Below is the official English translation of Fr. Danko Perutina's commentary on Our Lady's Christmas 2008 message to the world.
I am hopeful this blog will become a place where all of us will not only read Our Lady's messages and the commentary on them, but also a place where we begin to start a dialogue about it, so please feel free to share your thoughts by using the "comments" link at the bottom of this post.
Thanks, and Happy New Year!
- Erik
SURRENDER YOUR LIVES INTO THE HANDS OF JESUS
"Dear children! You are running, working, gathering – but without blessing. You are not praying! Today I call you to stop in front of the manger and to meditate on Jesus, Whom I give to you today also, to bless you and to help you to comprehend that, without Him, you have no future. Therefore, little children, surrender your lives into the hands of Jesus, for Him to lead you and protect you from every evil. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of December 25, 2008
On Christmas Day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. On 25 December Our Lady gave us a message, which is a reminder and a call. She says: Dear children! You are running, working, gathering – but without blessing. These words are true. They touch us even deeper because they come from the mouth of Our Lady. If we just look around, we can notice how anxiously worried about material things we all are. We work hard and have no blessing. There is no blessing because we do not put God first. One was able to notice that these few days before Christmas when wholesale stores, shops and hair salons were more crowded that confessionals. A great attention is paid to appearances, whereas we do not strive towards the inner beauty of the soul that much. If we were so concerned with our salvation and spiritual life as much as we are concerned with external things, Paradise would soon start blooming on Earth.
In her message Our lady continues by saying: You are not praying! In the morning, before going to work, most Catholics just make the sign of the cross, without any other more profound prayer. In the evening, already tired from work, we fall asleep at the second Hail Mary. And it goes on in this way day by day. Our body is getting tired, but our soul is getting even more tired. Then we ask ourselves: Why there is no blessing? Why does not God hear us? He does hear us, but it is us that do not hear Him. Whenever He comes, we are not at home.
Our Lady calls us to stop in front of the manger and to meditate on Jesus, Whom she gives to us today also, to bless us and to help us to comprehend that, without Him, we have no future. Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is a holiday of the eternal and infinite love of God that has entered history in the form of an innocuous child. While we are meditating and thinking of the birth of Jesus, we must bear in mind that it is not merely a nice story of a little child, shepherds, angels and kings who lived a long time ago. It is a holiday that speaks about the incessant connection between God and man. It is not an event that occurred a long time ago. It is a reality that should be happening in us every day. God becomes embodied and becomes God with us every day. We encounter Him at Holy Mass, in sacraments, in prayers and in good deeds. Jesus wants to keep on being born in us, His beloved sons and daughters, as well as in the community of His believers, in the Church, which is His mysterious embodiment.
Our Lady offers us a solution to all our fears and anxieties – it is Her son Jesus. She says: Surrender your lives into the hands of Jesus, for Him to lead you and protect you from every evil. Only in the hands of Jesus, only in His heart shall we have true protection from every evil. Let us bear witness to the Joyful News and let us be happy feeling that primordial joy St. Paul calls us to:«Brothers! Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice!» (Phil 4:4). Let us not be gold diggers who struggle their entire lives searching for gold, finding it, digging it, but remaining the poorest although holding gold in their hands. Let the newly born Jesus bless our whole life and all our noble strivings.
Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/12/2008
Though this commentary offers a critical view of our lives, I am actually left with a refreshing feeling after reading it. It is always so encouraging to me to know that living in this world was not meant to be anxious, stressful, or hopeless. It was meant to be peaceful, and the means toward that peace is simply making every moment of our lives about loving God and one another. That's it. Pretty simple, and I love that.
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