The Connection Spark

Message of January 25, 2006 of Our Lady at Medjugorje:
"Dear children! Also today I call you to be carriers of the Gospel in your families. Do not forget, little children, to read Sacred Scripture. Put it in a visible place and witness with your life that you believe and live the Word of God. I am close to you with my love and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."

March 25, 1991

Dear Children,

Again today, I invite you to live the passion of Jesus, in prayer and in union with Him. Decide to give more time to God who gave you these days of grace. Therefore, dear children, pray and in a special way, renew the love for Jesus in your hearts. I am with you and accompany you with my blessing and my prayers.

Thank you for having responded to my call.


Message of May 25, 2006
"Dear children! Also today I call you to put into practice and to live my messages that I am giving you. Decide for holiness, little children, and think of heaven. Only in this way, will you have peace in your heart that no one will be able to destroy. Peace is a gift, which God gives you in prayer. Little children, seek and work with all your strength for peace to win in your hearts and in the world. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Message of December 25, 2006
"Dear children! Also today I bring you the newborn Jesus in my arms. He who is the King of Heaven and earth, He is your peace. Little children, no one can give you peace as He who is the King of Peace. Therefore, adore Him in your hearts, choose Him and you will have joy in Him. He will bless you with His blessing of peace. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Message of November 25, 2006
"Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray. Little children, when you pray you are close to God and He gives you the desire for eternity. This is a time when you can speak more about God and do more for God. Therefore, little children, do not resist but permit Him to lead you, to change you and to enter into your life. Do not forget that you are travellers on the way toward eternity. Therefore, little children, permit God to lead you as a shepherd leads his flock. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Lady's message for December 25, 1994 is:

Dear Children,

Today I am rejoicing with you and I pray with you for peace. Peace in your hearts, peace in your families peace in your desires, and peace in the whole world. May the king of peace bless you today and give you peace. I am blessing you, and I carry each of you in my heart.

Thank you for having responded to my call.


The messages contain a sign for today of what God is calling His body to~ unity in the Holy Spirit, fervent prayer, warfare against the dark, devotion to the King of Peace, and a spirit of peace as we "season the world" in preparation for the return of The King.

As I come to a deeper understanding of Medjugorje, I am completely changed. I recently read a book about a Lutheran reporter who went to study the happenings at Medjugorje. As he was researching the story, he and his wife popped a tape containing some of the miracles into the VCR. And as they watched, he heard the audible voice of Mary telling him to write about these things, because he was going to be used to carry the message to places it mattered. His wife, who had not heard the voice, turned to find her husband a crying mess--- and watched closely as he explained what had happened to him. She was surprised, but not disbelieving-- she too had been changed by what she had seen on the tape.

His response was immediately to turn to Jesus---- he fell on his knees and "prayed as he had never prayed before." Suddenly the reality of God was so clear to him, and he knew that he had been born for "such a time as this."

Years later, as he spoke in a war torn church in Northern Ireland, where Protestants and Christians are literally killing each other in a war that seems to never end, he was able to share a message of peace from the heavens that made a significant impact on the battle in the area.

Our Lady's message is that HOLINESS, PRAYER, FASTING AND THE UNITY OF BELIEVERS IN HER SON are all that is needed in order to advance the kingdom in these last days--- to impact the earth and bring the souls of thousands upon thousands before the King.

She has been appearing for years telling people this same message, but no where has it been as profoundly universal a message as it is here. The message is NOT just for Catholics, though she may speak in terms that Catholics understand better because she is appearing TO Catholics. The message is for everyone who will hear-- repent and believe.

I think the reason God, in His mercy, is allowing me to experience the profound blessing of Medjugorje from all the way over here is that it speaks directly to the crisis Wayne and I have been undergoing from day one as a married couple, seeking to live in unity with each other for Christ.

We are stretched and tired, and we have both deeply fellowshipped and been completely disgusted with things we have seen in the different churches we have been members of over the years. We are constantly seeking to be unified with one, perfect congregation, only to discover that God works in some ways, allows people to work in other ways, tolerates some things, and loathes others... but that ALL these elements are present in the local churches. We have learned not to discount miracles just because they aren't our "flavor," or "brand," and we have learned that God is infinitely present even in our deepest human failings.

Last night, I was deep in repentance for making an idol out of the churches I attend-- hoping to find within their structures something profoundly simple: fulfillment. But the truth is that fulfillment is found only in Christ, and that our worship of Him, whatever it looks like, offered from a pure heart, is the only thing that matters.

In the same day yesterday, Annika dug up a book which I had been looking for for years to return to my mom. It was the life story of one of my great aunts a nun in a fraternity she had founded called "the little sisters of Jesus." Two others of my aunts had followed in her footsteps, giving themselves over to the work of God by living amongst the people they served, being "as they are," and ministering in that way. The deep difference in the way these particular nuns serve is that they do not teach, or educate, or in any way lord over the families they are in service to. They love and serve alongside them-- working in factories for free, living as nomads among nomadic communities, working in food service or in daily hunting and gathering.
They do not seek to build churches and plant new congregations in their own image, but only to share the love of Jesus and to see hearts turned to Him.
The simplicity of the way they share the gospel has always moved me, but never more than yesterday as I thumbed through the book and remembered the pictures I'd so often ignored. (I'm fasting from reading other books than the Bible for lent)

In the same day, I confessed to Wayne my incredible struggle with the disgust I was feeling in the nondenominational churches we had been members of for so long, in particular with the irreverence and with the financial decisions. I told him how I LONGED to go to Catholic Church-- just ONCE-- and to worship in the simplicity of the mass--- knowing that there was no "competition" on the plate there, only simple worship. And he shared with me the story of a man named Sundar Singh, who met Jesus as he was becoming a Hindu Holy Man, and who-- instead of turning to the churches in his country which were being planted FOR Indians by the English, and in which Indians began to dress like Englishmen and sound like Englishmen, decided that he would continue to be an Indian holy man, only dedicated to Jesus. In this way he was able to reach thousands of Indians who would otherwise have been untouched, and is known as "the apostle of the bleeding feet," for where his travels have taken him.

Both Sundar's and Sister Magdalene's stories share the same message-- and it's the message of medjugorje-- it's the gospel.
Our churches are not what matters. Jesus Christ is what matters. Our adhesion to the Body should never be more influential than our adhesion to the identity of Christ.

As Wayne said: "that's why it's totally fine with me if you are Catholic, but I want you to CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN, because the name of Christ should be good enough for you"

(interestingly, in France, Catholics are CALLED Christian in normal usage, not Catholic. But I get what he means. )

One of the important decisions I wanted to discuss with him was the idea of transsubstantiation-- if you'll recall, I was going to devote a whole blog to the idea that the bread and wine either literally or not become the body and blood of Christ.

Biblically speaking, to ME, it's evident that they DO--- and i had only rejected that because it's what I was TOLD in nondenominational churches. For instance, in my life application study bible, in the note under where Jesus says "take and eat, this IS my body," it says: "Jesus didn't mean that it really WAS His body." But it doesn't say why, nor can I find ANY biblical references that explain why it isn't. My good friend S sent me a great email explaining how, in the greek, it was clear that it wasn't--- and my husband, who doesn't believe AT ALL in transsubstantiation and read her email, was jumping for joy when he read it, but the fact is that the translators still made the decision, in EVERY translation, to write: "this IS my body." You see the dilemma? To me, at this moment, I can not find a single scriptural reason why it wouldn't be so-- I think it's wierd that non Catholics, who always take the Word of God at complete face value and believe it literally, would make an exception for the idea of communion, saying that it's "symbolic" when Christ's words don't imply symbolism.

On the other hand, Wayne makes a great case for it's symbolism based on other Scriptural references : "I am the Door," says Jesus, and yet we don't believe He is IN the door. You know?

As His wife, I have the responsibility to allow my husband to lead me spiritually, which has been agonizing over these last weeks because I dont want to be led into falsehood-- if transsubstantiation IS real, then it radically changes the way I face communion every time, you know? It's clear that i believe it and he doesn't, and so by submitting to him I'd be believing something I know is a lie. Kinda like the rosary-- I KNOW that praying the rosary is scriptural (the rosary is a series of prayers taken directly FROM the Word and a guided meditation ON the Word) but it makes him uncomfortable for me to pray on beads, which is my favorite way to pray the rosary, especially since Our Lady of Fatima HAD a ROSARY BEAD NECKLACE IN HER HAND when she appeared. For me, it's a moot point-- God wants us to pray, the rosary is a powerful meditaiton on scripture, Powerful apparitions of Mary and Jesus the world over implore people TO pray the rosary, I'm going to pray the rosary.

But what I've discoverd through all of this with my husband is that the point is to GLORIFY GOD and to give HIm the reverence He is due no matter what the situation.
If I believe it's real and Wayne doesn't, Wayne says that the important thing is to approach Communion with the utmost reverence and humility of heart because THAT is the point--- Jesus IN the bread and wine or not. We remember Him, we proclaim His death for our sins on the cross-- and THAT is all we know FOR 100 percent sure.
It doesn't matter, ultimately, and shouldn't be something that we allow to separate us, because we have to learn to together come before the Lord of Lords with people who, culturally, will have all kinds of "wierd" habits and things they do to get close to God, but the point is the people. God's heart is for people, whatever they are doing, so long as they are loving Him.

And that's huge! Its' the reason why (and I didn't know this at the time) the story of the Magi affected me so greatly over Christmas. God used astrology, something He hates, to speak to them because He wanted to meet them where they were at. His presence was in that star that He KNEW they'd be looking for, and it brought them near to the Son of God.

We must be able to be all things for all people, and to demonstrate LOVE for humanity in a way only the Savior of the World could do. Wayne and I are realizing more and more that denominations are Satan's way of confusing the Body, preventing us from connecting with one another in the power of God.... and that since even "nondenominations" are a denomination now, we must continue to walk as Jesus did-- among the people, being a light, however we can.

So this Sunday whether I'm joyfully reunited with my Catholic bretheren at Mass or gleefully praising the Lord in extravagant worship at Manna Church, I can look at my totally non Catholic husband on one side and the totally atheist person that may be sitting on the other side of me and know that the point is to pray for the salvation of souls and the peace of the world. Period.