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. We acknowledge that the final authority regarding these messages rests with the Holy See of Rome.

February 17, 2002

    First Reading from Mass

Genesis 2: 7-9

Yahweh God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.

    Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

     

Genesis 3: 1-7

        The Fall

    Now, the snake was the most subtle of all the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the snake, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death." ' Then the snake said to the woman, 'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil.' The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.

   

---

 
Matthew 4: 1-11

Testing in the desert

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the desert to be put to the test by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was hungry, and the tester came and said to him, ‘If you are Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.’ But he replied, ‘Scripture says: 

    Human beings live not on bread alone 
    but on every word 
        that comes from the mouth of God.’ 

The devil then took him to the holy city and set him on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says: 

    He has given his angels orders about you, 
    and they will carry you in their arms 
    in case you trip over a stone.’ 

Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture also says: 

    Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ 

Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all these, if you fall at my feet and do me homage.’ Then Jesus replied, ‘Away with you, Satan! For scripture says: 

    The Lord your God is the one 
        to whom you must do homage, 
    him alone you must serve.’ 

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels appeared and looked after him.

  

Messenger:            Today at Mass the priest read the Gospel with much 
                            emotion.

                               Today the priest at Mass gave a very important 
                            homily. I want to talk about it here.

                               He said he had a picture of the devil in a bag.
                            He said that you may think the devil is awful looking.
                            He opened up the bag and he pulled out a cute
                            little stuffed animal with little horns and
                            a little box of chocolates in the form of
                            a heart.

                                He said when the devil comes to tempt
                            us he comes with things that look good.
                            He tries to entice us with something that looks
                            good and he tries to tempt us when we know
                            it is something we shouldn't have.

                                He gave an example. He said he woke up on
                            Ash Wednesday and right away he had thoughts
                            of Chili and he knew he was to fast and
                            abstain from meat. He drove to work and
                            on the way he saw a big billboard of a cheese-chili-
                            coney right before him. He went to the work where
                            he is the minister and they have a big cafeteria.
                            In the cafeteria as soon as he went in was a
                            chili station with cheese-chili-conies already
                            on the plates. He got his fish and beans and
                            sat down at the table. The table soon filled
                            up with people eating chili and he continued
                            to eat his fish and beans.

                                Later that night at home he decided to
                            eat a piece of candy that was there. He said he 
                            intended to give up candy for Lent. He felt he had
                            resisted the temptation that day with the chili conies
                            and he rationalized one piece of candy was okay.

                                On the first bite of the candy his number
                            nineteen molar tooth broke off and fell on the floor.
                            Half of his tooth was gone. And he had such pain
                            from the exposed nerves.

                                He couldn't say the Mass the next day because of
                            getting his tooth fixed. He said that everything we
                            do effects everybody else.

                                He said the devil is cunning and he makes
                            things look good. He said the temptation
                            of the evil one hits at our weakest link.
                            Temptation hits where we are most vulnerable.

                                He said look at the readings today.

Genesis 3: 4-7

Then the snake said to the woman, 'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil.' The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.

  

February 17, 2002 message continues

Messenger:            The devil even tried to tempt Jesus after
                            he fasted forty days.

                                The devil wanted God to worship him.

                                The priest said about temptation what is dark
                            appears as light and what is wrong seems so right
                            to the person anticipating sin.

                                He told the story of a man who embezzled $30,000
                            in funds from a religious organization. He 
                            was arrested and he said the man cried.
                            The man said, "I know it was wrong, but at the 
                            time it seemed so right." He was buying things 
                            for his family that were non essential.

                                He was rationalizing it was for his family. Then
                            he could see more clearly he did wrong.

                                The priest said, "When we sin we rationalize, it's 
                            okay, we tell ourselves it is the right thing to
                            do. Look at Eve and the apple, it looked
                            good. That sin effected the human race."

                                The priest said we rationalize before we sin.

                                Then he said "what about sin, it hurts
                            the body of Christ. Racism, sexism,
                            abortion,—we are all one. Sin effects
                            everybody else. Whatever we do to our
                            brother and sister, we do to Christ."
                            "Sin offends God."

                                We are lured into sin.

                                Then he said How can we avoid temptation?

  
Matthew 4: 10

...The Lord your God is the one 
    to whom you must do homage, 
him alone you must serve.’
  

Messenger:            The priest said "If you really love God, then 
                            you will think twice before you give into
                            that enticing temptation."

                            "The devil is shrewd and cunning."

                            The following is what I believed the priest said.

                                Look at the little stuffed animal
                            with the horns. He can look
                            so cute and not be what
                            God wants us to have.

                                Sin may appear right to us as we
                            rationalize we should do something
                            we know God doesn't want us to do.

                                The devil hits at our weakest link,
                            we should believe in God's love 
                            for us and focus on the truth.
                            The priest prayed we will be filled with a
                            deeper faith. He prayed this lent we
                            come closer to God.

                                He said we shouldn't fast for lent
                            and then treat everybody mean because
                            we are fasting. We should forgive and
                            rid our hearts of hatred. We should fast
                            from anger, hatred, impatience, resentment,
                            hardness of heart, prejudice. We must
                            fast from anything that is not of God.

                                He said much more. It was very
                            powerful to go to Mass and hear
                            the priest talk about the temptations
                            of the devil. His stories were so wonderful.
                            It is for this reason I account them here.
                            I cannot even begin to deliver it the
                            way he did.

                                I want to quote Jesus' message in
                            Blue Book I the first message.

Cling to Me

May 13, 1993 

Jesus speaks: My dear child, if you stay close to Me, then I live in you and you live in Me. I am He Who created you and I love you with such an intensity that you will never know. My words are your truth. You must abide in My heart in all things. There is no room for doubt. My ways are steadfast, direct, and without error.

    You must stay rooted in Me to ward off the power of the evil one. His grip is paralyzing and crippling. His power is stronger every day.

    When you live in Me, I am in your heart and he has no power over Me. I am your God. I am your true lover. I want to protect you. I want to guard you from this force. Stay rooted firmly in Me and he will have no power.

    I am He Who comforts you. My hand is upon you. Hold tight to Me, My child. My eyes are fixed right on you. You are My most precious child. I love you as no other can. My arms are about you. My tenderness surrounds you. My love is in your heart. You go not alone. I walk with you.

    I share every aspect of your life with you. Cling to Me, feel My presence. It is warm and secure within your chest. There is no room for fear, for I cast out fear and bring you comfort and joy.

end of May 13, 1993 message

              

February 17, 2002 message continues

Messenger:            Many of the priest's stories were very funny,
                            but the devil really isn't funny. The bottom
                            line is he comes to entice us into sin.

Excerpt from February 15, 2002

Messenger:             God created this world and all that is in it.

February 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:             God made the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1: 1-5

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. 

    God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light ‘day’, and darkness he called ‘night’. Evening came and morning came: the first day.

Genesis 1: 26-28

     God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.’

    God created man in the image of himself,
    in the image of God he created him,
    male and female he created them.

     God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth.’ 

       

Genesis 3: 1-7

        The Fall

    Now, the snake was the most subtle of all the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the snake, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death." ' Then the snake said to the woman, 'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil.' The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.

  

Genesis 3: 13-24

Then Yahweh God said to the woman, 'Why did you do that?' The woman replied, 'The snake tempted me and I ate.'

Then Yahweh God said to the snake, 'Because you have done this,

    Accursed be you
    of all animals wild and tame!
    On your belly you will go
    and on dust you will feed
    as long as you live.
    I shall put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
    it will bruise your head
    and you will strike its heel.'

    To the woman he said:

    I shall give you intense pain
        in childbearing,
    you will give birth to your children
        in pain.
    Your yearning will be for your husband,
    and he will dominate you.

To the man he said, 'Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat,

    Accursed be the soil because of you!
    Painfully will you get your food from it
    as long as you live.
    It will yield you brambles and thistles,
    as you eat the produce of the land.
    By the sweat of your face 
    will you earn you food,
    until you return to the ground,
    as you were taken from it.
    For dust you are
    and to dust you shall return.

The man named his wife 'Eve' because she was the mother of all those who live. Yahweh God made tunics of skins for the man and his wife and clothed them. Then Yahweh God said, 'Now that the man has become like one of us in knowing good from evil, he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick from the tree of life too, and eat and live for ever!' So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the great winged creatures and the fiery flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

February 15, 2002 message continues

Messenger:             Look at the beauty of the earth—

Genesis 4: 1-2

The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. ‘I have acquired a man with the help of Yahweh,’ she said. She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil.

  

Genesis 4: 7

If you are doing right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you are not doing right, Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still master him.’

  

Genesis 4: 10-11

‘What have you done?’ Yahweh asked. ‘Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. Now be cursed and banned from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hands.

  

Genesis 9: 13-15

I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things.

     

February 15, 2002 message continues

  

Mark 7: 21-23

For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.’

Luke 21: 34-35

Be on the alert

‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened by debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will come upon you unexpectedly, like a trap...

   

Romans 13: 13

Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies or drunkenness, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. 
  

Galatians 5: 19-21

 When self–indulgence is at work the results are obvious: sexual vice, impurity, and sensuality, the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels, disagreements, factions and malice, drunkenness, orgies and all such things...

The Story of the Crucifix Video

Nursing Home Mass Video

      
This cannot be altered in anyway.

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All scripture quotes are from the New Jerusalem Bible, July 1990, published by Doubleday.
Revised: February 17,  2002
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