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News Reports of Our Lady's Daily Apparitions in Medjugorje since 1981--Check: www.medjugorje.org

CONFESS YOUR SINS

"Dear children! In this time of renunciation, prayer and penance, I call you anew:
go and confess your sins so that grace may open your hearts, and permit it to change
you. Convert little children, open yourselves to God and to His plan for each of
you.  Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of February  25, 2009


On Ash Wednesday, also known as Clean Wednesday we begin Lent, the intensive season
of liturgical year when we prepare for Easter. In her message of 25 February Our
Lady makes us aware that Lent is the time of renunciation, prayer and penance.

In his 2009 Lent message Pope Benedict XVI says: “At the beginning of Lent, which
constitutes an itinerary of more intense spiritual training, the Liturgy sets before
us again three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and
Christian tradition – prayer, almsgiving, fasting – to prepare us to better
celebrate Easter and thus experience God’s power that, as we shall hear in the
Paschal Vigil, “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride”
(Paschal Præconium). The Pope continues by saying: “Denying material food, which
nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed
by His saving word …. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and
satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger
and thirst for God. At the same time, fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the
situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live… It is good to see how
the ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us, as the Servant of God Pope
John Paul II wrote, to make the complete gift of self to God ».

The center of Our Lady’s tonight’s message  is a call to confess our sins
because this is the way grace opens our hearts and changes us. Jesus established the
Sacrament of Reconciliation for all sinful members of the Church, for all those who
fall into a grave sin and lose the grace of Jesus. Confession creates an opportunity
for us to convert and to regain grace. That is why the fathers of the Church have
referred to confession as  «another board for salvation after the wreckage of
grace».

A sincere confession always leads to a complete conversion, where the meaning of
conversion is a change of one’s entire life, actions and beliefs.  It is a
complete shift. A shift like that happened, for example, to St. Paul , St. Augustine
, St. Francis and to many other saints. Conversion leads us to denying our sinful
way of life and pagan customs directing us towards our complete surrender to God, to
his plan and actions, as Our Lady calls us to do. Besides the negative side related
to denying, as we deny such things like food, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling and
other additions, Lent has a positive side too, which is our decision that we shall
pray more, forgive more, love our fellow men more, worship Jesus in the most Blessed
Sacrament of the Altar more,  and help others more. Let us include both sides in our
spiritual life in order for us to truly experience the fullness of Easter joy.
Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/02/2009

CALLED TO PERSONAL CONVERSION

"Dear children! Also today I call you to personal conversion. You be those who will
convert and, with your life, will witness, love, forgive and bring the joy of the
Risen One into this world, where my Son died and where people do not feel a need to
seek Him and to discover Him in their lives. You adore Him, and may your hope be
hope to those hearts who do not have Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my
call." Message of August  25, 2008


At the beginning of her message of 25 august 2008, Our Lady calls us to conversion
by saying: “You be those who will convert and, with your life, will witness, love,
forgive and bring the joy of the Risen One into this world.“ Everybody needs
conversion. It is a life-long process. A true conversion is meeting God. Only those
who have meet God in flesh may bear witness to the encounter. Encounters with people
often remain superficial, while an encounter with God takes place in the depths of
man’s heart and soul leaving a mark on the man as a whole. Every time when a man
does not love, he needs conversion. Every time when a man is not faithful to the
words of Jesus, he needs conversion.

Any conversion is a two-step process. The first step is that at least once in our
life we must kneel before Jesus and tell him from the depth of our heart and soul:
Jesus, I choose you, I want to leave my old life behind, I want to be free from all
my sins and go with you purified. This is the fundamental decision for God. The
second step is to question oneself over and over again every night: Have I obeyed
God’s commandments to the fullest, what can I do better when meeting people, how can
I love Church more. Only by taking these two steps may we walk up the path of our
spiritual life in the right way. Our Lady has called us to conversion so many times.
She calls us to be witnesses. It seems as if we are turning a blind eye and remain
deaf when thinking that Our Lady calls only those who do not go to Church, those for
whom we think that they are not good. Our Lady has them in mind too, but she
primarily has in mind those who act like Pharisees, who judge others, pretend to
be good and rarely forgive. Those are the people who need a radical conversion.

Our Lady provides us with means, too. She has called us to prayer so many times and,
yet again, in her last message she calls us to worship Jesus.  God wants those who
will worship him in their spirit and in the truth, which means through their actions
and life, not just by words because God does not need our words. What he needs is
our heart. If we are fully devoted we can represent hope for those hearts that do
not have Jesus.

There are thousands of definitions of what man is, and one of them is the following:
“Man is a creature of hope!” To us, who are travellers here through this world, hope
gives us strength to bravely walk the earthly paths towards our future and not to
stand still. Our hope is found only in Jesus’ name. Hope is always turned towards
the future. Love is the reality that should be unfolding now, and faith helps us to
reach it.

Many might think that the world does not change at all, so we might be wondering
what the use of conversion is.  To others the world does change, but for the worse.
Today we are more capable of completely destroying our world than people used to be
so many years before us. We must ask ourselves what the role of conversion in our
life is. Is our conversion any good? We may say to others: It does not mean that it
is an encounter we may have with other people when, for example, we meet our mother,
brothers, sisters or good friends in the street. Surely we would all like to have
such close, personal, profound encounters with God, but, generally speaking, our
encounters with God are of a different nature. We must also ask ourselves today
whether we believe that the Kingdom of God is near. It was one of the ways the
encounter with God in flesh may be depicted. Today only a few people feel that God
is present. More and more people are becoming atheists or Gnostics.  The life here
an
d now is all they have. But we, Christians who follow Jesus’ teachings, believe in
his words.  He tells us that there is life after death. He tells us that there is
God with whom we may talk through prayer. He tells us that the path leading to a
new life after death is love of our neighbours that  we show in this life. Our
spirituality often raises the fundamental question: do I believe in Jesus Christ?
If I do, then my view of this life is different and I try to make decisions that
correspond to my beliefs. Jesus tells us that we meet God every time we serve
others. Conversion is therefore necessary and important every time when I am not
faithful to Jesus’ words and his calling to live  with him. Conversion is necessary
when we experience the loss of love.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medjugorje 26.8.2008

THE REAL REST IS IN GOD 

"Dear children! At this time when you are thinking of physical rest, I call you to
conversion.  Pray and work so that your heart yearns for God the Creator who is the
true rest of your soul and your body.  May He reveal His face to you and may He give
you His peace.  I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you
for having responded to my call." Message of July  25, 2008 
It is the time of holidays and vacations and people ask themselves how to make the
best of this time and how to rest well. Some choose the mountains, some go to the
seaside, some will decide to read a good book, and some will choose to walk in the
nature. 
Our Lady invites us to take a completely different kind of rest. She teaches us that
the real rest can be found in conversion. Conversion envelops the whole person: body
and soul, works and deeds. St. Marc cites the first words of Jesus at the beginning
of his public acts: “Convert and trust the Gospel” (Mk 1,15). Conversion does not
consist only of the external fulfillment of God’s commands. It consists of the
personal encounter with Jesus Christ. After this encounter, a man becomes fully
aware of who he is and what he is; he becomes aware of his sins and weaknesses, but
also of his importance and value. After the encounter with Jesus, a man feels a
desire to change his old ways of life, to begin with a new life. He lets Jesus to
enter his days, his life, his behavior and thoughts. 

Our Lady invites us furthermore to pray, so our hearts would yearn more for our Lord
Creator, since only He can give real rest to our soul and to our body. 

The heart is the center of man. No one has two hearts, so he can hate with one and
love with the other. A man has only one heart, and therefore he must choose
forgiveness, peace, love and trust. To forgive means to let another in one’s heart
and to accept him as he is. Thomas of Aquina says that human heart is created on the
God’s image, to love. 

Time of rest is great opportunity to stop for a moment and to start praying again.
It is a time for a more intense, deeper encounter with God. The rest is also an
opportunity to find more time for the friends whom we may have forgotten, to call
them and to share with them good news or decisions we have made recently. Time of
rest is the opportunity for a total change of life in relation towards God, towards
the others and towards one’s self. Let’s use this rest, so we don’t spend in vain
the time which is precious to us.  

Our Lady advocates us in front of God and asks of Him forgiveness and mercy for us.
She advocates us and follows us on our way; therefore we need not to be afraid. 

I would finish with the words of Psalm 62, which says:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje July 26th 2008

BE JOYFUL CARRIERS OF PEACE AND LOVE

"Dear children! Also today, with great joy in my heart, I call you to follow me and
to listen to my messages. Be joyful carriers of peace and love in this peaceless
world. I am with you and I bless you all with my Son Jesus, the King of Peace. Thank
you for having responded to my call." Message of June  25, 2008

It was 27 years ago when Our Lady presented herself in Medjugorje as the Queen of
Peace. Throughout all these years she  has patiently taught us and called us as a
real loving mother to celebrate and practise the sacraments. She has been calling us
to convert, to fast, to do penance and to worship Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of
the Altar. In her message marking the 27th anniversary of her apparitions she says
that with great joy in her heart she calls us to follow her  and to listen to her
messages. While thinking about her latest message, as well as the others that we
have heard so far, we should never forget the rule of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort
saying: To Jesus through Mary! Mary always gathers people around her Son. She calls
to a complete surrender to Jesus as only he can make each of us the whole person
worthy of Heaven. Our Lady gives us an example of how to be faithful to God, how to
live out our faith and how to live by faith. She took part in the acts of the
  Holy Spirit from the very beginning. Therefore the Church, which is also the work
of the Holy Spirit, prays together with the one to whom God has done great deeds.
Our Lady stands before us as a great gift, as the most beautiful image of the
Church. She speaks in plain words that attract so many people from all over the
world. Her messages are easily understood by both, the smallest and the eldest.

Our Lady calls us to be carriers of peace and love in this peaceless world. Today we
witness serious dangers the whole of mankind faces, such as nuclear armament,
various diseases, global warming, poverty. People live in great fear. Our Lady knows
that. That is why she has been calling us, Christians, the faithful, to be carriers
of peace and love in this peaceless world since the very start of her apparitions.
On the third day of her apparition Our Lady gave us the first of her great messages
saying: "Peace, peace, peace – and only peace!". After that she repeated twice:
"Peace must reign between man and God, and among people, too!" A real peace may come
only from God who has become “our peace“ in Jesus through Mary.  (Eph. 2,14). "This
world cannot give" this peace (John 14,27). That is why Christ commanded His
apostles to carry it through the world (cf. Matt 10,11) so that all the people may
become "men of peace" (Luke 10,6). Sometimes we tend to seek the source of restle
ssness in others because it is easier to act in this way. However, we must first
find this source in ourselves and then deal with it. The source of restlessness is
always a sin that one should renounce thus creating conditions for God to work in
us.
At the end of her message, Our Lady blesses us with her Son Jesus, the King of
Peace. Dear worshippers of the Queen of Peace, let us say yes to peace in our
hearts, let us choose God thus allowing Jesus to become the Path, the Truth and Life
in us.
Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/06/2008

I CALL YOU TO CONVERSION

"Dear children! In this time of grace, when God has permitted me to be with you,
little children, I call you anew to conversion. Work on the salvation of the world
in a special way while I am with you. God is merciful and gives special graces,
therefore, seek them through prayer. I am with you and do not leave you alone. Thank
you for having responded to my call." Message of May  25, 2008

In many of her messages Our Lady has reminded us that the time we live in  is the
time of grace. For the past 27 years, millions of people from all over the world
have been coming to Medjugorje, to this spiritual  healing place, so that God may
heal their hearts and souls. There are several examples of conversion in the Bible,
such as  is the conversion of the prodigal son (cf. Luke 15,11-32), or even a more
memorable conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9,1-18), together with many others.  Each
conversion is a result of an event or an encounter, but not any kind of encounter. I
am talking about the encounter with God. Saul was a persecutor of Christians in
Jerusalem and the whole of Judea (cf. Acts 8-9). Once he went all the way to
Damascus to arrest Christians. At the city gates Saul had the encounter with God,
which he would remember all his life. That encounter changed him completely and made
him convert. Saul, who had been a prosecutor of Christians, then became a disciple
of Jesus and changed his name to Paul. Something similar happened to the apostles, too.
A decisive moment for them was their first encounter with Jesus, after which they
left everything and went to follow Jesus. Something similar happened to the saints,
and something similar will happen to us if we search for God's will in our life
through prayer.

Our Lady calls us anew to conversion, which, in other words, means betterment. The
majority of today's Christians have not  seen the Lord in flesh, whereas this
encounter is a prerequisite for a new beginning. After such encounter, everything
changes, life becomes different and better. One should bear in mind, though, that
after the encounter with God our crosses do not disappear. It just becomes easier to
carry them.  Those who have had the experience of meeting with God, become the salt,
cabbage and the light of the world. They become instruments through which God's love
and joy in this world are spread. We are all called to convert and continuously
change in our path following Jesus.    Conversion is a life-long process. Nobody can
say that they have completely converted because there is always something we must
improve, primarily on ourselves, not on others. Conversion is following evenly in
Jesus’ footsteps every day, without negotiating. Conversion is a permanent task o
f the whole Church. It is not man-made, it is God's work.

On our path God helps us and gives us special graces, as Our Lady says. These
graces, however, need to be sought through prayer. One should show one's good will
and love towards God who is merciful and kind, as written in Chapter 34 of the Book
of Exodus: «The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,
abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands …» (Exodus
34,6-7). What we should discard first when we start saying our prayer is any kind of
hypocrisy. Before God we must not pretend, lie or appear better. We have to be who
we really are. We may be lying to friends or neighbours or keep up appearances, but
before God we must take off our masks, as he knows us better than we know ourselves.
The path of prayer is just like the path of conversion – long and hard, but no fruit
is born without pain and effort.  The bond between God and man that was previously
broken is re-established through prayer.

Our Lady encourages us and does not leave us all alone on this path. She stands
before us as an example of prayer by means of which she takes part in the Father's
intention to embody the Son of God. Together with Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary,
we may also say: «I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said.» (Luke
1,38). In our prayer, let us think of the people in need, especially those who have
lost their lives in the earthquake in China .

Fr. Danko Perutina
Medjugorje 26/05/2008

ENCOUNTER WITH GOD – PRECONDITION FOR THE TRUE CONVERSION

"Dear children! I call you to work on your personal conversion. You are still far
from meeting with God in your heart. Therefore, spend all the more time in prayer
and Adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, for Him to change
you and to put into your hearts a living faith and a desire for eternal life.
Everything is passing, little children, only God is not passing. I am with you and I
encourage you with love. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of
March  25, 2008

In the message of March 25th 2008, Our Lady invites us to personal conversion.  This
call is addressed to every individual, since no one is excluded from this motherly
invitation. To convert means to renounce the previous way of life and to begin a new
life in Jesus Christ. The conversion envelops the whole human being; for example,
this happened the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke, and St. Paul , St. Francis,
and many other known and unknown saints. The conversion envelops our heart and our
will, heart because it is the centre of man and, if the heart is converted, the
whole man is converted. But, besides the conversion of the heart, there should also
be the conversion of the will, because the conversion is a cry for help. The will
helps us on the way we have chosen. It helps us not to fail at the first crosses.
True conversion asks for the renouncement, not only of the sin, but also from all
other small, petty gods which prevent us to choose God completely. Jesus is br
illiantly clear when He says:  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Lk 9,23). In conversion, we
allow God to lead us so we can know His plans for us.  There is no conversion
without the prayer, since the prayer is, in a way, the first and the last
precondition for conversion, spiritual advancement and holiness. Our Lady also
points us to this direction, when she says in Her message from June 25th 1992 that
she invites us to conversion from day to day. If you do not pray, you cannot say
you are converting, says the Lady. The prayer helps us to convert continuously, to
always think about God and to remain faithful to Him. The prayer is the
conversation between God and man. God knows our hearts better than we do; He is not
interested so much in our words as in attitudes of our hearts. One more important
thing for the prayer is also commitment. We should commit ourselves totally into
the God’s hands, so He can mak
e of us His loving sons and daughters. We should yield to Him our wishes, plans,
goals and weaknesses. We should give ourselves to him completely, so He can lead us
wherever He wants – to His kingdom. As a true mother, Our Lady directs us the whole
time to her son Jesus and never puts herself in the first place.

In the evening message, she also invites us to worship Jesus in the Holy Altar
sacrament, since the Worshipping connects us with the whole Church. St Alfonso Maria
d'Liguori says that, after the sacrament, among all kinds of devoutness, the first
and the dearest to God, and most useful to us, is the devoutness of worshipping
Jesus in the Holy Altar sacrament. The nearness of Jesus wakes the living faith in
us, and faith is the undeserved God’s gift which God gives to every man. Therefore,
all people should open their hearts to accept that gift. Through the faith, we open
ourselves to God, and only then can we recognize Him. We could compare the faith
with the light. Like the light, it repels darkness, anguish and despair, and gives
confidence and strength. In a way, faith lightens the path of those who have it and
leads them like the dark cloud led the Israelites through the desert by day, and
light cloud by night. Those who expect clear, material evidence of faith must be di
sappointed. When St. Thomas , in his deep disbelief, said that he will not believe
in resurrected Christ before he puts his fingers into Christ’s wounds, Jesus
answered him: “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (Jh 20,29). If
everything was completely clear, there would be no merit in believing.  People do
not believe in something they know for certain, but only in something which remains
partly hidden. Faith is trust, but it is also love toward the person we believe.
Many people are aware that this world is transient in its weakness, yet they choose
to believe in those transient values. Our Lady warns us that only God is eternal.
Queen of Peace encourages us with love. All of her messages contain love and
humility. We are grateful to her for this and we recommend ourselves to her
mediation.--Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje, March 26th 2008

JESUS CHRIST IS THE KING OF OUR HEARTS "Dear children! With great joy I bring you the King of Peace for Him to bless you with His blessing. Adore Him and give time to the Creator for whom your heart yearns. Do not forget that you are passers-by on this earth and that things can give you small joys, while through my Son, eternal life is given to you. That is why I am with you, to lead you towards what your heart yearns for. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of December 25, 2007 On this day, on Christmas, Our Lady tells us in her message how joyfully she brings us the King of Peace, who will give us his blessing. Christmas is surely one of the most beautiful days of the year, even for the people who perceive it in their own, different way. It is the most beautiful day in the history of mankind, because the King of Peace was born. The life agenda of Jesus, and our life agenda, is summarized in the angel song which was sung at His birth: "Glory be to God in the highest Heavens, And on earth peace among men who please Him!" (Lk 2, 14). Every time we speak to God in our prayers, God comes to us and fills our heart with peace. We can spread peace around us only if we are filled with the God's peace. Human heart becomes reckless if it is infested with the sin, or if it turns away from God. The sin corrupts the man, who is made on God’s image, and he/she spreads dissatisfaction. For the man, the only way to convert, change and return to the original state of the son is the sacrament of confession, which many took these days, making their peace with God. Every time ten Jesus comes to us, into our heart, He makes it beautiful, because this is why He came to earth. Our Lady invites us to give more time to the Creator for whom our hearts yearn. To give more time to the Creator means to pray more. If we expand our daily prayers only a little bit, our friendship with Jesus grows, He enters our life, blesses our day and everything we do, enlightens our mind and warms our heart. On this earth, we are only passing by, we are only pilgrims. They who came before will leave earlier. Small things of this world can sometimes prevent us from reaching greater good. In Jesus, the doors of eternal life are opened for us. Through all these years of appearances, Our Lady teaches us in her school of love how to reach the eternal life and how to pray. Our Lady also reveals us the true meaning of Christmas We can understand it better by watching Her, who was from the beginning present in the mystery of Christ’s salvation, full of virtues like faith, hope, love, humility, silence and joy. Humility is the key which helps us to open our hearts to God, so He can enter and transform it. Only by complete dedication to God can we find a way from the heart filled with the false pride or vanity to the heart filled with true humility and love. Fra Danko Perutina Medugorje, December 12th, 2007 JESUS – THE KING OF OUR LIVES "Dear children! Today, when you celebrate Christ, the King of all that is created, I desire for Him to be the King of your lives. Only through giving, little children,can you comprehend the gift of Jesus´ sacrifice on the Cross for each of you. Little children, give time to God that He may transform you and fill you with His grace, so that you may be a grace for others. For you, little children, I am a gift of grace and love, which comes from God for this peaceless world. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of November 25, 2007 In her last message, Our Lady invites us to decide in favour of Christ the King of all creation so that he can become the king in our lives. Christ is not a king like other kings who dressed in crimson and robes, wore crowns and wanted to rule over other people. Christ the King with his life is completely different to worldly kings. He surpasses and exceeds them by far by establishing a kingdom of peace, love and forgiveness. It is constantly expanding, it is a reality, but also at the same time an ideal to which we aspire. Jesus is the real and true kind who came to the world to serve in his humility. Only he who serves other may truly be king, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. True humility consists of seeing ourselves as we truly are: to recognise our gifts and thank the God for these, but also to recognise our weaknesses and accept ourselves, knowing that in spite of everything God loves us. This knowledge gives us great joy but at the same time calls us to accept great responsibility in servitude and humility. Our Lady further teaches us, but at the same time also calls us to receive gifts as only in this way can be understand the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross which we can rightly call a victory of love. He, who taught men to love each other, and what’s more even their enemies, remained true to his words to the end: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15, 13). It is because of this the Jesus even suffered his traitor in his midst and did not reveal him, he did not allow Peter defend him with his sword, and graciously forgave him even when he denied him. Those who in Jesus’ name were led by love in their own life most contributed to the achievement of God’s kingdom on earth. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3, 16). Our Lady calls us to understand the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross which is the greatest gift among all gifts. In Jesus, God gave us his heart, all the depth of his love. It is the most beautiful and greatest gift. Jesus loved us until the end giving us all of himself completely. Coming into this world he became an unceasing gift to us all. He came to bless us with his love. We can accept this gift properly if we surrender ourselves to him completely so that he may transform us with his grace. So transformed, we can openly say converted, we too can then we can be a grace for others. We can be eyes for the blind, ears for the deaf, tongues for the mute, and hands and legs for those in need. Jesus is the King of the world and the greatest gift. He sent his and our Mother here to us in Medugorje, Our Lady who is a merciful gift of love for all of us. The voice of Our Lady the Queen of Peace throughout all these 26 years is a call for peace in men’s hearts, a call to peace in the world. Let the one, whom God has chooses in a special way and joined the Kingdom of his Son, help us to accept Jesus as the Ruler of our lives, so that we may faithfully cooperate in the spreading of his Kingdom of love, justice and peace. Fr. Danko Perutina Medugorje 26.11.2007 BE THE LOVE AND THE LIGHT “Dear children! God sent me among you out of love that I may lead you towards the way of salvation. Many of you opened your hearts and accepted my messages, but many have become lost on this way and have never come to know the God of love with the fullness of heart. Therefore, I call you to be love and light where there is darkness and sin. I am with you and bless you all. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of October 25, 2007 At the beginning of her message, our Lady repeats the main goal of her mission – our salvation. Not once did she place herself in the first place. The words she uttered two thousand years ago at the wedding feast in Canaan in Galilee : Do whathever my son Jesus tells you (comp. John 2:5), are still relevant for us. To do whatever Jesus want, that is, to do God’s will - there lies the Salvation. As a true mother, our Lady wants for all her children to be saved. Therefore she constantly calls us, but she also warns us, like she did in the message of November 25th 1998, when she said: My children, I invite you all to the road of salvation and I want to show you the way to the heaven. There is only one way which leads to the eternal life, which leads to paradise, and that is Jesus Christ. He said of himself: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". (John 14:6). Our Lady says that many people have opened their hearts. To open our heart means to give our whole being to the God who is love, but also to the messages which invite us to such giving. The heart is the most precious, most beautiful possession of a human being. The heart is a symbol of life and love, of all good things which humans have. Our Lady has already asked of us to dedicate ourselves again to her heart and the heart of her Son Jesus. In her message of October 25th 2003 she said: Do not hesitate, my children, but say with all your heart: I want to help Jesus and Mary to introduce more brothers and sisters to the way of holiness. She reminds us that there are those who became lost on this road of dedication, because they never did give their hearts to the God. In the Gospel, Jesus often reminded his listeners that they have closed Hearts, hearts of stone. And the people who have such hearts have inverted systems of value, in which the first place does not belong to the God, but to some person, wealth, honor, human considerations or something else. To have pure heart, heart of flesh, religious heart, means to turn completely to the God, who awaits us in secrecy and in silence. Our Lady encourages us to be the love and the light. To be love means to be a witness of the pure Christ’s love which was given for us. This love is unconditional; it does not ask for anything, it just gives. It always thinks of others before it thinks of self. We learn such love from Jesus if we give ourselves to Him with our whole hearts, because he invites us to love not just our friends, but also our enemies. People were always ready to love their neighbors and hate their enemies (Mt 5:43) because it was easier. Jesus has gone beyond that. His disciple, believer, Christian, cannot be fastidious with his/her love. He/she has to love all people, including the enemies, in the spirit of the Lord. That means to be the love. What does it mean to be the light? To be the light means to shine for the others, so they do not stumble and wander in the dark. We should be the light which Christ has ignited, so people can see the truth and the face of His heavenly Father, instead of wan dering and stumbling in misconceptions. In this light, people can recognize all men as their own brothers and sisters. As a true mother, our Lady follows us and blesses us on this road. Fr. Danko Perutina Meðugorje 26.10.2007 PRAYER – PATH TOWARDS PERFECT LOVE "Dear children! Also today I call all of you for your hearts to blaze with more ardent love for the Crucified, and do not forget that, out of love for you, He gave His life so that you may be saved. Little children, meditate and pray that your heart may be open to God’s love. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of September 25, 2007 In her latest message, Our Lady encourages us with her motherly words to feel an ever greater love for the Crucified. This love must flow from our hearts as the heart is the centre of human being. We may very well say that man is his heart. So many times has Our Lady called us to wake up, to begin to feel love because only love is fruitful. Only deeds done out of love and only prayer said out of love reach directly God’s heart. God has done everything for us. He has given about his Son so that every man who lives his testimony has eternal life (cf. 1 John 5,11-13). There is nothing God desires more than the salvation of man. If God desires it so ardently, what are we then waiting for, why are we defying him, why do not we open ourselves to Him fully? In the second part of her message, Our Lady calls us to meditate about God's words so that the word of God may enter the depths of our soul and blaze with more ardent love for God. The more we enter the spirit of God's word, the more ardent our devotion becomes. Our Lady is aware of that as she too has cherished God's words in her heart, meditated about them and lived by them (cf. Luke 2, 19.51). The Blessed Virgin Mary is a role model of the Church for she is also the Praying Virgin (Virgo orans). By being a role model she is the one that encourages us to adopt a correct attitude towards prayer and towards God. She often calls us to prayer because we are weak and unable to pray in the correct manner. Some pray only during hardship or when they carry their cross or when burdened with pain and suffering. It is not only then that one should pray. We are also called to prayer when life is good to us, when we feel fine. It is then when we should say a prayer of gratitude so that God may give us more blessing and multiply the gifts that he has given to us. Prayer is not of secondary importance. Prayer is a matter of life and death. Just as a man drowning needs air, so do all the faithful need prayer because it is through prayer that we receive grace and turn our hearts towards God. While we think of Mary, the Mother who is the embodiment of the Word and the Teacher of spiritual life, we thank her for being our teacher and instilling in us love. --Fr. Danko Perutina Medugorje 26/09/2007 MAY YOUR LIFE BE A REFLECTION OF GOD'S GOODNESS "Dear children! Also today I call you to conversion. May your life, little children,be a reflection of God’s goodness and not of hatred and unfaithfulness. Pray, little children, that prayer may become life for you. In this way, in your life you will discover the peace and joy which God gives to those who have an open heart to His love. And you who are far from God’s mercy, convert so that God may not become deaf to your prayers and that it may not be too late for you. Therefore, in this time of grace, convert and put God in the first place in your life. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of August 25, 2007 The motherly words of Our Lady are words from the Gospel said with simple, motherly words. In this message we also hear a reflection of Jesus' words from the beginning of the Gospel: “Convert and believe the Gospel.” Conversion is a continuing process. It is everyday walking with Jesus, everyday following His word which is demanding and at the same time embraces the very life of God, of Jesus. The Virgin Mary has emptied herself, subdued her will to God's will. Our Lady did not expect a message from God. It was she who renounced her will and therefore was able to understand so clearly that God called her to be the mother of His son Jesus. Her life became God's life. She is full of God and all turned towards God. She is persistent with us because she knows that there is no other, easier or faster way that will lead us to God and to His gifts of joy and peace He wishes to bestow upon us. Her messages reveal Her determination and motherly love that wishes us wellbeing, the salvation of our souls and eternal life in God. Mary has remained a reflection of God. That is why she calls us and wants our lives to be a reflection of God's goodness, not of hatred and unfaithfulness. “Pray, little children, that prayer may become life for you.” Some say that they do not like to pray as they cannot bear to dive into their own souls. Prayer is not looking at oneself. It is looking at God. To pray is to direct a spotlight towards Christ. What I need to do reveals to me gradually. It happens inside of me. By getting to know Christ I get to know myself. The mystery of man reveals itself only in Jesus Christ. Without Jesus we are unknown to ourselves. Who knew Jesus better but the very Virgin Mary who carried him under her heart, who raised him and believed in him until the end of his life, all the way to the foot of the cross at Calvary.Even today she is still the One who leads us to Jesus through Calvary towards resurrection. The Gospel is not the past. God did not love us only once. He loves us every day, every moment throughout our life. This very moment is also filled with God's love and presence. This is why mother Mary and the Queen of Peace is coming to encourage us, to wake us up, to open the eyes of our souls in order for us to open our hearts and meet the source of life, of peace and joy – God. God brings us to truth with love, and if it must be so – with suffering, too. He does everything to save our souls. He cannot remain still and indifferent to us – people - who are the crown of His creation. The time when the Virgin Mary comes to us and appears before us is a time of grace,time bestowed upon us as a gift. This is why she says to us: “In this time of grace,convert so that it may not be too late for you.” We are free to think that besides this time of grace, there is also a time when God denies His grace and pulls back His held out hand. Let us listen to the voice and words of our heavenly Mother Mary which save our souls and make us feel the joy of life, so that we are not too late to enter the feast of life. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26/8/2007 LET PRAYER BE LIKE THE AIR THAT YOU BREATHE "Dear children! Today, on the day of the Patron of your Parish, I call you to imitate the lives of the Saints. May they be, for you, an example and encouragement to a life of holiness. May prayer for you be like the air you breathe in and not a burden. Little children, God will reveal His love to you and you will experience the joy that you are my beloved. God will bless you and give you an abundance of grace. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of July 25, 2007 Our Lady calls to us as our Mother and invites and encourages us today, on the day of Saint James the apostle, the patron saint of the Parish of Medugorje and invites pilgrims to imitate the life of the saints, the lives of those who entered heaven into a homeland we shall never leave. In her message on the 25th of July 2002, Our Lady also said: Dear children! Today I rejoice with your patron saint and call you to be open to God's will… Ask your holy protectors to help you grow in love towards God.” The saints are those who intercede for us and stand up for us before the face of God. That is why we turn to them and give up our prayers to them so that they may present them to God. The holy are an example to us that it is worth being faithful to God and that God will never betray us. “Let prayer be like the air that you breathe” – says Our Mother Mary. Our body needs air. We know how we feel when we don’t have enough air. Without air our body cannot live. So as we have a physical body we also have a spiritual body. We can imagine that we are spiritually dead without prayer. Without prayer man’s life only consists of the body, material things, on dead things which do not have any life. Prayer is not something that is stipulated or ordered by the Church, God or Our Lady. Prayer is not only a devout exercise. Prayer is much more than this. Prayer is life. Without prayer we are dead and there is no life in us. Without prayer God has no room in us in which he can visit and heal us, save us and heal our hearts and souls. It is only in prayer that God can reveal his love and we can experience the joy of being beloved children of God and Our Lady. From experience we know that it is not enough to only know that food is good, it is necessary to eat it to be able to live. It is not enough to know that God and Our Lady love us, rather it is necessary for us to experience this, experience it in our life as a reality more true than the physical one we see with our eyes. “You will experience the joy of being my loved ones” – Our Lady says to us. However, it is necessary to fulfil one condition and this is prayer with our heart in which the soul opens and surrenders to God through Our Lady. The Gospel tells us at Jesus’ baptism at the River Jordan from the heavens thundered the voice of our Heavenly Father: “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1, 11). These words apply to Jesus. But through Jesus and in Jesus, also to you and me. Everyone of us are in Jesus and through Jesus the beloved son of the Father, beloved daughter of the Father, the chosen one, favourite of Our Father’s Heart. In Jesus and through Jesus we are also Our Lady’s beloved children. Throughout our lives we have been told many times that it is important to love God. However it is far more important that God loves us. Our love towards God is of secondary importance. God’s love for us has precedence: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4, 10) – tells us the apostle John in his gospel. And still adds: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. (1 John 4, 16). Let the Virgin Mary, full of grace and Immaculate lead us and introduce us to the secrets of Our Father’s heart and love which he has for us. --Fra Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26.7.2007 Reflection on the Message of June 25, 2007 OPEN YOURSELF TO THIS GREAT MERCY "Dear children! Also today, with great joy in my heart, I call you to conversion. Little children, do not forget that you are all important in this great plan, which God leads through Medjugorje. God desires to convert the entire world and to call it to salvation and to the way towards Himself, who is the beginning and the end of every being. In a special way, little children, from the depth of my heart, I call you all to open yourselves to this great grace that God gives you through my presence here. I desire to thank each of you for the sacrifices and prayers. I am with you and I bless you all. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of June 25, 2007 Today, too, echoes the voice of the heavenly Mother. Today, too, she does not give up on us, even when we give up on ourselves and when we give up on her. We can hear her motherly words and her call for conversion. Our Lady knows that the conversion is a process and a way to the Promised Land in which peace, freedom and joy abide that only God can give. Like Israelites, we need to abandon slavery and to cross the desert to the freedom of the Promised Land into which the God wants to lead us through the Mother of his Son. Mary crossed the desert of earthly life. With Her, we will certainly come to God. God’s love does not exclude anybody. God created man in His own image and therefore he cannot give up on man. "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them"(Gen, 1, 27) Queen of Peace says to us: "Don’t forget, all of you are important in this great plan which God carries through Medjugorje." Mother Mary said to us: "Dear children, this is a time of mercy, this is a holy place." The appearances of Our Lady are God’s bending toward man, toward you and me. The appearances of Our Lady are God’s service to man. How is it possible not to see, not to recognize God’s immense love which is manifested through the presence of Our Lady in Medjugorje? Because she is a mother, Our Lady does not give up and does not tire, despite all our resistances. She knows that not everyone will believe and accept her messages and God’s love which is manifested today through her presence. Despite that, she talks, she appears to us, she invites us and she loves us, her children. We, too, are in danger that God’s words, which He gave us through the prophet Isaiah, will manifest on us: "Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." The words of Our Lady are full of hope and joy. She knows that man can accept and fulfill what the God asks of him. Mother wants us to experience the truth that God is the deepest foundation of our existence. In the words of Our Lady we find that God accepts us exactly as we are. We all know that we do not always walk the straight way in our lives. There are many turns; many wrong decisions which, through our lives, have lead us to our present situation. Still, God loves us and accepts us as we are. God knows you and me by our names: "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands" (Is 49, 16); God never looks at His hands without seeing your name and mine. Such God’s love and mercy manifested to us throughout the past 26 years of appearances of Our Lady. Let us open to God’s mercy through the presence of Our Lady, here in Medjugorje.--Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje, 06/26/2007 SEARCHING FOR GOD'S WILL "Dear children! Pray with me to the Holy Spirit for Him to lead you in the search of God’s will on the way of your holiness. And you, who are far from prayer, convert and, in the silence of your heart, seek salvation for your soul and nurture it with prayer. I bless you all individually with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of May 25, 2007 The Virgin Mary calls us to pray with her to the Holy Spirit in order for us to draw strength and force from above, to be wrapped in the power coming from God. Together with the apostles she was perseverant in her prayer waiting for Jesus' promise – the Holy Spirit. She is the fiancée of the Holy Spirit and full of mercy. She is the one who knows best the mysterious power of the Holy Spirit and therefore knows how much we still need His strength today. We received the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism and confirmation, and we have heard that he exists. And yet, it seems as if all other spirits are around us but the Holy Spirit. That is why Our Lady's call is serious and so much needed to all the hearts, families and to this world. The only way towards the experience of the strength of the Holy Spirit is prayer. The first thing we should do is to convert. In other words, it means to stand before God in prayer over and over again, to confess our sins, forgive to others, renounce everything that prevents us from embracing the will of God, disown all idols, renounce dependence, and our false images of God. To convert means to take God as the master of our lives, to let it be His will. It is only the Holy Spirit that may enlighten our hearts so we can find God's will and live by His will. Only the moment in which we renounce our will, our plans, designs and intentions may we start praying for God's design, God's plan for our lives. By having given up our plans, we in fact remove the ties and become free, capable of accepting God's will. That is why Jesus says: „If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me!“ (Luke 9, 23). To be Jesus' disciple does not mean receiving information or schooling of any kind from Jesus. It means to be the one who can receive Jesus' grace and strength, his miracles and his kingdom. A disciple is the one who becomes like his teacher. That is why Jesus was able to say that anyone who had faith in him would do what he had been doing, and even greater things (cf. 14:12). While in the search of God's will on the way of one’s holiness, one should thank God for every single moment of life, either good or bad. Accepting everything that happens in our lives means entering the will of God thus receiving His strength to conquer evil we have entered. We shall always recognize God's will while in prayer getting closer to Him. We also observe ways of life, as well as pathways to work and vocation that God opens or closes for us. If we constantly surrender ourselves to the will of God, God will close those ways He does not want us to take and those doors He does not want us to enter, whereas he will open the ones He wishes us to embark upon. Rarely does God lead one from the inside by speaking to him/her where he/she must go. It is not in our mind, imagination or feelings, but in the bottom of our souls where God dwells in us and where we are inspired, enlightened and led by the Holy Spirit. God will use signs to reveal His will to us. We should recogn ize these signs with our spiritual senses that grow sharper and stronger in those who take these motherly words more seriously, in those who have been following them throughout all these years of her appearing and being close to us. Let us listen to the words of our heavenly Mother with our hearts so that we can find a new life that only God may give. --Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje, 05/26/2007 FASTING AND RENUNCIATION WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER IN FAITH "Dear children! I desire to thank you from my heart for your Lenten renunciations. I desire to inspire you to continue to live fasting with an open heart. By fasting and renunciation, little children, you will be stronger in faith. In God you will find true peace through daily prayer. I am with you and I am not tired. I desire to take you all with me to Heaven, therefore, decide daily for holiness. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of March 25, 2007 As a mother, Mary, the Queen of Peace, thanks us for our Lenten renunciations. Mother Mary thanks us because she loves us. Only a heart filled with love can be a grateful heart. We should be thanking her for her encouragement, her call and love, her interceding with her son Jesus for us. She calls us because it is her desire that we continue to live fasting. She speaks to us about it and calls us to fast and make renunciations for ourselves and because of us, for our happiness and joy. "By fasting and renunciation, little children you will be stronger in faith", –Heavenly Mother says to us. Fasting and renunciation are necessary in order for us to earn God's mercy. Our renunciation is like a bowl into which God pours His mercy. Blessed Mother Teresa said: "We need to be emptied before God can fill us". Fasting and renunciation are our part of the job in faith. Saint Augustine teaches us: "God created us without our aid; but he did not choose to save us without our aid." In Lent we should practise self-renunciation and do penance as if our salvation depends solely on us, but pray as if our salvation and everything else depends solely on God. Praying without self-renunciation is just like stopping halfway. It is as if you were rowing in a boat tied to the shore. We shall never move until the boat is untied. We cannot empty our body of sins nor eliminate sins from the world we live in. But we can die to sin and then He no longer has authority over us. Renunciation is dying to sin. When Our Lady speaks to us about renunciation, she does not have in mind the mere physical penance and renunciation, but the spiritual side of it. The mere physical penance and fasting are not enough. They may lead us to arrogance, pharisaism and formalism. They may make us want to display our strength, not to subdue our will to God's will. Therefore in one of her messages Our Lady says to us: "Little children, fasting has become a custom which no one wants to stop. Fast with the heart." Fasting and love are indivisible. One cannot fast without love, nor can one love without fasting in its broadest sense. Prayer is also our answer to God's love. That is why fasting and prayer are inseparable. Fasting without prayer is a mere slimming diet. By fasting without prayer we in fact just revolve around ourselves. Fasting turns all our spiritual forces and powers of the heart, all of our inner being towards God. Our Lent should not finish with Easter. Setting our mind on fasting and living it means to struggle for freedom. It will not mean much if we renounce some of our bad habits only during the time of Lent, whereas we continue pursuing them afterwards. If this is the case, our renunciation can become self-deceit. One may indulge in arrogance and self-sufficiency and say to oneself: "I am strong, I can do that." Lent then becomes just another break of this habit, while there has been no change in the man himself. Fasting and renunciation is not proving your strength, but subduing your will to God's will. The best and the most fruitful renunciation is denying one's own self. Even Jesus will say: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself." (Mark 8 : 34). The Virgin Mary comes and speaks to us not to steal something from us or to deprive us of our joys of life. She comes because she wants us to be happy, normal and free in God. Let us thank Mary from the bottom of our hearts because she has not become weary with us. Let us not become tired of everyday responding to the call of our Heavenly Mother. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26/03/200 OPEN YOUR HEART TO THE GOD'S MERCY "Dear children! Open your heart to God’s mercy in this Lenten time. The Heavenly Father desires to deliver each of you from the slavery of sin. Therefore, little children, make good use of this time and through meeting with God in confession,leave sin and decide for holiness. Do this out of love for Jesus, who redeemed you all with His blood, that you may be happy and in peace. Do not forget, little children: your freedom is your weakness, therefore follow my messages with seriousness. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of February 25, 2007 God ceaselessly searches and calls men to His side, so they can live and find the fullness of bliss in Him. His merciful love was manifested when He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us and save us by His passion, death and resurrection. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3, 16) “Open your hearts to the God’s mercy in this time of Lent”, Virgin Mary is saying to us. Where, if not in the God’s mercy, can a man find salvation and hope? We can ask ourselves: why is it so hard to believe in the God’s mercy? By believing in the God’s mercy, we return to the very roots of sin. The hardest thing for a man is to admit his own sins. When a man does not feel himself a sinner, he will not feel the need to beseech the God’s mercy. On the other hand, the world and every single human being wail for mercy, forgiveness and love. In the depths of the God’s heart there is a yearning and a desire to save His own creature from the slavery of sin. Although the awareness of the sin is decreasing, it nevertheless remains a reality which exists and whose consequences are damaging us and our families daily. Most often, a man is haunted by the very thing he denies, by the very thing he is running from. Only if he has enough courage to stand up to the thing which hurts him most, which is most embarrassing for him – only then does the process of healing and deliverance begin. However, it is also the hardest step for a man. For a drug, gambling or alcohol addict, the hardest thing is to admit his addiction. Only when he admits it, he becomes a winner fighting for his freedom, only then he becomes a free man. Mother Mary, who invited us to confess more often, in this message invites us also to seek the shelter of the God’s mercy in the sacrament of the holy confession, through which God forgives our sins, and also gives us strength to fight and to persist on the path of peace, freedom and conversion. “Your freedom is your weakness”, Virgin Mary is saying to us. The time of the Lent is the time which warns us we did not reach our goal yet. The Lent is telling us we are still in the desert. In this desert, we are not yet safe. We always have the possibility to fall, to lose our freedom or to sell it for a little happiness, pleasure and joy which the sin promises us. God does not want to give us just a little of something, he wants to give us everything, His own self. The freedom which God gives us is a gift, a burden and a responsibility. In such freedom, we are responsible in every moment, and we cannot be released from that responsibility. On this road of life, we are not alone and deserted, nor are we left to ourselves. We should take sincerely the words of the Heavenly Mother, so we can meet Jesus and walk the path of holiness, peace and freedom. Fra Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje, February 26th 2007 PUT SACRED SCRIPTURE IN A VISIBLE PLACE "Dear children! Put Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your family and read it. In this way, you will come to know prayer with the heart and your thoughts will be on God. Do not forget that you are passing like a flower in a field, which is visible from afar but disappears in a moment. Little children, leave a sign of goodness and love wherever you pass and God will bless you with an abundance of His blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of January 25, 2007 The Virgin Mary loves and keeps on calling her children to a life with God. She does that once again in her message beginning with the following words: "Put Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your families and read it." We have already become familiar with these motherly words and calls from her previous messages in which she invited us to read Sacred Scripture. Just as she spoke in January last year: "Do not forget, little children, to read Sacred Scripture. Put it in a visible place and witness with your life that you believe and live the Word of God. " In her message of 25th June 1991 Mary said to us: "Little children, pray and read Sacred Scripture so that through my coming you discover the message in Sacred Scripture for you ." In her message of 25th August 1993 she spoke: "Dear children, read Sacred Scripture, live it, and pray to understand the signs of the times.“ In her message of 25th August 1986: "Put, little children, Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your families and read it and live it.“ On 25th January 1999 she spoke to us: "Put Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your families, read it, reflect on it and learn how God loves His people. His love shows itself also in present times because He sends me to call you upon the path of salvation." In September of 1999 she said: "I call you to renew prayer in your families by reading Sacred Scripture and to experience joy in meeting with God who infinitely loves His creatures." So many times in her motherly messages the Virgin Mary has confirmed to us and said the following: "Dear children, live my messages and put into life every word that I am giving you. May they be precious to you as they come from heaven. Dear children, joyfully live the messages of the Gospel that I am repeating in the time I am with you.“ Maybe somewhere deep inside of us we expect the Virgin Mary to explain her messages in more detail and make them more clear. However, Our Lady's messages do not provide us with ready-made recipes for happiness. She has come to direct our look at Christ who is our only Saviour and the aim of life. She helps us with her presence, calls and love so that we can walk on the path of conversion and salvation. She does not come to tell us tales, play with us or entertain us. She has come to call us to the truth, to the light and high demands of the Word of God. She invites us to read and live Sacred Scripture so that we may discover the life-giving power of the Word of God that speaks to us. As the Holy Spirit has inspired Sacred Scripture, Sacred Sripture is permeated with it. We discover that by reading Sacred Scripture which encourages us to do good enlightening our mind and the feelings in our hearts. St. Gregory the Great asked himself: "What can a word of Sacred Scripture be compared with?" And he answered: "It is like flint and steel, like flint which is cold when we hold it in our hand, but when used to strike iron, it sparks and lights a fire. The words of Sacred Scripture remain cold if taken for granted. When, however, a person embraced by the Holy Spirit gives them a gentle knock, they make a mystical fire." Only if we rely on the truth of the Word of God shall we disclose the transience of our lives and the certainty of Jesus' words: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matt. 24:35). Let us listen to the Virgin Mary for the sake of our lives and our good. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26 January 2007 JESUS IS YOUR PEACE "Dear children! Also today I bring you the newborn Jesus in my arms. He who is the King of Heaven and earth, He is your peace. Little children, no one can give you peace as He who is the King of Peace. Therefore, adore Him in your hearts, choose Him and you will have joy in Him. He will bless you with His blessing of peace. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of December 25, 2006 In the Christmas messages that the Virgin Mary has been giving us, she has spoken about peace and called us to it: "Dear children! Also today I bring you little Jesus, who is the King of Peace, in my arms to bless you with His peace. I call you to be my carriers of peace in this peaceless world. I am bringing Jesus, the King of Peace, to grant you His peace. Put the little Newborn Jesus in the first place in your life. In a special way I bless you, little children, with a blessing of little Jesus. Let Him fill you with His peace. " Christmas is the utmost manifestation of the love of God. "But when the goodness of God our Saviour and His love to man appeared" (Tit 3, 4). It is dew fallen from the sky at Christmas, tenderness raining from above. Evangelist Luke describes that a great heavenly army joined the angel and praised God: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests" (Lk 2, 14). With their song the angels express the meaning of what happened,saying that the glory of God is materialized through the birth of the Child bringing peace to people. In the biblical sense peace refers to a whole of all things, particularly to forgiveness of sins and the gift of God's Spirit. The biblical expression for peace is close to the expression "grace". The peace granted by God stands for much more than a mere absence or elimination of wars and conflicts among men. It stands for a re-established, peaceful relationship of a son towards God, that is, in one word, salvation. Justified by faith – an Apostle says – we are in peace with God. In this sense, peace is identified with the very person of Christ. "For He Himself is our only peace" (Eph 2, 14). The Virgin Mary continues coming and bringing us Jesus just as she did when she came and appeared on Apparition Hill for the first time, with the Baby Jesus in her arms. Our Lady's words and presence are neither loud nor unusual or noneveryday. Her presence with us here and among us is hidden in the commonness of the human word and simplicity. God is revealing Himself in the commonness and simplicity of a child. Jesus remains with us dressed and hidden in the simplicity of the Eucharist bread. And it is precisely this simplicity where the omnipotence of God's love and closeness resides. This greatness and omnipotence is capable of creating new life and transforming the hearts of men. The words of Our Lady are nothing new or unfamiliar. They are a reminder of the wisdom and truth of God's word. The Virgin Mary is full of grace and full of God. She has emptied herself completely in order for God to reside in her fully. She is all turned to God. Therefore, she speaks to us: "Adore Him in your hearts, choose Him, no on can grant you peace as He can, and you will have joy in Him." Let this happen in our lives every day, not only at this Christmas. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje, 26/12/2006 WHEN YOU PRAY YOU ARE CLOSE TO GOD "Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray. Little children, when you pray you are close to God and He gives you the desire for eternity. This is a time when you can speak more about God and do more for God. Therefore, little children, do not resist but permit Him to lead you, to change you and to enter into your life. Do not forget that you are travellers on the way toward eternity. Therefore, little children, permit God to lead you as a shepherd leads his flock. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of November 25, 2006 In her recent message, just like in many of her previous messages, the Blessed Virgin Mary repeats and calls us three times in a row to: "pray, pray, pray". She utters these words wanting to remind us and to emphasize the importance of prayer for our spiritual life. It is not about some pious exercise or an imposed law. It is not a call to follow a forgotten custom. Prayer is not some spiritual training. Prayer is life. Just as our body needs air, food and other conditions in order to live, our soul needs prayer. We become well aware when we neglect our body. When we become undisciplined with our diet, our body easily falls ill. The same happens when we neglect prayer. Then spiritual viruses and bacteria find an easy way to our soul and man easily becomes a slave to all sorts of sins. He becomes prey of evil, hatred, wickedness, bad habits, curses, harsh words, selfishness, laziness and other evils. Being a Mother, Mary wants to tell us that there is no other way and no other means towards God but through prayer. "Little children, when you pray you are close to God" – she speaks to us. In prayer we hear the echo of eternity in our souls. Or as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us: " As "the seed of eternity that we bear in ourselves is irreducible to the merely material, man's soul can have its origins only in God " (CCC 33). Only in prayer to which Our Lady calls us so tirelessly can we experience and feel that deep desire hidden in our hearts. Only in prayer can we experience the truthfulness of St. Paul's words: "But our homeland is in heaven. And we eagerly await Our Saviour from there – the Lord Jesus Christ“ (Phil 3,20). Eternity does not begin when we die. We are immersed in eternity. It has already begun. We are to commit ourselves to it and struggle for it every single day. To be devoted to the Holy Spirit is to find eternity in time. The experience we have about the reality before a prayer is an experience of a limited nature of this reality to begin with. We experience how everything passes and goes into its own direction. However, after a prayer we see that everything is becoming different, new and never-ending. We then become fulfilled with eternity and discover an eternal dimension in everything. Or as St. John of the CrosS wrote: "Lord God, anything can change as long as you permit us to have our dwelling place in You. Once we find our dwelling place in God through prayer, we no longer live in changes. At the end of our lives events continue to take place. We, however, are no longer involved in them. We find ourselves in a deeper place, in God, who is the very stability. Once we have accepted God and taken His side that is against sins, evil, darkness and hatred, we already are in eternity. It is here that we need to struggle and create God's Kingdom. It is here that we need to be allowed and to allow God to guide us, change us and enter into our lives just as Mother Mary invites us to do. With sincere and humble hearts we pray to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, who has become great because she has let God perform His works in her and through her. Let Her teach us how to believe and how to surrender completely to God and to our fellow creatures in order to truly experience in us the eternity that we have been created for. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje, 26 November 2006 ONLY IN PRAYER WILL YOU BE CLOSE TO ME AND TO MY SON "Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray. Only in prayer will you be near to me and my Son and you will see how short this life is. In your heart a desire for Heaven will be born. Joy will begin to rule in your heart and prayer will begin to flow like a river. In your words there will only be thanksgiving to God for having created you and the desire for holiness will become a reality for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of August 25, 2006 The Virgin Mary has not given up, neither her love nor the words of her messages constantly conveyed to us have not changed. What she did for her Son is the same thing she is doing for his brothers and sisters, for everybody that has become her child. Her mantle is now so large that anybody searching a place under it can find it. Mary wants us to become aware of the brevity of this life here and the eternity for which we have been created. There is only one excellent way in which we may uncover eternity in time, and that is prayer. Through prayer we speak directly to God knowing that the past and the future meet in Him united in an eternal NOW. Opening up to God is opening up towards eternity. "Only in prayer" – Mary speaks to us. Not in a prayer uttered shallowly in a listless manner, a prayer in which nothing happens, but in a sincere, devoted prayer from the bottom of one's heart. Do we really open up while praying? There is a way of praying which does not free us completely from our prison. It just makes it a little bit easier. As long as we limit our prayer by praying for something, we cannot rise to eternity. In order to achieve progress in prayer, we must pray for more important things. "So do not worry, saying, ? What shall we eat? ? or ? What shall we drink? ? or ? What shall we wear? ? for the pagans seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." (Mat 6: 31- 32). If a prayer does not change us, then we must change our prayer and the way we pray. Only in prayer do we get close to Mary and Jesus, and only in prayer do we become aware of the things we shall never be able to do so anywhere else. Most people feel tense and under stress. Sometimes we are not even aware of the strain we are under. Just like the people who are not aware of their own absent-mindedness. Only when they start praying do they become aware of their wandering thoughts. Such tension and anxiety are a result of the lack of openness and faith in God. Just as blood wants to flow freely through our veins, just as the air wants to be introduced into our lungs and bring oxygen to our whole body, so Godly life, which is in the depths of our souls, wants to permeate the whole of our body and animate our energy. Tension makes the acceptance of God's love more difficult for us. Prayer is not a simple exercise, it is life. Those who want to dedicate themselves to prayer must decide firmly to often raise their spirit during the day, and, above all, to turn their hearts towards God. If we fail to do so and if we let our thoughts and feelings wander, our experience will tell us that prayer is impossible. Prayer is about our heart and life. It is a fruit of love, and we are unable to limit love to a certain period of time. Mary wants us to experience the joy nobody and nothing may bring to us. She wants us to become holy. Being holy simply means to become what we were cut out for. Not being holy is against nature. Being holy means to be a unique, healthy and normal person created in God's image. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26/8/2006 FIND TIME FOR YOUR SOUL “Dear children! At this time, do not only think of rest for your body but, little children, seek time also for the soul. In silence may the Holy Spirit speak to you and permit Him to convert and change you. I am with you and before God I intercede for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of July 25, 2006 Our Lady is a Mother, and a mother walks with us who are her children, she thinks about us and takes care of us. At this time when many are thinking about or going on holidays Our Mother Mary invites us to true rest which is necessary for man. After returning from their missionary travels, Jesus said to his disciples: Go for a while in solitude, rest. Man requires rest. Life consists of work and rest. No work, even the hardest, tires a man. The thing that tires a man the most is life without order, various immoderateness and excesses. Mary knows that man is not only a body but also soul. We deceive ourselves if we think that only the body is tired and that only the body needs rest. We require complete rest. This means it is not enough to just rest the body. Many come back from holidays tired so that they need to rest from their holiday. This happens because man’s soul did not rest and was not filled with God’s strength. Total rest of the soul, body and spirit is achieved by being in silence and peace. Real and true silence is not the lack of outside noise and sounds. True silence is peace from sin and blame, freedom from dirty and rude words; it is deserting dark thoughts and bad plans. Overall rest is achieved only when we decide to be generous and forgive everyone. When we repent for our sins and decide to live differently. Jesus invites us: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I shall rest you”. Rest is the prayer of the Holy Spirit to help the soul, that He comes down and consoles our heart, to covert us and change us. Rest occurs in those moments when we are united with God who plans and holds our life in his hands. Rest is actually an encounter with our own soul. That is why we need moments in which we can stop so that our soul can catch up with us and come together with us. Rest is not just not working. Rest is the work of the heart and soul. When resting we allow the spirit to strengthen and fill us. That’s why resting on holidays away from God and prayers and the Spirit of the God means returning from holidays even more tired and burdened. Mother Mary invites us, her children, to find time for our souls and places of silence so that the Holy Spirit may rest in us all that is tired, heal that which is wounded, strengthen what is weak. If we truly love ourselves we will listen to the words and invitation of our Mother Mary who even today does not cease to speak and lovingly calls to us and suffers because of us and for us. Let the Holy Spirit with its light and strength enter our lives so that we may experience true rest and peace which is given to us by God. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26/7/2006 OUR LADY THANKS US "Dear children! With great joy in my heart I thank you for all the prayers that, in these days, you offered for my intentions. Know, little children, that you will not regret it, neither you nor your children. God will reward you with great graces and you will merit eternal life. I am near you and thank all those who, through these years, have accepted my messages, have poured them into their life and decided for holiness and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of June 25, 2006 It has been twenty-five years now since the apparitions of Our Lady began, and with it the closeness to and love of the Virgin Mary. It has been twenty-five years of grace and the open sky at this place. The cry of St. Elizabeth is spontaneously raised in our hearts: " But why am I so favoured that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" In her previous messages Our Lady says: "God has permitted me to be with you for so long." "I will be with you as long as the Almighty permits me." " I have come to help you as you cannot on your own." A mother wants to help her children. She does not only call upon us for conversion. She calls upon us so that she herself, the Mother, may bring us closer to Jesus, the source of redemption. To love the Virgin Mary, to believe in Her means to return at the foot of the cross of Her Son. It means to reach the source of grace and redemption. It means to experience and live the truth of the words of Jesus: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me! Let him drink who believes in me." As Sacred Scripture says: "Streams of living water will flow from within him!" (John 7: 37-38). Here in Medjugorje streams of living water have flown from Jesus' heart and washed many a penitent heart in the Sacrament of the Holy Confession and Eucharist. For all the graces we are to thank the Lord, and Mary who is coming to us. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of her apparitions, the Blessed Virgin Mary is coming to us with a great joy in her heart. She is coming from her glory and the fullness of life to which she wants to lead us as a mother. The Mother is thankful for all the prayers to all the people who have believed in Her and accepted her as their Mother and a mediator on the path of life. "You will never regret it." – Mary speaks to us. She has never deceived anybody nor has anybody who has believed in her or has turned to her full of trust in time of need ever remained disillusioned. She has not come to deceive us nor to deprive us of the joys of life. Only with God can we truly experience the fullness and the joy of life. God has never remained beholden to anybody. He will reward us not only after our death, but today as well, here on Earth. The Virgin Mary thanks to all the people that have accepted her messages. It means to all those who have listened to what she has been telling us. Unfortunately, we sometimes hear a word but fail to pour it into life. It is as if we have a seed but fail to sow it leaving it in our pocket. The same happens with the words of Jesus. We hear them, but we do not pour them into life. It is the reason why in many of her messages Mary tells us the following: "Live my messages; witness them with your life; put them into practice; pour them into life." If this does not happen, then we are similar to the man Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7: 26 – 27). The same is with the words of the Virgin Mary addressed to us here. And her messages are a gospel told in simple words from a motherly heart. Let us come closer to Mary with our faith and love, so that the house of our life is built on the rock. Fr. Ljubo Kurtoviæ Meðugorje 26/6/2006 PEACE IS THE GIFT GOD GIVES TO YOU "Dear children! Also today I call you to put into practice and to live my messages that I am giving you. Decide for holiness, little children, and think of heaven. Only in this way, will you have peace in your heart that no one will be able to destroy. Peace is a gift, which God gives you in prayer. Little children, seek and work with all your strength for peace to win in your hearts and in the world. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of May 25, 2006 In many messages the Blessed Virgin Mary cautions us of the importance of her words which she has imparted to us through years of apparitions. She has said: “Dear children! You are not conscious of every message which I am giving you” (15. 11 1984). “I call you to live and accept my messages!” (21.3.1985). “Live in humility all the messages which I am giving you.” (20.9.1985). “Renew the messages which I am giving you.”26.9.1985). “If you live the messages, you are living the seed of holiness” 10.10.1985). "Dear children! My invitation that you live the messages which I am giving you is a daily one, specially, little children, because I want to draw you closer to the Heart of Jesus.” (25.10.1988). “Therefore, little children, every day read the messages that I have given you and transform them into life.” (25.12.1989). “Live my messages and put into life every word that I am giving you.” (25.6.2002). Our Lady’s messages are nothing less than the Gospel spoken in simpler words and with a mother’s heart. These words can be understood by all. It is certain that Mary is serious; she does not intend to play with our lives. Holiness is what Mother Mary wants us to achieve and live daily in our lives. A mother always wants what’s best for her children. In her message on the 25.5.1987 she says: I want each one of you to be happy here on earth and to be with me in Heaven.” Certainly she has not come to take something from us or take away the joys of life. She knows well that only with God may we truly be happy here on earth. She is filled with mercy because she is filled with the Lord who she gives to us and to whom she leads us. Saint Paul tells us: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phl 3, 20). In this message our Heavenly Mother Mary wants to direct our hearts by telling us to think about paradise. It is today that we enter paradise and heaven, here on earth we decide to which side we will go. It is here that we decide whether we will trust in God and surrender all our troubles to Him or whether we will carry our burdens on our own. Experience tells us that there is much that robs man of peace. There are many causes of anxiety. Worries, haste, intemperance, nonacceptance of ourselves and life situations are only some of the causes of anxiety. Mary knows our fears, anxieties and anxious worries well. It is because of this that she approaches us with this message as a mother. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring [it] to pass.” (Ps 37, 5). This is the path to peace given to us by Jesus. He tells us: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin… for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matthew 6). We must certainly do everything in our power and then filled with trust surrender to God. Mary has spoken about it so many times and the entire Christian tradition speaks of ways to achieve peace. They are prayer and fasting. They serve not for us to appear good before others. The purpose of prayer and fasting is to find a place inside where man can be alone with God. In this place anxious worries disappear. When I come to peace, to God in my own heart then I do not have to worry about whether I will fulfil the demands of others. People with their expectations and judgements do not have access to this place in which God resides in us. God is the true liberation of man’s worries. Let the words of Our Lady’s message even today lead us to experience peace and union with God. Fra Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26.5.2006 I INVITE YOU TO HAVE MORE TRUST "Dear children! Also today I call you to have more trust in me and my Son. He has conquered by His death and resurrection and, through me, calls you to be a part of His joy. You do not see God, little children, but if you pray you will feel His nearness. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of April 25, 2006 In this message the Queen of Peace invites us to have more trust in Her and Her Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. We know how important trust is in life. Life on earth is unimaginable without trusting other people. We can only imagine what it would be like if we went through life doubting everyone and everything. Lack of trust closes us off from other people. Without trust we are defensive towards everyone. Without faith life is endangered. The opposite of faith and trust is not faithlessness and atheism but fear. When fearful a man feels endangered, as if he is being attacked by everyone. When fearful he feels he must defend himself, attack and insult others to preserve his own life. In this way he endangers not only interpersonal relationships with others but also destroys himself. Fear paralyses man, while faith sets him free and brings with it security, peace and freedom. A child cannot live without trusting its parents. A child has trust in its parents and therefore can count on them and so grow and remain living. Jesus sets before us a picture of a child saying: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18, 3). Many times Jesus said: “Your faith has saved you” (Mark 5, 34); “just believe, do not fear” (Luke 8, 50); “all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9, 23). It is our lack of childlike faith in God which gives rise to our tenseness, frustration, anxiety, nervousness. There are fewer and fewer moments in our lives in which we feel the true and intensive presence of God. We feel torn apart and tired, while God waits. Jesus through the intercession of his Mother calls us even today and throughout these 25 years of apparitions of the Virgin Mary. And Mary as our Mother, in this her message, places Jesus before us, crucified and resurrected, Jesus the victor over all that destroys human life. Jesus Christ is alive, he is not a deceased Jesus but alive. Even today through his mother He would like to tell us: “Believe my mother, love her as I have loved her, do all that she tells you so that you may be part of my Resurrected joy and victory.” A mother cannot be parted from her child. So too Mary cannot be separated from Jesus. Mary tells us - “You do not see God but if you pray you will feel His closeness”. God is the Spirit and we have a spirit and spiritual capabilities with which we can feel, experience and come together. We have the capability to believe, love and hope. The path to an encounter with God is prayer. No other path or means exists. If anyone should tell you there is another way, do not believe them. God is waiting for us through Mary. He is waiting for us to finally trust and begin living. Mary is our intercessor, mediator and defender before God. She is tireless with us and does not let us fall asleep. She does not count her apparitions, Her messages. She does not live in mathematics but in love. It is not numbers but us that are important to Her. True love does not know numbers but is infinite. Let us begin believing and loving so that we may get to know and encounter God and in doing so get to know and encounter ourselves and each other. Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic Medugorje 26.4.2006 THE ANNUAL APPARITION OF OUR LADY TO MIRJANA DRAGICEVIC-SOLDO ON MARCH 18, 2006 18.03.2006 - The visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo had daily apparitions from June 24th 1981 to December 25th 1982. During the last daily apparition, Our Lady gave her the 10th secret, and told her that she would appear to her once a year, on the 18th of March. It has been this way through the years. This year several thousand pilgrims gathered to pray the Rosary at the Cenacolo Community in Medjugorje. The apparition lasted from 13:59 to 14:04 and Our Lady gave the following message: "Dear children! In this Lenten time, I call you to interior renunciation. The way to this leads you through love, fasting, prayer and good works. Only with total interior renunciation will you recognize God’s love and the signs of the time in which you live. You will be witnesses of these signs and will begin to speak about them. I desire to bring you to this. Thank you for having responded to me." SAY YES TO GOD “Dear children! In this Lenten time of grace, I call you to open your hearts to the gifts that God desires to give you. Do not be closed, but with prayer and renunciation say ‘yes’ to God and He will give to you in abundance. As in springtime the earth opens to the seed and yields a hundredfold, so also your heavenly Father will give to you in abundance. I am with you and love you, little children, with a tender love. Thank you for having responded

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