The August 25, 2009 message from our Mother Mary at Medjugorje:
Dear children! Today I call you anew to conversion. Little children, you are not holy enough and you do not radiate holiness to others, therefore pray, pray, pray and work on your personal conversion, so that you may be a sign of God’s love to others. I am with you and am leading you towards eternity, for which every heart must yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Mary isn’t pulling any punches in this message. She basically tells all of us that we need to step up our game and become holier. She even has tough words for those who do try to live a good and holy life of prayer and avoiding sin. Mary says that it is not good enough to be holy in private, but we must “radiate holiness to others.” All too often I think we have a tendency to erect a wall between our spiritual lives and our “normal” lives. Mary challenges us to make our spiritual life our normal life for all to see.
Her message has many connections to the mysteries of the rosary. She tells us that we must orient ourselves towards eternity which means we must orient ourselves towards God. This is the message of the Transfiguration that we become oriented towards God whenever we listen to His son and follow Jesus’ teachings. Mary calls us to go out and spread Jesus’ message by living holy life. We do this with the help of the Holy Spirit as seen in the Pentecost. We are also called to lead a holy life through the Institution of the Eucharist where we act as holy vessels of Jesus Christ by being His hands, legs, and voice in this world.
This message reminds me of a story I heard from Father Corapi. He talked about one day when St. Francis asked one of his fellow friars to go and preach throughout the village. They walked around all day in their robes and conversed casually with the townspeople. They never got up and gave a formal sermon. At the end of the day the friar asked St. Francis when they were going to preach God’s word. St. Francis replied that they had been doing that all day. They were “radiating” holiness by making others aware of God’s presence in the world by the simple act of making themselves, and hence, the Catholic Church, available to others in the community. It is as true today as it was back in the time of St. Francis that small acts of holiness can go a long way in bringing people closer to God.
So, how will you radiate holiness today?
