From Cami Murphy - Lectio Divina
I
would like to share with you a communication, through lectio divina/journaling,
that I had with the Lord a week or so ago.
I
read John 1:1-5 one day, and as I read it over and over and sought the Lord's
personal word to me, I was moved by the Holy Spirit to pray: "Lord,
please graft Your Word on my heart." I felt an
intense desire for union with the Lord as Eternal and Incarnate Word.
As I
journaled, seeking to understand what the Lord wanted to say to me, I
remembered the visions of rivers of blood that the visionaries of Kibeho,
Rwanda had in the early 80's. The Blessed Mother, under the name of Mother of
the Word, appeared to some high school girls, and at some point in the period
of apparitions, the girls had these visions of rivers of blood. In 1994 the
visions of the rivers of blood became a reality when the majority of the ruling
tribe in Rwanda, the Hutus, slaughtered more than 800,000 members of the
minority tribe, the Tutsis. They killed them with machetes, guns, and other
weapons. Many were decapitated. Many of the bodies were thrown in rivers, and
the rivers became red with human blood. I remember reading that the Blessed
Mother told the visionaries that the visions did not relate only to Rwanda. She
also told them that through prayer and conversion the horrible prophecy did not
have to come true.
As I
thought, recently in prayer, of those visions and the actual rivers of blood
that flowed in Rwanda, my heart became heavy with sorrow.
Then
I thought of all of the killing of innocent persons in Syria and other places
in the Middle East, Africa, and other places in the world---killings that are
being committed by persons of one ethnic, national, and/or religious group,
filled with hatred and the desire to dominate or destroy persons of another
group. Many refugees have fled to Europe and the United States seeking asylum.
There are immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and South America who are
seeking asylum from violence in their homelands.
What
terrible sins the killers are committing! But I think that those Christians,
who are called to live in the Spirit of Christ but turn cold hearts toward the
desperate immigrants, may be committing even more grievous sin.
I
fear that there may be many more rivers of blood in the world, as the hostility
and hatred-- between groups of different races, nationalities, and religions--
grows. In prayer a sense of emergency has come to my heart, and the Lord has
given me the understanding that He is calling me, the other little handmaids,
and all who are His servants to be grafted into His Compassionate Heart. Our
hearts must be the first to be converted, to be transformed as we become one
with the Compassionate Heart of Jesus.
The
fruit of this grafting is that our prayers will have
the power of the Compassionate Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It is an essential
part of our charism as Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother.
"The prayer of a
righteous man has great power in its effect." (James 5:16)
Are
we righteous? Most certainly not! "...since all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God..." It is through our grafting
into the Merciful Heart of Jesus that hearts become sanctified in Him.
"If the dough offered as first
fruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the
branches." (Romans 11:16)
Jesus
was born a Jew, to be the Messiah of the Jews and the Savior of the world. He
did not come to save only the Jews. In John 4 we see that He revealed Himself
to the Samaritan woman at the well. On another occasion He healed the servant
of a Roman centurion, and He praised the centurion for his great faith. He came
to save Jews, Gentiles, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and all who
will open their hearts to His call and trust in His Mercy.
I
feel an urgent call from Jesus and from Our Holy Mother to intercede in union
with them for those who are killing and those who are being killed. When our
hearts are grafted into the Heart of Jesus, we will become vessels of Christ's
compassion, a river of compassion in which the Blood of Christ, a healing balm,
can replace the river of hatred and unforgiveness.
As
little handmaids, one way that we are grafted more completely into Christ's
Heart is by meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of Our Mother, to experience
the swords that pierce Her Heart as she suffers with Her Son in the hearts of
all of her suffering children.
Please
join with me in compassionate intercession and sacrifices, small or large, for
those who are killing and for those who are being killed. Most especially, let
us pray for lukewarm hearts, who are indifferent to the suffering of our
brothers and sisters.
In
the Compassionate Heart of Jesus, with Our Sorrowful and Compassionate Mother,
Cami
--
And Mary said, "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Lk 1:38)