Mary has requested that the daily message be given each day to the world. It is read nightly at the prayer service from her Image Building in Clearwater, Florida, U.S.A. This is according to her request. All attempts will be made to publish this daily message to the world at 11 p.m. Eastern time, U.S.A. |
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Matthew 5:43-45
'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and wicked alike.'
Messenger: A person that violates another person's boundaries is exercising wrongful power over them. A person who is under the authority in a working situation, under the authority of an officer, a priest, a teacher, a parent or a husband, many times is forced to accept misuse of authority. The person in authority is exercising "power-over" the other sometimes in ways that are not according to God's will.
All authority comes from God, those acting in authority act in His name. No one wishes another to misuse authority. Authority is a word that is feared many times because it has been misused. We must never obey a command which tells us to do something sinful.
Persons acting in authority must realize they are acting in His name, and must operate in love. We must model our ways of exercising authority after Jesus. He is the suffering servant. He loved those beneath Him so much He died for them. He obeyed His Father to His death on the cross.
Jesus shows us how to act toward those under us. Jesus shows us how He obeyed His Father.
Some people seek power because it gives them a feeling of control and satisfaction. If they sometimes cannot control situations and events in their lives, they exercise unlawful power over those under them. In so doing, many feel a sense of control and satisfaction. Many use authority for selfish power, this is improper use of authority.
In our lives we must put up with improper use of authority on a small scale or we would have to change our jobs daily, leave our homes, fight the school etc. Some situations in which authority is misused might be so serious that they cannot be ignored, but must be stopped. But in life we must, many times, live with the improper uses of authority.
I look at the Savior, the all powerful, Almighty God. He allowed Himself to be handed over. In John 19:10-11 it says,
John 19:10-11
Pilate then said to him, 'Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?' Jesus replied, 'You would have no power over me at all if it had not been given you from above; that is why the man who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.'
Messenger: He shows us that He allowed Himself to be handed over. He allowed the men to exercise power to arrest Him and put Him to death. No man ever has power over our hearts. They can burn our bodies, but they cannot control our hearts.
Many times the devil uses others to hurt us. It is in accepting suffering as Jesus did that we remain free in our hearts. No matter what others do to us, they cannot control our hearts and the ability to choose love.
Many times someone will exert authority over us and cause us great suffering. If we then turn and hurt everyone around us, if we cannot continue to do our work for Jesus, the devil has won the battle and we have surrendered part of our freedom to him.
The more God allows us to suffer the more we must strive to identify with Him in the suffering and learn to suffer in joy. Great grace is released when we give ourselves in love despite great sufferings. If others cause us problems, and we do not love because of their unloving ways toward us, we have given them power over us and our ways.
Here are two ways of acting:
The devil wants to control our behavior. The devil, using the unloving actions of others, many times helps to cause a chain reaction in our behavior. We wrongfully change our behavior because of the evil of another.
The men that wounded Jesus literally abused Him. They exercised wrongful power over Him, but they said they acted within the law.
God has all the authority. He gives His authority to others to act in His name. Many misuse authority for selfish gain in homes, churches, schools, businesses, communities, etc. They are seeking power and control.
Jesus speaks: My child, I tell you this, the devil is a roaring lion looking for one to devour. He will use others to try to "get to you." When one exercises power over you through misuse of authority, you feel controlled and experience the feeling of having surrendered some of your freedom. My child, someone may try to control events in your life, but they cannot control your heart or your ability to love.
I ask you to meditate on My Passion. You will learn more and more to love those who persecute you.
I suffered so for love of you. In your suffering you identify with Me and great grace is released.
I am not telling a person who is being abused by another to take this abuse. There are severe circumstances in which people must separate from those who are treating them unlawfully. I am not telling a person to stay in a job when they are being mistreated. You must pray in silence and ask God to help you to do His will. Your desire is always to do God's will.
In circumstances in which you are suffering from those in authority you must try to love them and do not harbor resentment toward them. You must pray for them, and decide if it is seriously harmful to you to remain. Then you may have to leave the situation. You must always pray for guidance to do God's will. I do not wish you to be mistreated. Some endurance in ordinary circumstances is necessary.
I love you,
Jesus
Give Comfort to the Wailing Soul
Jesus speaks: Persons in tears are very rooted in their wailing hearts. Many times, the child or spouse comes crying and the other wishes to help them by giving solutions. A person crying is hurting in the heart, to give a logical solution will, many times, cause the person to become more upset. It is connection in the heart the person is seeking, and understanding and love so one can work through the pain.
A person in authority must deal with the heart first. In some cases a person may cry for attention, but in the majority of cases, a wailing child, or friend or spouse truly needs love and understanding to work through the feelings and the pain.
I offer this writing as a way of helping all to turn their hearts to more loving ways of comforting and helping each other in trauma and suffering. Always one must remember this, I know perfectly all the ways of your heart. No one will ever understand your heart as I do. It is in coming to Me with your suffering that you can identify with Me in that suffering and great grace is released.
I give you one another to comfort and love and help each other. Many times the sharing and love you give to the wounded party leads the hurt person to a greater love relationship with Me. For it is in your loving your brothers they know more clearly the love that I have for them. Loving one another, offering great comfort, helps to heal the wounds of the past in the wailing hearts.
You are on a journey your whole life long to become more perfected in your ways of loving. I give this writing to help you grow more in your tender love of one another. I am love. It is in the Eucharist I outpour My love to you and imprint on your soul the love I have for you and others. Through the Eucharist your loving capacity is heightened to greater ways of loving God, one another and yourselves.
Oh My child I so tenderly love you. I want you to know this tender love and share it with all others.
Messenger: My Savior, a prayer after Communion
Implant on me, Oh my God, the love of Your divine Heart that the desire within me can truly be Your ways of loving, that my loving capacity can be heightened to such levels of loving that I can more deeply exist in You, and dwell most abundantly in Your divine Heart. I implore You, oh Sacred Heart divine, that I will most intimately know Your love, that I will be healed from the deep wounds of the past, that the pain will be lessened, that I will know as You wish me to know, that these wounds of mine will be life-giving wounds, that I may more fully serve You and truly love more and more as You wish me to love, as I dwell in Your Heart and the Heart of my Immaculate Mother, that my life may be more and more modeled after Thee and Thy holy Mother.
I implore You through this Eucharist to implant on my soul greater knowledge of God that I will more fully love You, my brothers and myself, that Thy work may progress as You act and live in me.
Copyright © 1998
Shepherds of Christ. Shepherds of Christ Ministries
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