Medjugorje Message: October 25, 2022

Dear children! The Most High permits me to be with you, and to be joy for you and the way in hope, because mankind has decided for death. That is why He sent me to keep instructing you that without God you do not have a future. Little children, be instruments of love for all those who have not come to know the God of love. Witness joyfully your faith and do not lose hope in a change of the human heart. I am with you and am blessing you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.

River of Light

November 2022

November is the month when the Church especially attends to DEATH. It’s the season of All Saints and All Souls, when Nature in its yearly dying cycle of falling leaves, strips the trees of their green life and the plant world turns a dormant brown. Our Lady’s message acknowledges this November focus on our human mortality and what our “soul” response must be, in line with all the saints.

She begins: “The Most High permits me to be with you, and to be joy for you and the way in hope, because mankind has decided for death.” This sentence that begins with Our Lady’s gift to us of “joy” and “hope,” ends with the jarring, ominous phrase: “mankind has decided for death.” What does this mean? In its broadest sense, perhaps, Our Lady is simply stating the overall tragic reality outlined in Genesis 3 and known as “original sin” or the “human condition.” In using their gift of free will, our first parents chose disobedience to God, and in doing so, incurred the consequence about which they had been forewarned: DEATH.

Henceforth there would always be for human life on earth a struggle between God-reliance and God-defiance through the ever-present Satanic ego “nipping at our heels” and tempting us toward “self-will run riot,” just as God promised: “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:15) There will always be a struggle, wrestling match, battle and war within the human person between Satanic ego and faith-filled God-dependency—for as long as we inhabit this earth. None of us will get out of the skirmish “alive”; in fact, only in the non-negotiable deal-breaker of Death will it come to an end, for long ago, irreversibly, “mankind has decided for death.” Thus the question becomes: “What happens after death?”

Our Lady continues: “That is why He sent me to keep instructing you that without God you do not have a future.” We are in the 41st year of Our Lady’s apparitions at Medjugorje, and she tells us God has “sent” her and “permitted” her to remain for these many years to “keep instructing” us of our need for God in order to “have a future.” Since our physical death is inevitable and unavoidable, clearly this “future” to which Our Lady refers involves an AFTERLIFE—the possibility of a life in paradise or “heaven” after we die: the potential of an Eternal Life for an eternal soul. Our Lady says that “without God you do not have a future” —i.e. a SOUL that will live on in a transcendent, transfigured consciousness, after earthly death.

This statement leads us to such profound questions as who “God” is, what a “soul” is, and how we could possibly be “without God.” Certainly none of us can really answer these questions. Though we may spend our whole lives groping blindly toward an understanding and an experiential encounter with God, the great mystical traditions all agree that “God” or “Ultimate Reality” is far beyond the capacity of human intellect or speech. Yet our Christian scriptures boldly proclaim: “GOD IS LOVE” (1 Jn 4:8, 16), and the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ affirms this concise definition. Thus we might even substitute the word “love” for “God” in Our Lady’s message: “Without Love you do not have a future.”

If we begin to be concerned about our own mortality and imminent death, and desire to “have a future” of eternal life in Heaven, it will mean the cultivating of an Eternal Soul—a reversal of that ancient Edenic “deciding for death” that doomed our earthly physical life to lasting no more than a few decades. It will mean a “change of heart” or CONVERSION to faith in God-who-is-LOVE as the creative, animating force of the universe—the eternal, Ultimate Reality. This faith will necessarily be manifested in our loving behavior.

This seems to be an accurate reflection, as Our Lady continues: “Little children, be instruments of love for all those who have not come to know the God of love. Witness joyfully your faith and do not lose hope in a change of the human heart.” Here Our Lady is approaching the realm of “All Saints” as she describes the exemplary life we should be living in a world full of non-believers, whom, in Medjugorje, she has always called simply, “those who have not yet come to know the love of God.” Thus LOVE is the defining characteristic of the “Most High” whom she now calls “the God of love.” Therefore, it is LOVE who has sent her here for these 41 years of instruction, to teach us that “without [LOVE] we do not have a future.” For “all those who have not come to know the God of love,” we must “be instruments of love,” Our Lady says. But how?

To be “instruments of love” means we must observe the great commandments and Love [LOVE] with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength—and love every “other” as our own self, for “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom 13:8-10) If we wonder how to love, scripture says simply, “Love does no harm to the other.” Not always warm, fuzzy, easy, or romantic, many times this will mean “loving our enemies,” “praying for our persecutors,” “turning the other cheek,” and “walking the second mile.” It may even mean laying down our life for another. Such self-emptying, sacrificial, Christ-like love—called “agape” or unconditional—was a hallmark of all the saints across the centuries who served as “instruments of love” through whom unbelievers have “come to know the God of love.” As saints, they were always “witnesses” of Divine Love by their own lives of love animated by the indwelling Spirit of God/Love.

Likewise, today Our Lady calls us to “witness joyfully your faith and do not lose hope in a change of the human heart.” As we address the November focus upon All Souls by facing our human mortality within the “Big Picture” of our God-given potential for never-ending heavenly life, Our Lady encourages us to stay JOYFUL in the HOPE of CONVERSION—“a change of the human heart” —that is possible for every person, even the most hardened unbeliever. For even a “deathbed conversion” is possible, at the 11th hour of our earthly life, just as Jesus assured the “good thief” on the cross next to his, “Truly I tell you, this day you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:43)

Having seen Our Lady’s message through our November lens of the All Souls/All Saints celebration and our perennial “human condition,” let us take one last look through the lens of this present moment alone—our 21st century world today—in the current state of our planet Earth during this “snapshot” of our own brief lifetime. In how many ways TODAY can we say, “Mankind has decided for death“! War, nuclear arms, gun violence, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, political polarization, technological tyranny, materialism’s unchecked poverty and hunger, drug abuse, corporate greed, suicide/homicide, pollution and climate crisis apathy, consumeristic lifestyle diseases, etc…. And in how many ways TODAY can we see a worldwide culture and generation “who have not come to know the God of love,” and thus “without God, do not have a future,” as even our planet—the exquisite “garden home” God gave into our stewardship—is nearing the brink of destruction by our own abuse and neglect. Not only our eternal soul “future,” but our immediate human-species “future” on Earth is now in peril.

Still, Our Lady’s message remains the same: In the face of our present day “culture of death” that risks the loss of any future by its Godlessness/Lovelessness, OUR CALL is to “be instruments of love,” to “witness joyfully our faith,” and to “not lose hope in a change of human heart.” For what is Eternal Truth is also temporal truth in the Here and Now: “As above, so below.” Even our science, through quantum physics, is proving this grand spiritual truth that the Whole is contained in each small individual part, interconnected with all other parts (also known as the Mystical Body of Christ!): “We are many parts but all One Body.” Our job is to faithfully BE that unique, small reflection of the Ultimate Reality of Divine Love in all that we think, say and do.

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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

If God is the center of your life, no words are necessary. Your mere presence will touch hearts.

—St. Vincent de Paul

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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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LOVE is the opening door
LOVE is what we came here for
No one could offer you more
Do you know what I mean?
Have your eyes really seen?
You say it’s very hard
To leave behind the life we knew
But there’s no other way
And now it’s really up to you
LOVE is the key we must turn
Truth is the flame we must burn
Freedom the lesson we must learn
Do you know what I mean?
Have your eyes really seen?

—Lesley Duncan

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What Can Silence Do For Us Today?

Do not fear silence. Make peace with silence, for it is in the quiet moments that you will hear a message just for you. People are so afraid of silence. Televisions in every room, radios always on, cellphones. There’s a life locked up in words. Become aware of what you say. Words have energy.

Don’t fear the spaces and times of silence between words. Those are the times when you can consult with wisdom what to do or say next. You don’t always have to answer with words. You can answer with an understanding nod. You can answer with a hug. You can answer with a quiet smile. You can answer with a softness in your eyes. You can answer with forgiveness. You can answer with acceptance. Sometimes silence can be the best possible answer.

To befriend silence, you must first befriend yourself. Become your own best friend. And you will notice that you start to value and treasure yourself. Because isn’t that how you see your best friend? People fear silence because they’ve never learned to befriend themselves. They’ve never learned to like themselves. If you can learn to accept yourself for who you are, you will find that moments of silence will not scare you.

Being quiet has taught me to let go of things. It has taught me not to be so hard on myself. Bitterness, anger, resentment …let it go. We weren’t meant to carry those emotions. In letting go you will also give yourself permission to start living.

Be sure to always find a quiet place in the busyness of life. Sometimes the day just runs away. When I don’t make time for myself and I don’t draw aside, it feels as if I spin out of control, as if I get out of balance. So I need to seek some silence just to dust the furniture in my heart a bit. Draw aside where it is peaceful and no one can bother you….earthly time disappears and you will learn to recognize the rhythm of rest.

You don’t have to be in nature to enjoy silence. You can do it wherever you live. It’s more a state of being. If you take care to draw aside once a day, where you can be with yourself, notice things other than your usual routine…you will be able to soak up peace. You will realize that silence whispers words that decorate your heart with beauty. Beauty refreshes. Beauty nurtures. Beauty comforts and heals. Throughout your day, look around…you will find it. Greet the sun. Talk to the moon. Tell the little flower how beautiful it is.

You will discover that you are in need of nothing else. Gratitude will be the doorstop that keeps the door to your heart open. It is from that place that you live.

—Nicky Morris

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Transformation is so often being carried out in the quietest of ways. While our attention may be easily pulled toward the clamor of dramatic developments, the most breathtaking changes are taking place in silence. In every moment, all around you, and within you. Listen for the deeper, quieter invitations coming your way today. Here, now. Everywhere, always. Choose to note the ways that life unfurls opportunity after opportunity for hope and inspiration, sometimes alongside the “bad news.” Practice opening your senses more fully. Open your heart wider. Try making yourself more available to the gifts that life has to offer. Can you dare to be so present? So free?

—Gratefulness.org

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Contemplation is a very dangerous activity. It not only brings us face to face with God, it brings us as well face to face with the world, and then it brings us face to face with the self; and then, of course, something must be done.

—Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB

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Spirituality: Transformation or Self-Inflation?

Spirituality was never intended to be a therapeutic approach to self-maintenance or survival. In fact, the great spiritual traditions are all centered around the transformation of the human person, not maintenance of the human person. We are not neutral with regard to the world: we either help make the world a better place or we unravel it. The transformation of self is the transformation of the world.

The truly spiritual are truly other-centered. The saints had a one-track mind focused entirely on God. In unique ways they lived whole-hearted and single-hearted lives dedicated to God. We see through the window of the saints that the spiritual life is a life of transforming ordinary human energies into human-divine energies of love. It takes all that we have and all that we are.

Discovering who we are and our capacity for God is the work of a lifetime. God is an inexhaustible mystery of surprise and newness. The spiritual person is filled with wonder and awe. Our world is desperately in need of real spirituality because it is in need of persons on fire with the love of God. Let us not deceive ourselves by spiritual consumerism, but be open and ready for transformation. Spirituality is about the creation of the soul, not maintenance of the soul. The greatest challenge of our age is the self-inflated ego. We desire transcendence, but we fear the cost of transformation. Jesus said it best: “If you want to find your life, you must lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.” (Mt 10:39)

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were blazing,” Jesus said. (Lk 12:49) Fire burns but it also transforms. The fire of the Gospel is LOVE. Let us set ourselves on fire with love, and the world will be made new.

—Sr. Ilia Delio, OSF

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Steps for Beginning a Path of Contemplative Action

(It does not begin with joining a social movement and marching in the streets!)

Commit to engaging with the world from a place of prayer, not ideology. This cultivates a felt sense of interconnectedness of all life in God and it prevents “othering.”
Commit to doing the work of coming to terms with your own social location and how it relates to poverty, systemic racism, militarism, ecological destruction, unacknowledged/undeserved privileges.
Commit to simplifying your own life and to ethical living through transformed spending habits: buying necessities from socially responsible, ecologically minded, human-scale companies.
Join a social movement to address the massive changes needed within institutions and systems.

—Rev. Adam Bucko

Thomas Merton spoke out from a cloister in Kentucky against the Vietnam War. Catherine of Siena walked the streets of the city when women were not permitted to walk the streets of the city feeding the poor. Hildegard of Bingen preached the word of justice to emperors and to popes. From contemplation comes not only the consciousness of the universal connectedness of life, but the courage to model it as well.

—Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB

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“Eucharistic Politics”

The U.S. bishops initiated a National Eucharistic Revival, from 2022-2025. A few of them have tried to “weaponize” the Eucharist by forbidding it to certain politicians. The flawed criteria:

Divorce? No Eucharist. Abortion? No Eucharist. Yet, on racism, white supremacy, white nationalism, homophobia, anti-immigration, support for capital punishment, support for mass incarceration, support for policies that create poverty while 1% are enriched, support for assault weapon proliferation, support for unjustified invasions, etc.—the bishops seem to say, “Happy are those called to the supper of the Lamb.“

The Eucharist is our realization that Christ was broken for our wholeness. Thus, like Christ, we are broken and given for the life of the world. Hopefully the revival of the Eucharist is about us becoming the Body of Christ, with all its beautiful implications. The Eucharist is not for the worthy, special, virtuous or qualified, nor is it a tool to affirm or deny a narrow political agenda. It is much more. It is our profound encounter with the incomprehensible love of God, that calls us to love in return. The Eucharist has riches that can never be exhausted. It also recreates a diverse, fragmented, flawed community of believers into a loving, justice-building body of Christ in the world.

—Daryl Grigsby

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Jesus is clear, as are the great Jewish prophets, that religion is about how we care for the poor, pure and simple. He says that on the last day, we will be judged by God on one basis: Did we care for the poor? Did we give bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked? Notice that there are no orthodoxy tests, no creedal formulas to recite, no catechetical requirements to measure up to, nor even questions about private morality—only the question of how we treated the poor. In the end, we are to be shaped by a heart that radiates God’s all-embracing compassion, understanding, forgiveness, gentleness, warmth, and non-discriminating love.

—Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI

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Election Season . . .

A voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity. Myopically limiting our pro-life focus to only one grave issue subordinates other morally grave threats to life. Doing so also abrogates our moral responsibility to choose candidates with due consideration to the full spectrum of issues involving human life and dignity.

Care for Creation is a moral issue. Protecting the land, water, and air we share is a religious duty of stewardship and reflects our responsibility to born and unborn children, who are most vulnerable to environmental assault. Our Conference offers a distinctive call to seriously address global climate change. We must therefore choose public leaders and lawmakers who actually take climate change seriously—and then hold them accountable for any policies that exacerbate it, either through omission or commission.

—U.S. Bishops Voting Guide

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Wisdom from Pope Francis

An authentic faith always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us, and we love the human family which dwells here, with all of its tragedies and struggles, its hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses.

The earth is our common home and all of us are brothers and sisters. If indeed “the just ordering of society and of the state is a central responsibility of politics,” the Church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.

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