When our body is sick we turn to medicine for assistance. The Sacrament of Reconciliation plays a similarly helpful role when our spiritual lives suffer as a result of sin. Our disposition toward Christ’s reconciliation, and the attitude with which we must approach His healing, are all important as we consider the effect of the sacrament in our lives.

The first of these attitudes is contrition, which we understand as sorrow for our sin coupled with a purpose of amendment. The unique qualities that make us human (our physical bodies and our intellect) are intimately connected with our spiritual lives, and neither thrives at the expense of the other. When we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we must be sorry for our sins, but to receive Christ’s forgiveness worthily, this sorrow must be accompanied by the resolve to change our sinful behavior.

Tears are not merciful if they are shed without offering some practical relief to someone in distress. Sorrow is likewise incomplete if we are unwilling to alter sinful behavior. Here we can make another comparison between physical and spiritual health, because the doctor who attends our bodily ailments will often prescribe some change in behavior (e.g. increasing exercise, or avoiding certain foods) if a medication is to achieve its full benefit.

In addition to expressing sorrow for our sins, we must confess them (without omitting any), and we must be willing to perform some good work as a satisfaction for the wrong we have done. This latter is the penance imposed by the priest to whom we confess our sins. This may consist of nothing more than a few prayers, which seem altogether disproportionate to the sin we have committed, but here we must remember that God’s grace speaks primarily to our hearts. St. Therese of Lisieux said, “to pick up a pin for love can save a soul;” the sincerity of spirit with which we perform the penance can have a far greater impact on our spiritual life than a severe bodily mortification.

- Fr. Reginald Martin, O.P.

A Moral Society to A Godless Society!
…How Did it Happen!

It was well calculated, planned and cultivated over a period of time. TV was introduced and we enjoyed the antics of “I Love Lucy, Brady Bunch and the fine family entertainment of Lawrence Welk”. TV introduced a whole world of new, exciting and fascinating entertainment. America took the bait and we never saw the hook! We left our backyards, quit spending time with our families on our front porches and got busier and busier. Man became more reliant on himself and less reliant on God. When we quit praying, we became less holy. Because of our lack of virtue, we became more prone to sin. This lack of holiness was a breeding ground for the great sins of our society.

This is the Challenge: Turn OFF the TV!

The pictorial history of Television describe TV as a magical, electronic “modern wizardry”. The Church Fathers tell us that, “The eyes are windows of the soul.” If protected, innocence dwells; if exposed to the world, filth dwells. If the body is poisoned through the mouth, the heart is poisoned through the ear. Television is often used as a habitual way to ‘wind down the day’ and relax. Tragically, it is used to baby sit for our children and to keep our youth from making demands on our time. There are THREE AREAS in which this medium is used to destroy our American culture:

Materialism Sexual Revolution Pride
The unending and loud ads at commercial time (which is now nearly one-third of the air time) pound into our subconscious our need for endless savory comfort of luxury items that promise happiness and health. We are programmed to believe we “deserve the best”…we owe it to ourselves”! This is directly opposed to the Gospel Life of Christ, and message of Our Lady of Fatima:

Penance, Reparation and Prayer!
The entire sexual revolution has been launched by television and brought into the sacred confines of our home, imprinted on our minds and is a constant torment to the natural piety and modesty of our souls. The American Heresy is planted firmly in both the young and the old. “I am #1, I will do it my way, I gotta be me!” It is an entire philosophy of self-glorification, instant and complete, which has snuffed out the noble deeds of sacrificing oneself for the sake of one’s brethren.

Padre Pio was disturbed and disgusted by television. He realized that, in time, it would destroy family life and told everyone not to allow this devil in their homes, saying, “SIN”ema: THE DEVIL IS IN IT! Saint Cyprian said, “Theaters are a school of impurity and a place where modesty is prostituted”. Saint John Crysostom stated in 347: “All should fly from theaters as from a plague.” Jesus Christ said, “Whoever allows adultery into his heart, commits the sin”. Doesn’t the TV constantly put in front of its viewers innumerable accounts of infidelity and adultery, and are these not occasions of sin? A man is a fool to think he can sit in front of this mire of impurity and not be affected by it. American Saint, Elizabeth Seton, had a vision she could not drive from her mind. In the early 1800s, she saw in “Every American home a Black Box through which the devil would enter.” Pope Pius XII made a prophetic statement about TV back in the days of Ozzie and Harriet:

“Children can often avoid the transient attack of a disease outside their home, but cannot escape the disease when it resides in the home itself. It is wrong to introduce any occasion of sin, whatever, into the sanctity of the home.”

We should replace the TV with an altar and get rid of our mountains of newspapers and magazines! These are the tools of propaganda the enemy uses to deceive even the elect. Listen to God! Never let a day go by without doing your spiritual reading and praying the Holy Rosary. TV, especially the commercials, is the most destructive thing that has ever been unleashed against the soul of mankind. The shepherd of the family is the father, not the TV.

The MEDIUM is the message!
It is the television which shapes the people. The greatest disaster of the 20th Century may well be “American television”, a vast wasteland of blood, thunder, lust, gangsters, cartoons and endless commercials. Watching TV is a passive sport which promotes loss of imagination, fantasy and daydreaming. Soap operas and sitcoms entertain the heart with thoughts that are in constant violation with God’s precepts of holiness and purity.

Their message reaches people of all walks, even those who cannot read. Television entrances people, and seduces them through its dictates while entertaining the tendency to sin. Television’s BLACK BOX is everywhere and its margins are nowhere! It is all-seeing, all-encompassing, omniscient, all-pervasive! Television comforts us in our loneliness and is always there in our time of need, ministering and giving unceasingly, and this, free of charge!

Abstinence from this medium gives us the ability to think more clearly and discern more correctly. The family that gathers before this medium is mesmerized, and no one dares to interrupt the sound. Family and friends become fools sitting together in silence while the sounds blare all around. There is a real SOUND OF SILENCE with no communication between loved ones. Silence, like a cancer, grows! It kills the social exchange between one human and another. This anti-human medium can make a can of soup dance across the table, giving life to that which is without life, while real life is diminished.

To allow our children to see a movie produced by people whose lives, they believe are normal, but whose lifestyle Christianity teaches us is an abomination, makes about as much sense as letting our children play with rattlesnakes. Do I want the immoral to define for my children what family, home or environment are? Television is a thief, stealing from us time that could be given to prayer, good works and visiting the sick. In this late hour, when Satan firmly controls most of the television media, our only recourse is to attack the instrument. When a gunman is at our door, poised to kill the family, we cannot address a letter to our Congressman, nor are we interested even in attacking the instrument holding the gun, but we take aim directly at the deadly weapon, in order to save our family. Our only recourse is to get the gun out of his hands. While we cannot say that Television breaks our free will, its enslavement comes as close as one can get without doing so, and that in itself is dangerous and a violence to the free will God has given man.

We accepted this “thing” without question. We quit praying and we were deceived. How can we expect to lead holy lives, and possess spiritual wisdom without praying? We wake up to the TV, get out of the shower to it, get into the car with it, jog with it, eat with it, and are put to bed with it. We cannot escape it; public stores, bathrooms, restaurants, all resound with its message. What else has honored Satan and promoted his interests so much? What kind of beast could have authority over every language, let alone “nation” “People” and “race”?

Science has shown us that TV deceptively stamps an image on the right side of our brain even as it bypasses our logical, analytical left side. There are one-hundred-million dollar companies guided by people who understand these powerful methods. They use them to sell products, and influence the viewers politically. More and more, everything bought or sold is beginning to come under the control of this unseen force.

“In Wonderment, The Whole World Followed After The Beast!”

Our children are gifts from God. As parents, we have been entrusted with them and asked by God to lead them to holiness of life. TV interferes with our role as parents. The BLACK BOX is an eye and, through this medium, it will watch your children for you, making them docile and quiet. This is a very tempting thing for a parent who longs for a little quiet. Where are the children who gathered around the fire, listened to stories, helped with chores, and sat at the table with mom and dad for the evening meal? What dealt the deathblow to the Family Rosary? The television is the real living thief, stealing memories and joys while implanting its godless ideas. To keep it in your home is to harbor a burglar within the confines of your sacred dwelling.

Recently, when asked, what is the greatest threat to Russia, a professor from Russia said: “TELEVISION! TV is a total waste of time, crushing creativity and destroying the youth in Russia. It leads to the destruction of respect, honor and values. It is sadly sweeping through Russia, leading the youth to all kinds of fads that lack purpose and wisdom. Since TV entered our homes a short time ago, crime has drastically increased; divorce, which was unheard of among those who are Christians, is rapidly increasing, and families are breaking up…We SURVIVED Communism, but we will not survive TV!”

We might argue that some programs are good. Still, it is important to note that Satan always packages things this way, presenting some good, which he hates, in order to be successful in bringing about much bad. Even if shows of merit are viewed, the time might have been used for the greater good of prayer, works of charity, reading or being with family. Sweeping our house clean, leaves a vacuum for vice. Life without television can only blossom if we fill that space of time with something wholesome. This will take effort, sacrifice, love and courage. Read aloud to the family ‘Lives of the Saints’, tell stories, share special joys and challenges of your day, play games, visit shut-ins and take time to listen to your children and your spouse. Appreciate each other and cherish the presence of Christ in each family member.

Be vigilant, therefore, and hold fast to your faith! Take care to see that the many dangers and temptations by which you are surrounded do not darken the light of faith within your soul. Through constant vigilance, that light of faith will shine with ever increasing brightness guiding you and your family on your heavenward journey.

Reprinted The Children of Mary Center for Peace, Nov/Dec 2007.

Around the 1st of January, large crowds of pilgrims once again gathered on the main street in Bijakovici. Vicka, after an absence of nine months for health reasons, returned to the stairs of her blue house to give witness! This year however, we will have to wait until March for her to resume her normal rhythm of speaking three days per week. By then the treatment of her shoulder should be finished. In these last nine months, Vicka has suffered more than usual, but she knows how to remain happy in all situations, even those that are apparently negative. Recently I had the opportunity to meet her and discuss the latest events with her, as well as her suffering. I was wondering why God would allow nine months to go by without Vicka speaking. How many thousands of people would have been able to be touched by her beautiful testimony and have returned to God? Why did God allow the long silence of this excellent witness? What advantage was there in keeping her away, trapping her inside her house, neither able to move, nor able to meet the crowds from all over the world who called for her? Of course it has to do with the incredible fruit of suffering, when it is offered to Jesus. There is no better example than Vicka. She does it with such ease. When I asked her about how she manages to stay positive she had many good points to share!

She said: “You see, if God allowed that absence, He knows why, therefore I’m happy. He knows how much I love to bear witness to the pilgrims, He knows that the pilgrims need to hear the messages; then if He still chooses for me to make a sacrifice and bear this suffering instead, I don’t doubt, this plan is the best one for us all. That’s why I’m happy. I know that everything He does is a blessing. I am in His hands in order to serve Him. He can do as He wishes and, whatever He does, it’s His choice and I always thank Him. He sees so differently from us! We judge too easily on the outside. We have our own thoughts about things and we want God to act according to our wishes. But no! You see, we should always be happy with what God does, even if we have wanted something different. This brings heart-felt peace. I’m happy to be with my family, with the pilgrims or my friends, but I’m also happy when I’m sick. The important thing is to say YES to His ways and to have total confidence in Him. When you have confidence, you have peace! But this doesn’t happen overnight. We learn it day by day and we have to work in our hearts. We have to pray! God always wants to give us that peace, but we have to pray and to open our heart in prayer.”

I asked Vicka how was Baby Jesus when she saw Him in the arms of His mother on Christmas day. Was He asleep? “No!” She said. “He was completely awake. His eyes completely open!” Then I asked, “And His Mother, I suppose that she was radiant with joy?” To my question, Vicka lowered her head for a second and responded, “Yes, she was joyful; it was Christmas! But, she’s a mother, so even if her heart aches with pain, she hides it in order to show happiness to her children. But for me, since I’ve been seeing her for a while, it shows.” (I asked this question because of Mirjana’s surprising reaction to the apparition of Our Lady on December 2nd.)

I continued to ask Vicka, “I understand that the Mother of God suffers enormously, seeing the large number of families breaking apart today.” “Sister Emmanuel,” Vicka responded. “Today there are not only families that are breaking apart! It is EVERYTHING that is breaking!” On my way home from Vicka’s house, I thought about writing an “Open Letter to the Blessed Mother” and to share here some parts of it so that we are all encouraged to pray:

- Sister Emmanuel - Children of Medjugorje Newsletter