Medjugorje Message: May 25, 2022
Dear children! I am looking at you and thanking God for each of you, because He permits me to still be with you, to encourage you to holiness. Little children, peace is disturbed and Satan wants peacelessness. That is why, may your prayer be even stronger so that every unclean spirit of division and war may be stilled. Be builders of peace and carriers of joy of the Risen One in you and around you, for the good to win in every man. Thank you for having responded to my call.
River of Light
June 2022
Our Lady begins her message this month with the same words she used last month: “Dear children! I am looking at you…” Do we feel the gaze of our Heavenly Mother upon us? Are we awake and conscious enough to register her Attention upon our life? This is the perpetual longing of every human being, beginning at birth: to be lovingly SEEN by our mother and given her full ATTENTION. The perceived lack of this “positive maternal regard” is at the root of so many lifelong emotional or psychological wounds for which we all (consciously or unconsciously) seek healing as adults. A special sensitivity is needed, in order to have this awareness of Our Lady’s gaze, and most people are asleep and oblivious to this extraordinary gift of spiritual motherhood that was poured upon us from the cross of Jesus and present to us in a special way during these 40+ years of Our Lady’s presence as Queen of Peace in Medjugorje.
Yet she has never lost sight of us since that Good Friday on Calvary, nor forgotten our plight as residents of planet Earth: “I am looking at you and thanking God for each of you, because he permits me to still be with you, to encourage you to holiness.” In spite of the colossal MESS we have made of this 21st century world, Our Lady is “thanking God for each of us” as only a MOTHER can perseveringly love such wayward, spoiled, disobedient, ungrateful children. How amazing that Our Lady even wants to remain with us, considering the condition of our life—that she has not given up as a hopeless task the effort “to encourage us to holiness,” considering the evil choices and murderous designs we continually carry out, even after these 40 years of her apparitions.
Our Lady continues: “Little children, peace is disturbed and Satan wants peacelessness. That is why, may your prayer be even stronger so that every unclean spirit of division and war may be stilled.” Here, once again, Our Lady is revealing the metaphysical truth that underlies our “disturbed peace” —a SPIRITUAL BATTLE WITH SATANIC EGO played out on every level of human life: from the tormented individual wrestling with destructive inner drives, to the communal tragedies of mass shootings and the carnage of dead schoolchildren, to the world stage of horrific wars between nations causing untold damage to millions of innocent people and destruction of the earth itself in a potential nuclear holocaust. Indeed, our “peace is disturbed” and this is the work of Satan who “wants peacelessness.” This is a story as old as time that Our Lady is bringing back to us.
In Genesis 3:15, God said to the satanic ego-serpent in Eden: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will strike at your head and you will strike at his heel.” Mary, as the New Eve, the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1), is the one who “crushes the head of Satan” in the ultimate victory of humility over egoism, the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart. But for now, we are all in the “thick” of a cosmic battle for souls.
Having told us plainly that our “disturbed peace” is a SPIRITUAL reality—the fulfillment of Satanic desire for “peacelessness” —Our Lady now spells out the antidote and answer to all the misery plaguing our world today: “That is why, may your PRAYER be even stronger so that every unclean spirit of division and war may be stilled.” PRAYER, as always, is Our Lady’s “call to arms” in this “spiritual battleground” of human life on earth where indeed, as St. Paul said, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12) Our Lady calls us to “even stronger prayer” than we have ever prayed before, so that we who take refuge in Mary’s Immaculate Heart may, in the purity and cleanness of our own hearts—humble, simple, docile, and obedient to God alone—bring about the “stilling,” the silencing, and the overcoming of “every unclean spirit of division and war.”
Until we wake up to the fact that the chronic DIVISION AND WAR in our culture, our society, our politics, our relationships, and within ourselves (as inner conflict) are ALL “unclean spirits” that must be cast out “the old-fashioned way” —through PRAYER AND FASTING—we will continue to flounder in the confusion, misery and escalating suffering of satanic “peacelessness.” In PRAYER, then, we must call out every “unclean spirit,” just as Jesus and his disciples did—rebuking, silencing, and “stilling” the unclean spirits of confusion, paranoia, anger, arrogance, hatred, violence, envy, sloth, lust, deception, apathy, depression, infidelity, unchastity, jealousy, possessiveness, materialism, greed, pride, vanity, suspicion, doubt and mistrust—“every unclean spirit of division and war,” as Our Lady calls them.
For indeed, these are the deadly inner demons within each one of us that have now “taken possession” of our nation and our whole world in this present tragic moral darkness of DIVISION and WARRING factions. Through “even stronger prayer,” every day let us call out these interior demons explicitly, and in the powerful Name of JESUS CHRIST, let us cast them out of our own hearts and minds, sending them back to hell where they belong. In their absence, let us TAKE REFUGE in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Mother and our Queen of Peace.
She concludes her message by saying: “Be builders of peace and carriers of joy of the Risen One in you and around you, for the good to win in every man.” Having prayed in an “even stronger” way for the stilling of “every unclean spirit” within us, Our Lady now invites us to the wholly positive path of living in the world as PEACE-BUILDERS. Into every environment we enter, we can be “builders of peace” by our own living example of a pure heart and mind that have been—through PRAYER—swept clean of “every unclean spirit of division and war.”
In order to be “builders of peace,” Our Lady asks us to be “carriers of joy of the Risen One IN YOU and AROUND you.” No matter what our outer circumstances may be—sickness, financial challenges, employment difficulties, family issues, etc.—we can ALWAYS be “carriers of joy of the Risen One” IN US. That is, the Divine Indwelling Presence of God in the Resurrected Christ who lives in our inmost center: the Holy Spirit, animating, guiding, and consoling us through every moment of our life, in good times and bad. No matter what troubles “the world” presents, we have been assured that “He who is IN YOU is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 Jn 4:4)
In addition, we can be “carriers of joy of the Risen One” whom we perceive radiating from every person “around” us, knowing that the greatest gift of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven was His indwelling Divine Presence given to the heart of the world through the Holy Spirit poured upon all creation. As we become sensitized to this awareness of the Risen Christ Spirit in each and every person we meet, we cannot help exuding JOY and PEACE that invites “the Good to win in every man.” If we have the eyes to see, joyfully, God’s Presence in each of our brothers and sisters, and EXPRESS this perception openly and generously—always acknowledging the BASIC CORE OF GOODNESS IN EVERYONE—our loving expectation will be met, as “the GOOD” is called forth, summoned, identified, and cheered on to victory in whomever we meet.
Just as we have called out, by name, “every unclean spirit” for expulsion from our heart, we also call forth the joyful Presence of “the Risen One in us and around us” so that “the GOOD may win in every person” —both in ourselves and in all. Thus we become “builders of peace” and “carriers of joy” in the midst of a grieving, broken, and peaceless world.
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Empty yourself. Sit quietly, content with the grace of God.
—St. Romuald
The purpose of silence is to break through the crust of the false self.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
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WE CANNOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME THINKING THAT WE USED WHEN WE CREATED THEM.
—Albert Einstein
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Dive deeper into an awareness of God’s love with the practice of Centering Prayer:
+ Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
+ Sitting comfortably with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word (1-2 syllables of your choosing) as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
+ When you find yourself engaged with your thoughts (body sensations, feelings, images, reflections), return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
+ At the end of the prayer period (20 minutes), remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. You may like to slowly say the Our Father, aloud or silently.
—Cynthia Bourgeault
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It’s not DOCTRINE that is the problem, but the level of consciousness with which people interpret the doctrine, which can be very narrow and limiting, and thus distort its purpose. As one’s mind is clarified, one can see the spiritual meaning of texts that was completely inaccessible when we relied on our rational judgment alone, without the experience of private prayer and silence, which relativizes our convictions in some degree. It doesn’t take them away. What it takes away is the elitism or attachment to the certitude of being right. So it’s a liberating, freeing process.
—Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
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Religion, as it is generally practiced, is idolatry. God cannot be held in theologies; theism, deism, pantheism—none of them can hold His truth. Nor can states of mind and feeling contain Him: ecstasy, rapture, quiet, samadhi—these are only the secondary effects of God’s presence. Our various intellectual and emotional idols, our doctrines, holy books, sacraments, religious feelings, creeds and churches, are of use so long as they are understood as approximating and pointing to God. But when they try to possess Him within them, they must sooner or later become millstones around our necks. God, and the living creation which proceeds from his hands, cannot be possessed. To enjoy and know Reality we must let go of it and realize that it possesses us.
—Alan Watts
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June 12: The Most Holy Trinity—A Contemplative View
“In the name of the Father, AND of the Son, AND of the Holy Spirit…”
“AND” is the very Mystery of TRINITY
“AND” teaches us to say yes
“AND” allows us to be both-and
“AND” keeps us from either-or
“AND” teaches us to be patient and long-suffering
“AND” is willing to wait for insight and integration
“AND” keeps us from dualistic thinking
“AND” does not divide the field of the moment
“AND” helps us to live in the always-imperfect Now
“AND” keeps us inclusive and compassionate toward everything
“AND” insists that our action is also contemplative
“AND” heals our racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism
“AND” allows us to critique both sides of things
“AND” is far beyond any one nation or political party
“AND” helps us face and accept our own shadow side
“AND” allows us to ask for forgiveness and apologize
“AND” is the mystery of the paradox in all things
“AND” is the way of mercy
“AND” makes daily, practical love possible
“AND” does not trust love if it is not also justice
“AND” does not trust justice if it is not also love
“AND” is far beyond my religion versus your religion
“AND” allows us to be both distinct and yet united
“AND” is the very Mystery of Trinity
—Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
Our ultimate desire is to be totally one with an “other,” so that we share and participate in unity. But this certainly does not mean that we dissolve into the other. Here, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says, “UNION DIFFERENTIATES.” The more we are united with others, the more we become ourselves. So each is in the other and in the One who unites all the others together. The basis of this is the Christian understanding of the TRINITY.
The Father is in the Son in a total self-giving to the Son, and the “I” of the Father in the “I” of the Son are united in the “I” of the Spirit. It is the total interrelationship of unity—NON-DUALITY yet with this profound DIFFERENTIATION. That is also what we experience in our lives in the experience of love, when we share and participate in the identity of the other. The ultimate state is when we all reach that pure identity AND difference.
—Fr. Bede Griffiths, OSB Cam
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We here in the West are not exempt from what befalls our global community; neither are we prepared for a life of bare means. But we can begin each day to prepare ourselves by embracing the simple moments of life’s goodness, breathing in gratitude and breathing out compassion. A simple prayer of thanks and a simple yes to what life sends our way can help us each day to contribute to this creative process of life. It is important that we ask ourselves each day, “to whom or to what am I tethered?” What source of unity gives me life and sustains my life? The more truthfully we answer these questions, the freer we are to love and to forgive, to let go and participate in the great unfolding of life, even in its cruciform nature.
—Ilia Delio, OSF
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PENTECOST: The Inclusive Embrace of Christ’s Body
“We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we all hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”
–Acts of the Apostles 2:9
To build community we need to work with more than just those who are like-minded. Any community or church built with just the like-minded is not worth belonging to because it reflects neither what’s best inside the human spirit nor, for those of us who are Christians, the inclusive embrace of Christ. But that doesn’t come naturally. What does come naturally is the tendency to huddle together in fear and like-mindedness, like the disciples before Pentecost, barricaded behind locked doors with our own kind, paranoid, suspicious of all who are not of our own mind. They huddled together for a while for a purpose—in fear, in loneliness, consoling each other within a certain fragility; but when they finally felt the real power of God’s Spirit, they burst out of those narrow confines.
—Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI
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June 19: Corpus Christi—The Body and Blood of Christ
The Eucharist was imperceptibly drawing me into its own silent state, for I realized that the living Christ was wordless, formless, motionless—silence itself, and that it was asking me to make the match or to become as silent as it was silent. Thus the silence seemed to be two things at once: on the one side it was the divine itself; and on the other it was myself, increasingly being silenced. This experiential phenomenon of the Eucharist—silence—became the singular consistent phenomena of my journey. Through all wind and weather it was the sole unfailing anchor. I never questioned the Eucharistic Christ. I had found my direction; the stone wall was gone and a new dimension of life was opening up.
—Bernadette Roberts
The Eucharist becomes our ongoing touchstone for the Christian journey. It is a place to which we must repeatedly return in order to find our face, our name, our absolute identity, who we are in Christ, and thus who we are forever. We are not just humans having a God experience. The Eucharist tells us that, in some mysterious way, we are an ingested God having a human experience! In the scriptures, Paul expresses his full belief that there is a real transfer of human and spiritual identity from Christ to Creation, to the elements of bread and wine, and through them to human beings. Thus Eucharist, like Resurrection, is not a unique event. Eucharist is the Incarnation of Christ taken to its final shape and end…all things turning around one thing.
—Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
The bread that Jesus handed to you is real bread, and if you can eat real bread you have real life. But we are not able to eat real bread. We only try to eat the word “bread” or the notion of bread. Even when we are celebrating the Eucharist, we are still eating notions and ideas. “Take and eat, this is my flesh, this is my blood.” Can there be any more drastic language in order to wake you up? You have been eating ideas and notions, and I want you to eat real bread so that you become alive….This piece of bread is the body of the whole cosmos. If Christ is the body of God, which he is, then the bread he offers is also the body of the cosmos. Look deeply….Eat in such a way that the Holy Spirit becomes an energy within you and then the piece of bread that Jesus gives to you will stop being an idea, a notion.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
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Wisdom from Pope Francis
My heart is broken over the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. I am praying for the children and adults who were killed, and for their families. It is time to say ENOUGH to the indiscriminate trafficking of arms. It is time for the United States to act on guns.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago:
As I reflect on this latest American massacre, I keep returning to the questions: Who are we if we do not act to protect our children? What do we love more: our instruments of death or our future? The Second Amendment did not come down from Sinai. The right to bear arms will never be more important than human life. Our children have rights too.
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Mark Your Calendar [ai1ec view=”agenda”]
To reject the contemplative dimension of any religion is to reject the religion itself, however loyal one may be to its externals and rituals. This is because the contemplative dimension is the heart and soul of every religion. It initiates the movement into higher states of consciousness. The great wisdom teachings of the Vedas, Upanishads, Buddhist Sutras, Old and New Testaments, and the Koran bear witness to this truth. Right now there are about two billion Christians on the planet. If a significant portion of them were to embrace the contemplative dimension of the gospel, the emerging global society would experience a powerful surge toward enduring peace. If this contemplative dimension of the Christian religion is not presented, the Gospel is not being adequately preached.
– Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO
