Author: Essy Dias

“My beloved sons, do not let your hearts be troubled. Why do you doubt? Why do you look with uncertainty at the present and the future in search of the sign which I have predicted to you?

There is only one sign which God gives to the world and to the Church of this day: I myself.

I alone am announced as a great sign in the heavens: this Woman, Clothed with the Sun, with the moon as a carpet under her feet and twelve stars as a luminous crown about her head.

Blue Book # 62 a-c

When we have difficulties with faith, we should turn to her and bow low before this little girl-woman, who is truly the mother of all who believe. She showed a faith beyond our understanding. Right now, this very moment, I invite you to enter into that solitude of faith, as Mary did. Cast your mind inward, and open your heart. Do you really believe? All you have to do is enter this solitude of faith, as Mary did, and say yes! That’s all.

Grace in Every Season (March 24)

We are not only called to be another Jesus to the world around us, we are also called to be another Mary. To faithfully say YES to whatever assignment Our Heavenly Father is asking of us at the moment, and with the help of the Holy Spirit to bring it to fruition.

So when we struggle with our faith, or even ‘understanding the assignment’ , who better to go to? Many claim that we shouldn’t go to her because she was ‘just a woman’. Yet didn’t Jesus coming to us as fully God and fully man, elevate all of humanity who so desires to join themselves to Him? Who among us had a higher assignment than Mary? And if you truly believe that you have been united with Jesus, and can call His Divine Father as Abba. Why would His earthly Mother not be afforded the same respect? Jesus is not from a single parent family! So… go call your mom!

So that I may place them all, with much love, on the wood of their cross, I must prepare them for this ineffable and painful moment. They, like my Son Jesus, will have to be immolated on the cross for the salvation of the world.

Blue Book # 61 e

Yes, when you follow Christ, you take a risk. Every time you open your mouth you take a risk. You risk the disapproval of people, the anger of people, the dislike of people.

… So it’s very risky to follow Christ, and that’s why few do! Dear reader, think about that yourself, because each one of us has to face a different risk!

Grace in Every Season (March 23)

Our crosses are the places where our self-will goes to die! We can’t go forward with Christ hanging on to selfish desires… we need humility, and total abandonment to His Holy Will.

There is no one better than Our Blessed Mother with the help of the Holy Spirit to lead us and show us what needs to be laid down. Letting go is always painful … that’s why it is deemed an immolation. A sacrifice of self.

Only then can we go forward with the mission the Lord has for us. Not necessarily just one either… I call them ‘assignments’. Every single assignment has both a cross and a resurrection built into it.

When we first hear the call, the joy and excitement that draws us to it may be so great that we may not even be aware of the cross that sits at the core of it… oh but there will be one. But the good news is that there’s also grace to carry it and to fulfill the mission at hand. Of that you can have full confidence.

Now something is really changing: it is I who am living and working in you. Your heart beats in unison with mine; your mind follows my thoughts; your words repeat my voice; your hands repeat my gestures: you are, as it were, born again in me.

Blue Book # 61c

Yes, the reason we don’t follow Christ is because of risk. Millions of people who are supposed to be Christian are not taking the risk of following Christ.

It’s all very well to read and write about it, but it’s the doing that is difficult.

Grace in Every Season (March 22)

If we are dedicated to the Christian life we are constantly being changed, it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

It’s completely possible to live our entire lives in the church and not experience much of this ‘metanoia’. I must admit that it wasn’t until being introduced to the Marian Movement of Priests in 2020, that I felt this taking place so intensely.

It’s Our Blessed Mother that leads us to follow Jesus at this intensity. We need the human dimension … not merely Divine intervention … although it’s the grace that gives it life… to guide us to action. The grace is there just waiting… but we need to ‘step into it’.

The Blue Book is all about her leading us step by step in how to do this… she hammers in on docility, humility, poverty, detachment, dying to self… all the things that the world hates but are so necessary for softening our hearts enough to even be lead. Only then can the Holy Spirit take over and we can live for Christ!

Humanity, renewed by much suffering and by a great purification, will re-consecrate itself completely to the worship and the triumph of God, through the triumph of my Immaculate Heart.

Blue Book #60 h

Luminous is the light of spring. Luminous is the light of the resurrected Christ. Let us enter into this light of the Lord, who brings us the spring of hope, eternally renewed. He brings us the gift of faith that can grow by leaps and bounds. He brings us the love that can change the whole world if only we incarnate it as he wishes us to.

Grace in Every Season (March 21)

Isaiah 43:19 ESV

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

The darkness has been so intense for so many of us, for so long, but oh how much brighter will the Light seem now.

However, this renewal isn’t a passive event that will just come upon us, we need to willingly consent to it and ‘incarnate it’. Much like Mary and Joseph did at the First Coming. There was a heavenly plan being carried out then, and it continues today. They knew how to be led by God and to simply do what they were told, we need to do and be the same way.

You are not to let yourself become worried about any preoccupations… I myself am calling together and uniting the priests from all sides, and they, these beloved sons of mine who have been nourished and formed by me, are all heeding my call.

Blue Book #59 b

We console Christ when we console each other. We can’t love without compassionating, without entering the passion or suffering of another. It is so difficult for us, in the turmoil of our pressurized life of technology, to remember that we are Christ.”Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren you do to me.” When you are passionately in love with God, your whole desire is to share his pain, to be with him.

Grace in Every Season (March 20)

A couple of dear friends started a woman’s prayer group at my parish and have been inviting me for a while. I’ve had every intention of making it for quite a while now, but every single time something has come up. The craziness of my life the last few months just enveloped me, and in the busyness of it all … of stepping out in obedience… of embracing my crosses, I somehow had forgotten this aspect of the faith… of being there for others to commiserate with them and the required humility of allowing others in to my struggles, to be Christ for me.

Our Blessed Mother, finally used her most chaste spouse to get me there. Today, on this St. Joseph feast day I finally went and sat with old friends, we laughed and cried together, and it felt good…a weight was lifted.

In the Blue Book passage above, Our Blessed Mother is saying that we aren’t to let ourselves be over burdened with preoccupations, that she would bring her children together to support each other (she says priests here… but these messages are for all of us). She’s still at it.

There are also speaking today false prophets, who announce the Gospel by betraying it, and these are listened to and followed! And they bring disorder and confusion among the most faithful children of my Church.

Blue Book #58 e

St. Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary and patron of the bride of Christ, we need you! How timely your coming, O Joseph, foster-father of God and of us.

Grace in Every Season (March 19)

Oh how we need Joseph right now. Our church is a mess, there are so many voices clamoring for us, claiming to speak truth and most just trying to garner our collective social media clicks. Livings need to be made after-all. We need proper discernment more than ever. St. Joseph pray for us!

Not only does the universal Church need him, but our domestic churches are in dire need as well. Patron Saint of all families (but in a special way, adoptive and foster families), all fathers, husbands, workers, travelers, homes, among others.

I personally love St. Joseph. It goes back to my maternal grand father, José (the Portuguese pronunciation, not the Spanish) who was born on his feast day and continued through my family and spilt over to me. As a Lay Carmelite, my love for him grew even more. But I’m ashamed to admit, that I don’t always remember to ask for his intercession.

However, the other day I was watching a YouTube video by Fr. Mark Goring and he mentioned one of his books St. Joseph the Protector, had been deeply discounted on Amazon, a light bulb went on. Some very special circumstances that I was going through at the moment would best be entrusted to St. Joseph. I ordered the book and it arrived last night. Not in time to start the novena prior to this feast day… but that’s ok… it’s all in God’s good timing. I’m going to start it now… and instead of 9 days, I’m going to do 9 weeks so I can spend as much time with St. Joseph as possible. God is good.

Here I want them all to be like little children. For this they must learn to be silent, not to become agitated, not to organize themselves, not to act. They must be little children who pray and love, little children who suffer with me, for me and in me for the salvation of all my children.

Blue Book #58 c

Let’s look at those personality clashes. X gets on the nerves of Y. Okay, let him or her. Keep smiling. Be extra charitable to that person. Don’t withdraw. This is only a tiny splinter of the cross on which you are supposed to be crucified. What are you worried about? Keep going. You have problems? The type of work you are assigned? Nagging fears? Christ must have had fears too, when he saw them preparing to flagellate him. Unite yourself with him and his passion and keep on going!

Grace in Every Season (March 18)

Keep going, when dark moments come as they inevitably will…keep going… keep silence, pray, love the Lord, offer it up!

I said ‘love the Lord’ and not simply ‘love’. I feel that our society has used and abused this word and has distorted it so badly that it’s nearly unrecognizable. So when you hear ‘love everyone’ and the person in front of you brings out anything but loving feelings, you may be tempted to either consult with society’s opinion of what it means to love or your own inclinations. Don’t!

Instead what you are to do FIRST is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” And only then ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

That means to turn to Him for guidance, not society. That when we love Him so completely, we want to do nothing but His will. This requires a lot of grace and dying to self, to even get to this point. Is His will always sappy sweet or accepting of every injurious behavior? Of course not! But it’s always filled with love, meaning it desires the greater good for the other… and we are required to love others in this way. Always desiring their greater good, just as we would for ourselves.

This is how we unite ourselves with Christ for the salvation of all.

After posting the above, I got the following link from Fr. Andre. It shows us where the summit of God’s love exists… in the Eucharist. Adore Him in the Eucharist if you want to love well.

If you only knew, my son, what great glory and what comfort is given to me when I reign as sovereign in your heart! The hearts of all my priests must be the kingdom where I may reign. Thus, very soon, my motherly Heart will triumph in all my children!

Blue Book #56 d

Right on our own doorstep, and in our midst, stands Christ. If only we would listen, we could hear him! He says, “I do not even ask you to watch one hour with me in my agony; I simply ask vou to get out of bed when the alarm rings. I do not ask you to be smitten on your cheeks nor to be spat upon; I just ask you to take correction (which you deserve) humbly, for love of me, with an open heart and mind and a willingness to change. I do not ask you to be bound to a post and flagellated with leaden whips. I simply ask you to do every task that is given to you with total recollection and thoughtfulness.

Grace in Every Season (March 17)

Many may ponder what is the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. I have a few humble thoughts about this, Mary’s Immaculate Heart was one totally dedicated to the Will of the Father. Born without original sin via her Immaculate Conception (if you’re not Catholic, this might not mean what you think it means), means that she had no natural inclination towards sin (a willful turning away from God) that we all do. So there were no selfish passions and desires in her, all those things that the rest of us need to crucify, she was naturally immune from. That left only total submission to the Divine Will.

So when will her Immaculate Heart Triumph? Only when we are able to do the same. It’ll happen in increments. First will be her children… all those that make up the Body of Christ, and see her not only as Mother of their Savior, but as their Mother in Christ too. Who willingly submit to her guidance through the Holy Spirit, will be able to abide in her Immaculate Heart … at first for short spurts, but with increasing length and intensity.

As more and more are gathered into her Immaculate Heart, a fire will spread across the entire world. I’ve heard it being called the ‘flame of love’. When the words from the Our Father will finally be fulfilled. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

It starts with our willingness to do the smallest things that we are called to with great love and dedication as if they were the greatest things.

“Today you have remained constantly close to my Heart; you have prayed for your brother-priests who belong to my Movement. This has been a day of special graces for all of them; I have made my presence felt, close to each and every one of them. I must make these sons of mine ever more and more my very own. I must detach them as quickly as possible from everything in order to cause them to become only and completely the possession of my Son Jesus. If only you knew, son, how much I love them, how much I clasp them to my Heart, one by one!

We must forgive the society from which we came; we must forgive the ways it has hurt us. We must have forgiveness for all the pain that we have unknowingly experienced, even in the womb before our birth. We must forgive those who may not have understood us, or have seemingly neglected us, or perhaps even rejected us. It is especially important that we forgive our parents for their human frailties. If we can generate that first impulse of forgiveness within ourselves, then-like lightning going through a dark-ened sky- our forgiveness will cover everything! It will flash across our memories as a lighthouse scans the sea, so that whenever its rays illuminate anything that we think has hurt us, the touch of that light will bring forgiveness into our hearts and bless those whom we forgive.

Grace in Every Season (March 16)

The word forgiveness is often misunderstood, many take it to mean that once you forgive everything should just go on as before. The thing is that we live in a broken world and we’ve all become broken in some way, and for us to not continue to hurt each other sometimes appropriate boundaries must be drawn up, that could possibly be temporary, but it’s up to the healing of both parties.

So if it’s not necessarily reconciliation, then what is forgiveness? It’s letting go… it’s detachment from the pain… it’s allowing God to come in and use it for His purposes, knowing that no matter how messed up things may be at the moment, that it’s not beyond Him… in fact that’s when He does His best work. It’s praying to desire the best for the other person, even if the feelings are not completely there yet.

In todays world there is so much opportunity for offense… our government has gone haywire. Our church leaders seem at times like they’ve lost their collective minds ( or souls), and even within our closest friends and families we can often be left feeling used, abused and neglected.

So, what’s a thinking, feeling person to do?

First is to not buy into the works of the enemy… it’s so blatant what He’s up to. We need to keep trusting and focusing on the Lord and our individual call in life. Chances are good we didn’t get called to sit at the German Synod, or the Vatican, or the White House. But none the less, we ARE being called to something big. Each of our vocations are pretty darn important in God’s mind and plan which is to fill the world with His grace.

Do not let yourself be caught up with things; do not become anxious. I tell you once again: no outside interference will be able to harm this work of mine.

Blue Book #54 b

Yes, sometimes pain does blind us to all the beauty of life in the church. Because we haven’t been trusted, we don’t trust others. Since people haven’t been open with us, we ourselves are not open. And so on. So, instead of being bearers of the Good News, we start singing dirges in a low and minor key!

Grace in Every Season (March 15)

So the pain sometimes just seeps out of us in uncontrolled ways… yes it’s human to have some concern for the future, and a bit of anxiety. But it’s what we do with it that makes a difference. Are we going to get on our soap box and cry out that the Sky is Falling? Or are we going to get on our knees and be reminded of who God is and what He can do?

I had a situation yesterday, where my head trash was just getting the better of me. In rehashing fearful thoughts I was convincing myself that I wasn’t up to a situation that I will have to undergo in a few weeks, and that it would pretty much be the end of my life as I know it. (Yea…the enemy is pretty dramatic). And so much resentment and anger at everyone that I felt were culpable. Yea… it wasn’t a pretty moment. I quickly turned to the Lord, I begged Him to use all this hurt, I told Him that I know that I can’t do it, but I also know that He’ll be with me.

Not more than a few seconds after my little tantrum, my smart watch gave me notice that I had an email… and a message flashed on my screen. “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go.”-Psalm 32:8

That my friends is Life in Christ in a nutshell. We aren’t necessarily preserved from the ups and downs of life. We are however, guided through it all. We just need to trust!