(c) Mateo Ivankovic 2017
J.M.J.
February 8, 2017
St, Jerome Emiliani
St. Josephine Bakhita
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray for peace: peace in human hearts, peace in the families and peace in the world. Satan is strong and wants to turn all of you against God, and to return you to everything that is human, and to destroy in the heart all feelings towards God and the things of God. You, little children, pray and fight against materialism, modernism and egoism, which the world offers to you. Little children, you decide for holiness and I, with my Son Jesus, intercede for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (January 25, 2017)
"You, little children, pray and fight..."
St.
John Paul II understood the deep connection between prayer and the
fight for peace. He lived that fight his entire life, and prayer was at
the heart of the combat. He wrote beautifully of the prayer of the
rosary in his Apostolic Letter "The Rosary of the Virgin Mary":
Peace
40.
The grave challenges confronting the world at the start of this new
Millennium lead us to think that only an intervention from on high,
capable of guiding the hearts of those living in situations of conflict
and those governing the destinies of nations, can give reason to hope
for a brighter future.
The
Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the
contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is "our peace"
(Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ - and this is
clearly the goal of the Rosary - learns the secret of peace and makes it
his life's project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character,
with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful
effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in
their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace
which is the special gift of the Risen Lord (cf. Jn 14:27; 20.21).
The
Rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of charity
which it produces. When prayed well in a truly meditative way, the
Rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in his mysteries and so cannot
fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in
the most afflicted. How could one possibly contemplate the mystery of
the Child of Bethlehem, in the joyful mysteries, without experiencing
the desire to welcome, defend and promote life, and to shoulder the
burdens of suffering children all over the world? How could one possibly
follow in the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, in the mysteries of
light, without resolving to bear witness to his "Beatitudes" in daily
life? And how could one contemplate Christ carrying the Cross and Christ
Crucified, without feeling the need to act as a "Simon of Cyrene" for
our brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or crushed by despair?
Finally, how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ
or of Mary Queen of Heaven, without yearning to make this world more
beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God's plan?
In
a word, by focusing our eyes on Christ, the Rosary also makes us
peacemakers in the world. By its nature as an insistent choral petition
in harmony with Christ's invitation to "pray ceaselessly" (Lk 18:1), the
Rosary allows us to hope that, even today, the difficult "battle" for
peace can be won. Far from offering an escape from the problems of the
world, the Rosary obliges us to see them with responsible and generous
eyes, and obtains for us the strength to face them with the certainty of
God's help and the firm intention of bearing witness in every situation
to "love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col
3:14).
Indeed, "...the Rosary allows us to hope that, even today,
the difficult "battle" for peace can be won." As we pray the Rosary with
all our hearts, we open the way to hope for the world. May we all pray
and fight for peace!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
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