Medjugorje Message: November 25, 2023
Dear children! May this time be interwoven with prayer for peace and good deeds, so that the joy of the expectation of the King of Peace may be felt in your hearts, families and in the world which does not have hope. Thank you for having responded to my call.
River of Light
December 2023
Our Lady’s message was given on the vigil of Christ the King—the last Sunday of the Church year—at the threshold of the beautiful liturgical season of Advent. With only one week left in the old year, Our Lady’s message was appropriately short—just one sentence—in which she does refer to her Son as a “King” !
She begins: “May this time be interwoven with prayer for peace and good deeds...” —reminding us that “this time” of Advent is a penitential season, sometimes called a “Little Lent.” Like Lent, which prepares us for the Lord’s Resurrection victory at Easter, Advent is also a time of preparation in which we anticipate the great feast of Christmas—the coming birth of Jesus our Savior—by opening our hearts to become ourselves that humble, simple “manger” where Christ can enter and find a home. Our interior “manger” is formed by BOTH “prayer for peace and good deeds” —by BOTH faith AND works. Thus Our Lady asks that our Advent season be “interwoven” with BOTH action and contemplation as we “PRAY for peace” and perform “GOOD DEEDS” for others, “interweaving” each day with a braided spiritual practice—an alternating rhythm of times of quiet personal prayer in silence and times of community engagement in loving service to others.
Why does Our Lady request this? She says: “so that the joy of the expectation of the King of Peace may be felt in your hearts, families and in the world which does not have hope.” Here Our Lady reveals the multiple levels of influence she wishes to be activated by our “prayer for peace” and our “good deeds.” First of all, the message we convey through our Advent prayer and action must be a message of JOY: “the joy of the expectation of the King of Peace.” Indeed, although Advent is a penitential season of preparation, it has a festive, joyful flavor of penance throughout, reflected in the violet liturgical tones, often brighter than the deep purple of Lent, and in the pink candle and vestments of Gaudete (“Joy” ) Sunday in the third week. The green of our Advent wreath signals the hope of an ever-renewable life in eternity.
Our Lady teaches that the three levels at which our “prayer for peace and good deeds” must be “felt” are: 1) in our “hearts” ; 2) in our “families” ; and 3) in “the world which does not have hope.” Here Our Lady draws for us a sort of “quantum conversion diagram” that unveils the nested, interconnected web of Reality in which we live: individual, communal, and cosmic. Through our “interweaving” of “this time” of Advent with “prayer for peace and good deeds,” we seek to influence all three of these “nested” levels of Reality: First, our own individual HEARTS in need of opening to Christ the King of Peace, so they can become a manger-home for His joyous Divine Indwelling Presence within us.
Second, our FAMILIES, which need to feel the deep, abiding JOY of the true “reason for the season” of Christmas through our loving relationships full of prayer and good deeds inspired by the coming “King of Peace”—not the hollow, “empty calories” of our superficial gorging on commercialized gifts and gadgets that bring no lasting satisfaction, just a glazed inner “landfill” of toxic overconsumption, unhealthy/unmet expectations, and disappointment…a “holiday hangover” of fatigue, depression, illness and unpaid bills.
And third, “the WORLD which does not have hope” for anything beyond this earthly lifetime—the short span of our human years which all-too-quickly ends in death. The “joy of the expectation of the King of Peace” must be felt in this world that is largely oblivious to the possibility of Life Everlasting in the kingdom of Christ, and thus “does not have hope.” Without HOPE of anything beyond our few earthly years, we have deteriorated as a human culture and a human species to a cold, greedy, hateful, selfish, and egocentric level of consciousness that no longer cares even for the health of our beautiful planet Earth, our common home that enables our physical life to exist. “Without hope” of eternal life, the world’s focus is short-sighted, with a myopic fixation on immediately gratifying our material goals and selfish ambition, serving only the pursuit of “mammon” —the vapid cultural symbols of safety/security, affection/esteem, power/control, and bodily pleasure.
In these last few words of Our Lady’s message regarding “the world which does not have hope,” we’re invited to a broader view of the Advent “Coming” of our Lord: how its meaning is not only a celebration of the Incarnation of God in Jesus’ Bethlehem manger 2,000 years ago, but also “the joy of the expectation of the King of Peace” who will come in glory at the end of time. This “Second Coming” of Christ—portrayed in Scripture as a huge, worldwide, cosmic event—will also happen for each one of us at the moment of our death, when indeed, “TIME ENDS” for US, if not yet for our whole planet. The “interweaving” of our “TIME” with “prayer for peace and good deeds” is meant to imbue EXPECTANT JOY for the coming King of Peace—Jesus Christ—into three levels: our hearts, our families, and our whole world. His joyful, loving PRESENCE to us at all three levels of Reality is also experienced in all three modes of “TIME”: Yesterday (in Bethlehem); Today (indwelling our hearts each moment); and Forever (in heaven’s eternal life). Our JOYFUL HOPE is centered on His coming Presence in all three ways!
This holy Advent season is a grace-filled opportunity that “our time be interwoven” : as we pray in silent solitude AND offer smiles and greetings to strangers; as we light the candles of the Advent wreath AND collect food to donate to the needy; as we attend Holy Mass AND wrap gifts for our loved ones; as we pray a rosary for world peace AND decorate our family Christmas tree; as we meditate upon the Gospel readings AND bake cookies to give to our neighbors; as we sing carols in our parish AND visit the ill and lonely; as we sit before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration AND serve the needs of our coworkers, spouse, children, and friends; as we go to Confession at a penitential service AND reach out in mercy to mend a broken relationship. Through all these many forms of our Advent celebration we can be sure that “the JOY of the expectation of the King of Peace” will “be felt” —in our “hearts, families, and in the world” which so desperately needs the “HOPE” we bring through this, our INTERWOVEN “prayer for peace” AND “good deeds.”
+ + + + + + + +
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
All of the great religious traditions of the world teach that inner peace begins with gathering of the fragmented self within: learning how to pay attention and sustain attention. Prayer is the fullness of attention and peace is the fullness of attention. One cannot possibly bring together a union in the world from a state of inner fragmentation. This is the heart of the praxis of every world religion.
We must start to understand what it means to be in a state of interior fragmentation, and also to realize that most of the world thinks this is good. Most of what the world calls “living creatively, at your full capacity, and getting the zest” is, from the spiritual point of view, fragmentation. So we live in a culture that causes this tragic mistaken identity—that what we are trained to think is growth and wholeness and power is really, from the spiritual sense, fragmentation.
—Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault
+ + + + + + +
WE CANNOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME THINKING THAT WE USED WHEN WE CREATED THEM.
—Albert Einstein
+ + + + + + +
The Advent “COMING” of Christ
But what then is this coming? It is an unceasing generation. Christ comes with his treasures, but such is the mystery of the divine swiftness that he is continually coming, always for the first time as if he had never come. For his coming, independent of time, consists in an eternal NOW, and an eternal desire renews the joys of the coming. The capacity of the soul, enlarged by the coming of the Master, seems to go out of itself and into the immensity of him who comes: God, who is in our depths, receives God coming to us, and God contemplates God!
It is simplicity that gives God honor and praise; it is simplicity that presents and offers the virtues to him. I call simplicity of intention that which seeks only God and refers all things to him. This is what places man in the presence of God; it is simplicity that gives him light and courage; it is simplicity that empties and frees the soul from all fear today and on the day of judgment. It is simplicity that hourly increases our divine likeness. And then, it is simplicity again that will transport us into the depths where God dwells. The inheritance eternity has prepared for us will be given us by simplicity.
—St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
+ + + + + + +
While the Lord who comes to us in Holy Communion is exactly the same person who will come to us on the day of judgment, we long for his coming in the one case and dread it in the other….But in God justice and love are one and the same thing. So far our Lord’s approach to us on earth has been amazingly tender. He has come as a child, as bread, as an inward presence like light. But how different will his last coming be! It is this coming, as much as the Incarnation and his birth in our soul, that the Church sets before us in Advent and bids us face.
Listen to Christ telling of it. The conditions we know too well today—wars, famines, ideology, betrayal of another’s blood, false teachers rising up on every side to confuse a broken-hearted world—all this will be but the beginning….Then suddenly, unexpectedly, Christ will appear, a King of glory. Legions of angels will sweep the world, driving the whole human race to the judgment throne of God.
And now our Lord says an indescribably warm and tender thing….in the midst of the power and the glory, the day of judgment will after all be a summer! Not destruction, but fulfillment; not a withering, but fruition! It will be the birth for which humanity has been in travail. The suffering, the labor, the patience, that what was hidden will bear fruit. The ugliness that disfigured grief will give place to beauty. The blood spilled in the dust will blossom like a rose.
—Caryll Houselander
+ + + + + + +
If we see that the Son of God took on all our weaknesses except only sin, and if his design in becoming man entailed that he did not refuse hunger, thirst, fear, sadness, or any of our other infirmities, no matter how unworthy of his greatness, then we ought to believe that he was deeply moved by a holy love….It is the very foundation of Christianity to understand that we did not first love God but that God first loved us. The blood of the New Testament poured out for the remission of our sins bears witness to this truth.
Do not doubt it. God always takes the first step. Yet it is done so that we may approach God. How can we give thanks for God’s greatness any better than by humbling ourselves for our sins and falling down before his face? O Mary, singularly set apart, bring aid to us in our weakness by your prayers and obtain for us this grace.
—Bishop Jacques Bossuet
+ + + + + + +
Let the humble hold fast to the humility of God, that they may arrive at the heights of God. Rejoice, you just, it is the birthday of the Justifier. Rejoice, you who are weak and sick, it is the birthday of the Healer. Rejoice, captives, it is the birthday of the Redeemer. Rejoice, free people, it is the birthday of the one who makes you free. The one who holds the world in Being was lying in a manger; he was both speechless infant and Word. The heavens cannot contain him, but a woman carried him in her womb. She was ruling our ruler, carrying the one in whom WE ARE. May he make us into children of God, since for our sake he was willing to be made a child of man.
—St. Augustine
+ + + + + + +
The culmination of salvation history remains the Father’s secret. God withholds the timetable because what he desires is not calculation but vigilance. “Be on the watch” means to stay awake and be on the lookout. Jesus warns that he may come suddenly and find us sleeping—which is what happened during his agony in Gethsemane. To be asleep signifies spiritual torpor and self-indulgence; to be awake is to be alive in faith. The trial in Gethsemane is the beginning of the trial that will last throughout the whole age of the Church, in which Jesus’ followers are called to be constantly alert and attentive to the presence of their Lord. His words are for all disciples of all times: Watch! There is no room for complacency in the Christian life.
—Mary Healy
+ + + + + + +
Acceptance of God’s wisdom in planning our lives and submission to it in the events we do not understand bring great peace of soul. To accept a mystery we must submit—Fiat—and then ponder in our hearts, as Our Lady did: not ponder first and then submit only if we understand. God may give us some understanding later, but even if we are left in darkness our Fiat remains. We can look forward to the day when we shall see his design fulfilled, including our own little part in the context of the whole.
The danger is that we shall want to know too much now. If we insist on knowing God’s reasons for things before submitting, we shall never be given understanding. The only way in which we can learn something of divine wisdom now is by being very docile, anxious to be taught in his way alone. God will enlighten us, by degrees, by his gift of Wisdom, whereby we know more of him because we are becoming more like him. We shall begin to see things more as he does.
But we must remember that we are in the presence of God and take off our shoes: detach ourselves from our worldly knowledge and our preconceived ideas. Then the Holy Spirit is given freedom to work in us. We say in the Advent liturgy: “O come thou Wisdom from on high who orders all things mightily.” Only infinite Power and Love could make itself as helpless as he did in the crib. Only infinite Wisdom could be so obedient.
—Fr. Bonaventure Perquin, OP
+ + + + + + +
December 8: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
So long as we remember that Mary is God’s handiwork, we can never extol her enough, and the tributes of even the greatest poets will always be like indistinct echoes of praise that heaven’s choirs are singing in honor of the Immaculate Virgin. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin leads souls into the light of the sun of justice. How bountiful is the response of our Mother to those who offer her any small gift in their keeping.
—Msgr. Edward Betowski
+ + + + + + +
December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe
Mary addresses Juan Diego in these words: “Listen, my son, to what I am telling you now: Do not be disturbed or afflicted by anything. Do not fear illness or any other harmful accident or pain. Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not life and health? Are you not on my lap and under my care? Is there anything else you need?”
To whom are these words directed? Just as on Calvary was realized the mystery that made the Mother of God our Mother, so on Tepeyac was realized the mystery that made us Mary’s favored children. Those words are ours. Our mother in heaven has a love more intense and passionate and a tenderness more exquisite and delicate than all we know here below. Read and reread those words attentively. Read them well with the eyes of the Spirit, with the illuminated eyes of the heart, and you will understand that those words come from the maternal soul of Mary. With these words, Our Lady of Guadalupe asks us what every mother demands from her child, what everyone who loves expects from the beloved: Trust! An unlimited trust that borders on abandonment, like the loving trust that a little child has in his mother.
—Servant of God Luis Maria Martinez
+ + + + + + +
December 14: St. John of the Cross
In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved. In the twilight of life, we shall be judged on love alone.
To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God.
To reach satisfaction in all
desire satisfaction in nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to possess all
desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all
desire to be nothing.
Love consists not in feeling great things, but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything, however good it is, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.
A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts them.
See that you are not suddenly saddened by the adversities of this world, for you do not know the good they bring, being ordained in the judgments of God for the everlasting joy of the elect.
It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.
The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul. God’s first language is silence.
Obedience is a penance of reason, and thus a sacrifice more acceptable than all corporal penances and mortifications.
God leads every soul by a separate path.
—St. John of the Cross, Carmelite mystic and Doctor of the Church
+ + + + + + + +
God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenseless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendor and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us. This is Christmas: God has become one of us, so that we can be with him and become like him.
—Pope Benedict XVI
+ + + + + + + +
Wisdom from Pope Francis
I wish to encourage the beautiful family tradition of preparing the nativity scene in the days before Christmas, but also the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons, and town squares. It is my hope that this custom will never be lost and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be revived.
Why does the Christmas creche arouse such wonder and move us so deeply? First, because it shows God’s tender love: the Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our littleness. The Son of Mary is the source and sustenance of all life…the Son who forgives us and frees us from our sins. Setting up the Christmas creche in our homes helps us to relive the history of what took place in Bethlehem. Its portrayal also helps us to imagine the scene as contemporaries of an event that is living and real.
It is a part of the precious yet demanding process of passing on the faith. It teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us and that we are with him, thanks to that Child who is Son of God and Son of Mary.
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
