, but the final chapter of history. Death does not have the last word. Love is the energy that sustains the universe, moving us toward a future of resurrection. We do not even need to call it love or God or resurrection for its work to be done. Great love and great suffering bring us back to God and this is how Jesus himself walked humanity back to God. It is not just a path of resurrection rewards but a path that includes death and woundedness.
If matter is inhabited by God, then matter is somehow eternal, and when we say we believe in the “resurrection of the body,” it means our bodies, too, not just Jesus’ body! As in him, so also in all of us. In the resurrection, the single physical body of Jesus moved beyond all limits of space and time into a new notion of physicality and light—which includes all of us in its embodiment.
Death and life are two sides of the same coin; you cannot have one without the other. Each time you surrender, each time you trust the dying, your faith is led to a deeper level and you discover a Larger Self underneath.
—Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
+ + + + + + + +
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
—e e cummings
+ + + + + + + +
Wisdom from Pope Francis
Easter is the feast of tombstones taken away, rocks rolled aside. God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness. Human history does not end before a tombstone, because it encounters the “living stone,” the risen Jesus. We are built on him, and even when we grow disheartened and tempted to judge everything in the light of our failures, he comes to make all things new, to overturn every disappointment. Each of us is called to rediscover in the Risen Christ the one who rolls back from our heart the heaviest of stones. Let us first ask: “What is the stone that I need to remove, what is its name?“
+ + + + + + + +
Mark Your Calendar
To reject the contemplative dimension of any religion is to reject the religion itself, however loyal one may be to its externals and rituals. This is because the contemplative dimension is the heart and soul of every religion. It initiates the movement into higher states of consciousness. The great wisdom teachings of the Vedas, Upanishads, Buddhist Sutras, Old and New Testaments, and the Koran bear witness to this truth. Right now there are about two billion Christians on the planet. If a significant portion of them were to embrace the contemplative dimension of the gospel, the emerging global society would experience a powerful surge toward enduring peace. If this contemplative dimension of the Christian religion is not presented, the Gospel is not being adequately preached.
– Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
