Medjugorje Message: April 25, 2023
Dear children! I am calling all of you to be carriers of the peace and joy of the risen Jesus for all those who are far from prayer; that the love of Jesus, through your lives, may transform them to a new life of conversion and holiness. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
River of Light
May 2023
Our Lady’s concise, one-sentence Easter message pointedly calls to mind the famous prayer by St. Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes. You are His body….Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Our Lady begins her message by saying: “I am calling all of you to be carriers of the peace and joy of the risen Jesus for all who are far from prayer….” We who have received the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation, and been additionally strengthened and empowered by the Spirit of the Risen Christ through the other sacraments of the Church—especially Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist—are, as St. Teresa said, truly the Body of Christ on earth, now that Jesus has ascended to heaven. As temples of His indwelling Spirit, His true and visible Presence in the world, we must be “carriers of the peace and joy of the risen Jesus for all those who are far from prayer.” Why are we called to this?
In the Gospel, we hear: “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt 9:35) These “troubled and abandoned” crowds are still vast today—and they are the ones Our Lady calls “all those who are far from prayer.” To be “far from prayer” is not about simply neglecting a daily rosary, missing Mass, or failing to say our particular prayers, but rather the complete lack of any “God-consciousness,” a total unawareness of the spiritual dimension of life—a sort of “sleepwalking oblivion” that vast numbers of people inhabit today, not just occasionally but throughout their whole lifetime.
Caught up in the web of the supercharged lifestyle of our hyperactive culture with its conspicuous consumption fueled by a 24/7 sensory bombardment of technology and commerce, we now have several “lost generations” of people who wander about hollow-eyed, distracted, dazed, and apathetic—or hopped up in avid, aggressive states of over-stimulation toward anger, intolerance, and restlessness. All are haunted by the core emptiness and futility of a life that is only “skin-deep,” driven by superficial emotional programs that can never bring ultimate happiness. A life based solely on the shallow cultural symbols of “success” —material wealth, security, affection, esteem, power, control, and bodily pleasure—is a life “far from prayer” that renders people “troubled and abandoned [crowds], like sheep without a shepherd.”
Our Lady says we are to be the countersign to this godless and prayerless world—but how? Does she suggest criticizing, chastising, ridiculing, debating, lecturing, judging and condemning the “lost sheep”? NO! For these poor crowds of lost humans (which we can find in any corner of our environment today), Our Lady says WE must be “carriers of the peace and joy of the risen Jesus.” In OUR hands, feet, and eyes of compassion, we are to BE the Christ-Presence for them, showing them the LOVE-WHO-IS-GOD through everything that we think, say, and do. If the Gospel is truly “Good News,” then we as its carriers should exude “peace and joy” —never hatred, spite, or violence!
And what is Our Lady’s goal in this? She says: “…that the love of Jesus, through your lives, may transform them to a new life of conversion and holiness.” Thus, we are to be instruments of conversion, or, as St. Paul said, “ambassadors for Christ, with God pleading through us: We beg you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20) But how can WE poor humans possibly speak for Christ?! We are equipped to serve this purpose because “all who were baptized have clothed themselves with Christ.” (Gal 3:27) Indeed, Our Lady’s message conveys the powerful MYSTICAL ONENESS that all Christians should share with her Son. We easily say that a priest in celebrating the sacraments through his ministerial priesthood acts “in persona Christi” as an “alter Christus,” but Our Lady’s message affirms a broader truth: the extent to which each baptized believer in Jesus is to be an “alter Christus” or “other Christ” —so united in consciousness with our Lord that we, too, act “in persona Christi,” moving through our broken world as His hands, feet, eyes, mind, heart, and voice.
The goal or “end game” of Our Lady is that “all those who are far from prayer” —the lost, troubled and abandoned sheep without a shepherd—may find “a new life of conversion and holiness.” CONVERSION means “CHANGE”: to change the direction in which we are looking for happiness; meaning our direction is “transformed” from the egocentric “False Self” programs for safety/security, affection/esteem, power/control, and fleshly pleasure (as our culture defines them), to the “True Self” agenda of “holiness.” HOLINESS means living in the “Wholeness” of the Divine Will, aware of the Indwelling Presence of God at our core and enjoying the grace of already being a “holon” of the “Whole” —a vital part of the Body of Christ who is our Head, our “True Vine” of which we are “branches.” (Jn 15:5) This “Christ-consciousness” is attained through a life of PRAYER in which we as “holons” connect in intimate relationship with the “Whole” who is our cosmic Source: LOVE/GOD.
The most amazing aspect of “conversion and holiness” is that it truly constitutes “A NEW LIFE” that is no longer mortal and transient, but IMMORTAL and ETERNAL. It is no longer a fleeting puff of wind hurtling toward a complete “dead end” as is the present unconverted, unholy, merely human/natural life of those lost in the egoic web of the False Self, “far from prayer.” Soon after the Resurrection of Jesus, the (now-persecuted) apostles were miraculously freed from prison by an angel who told them to go to the Temple area and “tell the people everything about this new life.” (Acts 5:20) This Easter Proclamation is the heart of the Gospel message: what’s “new” in this life is that it is ETERNAL and IMMORTAL—which means that the merely human and mortal now has the possibility to be UNITED with immortality and divinity, so that, like our “Head,” Jesus Christ, we, His “Body,” can also experience a life that is BOTH human and divine! The potential is here for us: Death swallowed up in victory! (1 Cor 15:55)
Our Lady clearly defines the singular FORCE that “transforms” the lost sheep who are “far from prayer”: the transforming power that brings “a new life of conversion and holiness” is “THE LOVE OF JESUS, through your lives.” LOVE is the opening door, the key to be turned in the closed wall of the “troubled and abandoned.” The “LOVE OF JESUS” is the agent of change and nothing less will do. Religious doctrine won’t do. Political ideology won’t do. Pop psychology won’t do. Academic scholarship won’t do. AI technology won’t do. Only THE LOVE OF JESUS can transform a mortal life of False Self meaninglessness into an immortal life of Divine Whole-li-ness.
The final instruction Jesus gave before his passion and death was the “mandate” of Maundy Thursday—the “new commandment” at the Last Supper: “LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.” (Jn 13:34) This was a radically new kind of love, never before seen or tried on earth—“agape” or unconditional love that excludes no one and nothing in creation. A love even for one’s enemies and persecutors. Our Lady asks us to “be carriers of the peace and joy of the risen Jesus…that the love of Jesus, through your lives, may transform [the lost sheep of our world] to a new life.” Thus we are being asked to “channel” the love of Jesus to all we meet—many of whom are “far from prayer” —but how?
Our Lady does not specify that we preach, teach, write books, make movies, or give interviews in order to do this. She does not suggest we become “influencers” or have a large “following” in the world. Rather, it is through the simple witness of “our lives” —whatever they may entail from moment to moment—that we will transmit “the love of Jesus.” By merely showing up and sharing our Presence we will serve as “carriers of the peace and joy of the risen Jesus.” Like St. Francis, we can “preach all day long“ without saying a single word, simply by exuding and imbuing all our actions with the indwelling LOVE OF JESUS. It will be transmitted by grace to all we meet.
“Blessed are you who reverence the Beloved,
who walk in Love’s way!
You radiate an inner joy and peace wherever you go;
compassion draws you to
the gates of those in need.” (Psalm 128)
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Empty yourself. Sit quietly, content with the grace of God.
—St. Romuald
The purpose of silence is to break through the crust of the false self.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
If God is the center of your life, no words are necessary. Your mere presence will touch hearts.
—St. Vincent de Paul
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WE CANNOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME THINKING THAT WE USED WHEN WE CREATED THEM.
—Albert Einstein
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As the last drop of the precious blood left his heart, Jesus cries in triumph, “It is finished.” Salvation is open to the sinner. No sin henceforth is unforgivable. The friendship of God is flung wide open to every soul that desires it. But more than this…in the power of the precious blood and the grace of the sacraments liberated by its shedding, every action, word, and thought can be brought into obedience to Christ. The soul can reach a point of union with Jesus so vital and complete that she can truly cry, “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)
Christ’s work, then, is “finished” on the cross—not as closed and concluded, but finished for a new and glorious beginning, that the stream that flowed from his wounds may begin to flood human souls, and the flesh that was broken, feed them. For now the Passion of Christ begins to be wrought in his Mystical Body. Now the enormous process that crushed him in his nature begins to carry on that same work of redemption in the human nature of his Church, which, mystically, is the body in which he dwells always.
—Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson
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CHRIST IN ME, ARISE AND DISPEL ALL THE DARKNESS,
CHRIST IN ME, ARISE WITH YOUR POWER AND YOUR STRENGTH.
CHRIST IN ME, POUR OUT YOUR BLESSING AND HEALING.
CHRIST IN ME, ARISE, AND I SHALL RISE WITH YOU.
—Trevor Thomson
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Jesus engaged death with every bit of consciousness and freedom that were his, and what we all discovered as a result is that death—while inevitable and causing us to let go of everything—does not have the final word. There is always resurrection. And what is resurrection in the context of the new universe story? It is a transformation in consciousness, an experience of transcendence in which we live out of the connectedness that is our truth. As we continue to evolve in consciousness, emerging as more and more capable lovers, we share in the resurrection of Christ. We walk in the Light and become light for others. Even little resurrections that come after choosing to die to fear and egocentricity release the Spirit. When we engage in a lifetime of death and resurrections as Jesus did, we become ever more empowered to do the work God asks us to do.
The Paschal Mystery teaches us that life and death are a single mystery. Death is inevitable—but so is resurrection. We can be sure that dyings will intrude upon our lives. We can be awake and watchful for the resurrections, as well, for the creative ways that new life streams into our lives in the midst of death. We are capable of transcendence, capable of never allowing death to have the final say.
—Judy Cannato
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May 13: First Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima (1917)
The whole of the message of Fatima is a call to follow the road to heaven, to walk in such a way as to succeed in attaining to eternal life. In the times in which we live, there are those who deny the existence of heaven, whether because they have no faith or because they do not want to commit themselves to follow the narrow path that leads to heaven. But they are wrong. That heaven exists is a revealed truth that cannot be denied….Why is it that those whom God has chosen for a special mission, and with whom he is in more direct contact, are persecuted and oppressed? It is the continuation of the mystery of the cross which marks out for us the path to heaven….
The great concern of God and Our Lady is that people should be saved and go to heaven; and since heaven is the dwelling place prepared by God for eternal life, unless we follow the road that leads to it, we shall never get there. If God had created us merely in order to live out, on this earth, the few days that we spend here in the midst of toil, suffering, and affliction that all of us have to endure, then we could say that our life had no meaning. But God, in his goodness, had greater purposes in mind, and his love could not be content with this. We are the masterpiece of his love, since he created us to share in the immensity of his life.
As long as we live on this earth, we are pilgrims on the way to heaven, if we keep to the way that God has marked out for us. This is the most important thing in our lives.
—Servant of God Sister Lucia of Fatima, OCD
(oldest of the three Fatima children-seers)
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May: Mary’s Month
O Mary, my Mother, our Mother, Mother of the Church, with you I will work for the salvation of all people. With you, I will overcome every difficulty and trial for the Church, the work of your Son, so that it may be one. I entrust you with my past, my present, and my future; with my sins, my desires, and my destiny as well as the destiny of those I love. May my tasks be yours. Like you, I want to become love, and to carry your presence everywhere so as to build a more beautiful world, as Jesus desires, in which people love one another and live happily and in peace. Mary, my Mother, as you participated in the sacrifice at the foot of the cross, stay close to me each day, especially at the hour of my last sacrifice.
—Venerable Cardinal Nguyễn Van Thuận
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We hear Jesus say in Matthew’s Gospel, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Unlike Mary, who magnifies the Lord in a singular way, we may not be expecting these words. We don’t know who we are to him. Yet Jesus sees something significant in us that we often doubt and rarely live true to. He longs to light our hearts on fire with his presence. Every day we are called to carry him within us and be his light in this world. And every day we are called to be salt for the world, bringing the flavor of his love to a culture bland from disillusionment. Spending my daily life on plans that are merely focused on myself is putting a bushel basket over what Jesus wants others to see and witness: his love radiating uniquely through you.
—Sr. Faustina Maria Pia, SV
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The repression of the Divine presence is “the sin of the world.” Hence it is essential to remind ourselves again and again that God and we cannot be separated. This is why we should not subject God to the indignities that our sins involve. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. The first stage of our spiritual journey is bound to be experienced as the destruction of our worldview and self-image, the uprooting and tearing down…God tearing down the false self to make way for the experience of the Divine Indwelling. As faith and trust wake up, Divine love wakes up, too. We are finally ready to submit our lives totally to the guidance of our Source.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
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The renowned biblical scholar Raymond Brown tells us that the darkness that beset the world as Jesus hung dying will last until we believe in the resurrection. Until we believe that God has a life-giving response for all death and until we believe that God will roll back the stone from any grave, no matter how deeply goodness is buried under hatred and violence, the darkness of Good Friday will continue to darken our planet.
—Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI
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Now that we know that our roots are immortal, we are reconciled to taking up again the work of the world. We come again into everyday life. But the transformation is still going on, in ourselves and in the world we touch. We are no longer concerned to gain eternal life for ourselves. We have that, we know it, we are sure of it. And because of that confidence, faith, we turn our attention and concern to manifesting the divine life in the forms of cosmic reality. It makes everything look quite new to us—our new ability to offer love-and-meaning energy to our world.
One of the most striking things that happens to us in our resurrection of the body is that tiny, trivial things seem beautiful and marvelous—which, indeed, they are, as we recognize when we take time to study them carefully. When we take a little time to remember to look, to marvel, to find that there are sources of joy, of esthetic delight, of quiet happiness on every hand….Our joy is not confined to ourselves but radiates out to all. When we interact with people or circumstances, we do not feel drained of energy, as we did when we were still obliged to protect our ego-self.
Perceiving creative action and interaction as reality itself, we feel ourselves fully living, full of the richness of God’s life. The divine life now becomes natural for us. We are really “saved” when we no longer think of ourselves as “saved,” because there is no alternative. This is when profound incarnation takes place. The reality of God is intensely perceived in everything. The kingdom is hidden right here, even in the passions and illusions of our superficial consciousness. When we are shaken awake, we see it.
—Beatrice Bruteau
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Christianity is about God in matter—a power of divinity shaping matter and changing matter through the energies of love. The Good News of the Risen Christ is this: Let God matter! Let God matter your bodies, your minds, your hearts and souls; let God matter the trees, the flowers, the gentle breeze, the sun and moon and stars and every living creature. Let God matter because matter is the mirror of God. Let us leave our tombs of darkness, our stifled and protected lives. God is the infinite potential of infinite love. Beliefs guide us, faith strengthens us, but love is the core energy of life. Where there is love, there is no death, only future. Love raised Jesus from the dead; love heals and makes whole. It is time to begin to love in a radically new way. The power in our midst to reimagine a new world is LOVE.
—Sr. Ilia Delio, OSF
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Wisdom from Pope Francis
The Ascension of Jesus into heaven acquaints us with this deeply consoling reality on our journey: in Christ, true God and true man, our humanity was taken to God. Christ opened the path to us. If we entrust our life to him, if we let ourselves be guided by him, we are certain to be in safe hands, in the hands of our Savior. It would be a mistake to interpret the Ascension as “the temporary absence of Christ from the world.” Rather, we go to heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him. Heaven is a person: Jesus himself is what we call “heaven.”
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
