Author: Essy Dias

c. My priests will have to be poor in imitation of my Son Jesus, but they will never lack whatever is necessary to live, and to live with dignity.

f. On the other hand, let them be solely and always concerned about the salvation of so many of my children who, more and more each day, are being lost and falling into the hands of Satan. Do they not feel my great motherly sorrow which is growing ever greater?

Blue Book #35

You can’t live the Gospel of Christ without pain. Christ was the greatest revolutionary on earth. He calls you to the impossible. Are you willing to be totally poor, in spirit or otherwise? Are you able to hope when every hope is gone? Can you love when you are not loved? Can you continue to have faith when all around you faith is dying?Love those who hate you! Renew the faith of those who have lost it! Bring hope and love to everybody! For this you have been created! And you have to do it, my friends, because the time is so short.

Grace in Every Season (February 20)

An ‘assignment’ from Christ, is an invitation to take up our cross and follow Him. We are apt to get that wrong, especially in a Christian society who loves to ‘name it and claim it’. We think that if we can discern things just right then there won’t be any pain in the journey. That’s so wrong. And the love of a cross free life just assures us of more pain.

Practicing Catholics can’t simply ‘coast’, yes there will be amazingly powerful grace filled moments, maybe even entire seasons. But that gift of the Holy Spirit is meant to be passed on. Nothing that we are given is meant for us alone.

As we approach Lent, how about instead if telling God what we will do for Him, what if we were to ask Him and then hold nothing back from Him. What He asks of us might not even end up being as grand as what we were planning… but it will be just what our soul needs to draw closer to Him.

– To love each other and to live in true brotherhood in the company of their Mother. It is necessary today that my priests know each other, that they help each other, that they truly love one another, that they be as brothers brought together by their Mother. There is today too much loneliness, too much abandonment for my priests! I do not want them to be alone: they must help each other, love each other, they must all feel as – and really be – brothers.

Blue Book #m-o

God is love, and our relationship is a love affair between God and us. Making contact with God inevitably must lead to making contact with others. In other words, prayer is for the service of people.

Grace in Every Season (February 14)

In Catholic circles we often hear about evangelization efforts and out reach programs in order to bring more people into the fold, but I think that sometimes we miss the mark when it comes to strengthening ‘the fold’ itself. Or the fold even knowing each other.

Most people are familiar with the long spoons allegory by now, how in both heaven and hell people are handed out long spoons along with the pots of food. In hell everyone is starving, because they are trying to use the long handles to feed themselves but in heaven, where the true answer is known everyone is thriving. Our ‘spoons’ or gifts are to be used for the benefit of our community. We start with our family, then our parish, and extend outward from there. There’s so much physical, emotional and spiritual need within our very own circles.

I think it’s commendable that society… both Christian and non Christian, and the government even, are very focused on the ‘poor’… rightly so, the Bible and much of church teaching leads us to this. But … yes there’s a but… what if we were to support each other a bit more up stream, where the need is first noticed… before it grows out of control. What if we were to help and love each other as the family we truly are. No one better than the other, just with different gifts and needs at alternating times.

Above all to pray with me: when my priests pray, united with each other and with me, how efficacious is their prayer!
For it is then that I myself accomplish in them my maternal task of interceding before God for all my children.To be united among themselves and with me in the celebration of Holy Mass, in the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, and in praying the holy rosary: this is my prayer!

Blue Book #34 i-k

Prayer is that hunger for union with God which never lets go of us. It beats into our blood with the very beat of our hearts. It is a thirst that can be quenched by nothing except God. It is as if one’s whole body is poised on tiptoe, our hands stretching upward as if to touch the cosmos.

Grace in Every Season (February 13)

How often is prayer thought of as simply a way to get what we want, a ‘Catholic wish granter’ if you will… and although Our Heavenly Father will never turn any of His children away regardless of why or how we are coming to Him, there is SO much more to prayer and we miss out on it if we hold that mind set.

Prayer bubbles up from a deep desire to be in constant communion with Him who loves us! Who is as eager to spend time with us and to bestow us with graces, enlightenment and guidance for the day as we are to receive them.

We are told that we are to pray without ceasing… to pray always. Our Blessed Mother tells us in the above quote from the Blue Book, the best way to accomplish that. The rosary, The Liturgy of the Hours, especially morning and evening prayer is another great way to join in with the prayers of the Church. And of of course the most ideal of all prayers, the Holy Mass.

“Mary is able to guide us to this most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist because her whole life was Eucharistic.” – St. John Paul lI

I will give them my Son Jesus, as only the Mother knows how, and they will listen to Him alone; they will love Him alone; they will faithfully announce Him according to the Gospel. And through them my Church will be entirely renewed.

Blue Book #31l

What is our spirituality when all is said and done? To me it is so simple. It is to shed our whole selfish self, to take up our cross, no matter how heavy, and to follow him from Bethlehem to Golgotha, follow him humbly as a servant follows his master, yet as a bride her husband. Walking in his footsteps, reflecting his light, being his little, humble apostles.

Grace in Every Season (February 12)

Mary is the Queen of the Apostles, and thereby, our Queen. Even though her feast day isn’t until May, it’s probably a good thing to invoke her under this special title as we head into Lent and try to live out our apostleship more deeply…which is essentially what Lent is all about.

Novena to Mary Queen of the Apostles

The apostolate (CCC)

863 The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is “sent out” into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. “The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well.” Indeed, we call an apostolate “every activity of the Mystical Body” that aims “to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth.”³⁷⁷

“My son, you must be the comforter of my Immaculate Heart For this you must live each moment outside of yourself, indifferent to all your personal problems.

Blue Book #31 a

Our very hiddenness becomes a light if we do not complain, if we carry our cross courageously. Then we become a light to our neighbor’s feet because we become an icon of Christ shining! But this is only possible if we are one with Christ, if there are no divisions among us, if we are of one mind. Then we are hidden, yet revealed as people of peace and unity.

Grace in Every Season (February 11)

I don’t do the whole suffering thing well, I’m a huge cry baby. I’ve been struggling with this whole idea of how to suffer well for some time. The point I’m at… and yes we’re all on a different learning path (divine pedagogy), is that doing something well is more about our intention than the actual results.

So at each step of carrying our crosses it would be a great start if we were to hand it over to Him and say as He did in Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.”

What we too often maybe inclined to do is run from the cross in ways that only gets us deeper into suffering. This is what society beckons us to do. But we need to release it completely to God’s will. If He is allowing it, then it can be used for a greater good.

In message 6c of the Blue Book Our Blessed Mother taught us to say “Mother, I trust you, I let myself be led by you.Tell me: what must I do?”

Once we’ve prayed.. now we must obey! She may lead us to do something specific to relieve our suffering, or she may bring to mind how it’s some ongoing sin that is causing it (i.e gluttony), or maybe she’ll bring a prayer warrior into mind for us to share it with, or ask for help to increase our humility or she may simply say ‘shhh… this one is just between us and it will be very efficacious.

The important thing is not despair, to not loose hope, to not given in to anger, stay patient and full of trust! On social media when people are struggling they often use the cringy ‘FML’, I get it…I’ve been there myself… I now say ‘Lord, Bless My Life’ instead.

To win the battle which is approaching, I want to give you a weapon: prayer. Forget everything else, and form the habit of using nothing but this weapon. The crucial times have come, and there is no longer any time for certain vain and superfluous things. There is no more time for useless discussions; there is no more time for chatter and projects: this is the time for prayer!

Blue Book #29 q-r

He said to his apostles when they complained that they couldn’t cast a demon out from someone, “This kind can be cast out in no way except by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:28). We who are of one mind and one heart, who have held hands to walk into the darkness of this world to restore it to Christ, we must continue to do this in the market-place, and we must fast, and pray.

Grace in Every Season (February 10)

I think what we are seeing today in our society and often in the lives of those we love, is the manifestation of this demon that is not easily cast out. We are being called to be Christ to this dark world, and the time for lectures is over. This is the time for prayer.

We need the spread of MMP cenacles as Our Blessed Mother constantly asks for in the Blue Book, have them at every parish and then have them spill out into every home in that parish so that our unchurched family members and friends can be reached and brought into the fold.

“Multiply in every part of the world, the cenacles of prayer which I have asked of you, like torches lit in the night, like sure points of reference, like shelters needed and sought for.”
(417k, Jan. 1, 1990)

“The whole Church must now enter into the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart: all the bishops, the priests, the religious and the faithful must enter. In the Cenacle of Jerusalem, upon the Apostles gathered in prayer with me, there descended the Holy Spirit, and there took place the miracle of the first Pentecost. Thus, only in the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart, when the whole Church will have entered in, will the great prodigy of the second Pentecost take place. It will be a divine fire of purification and of sanctification which will renew all the face of the earth.” #355 Blue Book

“Cenacle is the Latin word for “Upper Room” where the first apostles were gathered with Mary in Jerusalem, awaiting the First Pentecost. In these Cenacles for our present times, the Blessed Mother again is inviting us to join her in prayer in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit in a Second Pentecost to renew the face of the earth.”

Do not be afraid of the difficulties and the misunderstandings you will encounter along the way. I will always be with you, and you, in spite of everything, will always be joyous.

Blue Book #29p

The heart of God calls us to give him our hearts, which means to give him ourselves. We must hold nothing back. This means if we truly love God as he wants to be loved, we assume full responsibility for our actions and are not afraid of the approval or disapproval of anyone in authority.

Grace in Every Season (February 9)

To fear God doesn’t mean to be terrified of Him… it’s more a sense of awe, reverence, adoration, honor, worship, and love but yes some fear of life without Him. To want to do His will so completely, that nothing else matters, not even our own lives.

I keep thinking back to 2020 and the intense fear that engulfed the world and the huge government over-reach that came from it. This effected every area of society, but the most heart breaking to see was how it effected the churches.

For several weeks while our parishes were closed down, or setting up regulations that made the Holy Spirit cry from within me, the Lord called my family to drive over an hour away to attend weekly Mass. At this ‘refuge’ (that’s the word I kept hearing while driving back and forth), we could choose for ourselves if masks were the right health choice for us or not, we were offered Communion on the tongue. We sang!

I literally cried the first time we were there and I asked the Lord… what’s this difference that I’m seeing. The answer was ‘these priests are not afraid of the cross’. (as a side note… this is not to disparage our parish priests… they were truly overwhelmed and under the bounds of obedience that this other place being a friary didn’t have and could discern the government regulations a little more loosely).

Those who fear the Lord truly are not afraid of the cross … or ‘Karens’ … they just do God’s will for the moment at hand, knowing that even through the difficult times that may come, He will have them covered.

Every detail of their life – even the most insignificant – has a precise and profound meaning. Therefore let each one become accustomed to read with me in the stupendous book of their own existence.

Blue Book 29i

We are little people. Our housework begins to be a way of loving him. Or our computer work, or driving a taxi, or changing diapers, or farming, or anything we may do! These are all little, seemingly unimportant things, but oh, how vastly important because this is part of living the Gospel without compromise.

Grace in Every Season (February 8)

We devout Catholics are often seeking ways to sacrifice for the Lord, especially as we approach Lent. Yet this Little Way can often be quickly passed over as simply not enough… so we struggle to find bigger and better ways to love Him. Yet… it’s in living out well our own little lot in life, where the greatest graces come from.

But this living it out well, is probably not even what we envision. It’s not so much about the results but about the effort and intention that we put into it. We’re like little children, and God sees us as such, He takes all that we give Him with a glad Heart and He’s the one that perfects our efforts.

So don’t get despondent if in your own estimation you are failing desperately… it takes humility to accept our own littleness. Just start over.

Here’s a great prayer to start our day;

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.

I have chosen you and prepared you for the triumph of my Immaculate Heart in the world, and these are the years when I will bring my plan to completion.

Blue Book #29e

Yes, the time has come for all who believe in Jesus Christ, and all who hunger for him and for that unity which he alone can bring to bear against divisiveness. Yes, the time has come for us all to have the courage to submit our intellects to that of Jesus Christ as he operates in our families, in our personal relations, in governments, in Madonna House, in religious orders, everything, everywhere.

Grace in Every Season (February 7)

There is a quote by Chesterton that says “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

It is now time to finally do the difficult things. And often the most difficult of all is simply to let go of our own will, to practice detachment, to do all we are being called to but to leave the results to the Lord. And what better time than as we head into Lent, and into the last decade of the 2000 jubilee of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.

The hardships we are embracing daily are building us up for our part in the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. So yes, pray about it, but remember that all things come through God’s hands. If He’s allowing it, that means He has a plan to use it for a greater good IF we hand it over to Him. We need to persevere!

Don’t worry too much about what is happening around the world, or on too many prophesies of what is to come, be more focused on where you have been planted. He has people everywhere, exactly where they need to be… pray for them and support the good you see…but above all don’t abandon your own spot.

It’s not our job to extinguish the darkness… that’s God’s job (the battle is His)… our job is to extend the light that we ourselves have received. The difference may be subtle, but it is profound.