“Dear children, the poison of selfishness and hatred rules human hearts and that is why you do not have peace. I am calling you, little children: to be love and my extended hands to all those whom you meet. In humility, pray for peace and work on reconciliation among people, so that it may be good for every person on earth. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (With ecclesiastical approval)

Dear children, the poison of selfishness and hatred rules human hearts and therefore you do not have peace.

Jesus said to His disciples how they must follow Him: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt 16:24). In this short verse, three conditions necessary for following Jesus are presented. The first is to deny oneself. The second is to take up one’s cross. The third is to follow Jesus.

We must pay special attention to the first condition. Jesus presents self-denial as the very first requirement for following Him. This is logically fitting. How can one take up the cross and follow Jesus without first denying oneself? The “self” referred to here is the selfish self. A person who is centered on oneself and seeks only one’s own interests does not make sacrifices; therefore, such a person will never carry the cross for Jesus or for others. In every aspect, one’s own thoughts, plans, and will take precedence. For this reason, such a person neither places Jesus first nor truly follows Him. Therefore, in order to follow Jesus, one must first renounce the selfish self.

In this month’s message, Our Lady says, “The poison of selfishness and hatred rules human hearts and that is why you do not have peace.” As she says, selfishness and hatred are indeed poison. Poison destroys life; when such poison is present in our hearts, our hearts die. And when the heart dies, a person may be physically alive, yet spiritually as if dead. Selfishness and hatred go together. A person who seeks only personal gain no longer sees others. Such a person does not love others but instead looks down on them, despises them, pours out anger upon them, and harbors hatred. Because everything must revolve around oneself, one cannot tolerate those who oppose them, but rather condemns, hates, suppresses, and rejects them.

Where, then, does this poison of selfishness and hatred come from? As we see in the parable of the weeds (cf. Mt 13:24–30), it is Satan who sows this poison in the human heart. He desires war and the absence of peace; therefore, he plants the poison of selfishness and hatred in people’s hearts, stripping away even the smallest peace within them and preventing peace from taking root again.

Although Satan seeks to sow this poison in every human heart, not every heart responds to it. Those who have been wounded and deprived of love are the ones who respond—often without even realizing it.

All sin begins from a lack of love. In order to protect oneself from not having been loved, one seeks to fill that lack in a distorted way. Instead of a love that gives, shares, and brings life to others, one turns toward a love that refuses sacrifice, excludes others, and seeks to possess everything for oneself—namely, selfishness. This kind of love, which excludes both God and others and loves only oneself, is not true love, though we often call it “selfish love.”

Human beings cannot live alone. We belong to families, friends, neighbors, communities, the Church, nations, and the whole world. We are beings who are connected. Within these relationships, we receive love, support, and encouragement, but we may also experience hatred, wounds, jealousy, and even total abandonment. In such moments, many people come to harbor hatred and a desire for revenge.

A wounded and unloved heart becomes, in Satan’s eyes, the most fertile field. Into such a heart, he pours the poison of selfishness and hatred, takes control of it, stirs up conflict and hostility, and destroys peace.

How, then, can we remove this poison and restore the lost peace within us? Our Lady shows us the way:

I am calling you, little children: to be love and my extended hands to all those whom you meet.

Our Lady calls us to become love to everyone we meet—without exception. This includes those who do not love us, those who hate us, those who have harmed us, and even those who have persecuted and caused us suffering. She calls us to love without conditions, just as God loves and as Jesus Himself has shown us.

Is this impossible? No—it is possible. Our Lady herself has shown us this by her example. Like Jesus, she knew beforehand of Judas’ betrayal, yet she did not hate him; instead, she prayed for him. She also forgave all those who were involved in her Son’s Passion and death, and like Jesus, she prayed to the Father for the forgiveness of their sins. There was no room in her heart for the poison of selfishness and hatred.

We, too, must approach everyone with the love of God, as Our Lady did. Yet, because of our sinful and wounded hearts, we often remain within the limits of conditional, human love. That is why Our Lady desires that the hands we extend not be our own, but hers. On our own, it is difficult to become love for everyone we meet; but with Our Lady, we can truly become love for all.

“My son, your life is truly precious, and not a single moment should be wasted. Therefore, you must train yourself constantly to remain in me, in my Immaculate Heart: to act always with me, to think with my mind, to see all things with my eyes, to touch with my hands, and to love with my heart.” (『To the Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons』, p. 14)

As this message teaches, we must learn to act with Our Lady, think with her mind, see others with her eyes, touch with her hands, and love with her heart. Only then can we become her extended hands to everyone we meet.

In humility, pray for peace and work on reconciliation among people, so that it may be good for every person on earth. Thank you for having responded to my call. 

To remove the poison of selfishness and hatred and to restore peace in the human heart, the first and foremost task is prayer. Peace is a gift that comes from God; therefore, we must humbly pray that this gift be granted to every human heart. Peace is not something we can achieve on our own—it requires humility, bowing before God and asking for it on our knees.

Satan, true to his name, separates God and man and divides relationships among people. But we, as beloved children of Our Lady and her extended hands, stand in opposition to him. We are called to pray for peace so that God and humanity may be united, and to work for reconciliation among people.