Medjugorje Message: February 25, 2021
Dear children! God has permitted me to be with you also today, to call you to prayer and fasting. Live this time of grace and be witnesses of hope, because I repeat to you, little children, that with prayer and fasting also wars can be suppressed. Little children, believe and live this time of grace in faith and with faith; and my Immaculate Heart does not leave any of you in peacelessness if you have recourse to me. I intercede for you before the Most High and I pray for peace in your hearts and for hope for the future. Thank you for having responded to my call.
River of Light
March 2021
In this message, Our Lady extends her Lenten teaching as we continue to trek our spiritual “desert journey” throughout the whole month of March. She begins by invoking GOD—the central focus of this holy season: “God has permitted me to be with you also today, to call you to prayer and fasting.” Our Lady thus highlights, emphasizes and asserts once again, as she did in her Magnificat (Luke 1:49) that “GOD who is mighty has done great things for me.”
Our Lady never ascribes her wonderful works of healing and conversion for humanity to herself, but always points to GOD, “the Most High,” before whom she “intercedes” for us—the One who has “permitted” her to be with us in such an extraordinary way for almost 40 years now, in Medjugorje. Although she is Queen of Heaven and Earth, Seat of Wisdom, Star of the Sea, and Mediatrix of All Graces, Our Lady does not present herself as a goddess to be worshipped, but as a humble “handmaid of the Lord,” seeking always and only to carry out the divine will. As children schooled in Mary’s Medjugorje curriculum of prayer, we also must project this crowning virtue of HUMILITY in all our affairs.
Regarding this Lenten season of “prayer and fasting,” Our Lady continues: “Live this time of grace and be witnesses of hope, because I repeat to you, little children, that with prayer and fasting also wars can be suppressed.” At this time millions of people are anticipating their Covid-19 vaccination in hopes of suppressing the spreading and spiking of new outbreaks of this horrible pandemic that has now killed more Americans than WWI, WWII, and Vietnam combined. With the vaccine comes HOPE—hope for survival and for an eventual return to “normalcy” in our lives and relationships.
In a similar way, we might say that prayer and fasting provide a “spiritual vaccine” against the hopelessness of our tragically intractable cultural ills that are taking a heavy toll on us, individually and communally—leading many into pits of depression and suicidal despair. Our Lady clearly says that we can “live this time of grace and be witnesses of hope” BECAUSE we are praying and fasting—and “with prayer and fasting wars can be suppressed.” Whenever Our Lady mentions “wars,” we need to take notice; she gave this same message in Medjugorje prior to the terrible Balkans War, saying war could be “averted,” “prevented,” or “stopped” with prayer and fasting. She also warned of “war” in her apparitions in Fatima (the end of WWI and beginning of WWII).
This time, as she says, she “REPEATS” the teaching about war, but now uses the word “suppressed.” The word “suppression” means putting a halt to something that has already begun to happen. While there is some current mild unrest in our relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia, we might say that here in America, “WAR” is already well underway, in both the deadly battle against the coronavirus pandemic and in our ongoing battles of social and political division, our relentless liberal/ conservative polarization, and the hateful demonizing of one group or ideology by the other, which has now led to mob violence, murder, and domestic terrorism by extremist militias, with escalating threats to our democracy. Thus in two different ways, “WAR” is already happening in our country. Still, this tragic, “war-torn” condition “can be suppressed,” Our Lady says, through PRAYER and FASTING.
How shall we pray and fast this Lent? Grounded and centered in silent PRAYER of the heart—including meditation upon the Mysteries of the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the Eucharistic liturgy with Holy Communion, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation celebrated with genuine contrition, let us FAST from hurtful words, anger, disrespect, pessimism, worries, panic, fear, stress, complaints, bitterness, resentment, cynical suspicion, grudges, selfishness, judgment, condemnation, and all demonizing labels of the “other.” This kind of PRAYER and FASTING can truly “suppress” the wars that have already been set in motion to destroy us.
Our Lady continues: “Little children, believe and live this time of grace in faith and with faith; and my Immaculate Heart does not leave any of you in peacelessness if you have recourse to me.” This sentence is a clear allusion to Our Lady’s Miraculous Medal, which was given to St. Catherine Laboure’ in Paris in 1830, during a deadly cholera epidemic, with the instruction that it be mass-produced as a sacramental to be worn by the faithful. The words inscribed on the medal, surrounding the image of Our Lady of Grace, were: “O MARY, CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN, PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE.”
On the reverse side of the medal are images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (pierced by a sword). Through the centuries, countless miracles of healing and conversion have flowed for those who wear this medal with FAITH IN GOD. Now, some 190 years later, Our Lady is again asking that we “live this time of grace IN FAITH and WITH FAITH,” promising that we will “not be left in peacelessness if we have recourse to her.” The word “recourse” means “a source of help in a difficult situation.” Our Lady knows what a dire situation we are in—as a nation, as a planet, and as a species. She promises to do just what the Miraculous Medal inscription, and every “Hail Mary” asks of her: “PRAY FOR US.”
Thus Our Lady concludes her message by affirming: “I intercede for you before the Most High and I pray for peace in your hearts and for hope for the future.” Indeed, we will not experience peace between the warring factions in our families, communities, country, or world until we have “peace in our hearts“—the peace that will re-ignite a “hope for the future” that has been largely lost by a young generation that fears the world is ending through the selfish, greedy, hateful bungling of those who have thus far been “in charge.” With “recourse” to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart and FAITH in the love of God—given to us through the Paschal Mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ whose Divine Mercy showers saving blood and water upon the whole world from his cross—a different, better ending can be written for today’s sad story: a “New Earth” (Rev 21:1) born of the “Good News” of the Gospel of Life!
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The HEAL AMERICA PLEDGE—Will You Take It?
“I commit to the mission of healing America. I will resist demonizing those I disagree with, and instead listen to understand their concerns. I embrace my responsibility to reduce hostility, because I believe our shared future depends on it.”
—#HealAmericaPledge
Loving God, you fill all things with a fullness and hope that we can never comprehend. Thank you for leading us into a time where more of reality is being unveiled for us all to see. We pray that you will take away our natural temptation for cynicism, denial, fear and despair. Help us have the courage to awaken to greater truth, greater humility, and greater care for one another. May we place our hope in what matters and what lasts, trusting in your eternal presence and love. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our suffering world. (Here mention your own intentions.) Knowing you hear us, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.
—Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
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The central idea of the Eastern Patristic fathers was the idea of “theosis,” of “deification” of the creature, of the transfiguration of the world, of the cosmos, and not the idea of personal salvation. Only later did the Christian consciousness hold in greater esteem the idea of hell, rather than the transfiguration and theosis of the world. The Kingdom of God is the transfiguration of the world—the universal resurrection, a new heaven and a new earth.
—Nikolai Berdyaev
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Faith is not just the acceptance of abstract propositions about God; it is the total surrender of ourselves to God. In baptism, our false self is put to death and the victory won by Christ is placed at our disposal. The dynamic set off in baptism is meant to increase continuously during the course of our chronological lives and lead to the experience of the risen life of Christ within us. In the Christian view, death is thus an integral part of living. Dying to the false self is the movement from a lower form of life to a higher one; from a lower state of consciousness to a higher state of consciousness; from a weak faith to a faith that is strong, penetrating, and unifying.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
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Salvation is fundamentally the realization of oneness with God. When we work to surrender our own desires, worldview, self-image, and all that goes to make up the false self, we are truly participating in Christ’s emptying of himself. We are emptying ourselves of the false self so that the true self, which is the Christ-life in us, may express itself in and through our human faculties. And we can do this because he handed over his human life to the Father, and at the same time he handed over the Divine Spirit to the human family.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
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Creating a Personal Rule of Life
Example of a lay contemplative practitioner’s daily code of conduct:
- Be faithful to the Divine in all that you do. Put the Divine will before your own. Ask, “What would God do?” and wait for the answer.
- Be simple of purpose. The basis of simplicity is centering on God. The heart of a contemplative life is to live in God’s presence.
- Love all of creation with Divine compassion. Total commitment brings change. Give to life your complete love, without self-interest.
- Offer yourself as a place of prayer. May your presence heal divisions and expand hearts.
- Be attuned to the splendor of creation and the web of existence. Celebrate embodiment. Actively work—both within yourself and in the world—to make the holy manifest.
- Refrain from possession. Remember the transient nature of earthly life. Possession can occur on all levels: physical, emotional, psychic, spiritual. Love expands the spirit; possession contracts it.
- Pray daily to grow in humility, and to be empty of the false self. Offer to the Divine your regrets, sorrows, doubts, motives, and unresolved desires.
- In all you do, practice non-harm. Make a small footprint, tread lightly, become aware of the impact your actions have on others. Reflect on your motives, to lessen suffering for yourself and others.
- Treat all religions and spiritual paths with respect. Enter silence. Keep faith alive.
- Create community wherever you are. Make of your heart a home for the homeless, a refuge for the poor. Pray for the well-being of your brothers and sisters.
Spend some time contemplating the rhythm of your own life. Without judgment, reflect on how you spend your time, what you pay attention to, and where your energy goes. Does the rhythm of your life honor the relationships and values that are most important to you? Is there some degree of balance between work and rest, solitude and community? Be open to the movement of the Spirit. How might God be inviting you into greater freedom, integrity, and love through the rhythm of your daily life?
—Beverly Lanzetta
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Contemplative “Seeing”: Reality As It Is
One of the keys to wisdom is that we must recognize our own biases, addictive preoccupations, and the things to which we refuse to pay attention. Until we see these patterns, we will never be able to “see what we do not see.” Both Socrates and St. Teresa of Avila declared self-knowledge to be the first entrance way to wisdom. Without such critical awareness of the small self, there is little chance that any person will produce great knowing or enduring wisdom.
Everyone sees the world from a certain, defined cultural perspective. But people who have done their inner work also see beyond their own biases to something transcendent, that crosses the boundaries of culture and individual experience. People with a distorted image of self, world, or God will be largely incapable of experiencing what is really real in the world. They will see things through a narrow keyhole. They’ll see what they need reality to be, what they’re afraid it is, or what they’re angry about. They’ll see everything through their aggressiveness, their fear, or their agenda. Thus they won’t see “Reality” at all.
In contrast, a contemplative sees WHAT IS, whether it’s favorable or not, whether it meets their needs or not, whether they like it or not. Most of us will misinterpret our experience until we have been moved out of our false center. Until then, there is too much of the small self in the way. We all play our games, cultivate our prejudices and our unredeemed vision of the world. No one willingly does evil. Each of us puts together a construct by which we explain why our way is necessary and good. This is the work of the EGO, the small or false self that wants to protect its agenda. We need help in unmasking our false self and distancing ourselves from our illusions. We need to install a kind of “inner observer.” This happens through divine grace in our contemplative practice.
—Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
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Wisdom from Pope Francis
Do You Want to Fast This Lent?
Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and have trust in God.
Fast from complaints; contemplate simplicity.
Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
Fast from bitterness; fill your hearts with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words; be silent and listen.
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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
