Our Lady's Message from Medjugorje (April 24th 2024)

 On April 25, 2024, Our Lady gave the following message during her apparition to the visionary Marija:

Dear children!

I am with you to tell you that I love you and to encourage you to prayer; because Satan is strong and every day his strength is stronger through those who have chosen death and hatred.

You, little children, be prayer and my extended hands of love for all those who are in darkness and seek the light of our God.

Thank you for having responded to my call.

The only Easy day was Yesterday

 

I saw a comic book sketch of a boy kneeling by his bedside saying his evening prayers as his dad walked by the open door of the bedroom. The boy looked up and said ‘Hi Dad; just saying my prayers; do you need anything while I’m here?’ His dad looked like he’d had a long day. 

At first it made me laugh; but as I pondered it I realised something. Our design is for complete dependency on God and Intimacy with Him. We are not meant to figure out life on our own. Prayer is in fact the only way to make life work. 

In our day, as the pace of life quickens, the pressure mounts, and demands are placed upon people that our ancestors would never comprehend; perhaps everyone in the modern world could embrace the Navy Seals saying “The only easy day was yesterday”. We are even harassed by our own telephones! 

Often at best people try to shoehorn God in on Sunday morning and a quick prayer as they run out of the house. But we need a lot more than that to survive let alone thrive. Jesus spent whole nights in prayer. Even Jesus needed to. To commune with the Father, the only one who truly knew Him (and the only one who knows and understands us). 

Prayer is the oxygen for the soul, without it we will shrivel up and die. The human heart is the meeting place for God and man, He is already there; (like in a zoom breakout room) waiting for us to enter, share our troubles with Him so He can immediately get to work on them. (He loves to be needed). 

Often though, we are faced with an enticing alternative for our spare moments, particularly at the end of the day. There are two options on the table, the first is Relief and the second is Restoration. The first is quick, seems easy and involves potato chips, ice cream, a TV sitcom and an extra glass of wine; that will bring temporary relief from the day’s struggles. Restoration is the better choice and takes only a little effort and has a much longer lasting effect. Rather than simply numbing the ravages of the day on the soul with some form of medication we can revive and restore it, bring it back into harmony by going to God. 

This is how I go about it, these days. I go down to the terrace of our condo; there is a nice spot with a few trees on either side, and a breeze drifts through in the evenings. I watch it move the palms for a few minutes, listen to the crickets chirp and wait in silence. We are in fact always in the presence of God; we don’t have to seek Him out, He is an indwelling God. I don’t review the day so much as surrender it and myself to Him leaving the outcomes and troubles in His capable hands; this takes a few minutes. I use a simple formula borrowed from a Capuchin monk it goes ‘Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything” And then I just rest in Him, in His presence and little by little there is a shift towards letting go of everything and allowing myself to be restored in Him, ready for the next day.

Once we realise the importance of prayer, we will see the difference it makes. Mother Teresa commented once that if she had a lot to accomplish she would pray for an hour first and if she knew she had a great deal to do that day then she would pray for 2 hours first. That’s how it works, the economics of the Kingdom of God.  And in doing so we also receive peace in our hearts; instead of agitation. 

Try it and see !

“While He was still a long way off…”

The mentor of C.S Lewis, a chap called George McDonald wrote that “it is better not to have known the Father, than to have learned Him wrong”.

For those of my generation the way God the Father was presented was a bit worrying, especially if you were taught by nuns and you were boys, aka ‘the barbarian horde’. The chances of heaven were so slim, I don’t recall it ever being mentioned or described; whereas purgatory and hell were described in such detail we wondered how the sisters had got out so as to return and tell us about it. The idea of God as a loving Father was not on the radar.

Often religion clashes with reality as we read in the parable of the prodigal son, where Jesus tells us who His father really is.

After coming to his senses and heading home with a desire to be reunited with his father, we see a father who is already scanning the horizon, hoping and waiting for his return. This is how it is with Our Father too, He waits, His eyes moving across the earth in search of His lost sons and daughters. Perhaps even engineering their return, sending them messengers, interventions, nudges to guide their steps home.

And when they do have that moment of clarity, or change of heart, He runs to them. He doesn’t wait. He runs to them ‘clasped him in his arms and kissed him’ as the scripture puts it.

He doesn’t need to hear the carefully crafted speech or apology. Nope. He is already celebrating ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.’

That’s who the Father is. Nothing to fear for those who want to come home. No obstacles in our path if a change of heart and reunion with God is what we desire. That is the great gift of Divine Mercy. He wants us back more than we want it. And there is joy, not anger awaiting us.