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. |
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A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul
Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.
Messenger: Include Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center in 6:20 prayers.
Messenger: I ask you to pray for a very important intention for the Movement that could help to bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and help save souls.
Please pray as never before. Please pray with us hourly.
September 8, 2000 - Second Message
Messenger: The excerpt that follows is from a book written by our founder, Response to God's Love, written about 1984. This book has been used by the founder for the past 16 years in his classes at Xavier University.
Our founder has authored some 17 books.
This book is a wonderful book outlining the Christian and his spiritual life.
This chapter is so important because it is about relationships.
Excerpt from Response to God's Love
Chapter 8
The Christian Encounters Others and the World
In various ways, we have already discussed the Christian's encounter with others and the world (see chapter 3, for example). We now wish to continue this theme of encounter with greater specificity and extensiveness.
The true Christian is imbued with consciousness of others. That is to say, the true Christian is keenly aware that, to a great degree, God intends each of us to press on toward maturity in the spiritual life through a proper encounter with others. Indeed, the Christian imperative reminds us that we are to walk life's path, not in isolation, but hand in hand with our fellow human beings.
To authentically encounter others we must be properly aware of who they really are; we must, in short, be able to penetrate beyond surface appearances, which may or may not be appealing to us, and contact others in their core existence. When we are truly in touch with others at the core of their beings, we are simultaneously aware of their awesome dignity. We are conscious that these persons are created and redeemed by God in his love. Fortified with this proper awareness, we are thus in a position to relate to them as we should.
In order to be in touch with the inner self of others, we must be aware of or in touch with our own inner or true self. This awareness, in turn, is an awareness that our self is likewise made in the image of God, that it has been divinized in Christ and is to be oriented toward God and neighbor. Here, then, we see the profound interaction between the three awarenesses and loves—awareness and love of God, self, and neighbor. As Christians, consequently, we should have a maturing sense of how our existence is, in varied ways, profoundly interlinked with the existence of others. This feeling of union with others is not limited to those we directly encounter, but, in some sense, is directed to all members of the human family.
Let us now consider some of the main attitudes that the Christian should maintain and develop in his or her dealings with others. We will build upon the very basic attitude we have already mentioned—that we must always try to be aware of the true self of others, the self that has been created and redeemed by God's love. This awareness, in turn, calls forth our own love for them.
In dealing with others, we must strive to maintain the balance, so delicate at times, between independence from others and dependence on them. We must, on the one hand, humbly realize that in so many varied ways we consistently depend on others. Have you ever tried to analyze the many, many people you depend on to make it through a very ordinary day? Have you ever tried to enumerate all the people involved—most of whom you don't even know—in putting a simple meal before you?
The consciousness of our dependence on others narrows into much sharper focus, of course, regarding those we encounter daily in a more direct fashion. The members of our families, our friends, our coworkers—these are some of the people we immediately think of as we reflect upon the mutual interdependence that exists among fellow human beings. We depend on such people in a special way for the growth opportunities of loving and being loved, of serving and being ministered to, of affirming and being affirmed—in short, for all the opportunities of variously giving and receiving.
If, however, we must, on the one hand, strive to maintain a sense of proper need for others, we must, on the other hand, couple this with a thrust toward independence. To have an attitude of healthy dependence on others is a main ingredient for true personality growth; to maintain a morbid need for others, however, is a serious obstacle in becoming the persons we are destined to be. We should never become slavishly dependent on the company of others, their love, the attention they give us, the approval they give to us, our ideas, or our work. It is, of course, always very pleasant to receive love, attention, and approval; all this, however, must occur within the framework of God's will for us. We must constantly strive to lovingly do his will at all times and in all circumstances. This is the all-embracing and all-necessary imperative that permeates every facet of our being. When we live according to this imperative, we gladly and gratefully receive love, attention, and affirmation from others when it is forthcoming; what is more, we realize that to be offered this is a part of God's plan for us. If, however, it is not forthcoming at any one time, we courageously continue to live as we think God intends, aware that, in his loving faithfulness, God will compensate for what currently appears to be a lack of human support.
Early in our discussion of the Christian's encounter with others, we should obviously say a few direct things concerning the core attitude of love, a trait that should permeate all other attitudes. It is well to begin by observing a phenomenon of our culture concerning love: Many persons who choose marriage say they do so out of a desire to be loved. Notice, they say that they marry out of a desire to be loved, not to love. In fairness to these persons, perhaps we should presume that they realize they in turn must also offer love. Yet, is it not revealing that they explicitly mention as the reason for marrying a desire to be loved? Could there be a close correlation between this phenomenon and the extraordinarily high divorce rate that prevails in our culture? If it is common that both partners enter marriage more from a need to receive love than from a desire to give it, do we have to look further for the reason to explain why so many marriages are plagued with various degrees of unhappiness?
We should realize that all of us are in danger of falling into the above temptation. Whether we are married people, celibates in the priestly and religious life, or single persons in the world, all of us have to be aware lest we be more concerned with receiving love than in giving it. God wants us to receive love, and we have a need to receive love; however, we must not allow this legitimate desire to degenerate into a morbid preoccupation whereby we always enumerate all the different ways that others should be manifesting love toward us while, at the same time, we ourselves might be guilty of neglecting numerous opportunities for loving them. If our main concern is to love others rather than to be loved by them, I think we will more often than not be surprised at the love others show us over a lifetime. Nonetheless, even in the event that we might feel slighted in this regard, our vocation as Christians is eminently clear: we ourselves must continue to love even when it is extremely difficult to do so, thus following the example of Jesus who loved even those who nailed him to the cross.
As maturing Christians we should be assimilative individuals. In various ways, we must be able to absorb from others, not in an artificial way that does violence to our uniqueness, but in a manner that actually enhances our uniqueness. Our wonderful privilege is to assimilate ever more and more the truth, the goodness, the beauty of God himself by, among other ways, realizing that God is variously reflected through all the human persons he has created. Just as we are created in God's image—and thereby are reflective of his perfections—so also are all others. When all humans are true to God's designs, all do indeed provide various opportunities to one another for personality growth. All of us, I am sure, can recall more than one instance in which we felt especially inspired to become better persons because we have encountered certain individuals.
The preceding discussion easily leads us to another trait that should characterize our dealings with others—namely, we should be evocative persons. By what we are and say and do, we should evoke, or call forth for further development, the truth, the goodness, and the beauty that is inherent in each human person. When we encounter others, we should want to aid, not hinder, them in their quest for personal growth. We are evocative persons in various ways: by offering appropriately affirming words of encouragement and commendation; by simply being kind to others; by wanting sincerely to share others' joys and sorrows; and by helping others realize that they are unique individuals with a unique mission to fulfill. These and other ways—which, again, should all be infused with appropriate love—are constantly available to us; collectively, these ways are a constant reminder to us that we can be evocative personalities not only on rather rare and so-called special occasions, but also on the special occasion of every day, for, indeed, each day is a precious gift from God.
In encountering others, we must, of course, be aware that we should not strive to make others into replicas of ourselves. In being both sources of assimilation for others and evocative factors in their lives, we must constantly shun the temptation to try to make them like us. Although we hope that others will benefit from encountering our positive characteristics, the process of growth—whether we ourselves or others are a source of it—must be accomplished according to each one's uniqueness. As a matter of fact, the more we aid others in growing, the more their uniqueness will become manifest. This principle is particularly applicable in close personal encounters such as deep friendship and marriage. In such instances, we must all the more resist the temptation to make the other more and more like us.
Communication is obviously a very important element as people deal with one another. A dominant problem plaguing numerous marriages and families is a lack of communication between the spouses themselves, between the parents and children, and among the children themselves. Obviously, a lack of communication also causes problems between friend and friend, between employer and employee, between teacher and student. There is no need to continue the list—your own experience can add example after example.
Authentic communication requires a willingness on the part of the parties involved to appropriately share ideas, problems, ideals, joys, and sorrows. Words are obviously involved, but not all words are helpful. We must therefore strive to discern which words are helpful and which words are not—a task that is not always easy. Further, the increasing quantity of words is not always the measure of progressive communication; sometimes the more the words are increased, the more the communication suffers. What matters most is the quality of the words that are spoken, the motivation that prompts them. Also, not all those who are involved have to speak and listen equally. If we attentively try to evaluate all the circumstances—including the different personalities involved—we will tend to contribute our appropriate share of listening and speaking. Furthermore, we must always remember that communication occurs in ways that are over and above the spoken word. Finally, we should realize that authentic communication must be rooted in the mutual respect and love that should guide all our dealings with each other.
Our ability to contribute to the process of communication is, in turn, enhanced by our emphatic attitude—that is, our ability to enter into the feelings, the ideas, and the experiences of others. An empathic attitude is another trait of the true Christian. We can grow in this spirit of empathy by realizing that many of our own experiences are also the experiences of others. If we experience the desire for love and acceptance, so do others; if we feel the pangs of loneliness, so do others; if we have to fight lethargy and boredom, so do others; if we have to struggle with despondency, so do others; if we desire words of encouragement, so do others. If we continue to grow in the spirit of empathy through a consistent realization that, in so many ways, we all share a common lot, then all the types of personal encounters we experience will correspondingly be enhanced.
The true Christian also realizes that special love and concern for a few should proportionately and appropriately deepen love and concern for all others. This, then, is a very good criterion to apply to special relationships—for example, friendship and marriage—to determine whether they are all that they can and should be. Do these relationships expand my horizons, my concern, my love? Do they help me be more sensitive to the fact that God has created all of us brothers and sisters to one another—whether we are black, white, brown, or whatever? Or, on the other hand, do these relationships narrow my love and attention almost exclusively to the special few involved? If the former description characterizes us, we have cause for rejoicing; if the latter description characterizes us, then we should be concerned and attempt to correct the failing.
At this stage of our discussion concerning the Christian as he or she encounters others, it has become evident that many different attitudes, factors, and circumstances are involved. We realize, therefore, that we constantly need a sense of perspective in the whole matter. Sometimes we have to strive mightily to preserve perspective in our various and diversified dealings with others because all sorts of feelings are involved. Moreover, in very close relationships, we must adopt special means for preserving perspective because these types of relationships demand special involvement and, thus, include more and deeper feelings. Special relationships, therefore, obviously test our sense of perspective more often and more diversely than other, less intimate types of personal encounter.
Having already alluded to friendship, it seems opportune to make a few observations concerning this very special kind of relationship. Friendship is one of God's greatest gifts. It is a type of personal encounter that befits any age and any vocation or state of life. One of the beauties of friendship is the special type of love that is involved. Two people become friends and remain friends because they mutually want to do so. In friendship, there are no juridical bonds as there are in marriage and family life. In real friendship, this special freedom that both parties possess regarding the initiation and maintenance of the relationship does not instigate insecure feelings, but rather enhances the encounter with a special kind of splendor.
One of the other beauties of friendship is the obvious fact that a person may have more than one friend. For various reasons, however, it seems that, for most people, deep friendship is possible only with a relatively few. Whatever the case might be, a person should not view his or her multiple friendships as being in conflict with one another. A person's various authentic friendships, all providing their own opportunities for growth, clothe the person with a maturing richness of personality that increasingly contributes to the health and vitality of each of the friendships in particular.
Close friends stand side by side and together walk the path of life. Secure in the other's acceptance and love, each feels a sense of relief that he or she does not need to maintain any kind of facade. Each is encouraged to be and to become according to the real, the true self. Far from hampering the proper unfolding and developing of each one's personality, the friendship offers many diverse opportunities for the maturing of each other's uniqueness. Indeed, each person feels that without the other he or she may not have grown so well in certain facets of self-knowledge; each person feels that without the other he or she may not have grown or become in certain ways at all.
Close friends share many things. They share life's ideals and goals, for example, and in this sharing feel encouraged to achieve a greater realization of their ideals and goals. Close friends share each other's sorrows, and in this sharing the sorrows become much more bearable. Close friends share each other's joys, and in this sharing the joys become greatly increased. Close friends share each other's failures, and in this sharing they gain the strength to rise and try again. Close friends also share each other's successes, and in this sharing are encouraged to fulfill more and more their mission, their work in life.
Each one of us, then, has many reasons to thank God for the wonderful gift of friendship, for, indeed, friendship has in so many diverse ways helped us to be and to become. In so many diverse ways, the gift of friendship has helped us live the paschal mystery of death and resurrection. Truly, it has helped us bear the dark, the difficult, the worrisome aspect of life with greater equanimity and courage; likewise, it has helped us experience the bright, the pleasant, the exuberant side of life with greater joy.
(End of Excerpt from Response to God's Love)
(Please copy and pass out to family and friends.)
Mary's
Message from the Rosary of August 27, 1996Mary speaks: I stood beneath the cross of my Son, and my Heart was in such pain for I saw Him before my eyes. I saw Him covered with blood. I saw Him die. My Heart, my children, my Heart to watch my Son, but my Heart, my Heart, how I suffered for my little children of the world that give in to this world and give up the love of my Son. O my little children of light, I give you this message. Carry this light into the darkness for your Mother Mary, for I stood beneath the cross and I cried. I cried for the little ones. I cried for the young ones, the ones that do not care and will lose their souls. How do I make you see for you will not listen to me? What can I do? I come. I appear. I beg. I plead. I give you these gifts from my Son, and you reject me. I do not deliver messages very often anymore for I have been ignored. The message is the same. You do not read the messages I have given to you. Please help me. Help the little children. I appear. I appear. I appear, and I am ignored. I stood beneath the cross, and I cried. I cried, and my Heart was in such anguish for my little children, for I am searching for them this day as I searched for the Child Jesus. Please, please help me. I cannot hold back the hand of my Son any longer. I am Mary, your Mother. I ask you to help my children. You are my children of light.
Song: O Lady of Light, shining so bright, be with us this day, guiding our way, O Lady, O Lady of Light.
Mary speaks: I appear to you as Our Mother of Sorrows.
(End of Mary's Message)
MY VALENTINE FOR JESUS AND MARY
AND THE WORLDI _________________ give my heart to
You Jesus and Mary on this day
_________________
I promise to help spread the devotion to
the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Q: How can I be a greater lover to you if I am one with the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
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