On the 2nd of each month, Our Lady appears to the Medjugorje visionary Mirjana, to give us her message to the world. Below is the latest official English translation as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.

Message of November 2, 2010:

“Dear children; Today I am praying here with you that you may gather the strength to open your hearts and thus to become aware of the mighty love of the suffering God. Through this His love, goodness and meekness, I am also with you. I invite you for this special time of preparation to be a time of prayer, penance and conversion. My children, you need God. You cannot go forward without my Son. When you comprehend and accept this, what was promised to you will be realized. Through the Holy Spirit the Kingdom of Heaven will be born in your hearts. I am leading you to this. Thank you.”

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On the 25th of each month, Our Lady appears to the Medjugorje visionary Marija to give us her message to the world. Below is the latest official English translation as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.

“Dear children! I look at you and I see in your heart death without hope, restlessness and hunger. There is no prayer or trust in God, that is why the Most High permits me to bring you hope and joy. Open yourselves. Open your hearts to God’s mercy and He will give you everything you need and will fill your hearts with peace, because He is peace and your hope. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

I’m sitting in the Hyatt Hotel in Newport, Beach, courtesy of my mother-in-law. My little family and I drove down to Southern California to be with my husband’s family for Thanksgiving. We’ll leave soon to have my favorite meal of the year. Last night, I gingerly turned on the hotel room’s large flat television screen, with all its whistles and bells: movies ($16.95, by the way) direct TV, video games, etc.

We don’t have T.V. at home, so I was curious what was on. What I saw was strange–disturbing–even stomach-churning. Practically every T.V. show, every movie, was filled with lies, violence, and terror. Even the supposedly benign sitcom I watched for ten minutes, showed a couple receiving signs from the “Universe” that they shouldn’t get married, but still remain living with each other. This, they realized, was a “wonderful” solution, since the universe was objecting after the the man proposed marriage. The sitcom also had the typical, almost prerequisite, shot nowadays of the couple speaking to each other with their heads on their pillows, in bed, before or after a moment of premarital sex.

Since when did the devil take over Hollywood so thoroughly? If we are shaped and molded by this culture–as was I growing up, we are literally informed and taught by festering swarms of lies and deceit, with one grand director, whose home happens to be hell. My advice? Turn the T.V. off. Watch very few movies. Pray. Pray especially for those who can’t see what you see.

Mary pleads with us to go to the source of all love, hope, and peace: God–for the ways of the world can only give us pain. On this day of Thanksgiving, when we thank the Creator for all He has graciously and mercifully bestowed on us, let us rest in Mary’s message for comfort and know that no matter how much darkness may seek to threaten us, hope, peace, joy, and Truth are our inheritance.