(c)Mike Nolan 2011-Medjugorje
 

May 4, 2012

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! With motherly love I implore you to give me your hands, permit me to lead you. I, as a mother, desire to save you from restlessness, despair and eternal exile. My Son, by His death on the Cross, showed how much He loves you; He sacrificed Himself for your sake and the sake of your sins. Do not keep rejecting His sacrifice and do not keep renewing His sufferings with your sins. Do not keep shutting the doors of Heaven to yourselves. My children, do not waste time. Nothing is more important than unity in my Son. I will help you because the Heavenly Father is sending me so that, together, we can show the way of grace and salvation to all those who do not know Him. Do not be hard hearted. Have confidence in me and adore my Son. My children, you cannot be without the shepherds. May they be in your prayers every day. Thank you." (May 2, 2012)

This is a challenging message from Our Lady. Our Mother is serious. She is concerned, for us and for her children who do not yet know her Son. We can feel her heart pleading with us to listen to her words, to be open to her call, to put our hands in hers. These are words from a mother, a mother who loves her children and knows all about them. These are words from a mother who desires life for her children, but not just earthly life, rather eternal life. So much is at stake.

For today, I want to focus on one sentence alone. It is this one:

"My children, do not waste time."

I looked up the verb, "to waste" in the Oxford dictionary. This is meaning #1:

"To use or expend carelessly, or to no purpose"

When we think about it, time is a gift to us. We do not own it. We did not make it. We have just found ourselves in it at conception, and we are traveling through it kind of like a twig that is thrown into a river, and helplessly is carried along with the current downstream. Time pays no heed to us, is not subject to us, and does not change. It just keeps going. But time is for us the measure of our life. We live for only a few years. We occupy only a brief moment in the universal scheme of things. And when our time is up, we have no choice but to depart from the river of time as helplessly as we were plunged into it.

Then, why is time a gift? Well, because life is a gift! Life is God's gift to us. We live because God made us and loves us and means for us to travel through this life in time in such a manner that we will live with Him in the timeless hereafter! Life/time is for us the way to God. Wow, what a gift!

Then, how can we waste time? Well, we can waste time when we don't understand why we are alive and what our life is all about, and we use the time we are alive for things that do not lead us to God. Pretty simple, yes! Remember the definition of waste: "To use or expend carelessly, or to no purpose". When we take the time we have and use it carelessly, with no heed to the purpose for which our "time" was intended, we run the risk of not attaining our goal. The purpose of our life/time is life in eternity with God. Wasting time is not using time for its proper purpose - eternity.

I found some synonyms for "wasting time" that help to flesh out the process:

Synonyms: burn daylight, dally, dawdle, delay, dillydally, fiddle about, fritter away time, goof off, kill time, linger, loiter, lollygag, lose time, pass the time, piddle, procrastinate, shilly-shally, take one's own sweet time, take one's time, tarry, while away the time...

I am sure we can think of more. These words all seem to point to a certain slothfulness, a lack of really caring about what is important. Sloth is definitely the evil spirit behind a lot of wasted time. Sloth is really ugly, because it looks like just laziness, but it is truly a decision against the good. It is an act of despair to be slothful. One chooses not to love God and seek Him with one's whole heart, but to rather choose to turn away from God and His plan for one's life. It is passive aggressive resistance to God's love! We don't want to resist God's love in this way.

Our Mother has spoken to us about "time" in her messages. Here are a few examples:

"Wake up from the sleep of unbelief and sin, because this is a time of grace which God gives you. Use this time, and seek from God the grace of the healing of your heart so that you may see God and people with the heart." (2/25/2000)

"God gives you great graces, that is why, little children, make good use of this time of grace and come closer to my heart so that I can lead you to my Son Jesus." (6/25/2001)

"Therefore, make good use of this time of grace and devote it to God more than ever up to now." (7/25/2005)

"This is a time of grace while I am with you, make good use of it. Say: 'This is the time for my soul.'" (4/25/2007)

These days while Our Lady is with us in Medjugorje are a special time of grace. We are the most blessed of people to be alive during this time. Our Lady is with us as we travel through time towards our destiny. She is with us to help us to choose God over everything else. Her presence, her help, is essential for us. How could we even think of wasting a moment of this precious time of grace?

And so, we need to examine our lives and discover if we are wasting time. Are we using our lives in ways that do not fulfill their purpose? Are we being careless with our live/time? It is a precious gift we have been given. May we respond to Our Lady's plea, and choose now to live our lives for God, with God, and in God!!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

PS.  One more reminder: The National Conference on Medjugorje at Notre Dame will take place on May 11, 12, 13, 2012.  Brian Miller, the organizer, told me to tell you all not to worry about the cost.  Just come, and if you can give even a small amount, it would be better if you are there.  Call 574-288-8777 for information!  It is a wonderful time of prayer and sharing.