(c)Mary TV 2014
J.M.J
January 22, 2015
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children (USA)
Dear Family of Mary!
Today,
in the USA, thousands of citizens will be marching at our capital,
Washington, D.C., in support of pro-life legislation. Our bishops have
asked us all to pray all day today for the "full restoration of the
legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to
the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion." For
53 years our nation has suffered under the curse of abortion. We pray
that all nations will be free of that curse, and that life will again be
celebrated and received with gratitude.
Our
Lady of Medjugorje has been teaching us the value of our lives in her
messages, hoping that we will understand and embrace our lives and the
lives of all our brothers and sisters because life is a gift. Here are
some of her words:
"Today I invite you all to rejoice in the life which God gives you. Little children, rejoice in God the Creator because he has created you so wonderfully. Pray that your life will be a joyful thanksgiving which flows out of your heart like a river of joy!" (August 25, 1988)
"Today I invite you to decide for God once again, and to choose him before everything else and above everything else, so that he may perform miracles in your life, and that, day by day, your life may become joy with him...Pray that you may be able to comprehend the greatness and the beauty of the gift of life." (January 25, 1991)
"Choose life and not death of the soul. Little children, in this time when you meditate on the suffering and death of Jesus, I invite you to decide for life which blossomed through the Resurrection and let your life be renewed today through conversion which will lead you to eternal life." (March 25, 1996)
Clearly,
Our Lady wants us to realize that our lives are sacred and beautiful,
and by extension every life is sacred and beautiful, because we are
created by God and loved by Him. But it is only in God and through God
that we can truly embrace life. Our world needs to be evangelized to the
beauty of life!
I
close with the last paragraphs of "Evangelium Vitae" - The Gospel of
Life - the encyclical by Saint John Paul II. In these paragraphs Saint
John Paul the Great recalls Our Lady's commitment to life, and asks her
intercession for us in this day, as we battle for life. It is fitting to
pray these words today, with our bishops and the whole world, thirsting
for life.
 |
| English: Pope John Paul II on 12 August 1993 in Denver (Colorado) Polski: Papież Jan Paweł II 12 sierpnia 1993 roku w Denwer (Colorado) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
From Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) by Saint John Paul II
"Death shall be no more" (Rev 21:4): the splendor of the Resurrection
105.
The angel's Annunciation to Mary is framed by these reassuring words:
"Do not be afraid, Mary" and "with God nothing will be impossible" (Lk 1:30,
37). The whole of the Virgin Mother's life is in fact pervaded by the
certainty that God is near to her and that he accompanies her with his
providential care. The same is true of the Church, which finds "a place
prepared by God" (Rev 12:6) in the desert, the place of trial but also
of the manifestation of God's love for his people (cf. Hos 2:16).
Mary is a living word of comfort for the Church in her struggle against
death. Showing us the Son, the Church assures us that in him the forces
of death have already been defeated: "Death with life contended: combat
strangely ended! Life's own Champion, slain, yet lives to reign".
The
Lamb who was slain is alive, bearing the marks of his Passion in the
splendor of the Resurrection. He alone is master of all the events of
history: he opens its "seals" (cf. Rev 5:1-10) and proclaims, in time
and beyond, the power of life over death. In the "new Jerusalem", that
new world towards which human history is traveling, "death shall be no
more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for
the former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4).
And
as we, the pilgrim people, the people of life and for life, make our
way in confidence towards "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1), we
look to her who is for us "a sign of sure hope and solace".
O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.
(Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, in the year 1995, the seventeenth of my Pontificate.)
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2015
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
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