“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23

The Virgin Mary is an inspiration to us all, chosen by God to be the Mother of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. She trusts in God completely and responds to His plan of salvation with complete surrender to His Holy Will.

“Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:38

Most of us will not receive glad tidings from an Angel telling us what God wills for us to do, but that doesn’t mean God does not have a plan for us because indeed God has a plan for each and every one of us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

For too many years I looked for God in the sky, then God spoke to my heart. He began to say “Trust Me”. I wanted to find purpose and meaning in my life. I wanted to find God. I wanted to make a difference and Jesus kept saying one thing to my heart, “Trust Me!” This went on for a long time. Ultimately I began to worry because I felt I did not know how to give Jesus what He most desired, TRUST.   Eventually I realized that if I was truly open to God, He would create a complete surrender in me and He would conceive in me what He willed and then He would show me how to accomplish what He willed. I realized God was not somewhere distant but truly close, so very close, and when I finally realized He was within me I found my purpose and my new life began to take shape.

This Scripture is now very real to me: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25

I will confess to you that before my spiritual conversion I used to say, “It’s my life and I’ll do with it what I please.” I don’t say that anymore! My life didn’t make sense until I gave it to God and began to say “Lord, do with me whatever You please!” And to my surprise God had a plan for me and it was very different from my plan. I was trained in global communications and marketing. My job was to develop the “value proposition” to sell into an industry sector. Effectively that means define the sales proposition or  “the message” that communicates why the customer should do business with the company I represented.

Now I spend my life telling people (whoever will listen) about the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ.  I tell people about HIS MESSAGE.   I can’t imagine a more powerful “value proposition” than everlasting life with God and while life can be full of disappointments and hardships, God gave me new perspective on life and suffering that made me more resilient to life’s challenges.

I have learned that we are all pilgrims on a journey towards God. I can see the eternal horizon now and I hold God’s hand in every moment as He guides me to do His will. I used to be in a very busy, hectic workplace and now I live a quiet, contemplative life as I study God’s Word and share spiritual reflections with whoever wants to read them. I have also learned a lot about mental health issues and now I help my community as a volunteer distress center counselor. This week someone I met through the distress center asked me if I would pray for him and his friend and I was so grateful for the gift of faith. As we prayed together and talked about our faith and trust in God we both realized we had the same prayer: “Lord please make me the best person I can be.”

The Virgin Mary is not the only tabernacle for God. We are all invited to have God within us, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through the grace we receive from the Holy Eucharist. God will be with us to help us through every challenge and to help us to understand His will and to do His will. We just need to TRUST JESUS and like Mary proclaim that we are His servants, may God’s will be done!

Don’t be afraid, God will always be with you if you seek Him with all your heart.

“…I AM YOUR GOD. I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU AND HELP YOU; I WILL UPHOLD YOU WITH MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND.” Isaiah 41:10

Believe in Jesus Christ. He is Your Saviour! He died so that you could be all that He wants you to be.

Pray for the redemption of all souls. So many people have yet to find faith in Jesus. Those of us who believe in God are privileged. Faith is a precious gift. Prayer is our responsibility.

“So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.” 1 Corinthians 14:15

Understand this always and let us never take for granted that the gift of eternal life came at an enormous price. Let’s never forget the price Jesus paid to save us.

Mel Gibson gave the world an important gift when he created the movie “The Passion of The Christ” because he brought us to the foot of the Cross through the pain and humiliation of Calvary so that we could hold a meditation in our hearts that would move us to tears and that would move us to try to comprehend the horror of our sins.

Mel Gibson wrote, “People often ask me why I wanted to make a film about the Passion of Our Lord. My usual response is that I’ve wanted to make this film for over ten years…The reality, of course is more compex, and had its genesis during a time in which I found myself trapped with feelings of terrible, isolated emptiness. Because I was brought up to be a good Christian and a good Catholic, the only effective resource for me was prayer. I asked God for His help. It was during this period of meditation and prayer that I first conceived the idea of making a film about The Passion…There is a classical Greek word which best defines what “truth” guided my work, and that of everyone else in the project: aletheia. It simply means “unforgetting”… It has unfortunately become part of the ritual of our modern secular existence to forget…The film…is contemplative in the sense that one is compelled to remember (unforget) in a spiritual way that which cannot be articulated, only experienced…My new hope is that The Passion of The Christ will help many more people recognize the power of His love and let Him help them to save their own lives.” Mel Gibson, Foreward from the book, THE PASSION (photography from the film Passion of The Christ and Holy Scripture)  I highly recommend the book and the film!

FRIENDS DON’T LET A DAY GO BY WITHOUT REMEMBERING THE PASSION OF CHRIST! Meditating on the Passion of Christ has allowed me to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus. It has changed my life and it will change yours too if you make time to remember how much Jesus suffered to save you!

Please join us every day in at 3pm (in your local time zone) in a global prayer movement that will change the world, one soul at a time, as people are touched by the greatest love the world has ever known and will ever know, the love of Jesus Christ! Three o’clock is the time Jesus died for us on the Cross.   All over the world, Christians are uniting in prayer to give glory to God as we remember the Passion of Christ.

How much Our Lord Jesus suffered to save us!

We are uniting as ONE Body of Christ, Christians of all denominations, in a prayer to silence the forces of evil, in a prayer to thank Jesus for dying for us, in a prayer to ask Jesus to pour out His mercy and Holy Spirit upon us all so that we can become all that He wills us to be, a people of peace, a people of love, a people of justice, a people of compassion, a people that forgives and helps our suffering neighbours, a people that NEVER FORGETS THEt LOVE OF JESUS!

Tell others about The Mercy Movement and join us every day to give glory to God in a united prayer!