Medjugorje Message: May 25, 2023
Dear children! I am calling you to go into nature and to pray for the Most High to speak to your heart and that you may feel the power of the Holy Spirit so as to witness the love which God has for every creature. I am with you and intercede for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
River of Light
June 2023
Our Lady’s brief message is clearly designed for both the environmental and liturgical season we’re now in as we enter the month of June—calling us “into nature” at this start of SUMMER and invoking “the power of the Holy Spirit” as we celebrate PENTECOST: the close of the Easter season and the return to “Ordinary Time.”
It is significant that Our Lady’s message yokes together NATURE and the HOLY SPIRIT. She delivers its entire substance in her opening sentence: “I am calling you to go into nature and to pray for the Most High to speak to your heart and that you may feel the power of the Holy Spirit so as to witness the love which God has for every creature.” If we think about our entire salvation history recounted in the bible, we see this yoking together of nature and the Holy Spirit from the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and “blew into the nostrils of man the breath of life.”
Sacred Scripture is filled with miraculous accounts of “the power of the Holy Spirit” manifested in and through NATURE—from the detail of earth’s creation stories in Genesis, to the Great Flood of Noah’s time, to the giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai with peals of thunder and lightning, to the Israelites’ wandering in the desert 40 years, guided by pillars of cloud and fire, (in their hardship gifted with quail and manna from the sky and water from the rock), to the Gospel parables and miracles of Jesus, centered on vineyards and seed-sowing, fishes and loaves, sunlight and rain, water and wine, stormy seas and mountains (of sermon, transfiguration, ascension), fig trees and mustard shrubs, flowers of the field and birds of the air—all culminating on the day of Pentecost with dramatic displays of driving wind and flames of fire that signaled the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, enabling them to speak to visitors from all nations with each hearing the Gospel proclamation in their own native language. From there it was clear that the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus was now infused into all creation, including human beings.
Our Lady’s message suggests that in a profound and mysterious way, NATURE herself is the shared “native language” of all the earth—the common tongue that speaks a message of Divine glory, majesty, beauty, power, and awe to every human being, regardless of race, culture, creed, gender, financial status, or any other distinctions. Nature is the “universal language“ that we also share with other species and life forms on our planet—with every animal, plant, flower, tree, and sea creature. All life forms “live and move and have their being” within God’s creation, Great Nature, and all are subject to her laws. When nature delivers destruction—hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods, and wildfires—again, there are no distinctions among those who are affected; she is a humbling “Great Equalizer” of all the earth’s inhabitants.
It is the HOLY SPIRIT whose power is displayed in the stark beauty and amazing order of nature, and the Spirit conveys one overarching message of LOVE for all. But we have become tragically disconnected from this vital truth of Divine Love that is spoken by the Holy Spirit so “loud and clear” in NATURE. In our 21st century urban lifestyle—so radically different from the agrarian life that was the human norm in former eras—sadly, we have lost touch with the orderly rhythms and magical beauty of the natural world and its changing seasons, which have so much to teach us about life in general and about our place in the Grand Scheme of God’s creation: the duties and responsibilities of LOVE.
Many of us live exclusively “indoor” lives—tied to computer, cell phone, or TV screens throughout every waking hour, scarcely noticing the weather outside or the changing of seasons. Oblivious to the climate and to non-human (plant and animal) life forms, it’s no wonder that we have allowed unprecedented environmental destruction and degradation to flourish and escalate to deadly-dangerous levels “on our watch,” bequeathing to future generations a filthy, toxic, ravaged, nearly unlivable world. The natural world, for many, is simply “out of sight, out of mind.” And we are now paying the price for this “Nature-deficit” with record numbers of people suffering depression, anxiety, and suicidal despair. So much so that doctors now prescribe “time in nature” as treatment for extreme stress; Mother Nature is a “de-stressor” that no pill can match.
Our Lady calls us to “go into nature and pray for the the Most High to speak to your heart.” But how often do we actually go into nature and PRAY? The norm today is for people to “go into nature” with the same ambitious, goal-oriented attitude that we “go into” everything else—a self-serving avidity to “get something.” Thus time in nature is often for the “accomplishment” of a project (house painting, landscaping) or the “adventure” of a recreational activity—e.g. golf, tennis, trophy fishing, big game hunting, skiing, sailing, team sports watching or playing—all of which cost money.
While any time in nature is valuable, Our Lady is asking us to spend some “contemplative” time outdoors, where we “pray for the Most High to speak to our heart.” Not to our “head” (which is focused on DOING), but to our “heart” —that is, to our innermost core/center of BEING where the Divine Spirit of Love dwells in every life form in the universe. To experience such “contemplative” moments in nature costs nothing, unlike our other outdoor activities: it is free of charge! It asks only for our expenditure of some quiet time outside in silent meditation and open awareness, “soaking in” the gifts of nature’s gratuitous, generous, boundless beauty: warm sunlight, gentle breeze, sound of birdsong, music of water, drone of insects, shapes of passing clouds, rustling leaves, stars above, etc. Through all of these gifts, the “Most High” Creator of Nature “speaks to our heart” if we open ourselves to the experience by simply showing up in our own backyard, front porch, or anywhere else in Great Nature.
Our Lady calls us to pray that we “may feel the power of the Holy Spirit so as to witness the love God has for every creature.” To “FEEL THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT” is a specific gift that belongs to a different order of experience and “knowing” from our ordinary consciousness, which is largely confined to the “head” or dualistic intellect that divides all of life into either/or categories of opposites: likes and dislikes, pro’s and con’s, worthy and unworthy, winners and losers, black and white, good and bad, etc. But if we are open and receptive, NATURE is a privileged place where we might have a transcendent spiritual awakening beyond our ordinary “head-knowing.” We may actually “FEEL the power of the Holy Spirit.”
To “FEEL” is no small thing; it is far deeper than a mere emotional reaction. It only becomes possible for our scattered, overstimulated ordinary state when we allow ourselves to become STILL and quiet inside, when we allow SILENCE to open us to a finer attention, a broader awareness of the Presence within our inmost being: the Divine Indwelling Spirit whose POWER it becomes possible to “FEEL” only in this privileged environment. This is an experience of BEING beyond all of our “doing.” We cannot “create” or “manufacture” this grace-filled experience; we can only prepare the ground of our consciousness to receive it through our intentional practice of inner and outer stillness, silence, and open awareness that Our Lady calls “PRAYER of the HEART.”
Our Lady says that if we receive such a gift in prayer, we will surely “witness the love God has for every creature.” This is the experience of UNITIVE or NON-DUAL consciousness that characterizes DIVINE LOVE, which Jesus tried to describe when he urged us to “be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Mt 5:45) To “FEEL THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT” is to “witness” this incredible, universal, unconditional, nondual LOVE of God for all and everything, without exception.
By God’s grace, given to us in the beauty of nature, may our “witness” of God’s love grow from a merely passive observation on the sidelines into an active participation and daily practice of Divine Love in our own lives, made possible by the indwelling Holy Spirit of Love—the promise of the Father that was sent to earth by Christ at Pentecost. Through prayer of the heart, Our Lady teaches that each and every day can be for us a new Pentecost!
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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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COME, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, and we shall be created,
and You shall renew the face of the earth.
O GOD, who by the light of the Holy Spirit
instructs the hearts of the faithful,
Grant that by that same Holy Spirit,
we may be truly wise and ever REJOICE
in His consolations.
Through Christ our Lord, amen.
—Traditional prayer of the Church based on the Pentecost liturgy
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SPIRIT OF LOVE, come, give us the MIND OF JESUS,
Teach us the WISDOM of GOD.
—Marty Haugen
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This is the role of the Spirit: At the beginning and at all times, he makes created realities pass from disorder to order, from dispersion to cohesion, from confusion to harmony. In our world today, there is so much discord, such great division. We are all “connected,” yet find ourselves disconnected from one another, anesthetized by indifference and overwhelmed by solitude. So many wars, so many conflicts: It seems incredible the evil of which we are capable! Yet in fact, fueling our hostilities is the spirit of division, the devil, whose very name means “divider.”
Yes, preceding our own divisions there is the evil spirit who is “the deceiver of the whole world.” (Rev 12:9) He rejoices in conflict, injustice, slander; that is his joy. To counter the evil of discord, our efforts to create harmony are not sufficient. Hence, the Lord, at the culmination of salvation, pours out upon the created world his good Spirit: the Holy Spirit, who opposes the spirit of division because he is harmony, the Spirit of unity, the bringer of peace. Let us invoke the Spirit daily upon our whole world, upon our lives and upon any kind of division!
—Pope Francis
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The Holy Spirit overcomes fear. At Pentecost, those apostles who were isolated for fear emerged fearless and began to proclaim the Good News to all. They were not afraid because they felt they were in the hands of the strongest One. Yes, wherever the Spirit of God enters he puts fear to flight; he makes us know and feel that we are in the hands of an Omnipotence of Love. His infinite love does not abandon us.
—Pope Benedict XVI
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June 4: The Most Holy Trinity
By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God is an eternal exchange of LOVE—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and he has destined us to share in that exchange.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 221
The complete Trinity dwells in us.
—Fr. Marie-Michel Philipon, OP
A determined effort to be more conscious of the presence of the Trinity IN US can make a great difference in our spiritual life. The sign of the cross is meant to express our faith in the mysteries of the Blessed Trinity and of the crucifixion of the Word Incarnate. It is the briefest act of adoration and faith in these two great mysteries and in the INDWELLING TRINITY. It reminds us of the connection between the mysteries and that the crucified Word Incarnate is the WAY to the Blessed Trinity.
The more we remember the INDWELLING of the Blessed Trinity, the more we shall learn to see all the truths and gifts of our faith in relation to it. Whenever we are at Mass we shall think of the INDWELLING TRINITY. Our Lord instituted the Blessed Sacrament as a continuation of the Incarnation, and he is there for the same reasons as when he was on earth: to be with us and to deepen our union with the Blessed Trinity IN OUR SOULS. By shedding his Precious Blood, he established the INDWELLING of the Trinity in our souls, both on earth and in heaven.
—Fr. Bonaventure Perquin, OP
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June 11: Corpus Christi—The Body and Blood of Christ
The Eucharist is the celebration of life: the coming together of all the material elements of the cosmos, their emergence to consciousness in human persons, and the transformation of human consciousness into divine consciousness. It is the manifestation of the Divine in and through the Christian community. We receive the Eucharist in order to become the Eucharist.
In the Eucharist, we are not only joined to Jesus Christ present with his whole being under the appearance of bread and wine, but we believe we are joined with all other Christians, with every member of the human race, and with the whole of creation. Jesus Christ in his divinity is in the hearts of all men and women and in the heart of all creation, sustaining everything in being. This mystery of oneness enables us to emerge from the Eucharist with a refined inward eye, and invites us to perceive the mystery of Christ everywhere and in every thing. He who is hidden from our senses and intellect in his divine nature becomes more and more transparent to the eyes of faith—to the consciousness that is being transformed. Christ’s Spirit in us perceives the same Spirit in others.
Contemplative prayer prepares us for a more profound reception of the Eucharist. It enables us to bring the fruits of prayer and the sacraments into daily life so that our entire being is more and more saturated with the divine presence and the concerns of the Gospel. The term is not “holy conversation,” but “Holy Communion,” which implies the intuitive sense of Christ’s presence in which we do not have to say anything, but simply enjoy his presence as we consent to the truth and love that he imparts to us.
The depth of human love casts light on the profound meaning of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the peak of Christian mysticism. The Eucharist that celebrates the Paschal Mystery is a mystical event in which, as passionate lovers, we want to live in each other or consume each other out of love. When we receive the Eucharist, we are plunged instantaneously into the depths of the Trinity. Through the practice of contemplative prayer this explosion of divine energy is gradually unpacked so that we perceive in more detail the great gifts we have received in the communication of divine light, life and love conferred upon us in this sacrament. Through the gift of the Eucharist we become holons within Christ’s Mystical Body. That means that each of us has within us the whole program of divine transformation. The Spirit of God fills the whole body, including every organ and every cell.
The Spirit assimilates us into the Body of Christ just as we assimilate the elements of bread and wine into our material bodies. The reception of the Eucharist is thus a commitment to open ourselves to the process of transformation into Christ. Christ comes to us in Holy Communion not just for a few passing instants—but forever. Each of us is a continuation of Christ’s incarnation insofar as we are living Christ’s life in our own lives—or rather, instead of our own lives. Prayer, the sacraments, and good works are all directed toward one purpose: to awaken us to whom we actually are, but do not yet know.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
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June 16: The Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sacred Heart is not a simple devotion of sentiment; it is the synthesis of all Catholic doctrine, the whole moral law summed up in the LOVE of Jesus Christ for us and of our love for Him. St. Augustine, from the consideration that God is the eternal HEART—God is LOVE (1 Jn 4:8)—finds in this charity the purpose of all the Christian mysteries.
God loves: to love is to give. God has given us everything. (Existence, creation.) God loves: to love is to speak to the beloved. That is revelation, the Sacred Scriptures, God’s law. God loves: to love is to make oneself like the beloved. That is the Incarnation. God loves: to love is to save the beloved, whatever the cost. That is the Redemption. To love is to wish to be perpetually present to the beloved. That is the Holy Eucharist, the Real Presence. To love is to give oneself fully to the beloved. That is Holy Communion. Finally, to love is to wish to make the beloved happy with oneself forever. That is Heaven! The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a vast synthesis of love.
—Ven. Louise Margaret Claret de la Touche
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June 17: The Immaculate Heart of Mary
The memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a celebration of the complex visceral relationship of Mary with her Son’s work of salvation: from the Incarnation, to his Death and Resurrection, to the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Mary’s LOVE is what gives this devotion its true meaning and significance. The HEART of the Blessed Virgin played an important role in her physical maternity and the affections of her maternal soul. The splendor of her sanctity and the great mysteries of her life, especially her divine maternity, are closely related to her love. Since the word “heart” has many symbolic meanings, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary includes her entire holiness and inner life, along with her many gifts and perfections, all related intimately to her love. It is a threefold homage to her maternity, her sanctity, and her role in the redemptive mission of Christ.
“God inspired in the HEART of the pure Virgin Mary His own intense love for humility, and abhorrence of pride. She possessed a far greater horror of pride and ambition, and a far deeper love for humility than all the saints put together. It was the first virtue that she practiced. She humbled herself before all. By marvelous radiance of her Immaculate Conception, she beheld herself susceptible to the guilt of the children of Adam, except that God miraculously preserved her, and she considered that she might have been capable of all the sins in the world, whose source is original sin. It was this humility which attracted to her the countless graces which rendered her worthy to be the Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth. Give thanks to Almighty God who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”
—St. John Eudes
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Most of what we call “compassion” in Christianity is, unfortunately, sentimentality and busywork—and that sounds brutal but it’s true. When we see a situation we immediately put our self into it and we overreact and get all bound up in it emotionally. And we will tend to do our work and get exhausted from doing it because there’s so much identification in it. And we’ll do work that doesn’t need to be done. We’ll rush in too soon. We won’t allow for a process of struggle and emergence in another because our own sense of identity is being jerked around by it.
So most of what we call “Christian compassion” really isn’t. There’s another law of spiritual life that says that everything that’s really done in the world is done at the level of Being rather than the level of doing. Another way of putting that: it is done at the energetic level. When you have begun to develop a center of being, a center of presence, simply Being can be an act of compassion. One can walk across the room or look at someone and lives are changed.
—Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault
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In the Church of Jesus Christ everything belongs to love, everything is founded on love and everything is love. God, who has created man after his own image, wishes that in man, as in God, everything be regulated by love and for love.
—St. Francis de Sales
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Wisdom from Pope Francis
The knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit is not limited to human knowledge: it is a special gift, which allows us to grasp, through creation, the greatness and love of God and his profound relationship with every creature. When our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit, they open to the contemplation of God in the beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos, and lead us to discover how everything speaks to us of Him and everything speaks to us of His love.
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
