Walk in Trust

We are told to not live in our minds, and that’s probably a good thing overall. But if we’re going to… we should make it a good place. We sometimes may be given to think that we have no control over our thoughts, but that’s not completely true. We need to be aware that what we feed, grows.

So we need to keep checking ourselves, what are we giving our attention to? That’s how we feed our interior life. There is so much ‘junk food’ out there, trying to keep us mal nourished. I think one of the biggest culprits today is social media … and yes, I absolutely know how great it can be too… but it goes back to choosing correctly what we are going to be exposing our minds and our souls to.

So if we know that ‘junk food’ is bad for us, do we even know what true nourishment looks like?

To me it means truly living a sacramental life of Grace in the present moment. Living in awareness of the needs around us, but knowing where true strength comes from and not getting overwhelmed with the size of the job at hand… just keep persevering in the perfectly imperfect tasks at hand. Always, always, always turning to God, Our Blessed Mother and all the helpers to see us through. Being attentive to the guidance we receive, and allowing that to energize us for the jobs ahead. Being in communion with the entire Body of Christ, including those still here on the job.

Living life fully… the struggles yes, but also the joys. When we begin to live in full attentiveness, then we start noticing how much beauty and love there is still left.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

Not everyone is called to be a Mother Teresa, but every one of us is under the obligation of caring for those closest to us. We all have someone in our lives that is in some type of need.

Our homes are to be Domestic Churches… “the smallest body of gathering believers in Christ”, where we put hospitality and true giving into practice.

When we built our home 23 years ago, I gave it over to Him, to use for His will. At the time, it was just my husband and I in a four bedroom house. We had been married for 15 years at that point, so it wasn’t like a pregnancy was even still hoped for.

But the Lord very quickly showed us how it would be filled. Shortly after, my elderly dad moved in with us. Then there was the blessing of two children through adoption, then other children were to come our way much later through day care and then kinship fostering.

If you consider the nurses, therapists, and social workers that have come through our doors in these years. It’s been a pretty constant flow of souls. I haven’t openly preached to anyone. But I pray for them. I was told once by a DCF social worker that my home felt very peaceful… let me assure you that it was God that she was feeling. Even though this house is large enough for what God wanted to do in it, it’s very humble in every way.

I’ve also worked from home in the past, where I did portrait photography and was able to welcome clients into my home.

I now like to occasionally offer my home for Family Cenacles, where I invite friends to come pray the rosary with us and then we follow it up with some type of social gathering. This doesn’t take the place of church… it is an extension of it… an opportunity to reach some who may not attend and make it personal…where ‘church friends’ can bring their spouses and children, even if they are currently not practicing the faith. They may be more willing to go a friends home then they are to a church.

The important thing is to keep listening to the Lord. We’ll all have different calls in our lives.

The process of living more and more as part of the Body of Christ, entails a lot of dying to self. Only when we can see beyond whatever our current personal situation or struggle is… whether physical, mental or spiritual… can we truly live as one because it is then that we “see and think only according to the Heart of…Jesus”.

This doesn’t mean that we’ll only achieve holiness when we are ‘healed’ as some may claim, which can result in a lot of ‘Christian façade’ .… but God wants real… and in that raw, messy, realness, as we step out in trust and faith, a kernel of our sanctification is planted.

I think this is where the enemy does his most to convince us of the opposite. That our struggles are not only meaningless but are shameful and only those that seemingly have their act together are worthy.

Today, I offer my prayers for anyone who is struggling in one way or another, may they come to know the loving mercy of God.

Son of my maternal predilection, do not let yourself be distracted by things and by human vicissitudes. Remain always close to my Heart in prayer!

I am arranging everything for you as your real Mother: the persons you are to meet, the circumstances in which you find yourself and what you are to do. And so accustom yourself to live trustfully in the present moment which the Father gives you and the Mother prepares for you.

Blue Book #103 a,b

In selecting music, ask yourselves these questions: does the music arouse in you thoughts and emotions that lead you away from God? Does it lead you into an escape from solving your problems? Into a web of forgetfulness of the cross in your daily life? Does it lead you to a dreamy life that cannot be yours? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it is the wrong music for you. But if it arouses in you a greater understanding of the beauty of God and his creation, and brings you closer to God in any form, then it is good music.

Grace in Every Season (May 7)

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17).

The way to pray always, is to use common, every day activities and circumstances to lead our minds and spirit into communion with God. Music can do just that… or the exact opposite. Hence why we need to choose wisely.

Each one must consecrate himself to my Immaculate Heart, and through you priests many of my children will make this consecration.

This is like a vaccine which, like a good Mother, I give you to preserve you from the epidemic of atheism, which is contaminating so many of my children and leading them to the death of the spirit.

These are the times that I myself foretold; this is the hour of the purification. Heed the requests of your Mother, and entrust yourselves to me with all confidence and the most complete surrender.

Do not be surprised if, in this battle, those fall who did not want or did not know how to use the weapon that I myself gave you: my prayer, the simple and humble prayer of the holy rosary.

It is a simple and humble prayer, and therefore it is most efficacious in combating Satan who today is leading you astray especially by ostentation and pride.

Blue Book #99 m-o, 100 g,h

Entering deeply into the mysteries of the beads is entering into the whole immense mystery of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And who better to guide us than Mary? She was there at the beginning, during his public life, death, resurrection, and afterward in the upper room when the Spirit descended. She “started it all” in a manner of speaking with her yes. So we ask her to lead us through the mysteries of her Son with devotion and faith.

Grace in Every Season (May 6)

The following is taken from the MMP site.

Why does Our Lady urge the formation of cenacles?

In her messages, Our Lady insistently calls upon priests, religious and faithful to gather together with her in fervent prayer and fraternal love, in authentic cenacles as when the first apostles gathered with her in the Upper Room in Jerusalem awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Why this insistence? What is most important in the world and in the Church today is the preparation for the Second Pentecost through the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. To draw down upon us this gift of the Holy Spirit, we must enter with her into the cenacle.

Our Lady invites us to enter into the cenacle of her Immaculate Heart by means of our consecration. In the cenacle of her Heart she will nourish, form, and help us to grow in perfect consecration to her. She calls us to form cenacles together with her and to multiply and spread them everywhere, so that the Divine Spirit of Love may pass through the golden door of her Immaculate Heart and thus prepare humanity for a new era of grace and holiness.
(cf. 226j, June 7, 1981)

“Just as in the Cenacle of Jerusalem the Apostles, reunited with me in prayer, prepared for the moment of the first Pentecost, so also, in the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart – and consequently in the cenacles where you are gathered in prayer – you apostles of these last times can, with your heavenly Mother, obtain a new effusion of the Holy Spirit.”
(284p, Jan. 28, 1984)

Flower gardeners spend their time growing beauty, which the Lord can then use to heal people and bring them closer to him. Each flower is a love poem of God to us! Each reflects a small part of God’s beauty. Look at each one and you will lose yourself in the infinite perfection of that one flower- its colors, its form, the shape of the petals.

Flowers give hope, returning each spring as they do. Flowers give courage. Flowers heal. Flowers are harbingers of joy.

Grace in Every Season (May5)

The Holy Spirit is the only Gardener within my enclosure. He has overshadowed me with his light of love; He has filled me with all his gifts; He has embellished me with his grandeur and has made me his Spouse.

In my Immaculate Heart this divine prodigy has taken place.

My garden is his exclusive property: it is the Holy Spirit who waters it and gives it light; it is He who causes the most beautiful flowers to spring up; it is He who gives them their color and fragrance; it is He who brings therein whom He wills.

No one can enter unless He Himself opens to them: no one walks therein unless He leads them forward.

If you but knew, my beloved sons, the gift you have received by consecrating yourselves to my Immaculate Heart!

It is the Holy Spirit who has brought you into my garden. And through your heavenly Mother, He is now cultivating you, embelishing you with his gifts, and enriching you with all the virtues.

Blue Book #131 g-l

I didn’t know that ‘Carmel’ actually meant garden until I joined a Third Order Carmelite group 21 years ago. That brought me so much joy and whole new perspective on my spiritual life. Then a couple of years ago, the Holy Spirit brought me to the MMP, and it truly felt like a ‘call within a call’.

This time it feels like she’s personally taking me by the hand … I don’t think everyone needs this type of intense guidance, but I think I’m just a really stubborn case. But I’m grateful that Jesus doesn’t let go and that He loves me so much as to send His own Mother as My Formation Director. 😃 🙏🙏🙏

What is the Immaculate Heart of Mary if not God’s Garden itself…Carmel! Let us enter in! Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse!

What are we focusing on? The world is a mess, our lives from time to time can become messes too… but the more we bring our attention to it, the more it grows. This is not what we are called to as Catholics. Yes, it’s important to stay informed up to a point, but we must maintain detached… not allow any of it to sink in and alter us in any way. That’s God’s realm.

What we are called to is to live out our little, simple lives to the best of our ability and with God’s grace via the Sacraments. This doesn’t mean that we turn into complete pacifists never uttering a word of opposition… not at all… it’s just that our circle of actual influence is probably way smaller than we estimate at times.

Let’s be light spreaders!!!

You are the crown of love woven by me to place, as a source of comfort, about the Heart of my Son Jesus and of his Vicar on earth.

Therefore I ask you again for prayer, suffering and silence,

But your light must shine ever more and more brightly as the darkness envelops everything.

And yours will be the light of my presence in this most severe trial. And my motherly and merciful intervention will then become manifest to all.”

Blue Book #95 k-n

“And whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” COLOSSIANS 3:23

Sometimes it seems so difficult to get any work done… our bodies, minds and even spirit, may fail us from time to time. It’s easy to fall into despair and consider ourselves as useless. However that’s not how God sees us.

Our most important work may not be what we think at all. Sometimes He allows blocks to be put in our way, so that we may finally see it. But even then it can take a while for some of us.

In the above Blue Book passage, Our Blessed Mother is asking once again for our prayer, suffering and silence. She says that we are being called to ‘be a light as the darkness envelopes everything’. EVERYTHING! Can you not feel it? I can. It’s threatening to engulf me at the moment.

So, what to do? How are we (how am I) to be light when all I can feel is darkness? Our Blessed Mother then says that the light that we are to shine is her presence. We aren’t just called to become another Christ (with her help), we are being called to be another replica of her, another ‘Mary’. To be Mother and comforter to a broken and hurting church. Yes, even when we are in dire need of it ourselves. Good mother that she is, she then comes and sends out her other children to help strengthen us.

I am now calling you, my beloved sons; I am gathering you together from all parts of the world, as a mother hen does her chicks. I am gathering you all into my Immaculate Heart.

Blue Book #93 n

It’s her job to gather all of her children into One Body… Christ!

It’s interesting to listen to modern day ‘apostles’ squabble about which method, or group is best. Some things never change I guess…Jesus’ 12 did the same.

Our ultimate purpose is one though. Union with Christ, and there is no one better to help us get there than His own Mother!

I personally love the MMP and the Blue Book as I feel it is her personally guiding me through life. The way it came to me, left me without any doubts that it was what she wanted for me. I love cenacles (which means ‘upper room’) especially when they take place as instructed, with some faith sharing and community building at the end. It’s great to have a place to share with others on the same track, what Our Blessed Mother is helping me through, and in turn learn from others and their different callings also.

But then other non MMP groups and gatherings are necessary too. Once we’ve been fed, we are then sent forth to feed and be there for others in our local parish communities. Not to push the MMP (although everyone is always welcome), but to help make Our Blessed Mother loved by all and her guidance followed. And we also now need to be her representatives in the Church. Be Mother to His other children…

You are called by divine plan to be his ministers, his apostles, his consolers.

Why then do so many of you again betray Him today?

Why do many of you again flee today and leave Jesus and the Church all alone?

Why are so many of you again sleeping today? And that sleeping is often the very work in which you allow yourselves to be caught up and overwhelmed.

That sleeping is also the way in which you seek to adapt yourselves to the world, and to succeed in being agreeable to, as well as accepted and understood by, this world. That sleeping is everything which humanly weighs you down.

Blue Book #93 h-l

Go to Joseph, the poor man whose foster Son was born in a stable and whose family lived most frugally in a little forgotten village of Palestine but who held in his arms the wealth of the nations and the Light of the world and who can teach us all how to empty our hands of tinsel and fill them with love, faith, and happiness.

Grace in Every Season (May 1)

‘Emptying our hands of tinsel’ is about letting go of our own needs (comfort, acceptance etc) and embracing our true calling which is about God answering the needs of others through us. To not do what God has called us to, to not share what He has given us for the benefit of others, to choose to snooze… is to betray Him.

St. Joseph, pray for us!