[bluecross]

A few days ago mysticpost posted a comment about the forum becoming irrelevant.

Perhaps there isn’t as much interest in posting to the forum as there used to be. Posters come and go, but the monthly message has always been posted soon after it has been announced.

But it’s now five days since the August message was given to Marija and still the message hasn’t appeared on the forum!

Could here be some truth in Steve’s opinion that the forum is becoming irrelevant amongst Medjugorje followers?

I noticed in the latest message that Our Lady warns again about the strength of Satan and this made me thing about all that is happening in Texas at present and the suffering brought about by the onslaught of the tropical storm Harvey.

Should this be seen as a sign of Satan’s strength or perhaps the result of the lack of prayer. Certainly here are signs of love in the way the communities have responded in helping neighbours.

It is claimed that God is present in all situations, so how should we look at this scenario: as a sign of Satan’s strength, or God’s will to test people and bring them to prayer?

When the Medjugorje apparitions first began the people were told by Our Lady to pray, pray, pray (She still repeats this message. Ten years later the Bosnia War broke out.

So do we pray for disasters not to happen or pray to accept all that comes our way and to trust in God whatever the outcome? And can we ever be joyful when faced with daily disasters around the world?

Dear children! Today I am calling you to be people of prayer. Pray until prayer becomes a joy for you and a meeting with the Most High. He will transform your hearts and you will become people of love and peace. Do not forget, little children, that Satan is strong and wants to draw you away from prayer. You, do not forget that prayer is the secret key of meeting with God. That is why I am with you to lead you. Do not give up on prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call.

August 25, 2017

[stunnedbyit]

A few

It is claimed that God is present in all situations, so how should we look at this scenario: as a sign of Satan’s strength, or God’s will to test people and bring them to prayer?

[/quote]

I am too simple minded to even begin contemplating God's role in natural disasters/ world events. I prefer to see him as the creator who gives us freedom to choose or reject him. Furthermore, as an example, Italy always had awful earthquakes even before it's slide into moral relativism.

[ministryvalues]

There is a thing called Facebook. Most people who follow Medjugorje see the monthly messages on their Facebook newsfeed.

[stunnedbyit]

A

So do we pray for disasters not to happen or pray to accept all that comes our way and to trust in God whatever the outcome? And can we ever be joyful when faced with daily disasters around the world?

[

[/quote]

I pray that God helps me to cope with disaster when it arrives at my door, but I always ask that it doesn't involve my children!
Immaculee Ilibagiza has shown that someone can be joyful after living through hell on earth..

[Prodigals]

suffering . . . . how should we look at this scenario: as a sign of Satan’s strength, or God’s will to test people and bring them to prayer?

I don't like the inference this question carries. It suggests that God takes a decidedly active role and can cue earthly suffering whenever He wills it in order to send a message of His displeasure to mankind, or to conduct a "test" of man.

After man's fall from paradise, God created this finite earthly plane to be man's home in his banishment. He created the world, and set it in motion in all its intricacy, and stepped back. The universe He created was no longer "paradise" and just by being what it is delivers both elements of great beauty and order, as well as disharmony and danger. In this fallen earthly life we all live, mankind experiences these things, not as a specific command from God, but as a result of the natural autonomous processes of the universe God created. Creation, like a clock mechanism, continues to unfold in accordance with the algorithm that its built in to its many gears.

The question is not whether human suffering can test people to bring them back to God and prayer - it can certainly do that. We just need to understand that God didn't specifically cook up Harvey last week to unleash on those suffering in its path. It is more accurate to say that in God's creation of our world, the natural processes that can cause human suffering and death were "built in" to His grand design from the very beginning. It is amazing to see how the world we exist in can be so beautiful and yet so beastly at the same time.

It is God's Permitting Will that allows these natural processes to occur and run their course.

[bluecross]

I don't like the inference this question carries. It suggests that God takes a decidedly active role and can cue earthly suffering whenever He wills it in order to send a message of His displeasure to mankind, or to conduct a "test" of man.

Wasn’t the faith of the disciples in the boat being tested when it was in danger of sinking?

And he woke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet now, be calm!” And the wind dropped and all was calm again. (Mark 4 : 39)

A specific command from God?

[Prodigals]

A specific command from God?

I wasn't saying that our suffering can not be a "test" of faith. To people of real faith, suffering certainly is a test as shown in the account you cite of the Apostles in the boat. In that case, the mechanism of the test that God applied was the natural earthly occurrence of a storm, which was part of the natural order of His Creation.

And Christ quieting the storm indeed was a specific command from God, and is a good example of His Ordaining Will.

God didn't specially order up (ordaining will) the storm that produced the suffering. He allowed it to happen - permitted it (permitting will) - as a natural process of our fallen world.

But He did use His Ordaining Will to override the Earth's natural process and quiet that storm.

[Medjugorjeprayers]

BC, you bring up a valid point, one that the world is starting see more and more of - Disasters.

I think the below link sums this up beautifully. Disaster reminds us what is important - Family, friends, neighbors, and most importantly our faith in God.

The people in the video lost everything material. But they did not blame God or anyone else. Rather they came together like so many others have. Mary rewarded their faith with her miracle of preservation even in the intense flames of the fire that destroyed everything else in the area. This sign not only helped them but may thousands around the world.

I guess you could say that even a disaster can be used for the good. It reprioritizes our values and what we see as most important.

I will continue to pray for all those suffering. God Bless them!

http://nbc4i.com/2017/08/28/texas-famil ... ed-harvey/

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/blog/ ... ne-harvey/

This statue of the Virgin Mary survived a house fire in the midst of Hurricane Harvey. Credit: KRIS 6 News.

https://www.medjugorjejourney.com/

[ActionReq]

Everybody always thinks reversed.
And that the devil does this and
God does that, and who is to blame
and cause all disasters to happen.

Its simple:
Disasters are bound to happen.


We can choose to intercede with
prayer, and through our prayers,
God will be able to stop disasters.
or we can choose not to pray.

As far as I understand:
hurricanes are relatively easy
to stop.
Earthquakes are a bit more
difficult.

Relativizing:
You can also choose to dismiss
what I say. You will never be
able to measure. And when
Harvey came we just say: We
didn't pray enough. And when
we prayed enough, we can
always say: It could have been
worse.

An what about those eighteen who
died when the tower in Siloam fell
on them. Do you think they prayed
less or more then the rest of the
world?

[bluecross]

Came across this item on Spirit Daily this evening...

http://spiritdaily.org/blog/mail/mailba ... n-from-god

[gtc]

great article. Thank you