Virginia Virgil of Rumney, N.H., is a Marian messenger, speaker, spiritual teacher and intuitive counselor. She teaches a class in the lifelong learning program that is affiliated with Dartmouth College and gives Life Purpose telephone readings utilizing Mother Mary’s wisdom and guidance specific to each client caller.

A Holiday Message From Mother Mary - 2002

Mother Mary's holiday message focuses on the need to assume self-responsibility. She reminds us that we alone - both as individuals and as a nation - are accountable for the way in which we choose to think, feel, remember, act and react to the experiences we undergo. Because free will allows us to interpret them in a spiritual or non-spiritual way, our choices will determine the positive or negative impact they have on us and on our nation.

Now, more than ever, during this time of worldwide crisis. we need to heed the adage that it's not what happens to us that counts.  It's how we choose to react to it as individuals and as a nation that's important. Mother Mary reminds us that although we need to constantly keep in mind our spiritual heritage and purpose. Christmas is a time when the significance of both is heightened. The September 11 terrorist attacks have made the need to remember who we are and why we are here all the more critical.

Regardless of the path of light or darkness we choose to follow, we are all God's Children - Osama bin Laden and his followers included. Our sole purpose for being on Earth is to help expand God's Light and Love through spiritually growing, serving and ascending once we have completed our mission. All of the life experiences we undergo - including those of September 11 - are chosen by us to help us achieve these goals.

The United States has been appointed to serve as the hub of the new Golden Age of Spirituality that began in 1954. As a nation and as individuals, we are meant to serve as beacons of light to the rest of the world. Therefore, how we think and feel about the September 11 incidents as well as how we interpret, act and react to them is critical from a spiritual viewpoint. Unless we perceive these events in such a light, it will be difficult for us to carry out our assigned role.

Our decision regarding how we respond to the intense hatred and anger directed toward us by so many in the Middle East is of great significance. It will not only impact our own spiritual well-fare and that of our nation, but the rest of the world as well. Although we have been endowed with the God-given right to exercise free will, we need to bear in mind that God has entrusted us with a global leadership role to play in the New Golden Age. As a result, Mother Mary cautions us to think carefully about what we have to gain or lose in the way we choose to face the September 11 challenge.

We can opt to be on the same vibrational wavelength as the terrorists and use the tactics they employed to hurt us to exact vengeance against them. We know from experience that an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth type of justice can act as a deterrent to wrong-doing because of the fear of bodily injury and public censure it generates. We are also aware that this reciprocation justice can arouse and heighten feelings of ill will, resulting in a further loss of life and an expansion of dark force energy. Settling our differences with the terrorists using this type of justice is apt to increase and intensify the already existing feelings of enmity and rage directed toward us by many Middle Easterners. These same feelings will also tend to grow in those who fear and abhor the terrorists and the nations that spawn and harbor them. 

Alternatively, we can choose to perceive and respond to the September 11 incidents from a spiritual viewpoint. This will help to generate and increase feelings of good will, reduce the loss of life and expand the forces of light.

First, Mother Mary points out that we can perceive the attack as a spiritual wake-up call to America as a nation. As the strongest and most powerful nation in the world, the United States is intended to assume a spiritual leadership role. We are meant to focus our attention on finding ways to protect and preserve the environment and our planet's resources, to ensure lasting peace and to achieve and maintain better health on a global basis.  To date our attention has been centered on finding, acquiring, controlling and utilizing the planet's resources. We need them to feed the never-ending demands of our own self-absorbed materialistic lifestyle, and to assure that the bottom lines of our corporations remain in the black.

We are apt to ignore and overlook the heavy cost that the maintenance of our way of life has imposed on the populations of the nations that we depend on to maintain it. Sustaining and protecting a lifestyle of material ease and comfort is the center of our focus. Consequently, we have paid little attention to the misery and deprivation experienced by the majority of the labor force of the nations that fuel the needs of our society. Nor have we thought a lot about the adverse impact that our indiscriminate use of the resources belonging to these nations has on the environment.

All too often, we look the other way at the widespread abuse of human rights that takes place in so many nations. We tend to see them merely as sources of cheap labor and as providers of the resources we need to sustain our lifestyle and ensure corporate profitability. Therefore, we are prone to sanction and support corrupt regimes who deprive the people they rule of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We do not think about the fact that all people on Earth are meant to enjoy these God-given rights.

Second, the September 11 events have prompted us to view the freedom we enjoy and take for granted in a new light. We have begun to realize that much of the world's population does not enjoy the freedoms that our Bill of Rights and Constitution guarantee. This awareness has helped us to renew and increase our gratitude for the rights these documents afford, and to heighten our appreciation for the democratic form of government that oversees and safeguards them.

Third, the September 11 events have awakened and increased our sense of global awareness. The names of places and people that were foreign to us before that date have taken on new meaning and significance. We are more aware of the sad plight of the Afghan people and of the role we had to play in the unfortunate circumstances in which they find themselves. The recognition is growing that we cannot use others for our own ends and then walk away and abandon them once they have met our needs without being adversely impacted ourselves.

Fourth, in order to carry out our leadership role in the New Golden Age, we had to be shaken out of our state of complacency and tendency to live in isolation from the rest of the world. Whether we like it or not, we are part of a global community, which we must join. Becoming aware of our callous behavior and cavalier treatment of the Muslim world will help us to see that we bear some responsibility for the events that took place on September 11. The Islamic society knows that our presence in the Middle East has never been altruistically inspired. Its members are well aware that we are there to ensure the continued flow of the oil we need to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of our petro-chemical-dependent society.

The terrorist attacks present us with an opportunity to take a good hard look at our foreign policy and to assess our place in the world and the responsibility we bear as the premier power. We have discovered that we are not invincible and safe from foreign assault. In spite of all of our military and economic might, we were not able to prevent a handful of terrorists from attacking and wounding us to the quick. In the blink of an eye, our perception of our invulnerability changed. We used to think that our sophisticated and superior military forces and arsenal assured our country's security. Our complacency was shattered once we realized that the havoc and destruction that took place was carried out by a handful of terrorists using our own commercial aircraft as weapons. We have also discovered that biological or chemical warfare, which has the capacity to wipe out vast numbers of people -including Americans -, can be conducted by a small number of people. As a result, we have begun to realize our own vulnerability and to recognize that we cannot live in isolation and disregard the pain and suffering of others without being adversely impacted. Hopefully, this understanding will generate a desire in us to find ways of peacefully co-existing with one another.  We recognize that unless we do, our own security and well-fare - along with the rest of the world's population - will be in jeopardy.

Fifth, the September 11 events present us with an opportunity to repay the karmic debt we have incurred with Afghanistan. We have abused and misused this country's geography and its people for our own personal gain and then abandoned both once our needs were met. The way in which we now treat this nation can be used as a showcase to demonstrate spiritual justice in action, based on rehabilitation and restitution. Devising and implementing a "Marshall Plan" based on the resources of Afghanistan and tailored to the needs of its society, rather than on ours, will help to mend a lot of fences in the Middle East. We did not punish Japan and Germany, the foes we faced and defeated in WW II.  Instead, we used this Plan to rebuild their economies, so that these two nations could recover financially and enjoy a sense of stability and security.

By helping to economically and socially rehabilitate a nation we have harmed in the past, we will be making karmic restitution. We will also demonstrate to the Muslim world that we are capable of displaying fair and humane treatment toward a culture that differs from ours. Many in the Arab world view us as two-faced and self-serving in our dealings with them. They perceive us as a bully power, whose "might-makes-right" attitude makes us run roughshod over others. They cannot understand why we do not see anything wrong with thinking that we have a right to consume vast amounts of their oil, interact with their governments in a patronizing and condescending manner, and view and treat their societies as second-class citizens.

Sixth, utilizing spiritual justice can also help to bring about greater understanding between Muslim and Christian cultures whose beliefs, values and practices appear to be diametrically opposed to one another. As tolerance grows, fear and dislike of differences in these areas diminishes. A climate of good will is produced that will allow us to peacefully co-exist with one another.

Seventh, September 11 can be used as an opportunity for religious heads of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to work together in unity, harmony and cooperation to promote the adoption of a spirit of ecumenism. It is a chance for the three groups to present a united front and speak out against a fundamentalist approach to religion, which breeds bigotry, hatred and violence. They need to state unequivocally that the use of religion for political ends is anti-God, as is the imposition of beliefs on others by force.

Eighth, September 11 was intended to remind us that it is time to develop and utilize other cleaner and more efficient sources of energy besides oil to meet the needs of our society. Our dependency on petro-chemicals has spawned a host of ecological and health problems, which need to be addressed and eliminated for the good of humankind and our planet.  By switching to alternate sources of energy, we can do a great deal to protect and preserve the environment, and raise and improve health standards. Peace will also be promoted because we will no longer have to use the threat of military force to safeguard our oil interests around the world.

Ninth, September 11 also brought to light the untold pain and suffering that the women of Afghanistan have had to endure, as well as the brutal and harsh treatment of much of the female population in Middle Eastern countries.  We see first hand the devastation that happens when the Mother Aspect of God and the Quality of Unconditional Love it represents are ignored, repressed and treated as non-existent. The vibrations of Divine Light compose this God Quality that sustains life. When this Quality is absent, life ceases. This explains why Afghanistan has experienced such severe drought - the elemental kingdom has steadily withdrawn its support because the " love light" emitted has not been enough to sustain nature's vitality. It also explains why the desert fails to bloom in the majority of the Middle East.
 
All nine of these examples demonstrate how we, as a nation, can view and use the terrorist attacks as an opportunity for spiritual growth. In the New Golden Age, spiritual “right” rather than military and economic “might” must prevail. Since the pursuit of money, power and status has taken precedence over spiritual growth and service, we Americans were hit in the two areas that would impact us the most. Not only was one of the major centers of our financial world - the World Trade Center located near Wall Street-demolished, but part of the Pentagon that represents our military strength and might was destroyed as well.

We can also view the September 11 events as a spiritual wake-up call to Americans as individuals. The assault shook much of our population to the core. It made many of us start to scrutinize and reassess our value system and to reflect and to re-prioritize what is important in our lives. The meaning of family, friends and neighbors began to assume greater importance. Many of us began to realize that happiness and fulfillment does not so much depend on the quantity of what we can amass and own, but on the quality of the lifestyle we lead. For many, simplifying their lifestyles has become a priority. People craving for closer family ties, old-fashioned comfort food, staying at home, and taking time to re-build, refurbish and cement relationships are examples of these attitudinal changes. 

A spirit of selflessness has prevailed - selfish and petty needs are being put aside, or forgotten. There is an overwhelming desire to help ease the pain and suffering of those, who have not only lost loved ones, but who were wiped out financially as well.

It was not the Wall Street icons, who represented power, status and money, who were the heroes or heroines of the day, but rather ordinary citizens. Policemen, firemen and a host of other people performed heroic acts - including sacrificing their lives - to try and rescue or render aid to those caught in the assault. A spontaneous and heartfelt outpouring of emotional, mental and physical caring and sharing also occurred on a nationwide basis. The very best that America has to offer came forth, causing the light emitted by the Statue of Liberty's torch to burn stronger and brighter. The September 11 events produced a sense of solidarity and oneness that united us as a nation.

Just as September 11 does not have to be interpreted in a negative way, neither do events in our lives, when we cannot control and make them turn out the way we would like. Again, the adage comes into play that it's not what happens to us that is important, but the way we react to events that counts. 

We may not be aware of it, but all of the life experiences we undergo are of our own choosing. They are intended to help us grow and serve spiritually so that we can once again live as Children of God as was intended, to expand Divine Light and Love through our thoughts, feelings, words, deeds and actions.

Again, free will allows us to see our life experiences in a positive or negative light.

If life does not go the way we would like it to, or think it should, we can perceive ourselves as hapless victims of circumstances, over which we have little or no control.  As long as we believe that only outer sources - people, places, conditions and things - are capable of satisfying our needs, we will insist that our well-fare is their responsibility. Therefore, when they fail to fulfill our needs on our terms, we will blame them for our unhappiness. This arouses feelings of ill will and the outer sources that disappointed us become the butt of our anger. To compensate for the loss of self-esteem we suffer when they refuse to do our bidding, we then retaliate through criticizing, ridiculing or ostracizing them. 

Therefore, if we choose to be ruled by fear, anger, hate and vengefulness toward those we perceive as harming or wronging us - terrorists included - we are fueling and expanding the negative vibrations that compose these qualities. We are not only lowering our own vibrations, but those of our planet as well, because of the ill will we generate and emit into the atmosphere through our thoughts, feelings, words, deeds and actions.

We can also choose to interpret and react to the life experiences we have elected to undergo in a positive light. We can view them as such if we see them as spiritual learning lessons meant to help us get back on our spiritual track and live as Children of God as intended.

Or, we can choose to assume responsibility for the state of our happiness or unhappiness. Not only can we recognize that both depend entirely on our interpretation and response to the life experiences, but that they have been intentionally chosen by us to help us grow and serve spiritually. Therefore, when life does not go our way, we can see it as reminder that it is Divine Will, rather than ego will, that is meant to run our lives, determine and fulfill our needs. We can further view it as an opportunity to practice spiritually balancing and attuning our thoughts and feelings, so that their energies can become connected to and directed by the God Within.  We can also see it as a chance to make karmic restitution for our past or present unloving use of energy.

When we adopt these perceptions, it enables us to view both our well-fare and the state of our self-esteem as our responsibility and not that of outer sources. Because we no longer depend on them to perform these functions, we stop blaming or censuring them for refusing or being unable to do so.  Since we are able to generate and emit feelings of good will and peace toward them, we are feeding and expanding the positive vibrations that compose these qualities. We are not only raising our own vibrations, but that of our planet as well, because we are generating and emitting benevolent thoughts, feelings, words, deeds and actions into the atmosphere.

In closing, Mother Mary once again reiterates the adage - it is not what happens to us that matters, but how we react to it that is important. Our survival and that of our planet depends on our getting back on the spiritual track God intended us to follow. As individuals and as a nation, we need to assume responsibility for viewing and treating our planet and one another as God intended - instruments to expand Divine Light and Love, so that Heaven can be reproduced on Earth. By making a concerted effort to generate and emit thoughts and feelings of good will and peace toward everyone, we can express our understanding and acceptance of our spiritual identity and purpose as individuals and as a nation. Developing the habit of caring and sharing with one another on a routine basis, rather than limiting this practice to times of crisis or emergencies, adds to our light, that of others and to our planet.  September 11 makes the need to display this generosity of spirit more important now than ever.

Blessings and love are sent to each of us by Mother Mary, who reminds us that Jesus came to Earth to demonstrate forgiveness, brotherly love and charitable acts toward all. She hopes we enjoy the sense of sharing that caring affords this holy-day season.

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