Jesus in confession is far more beautiful than when he wrote upon the ground at the condemnation of the woman who was to be stoned for adultery.Jesus in confession does not write. He erases.
• Fr Jozo Zovko
Friday, February 27, 2009
Jesus in confession
Jesus in confession is far more beautiful than when he wrote upon the ground at the condemnation of the woman who was to be stoned for adultery.Jesus in confession does not write. He erases.
• Fr Jozo Zovko
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Our Lady’s February message through Marija
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. February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday
Lent in action... COME BACK TO ME...
Turn your hearts toward prayer and seek the Holy Spirit to be poured out on you. part message, February 21, 1985
“Come back to me with all your heart” Joel 2 : 13
Turn your hearts toward prayer and seek the Holy Spirit to be poured out on you. part message, February 21, 1985
“Come back to me with all your heart” Joel 2 : 13
Pope’s Lenten message
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2009
“He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
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). For this year’s Lenten Message, I wish to focus my reflections especially on the value and meaning of fasting. Indeed, Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry. We read in the Gospel: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2). Like Moses, who fasted before receiving the tablets of the Law (cf. Ex 34,28) and Elijah’s fast before meeting the Lord on Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings 19,8), Jesus, too, through prayer and fasting, prepared Himself for the mission that lay before Him, marked at the start by a serious battle with the tempter.
We might wonder what value and meaning there is for us Christians in depriving ourselves of something that in itself is good and useful for our bodily sustenance. The Sacred Scriptures and the entire Christian tradition teach that fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it. For this reason, the history of salvation is replete with occasions that invite fasting. In the very first pages of Sacred Scripture, the Lord commands man to abstain from partaking of the prohibited fruit: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gn 2, 16-17). Commenting on the divine injunction, Saint Basil observes that “fasting was ordained in Paradise,” and “the first commandment in this sense was delivered to Adam.” He thus concludes: “ ‘You shall not eat’ is a law of fasting and abstinence” (cf. Sermo de jejunio: PG 31, 163, 98). Since all of us are weighed down by sin and its consequences, fasting is proposed to us as an instrument to restore friendship with God. Such was the case with Ezra, who, in preparation for the journey from exile back to the Promised Land, calls upon the assembled people to fast so that “we might humble ourselves before our God” (8,21). The Almighty heard their prayer and assured them of His favor and protection. In the same way, the people of Nineveh, responding to Jonah’s call to repentance, proclaimed a fast, as a sign of their sincerity, saying: “Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we perish not?” (3,9). In this instance, too, God saw their works and spared them.
In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting, as the divine Master repeats elsewhere, is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who “sees in secret, and will reward you” (Mt 6,18). He Himself sets the example, answering Satan, at the end of the forty days spent in the desert that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the “true food,” which is to do the Father’s will (cf. Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,” the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy.
The practice of fasting is very present in the first Christian community (cf. Acts 13,3; 14,22; 27,21; 2 Cor 6,5). The Church Fathers, too, speak of the force of fasting to bridle sin, especially the lusts of the “old Adam,” and open in the heart of the believer a path to God. Moreover, fasting is a practice that is encountered frequently and recommended by the saints of every age. Saint Peter Chrysologus writes: “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself” (Sermo 43: PL 52, 320. 322).
In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God. In the Apostolic Constitution Pænitemini of 1966, the Servant of God Paul VI saw the need to present fasting within the call of every Christian to “no longer live for himself, but for Him who loves him and gave himself for him… he will also have to live for his brethren“ (cf. Ch. I). Lent could be a propitious time to present again the norms contained in the Apostolic Constitution, so that the authentic and perennial significance of this long held practice may be rediscovered, and thus assist us to mortify our egoism and open our heart to love of God and neighbor, the first and greatest Commandment of the new Law and compendium of the entire Gospel (cf. Mt 22, 34-40).
The faithful practice of fasting contributes, moreover, to conferring unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid sin and grow in intimacy with the Lord. Saint Augustine, who knew all too well his own negative impulses, defining them as “twisted and tangled knottiness” (Confessions, II, 10.18), writes: “I will certainly impose privation, but it is so that he will forgive me, to be pleasing in his eyes, that I may enjoy his delightfulness” (Sermo 400, 3, 3: PL 40, 708). 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. In his First Letter, Saint John admonishes: “If anyone has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, yet shuts up his bowels of compassion from him – how does the love of God abide in him?” (3,17). Voluntary fasting enables us to grow in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, who bends low and goes to the help of his suffering brother (cf. Encyclical Deus caritas est, 15). By freely embracing an act of self-denial for the sake of another, we make a statement that our brother or sister in need is not a stranger. It is precisely to keep alive this welcoming and attentive attitude towards our brothers and sisters that I encourage the parishes and every other community to intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community, in which special collections were taken up (cf. 2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27), the faithful being invited to give to the poor what had been set aside from their fast (Didascalia Ap., V, 20,18). This practice needs to be rediscovered and encouraged again in our day, especially during the liturgical season of Lent.
From what I have said thus far, it seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person. Quite opportunely, an ancient hymn of the Lenten liturgy exhorts: “Utamur ergo parcius, / verbis cibis et potibus, / somno, iocis et arctius / perstemus in custodia – Let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and amusements. May we be more alert in the custody of our senses.”
Dear brothers and sisters, 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 (cf. Encyclical Veritatis splendor, 21). May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbour. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass. With this interior disposition, let us enter the penitential spirit of Lent. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Causa nostrae laetitiae, accompany and support us in the effort to free our heart from slavery to sin, making it evermore a “living tabernacle of God.” With these wishes, while assuring every believer and ecclesial community of my prayer for a fruitful Lenten journey, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
• source: www.vatican.va
“He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
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). For this year’s Lenten Message, I wish to focus my reflections especially on the value and meaning of fasting. Indeed, Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry. We read in the Gospel: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2). Like Moses, who fasted before receiving the tablets of the Law (cf. Ex 34,28) and Elijah’s fast before meeting the Lord on Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings 19,8), Jesus, too, through prayer and fasting, prepared Himself for the mission that lay before Him, marked at the start by a serious battle with the tempter.
We might wonder what value and meaning there is for us Christians in depriving ourselves of something that in itself is good and useful for our bodily sustenance. The Sacred Scriptures and the entire Christian tradition teach that fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it. For this reason, the history of salvation is replete with occasions that invite fasting. In the very first pages of Sacred Scripture, the Lord commands man to abstain from partaking of the prohibited fruit: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gn 2, 16-17). Commenting on the divine injunction, Saint Basil observes that “fasting was ordained in Paradise,” and “the first commandment in this sense was delivered to Adam.” He thus concludes: “ ‘You shall not eat’ is a law of fasting and abstinence” (cf. Sermo de jejunio: PG 31, 163, 98). Since all of us are weighed down by sin and its consequences, fasting is proposed to us as an instrument to restore friendship with God. Such was the case with Ezra, who, in preparation for the journey from exile back to the Promised Land, calls upon the assembled people to fast so that “we might humble ourselves before our God” (8,21). The Almighty heard their prayer and assured them of His favor and protection. In the same way, the people of Nineveh, responding to Jonah’s call to repentance, proclaimed a fast, as a sign of their sincerity, saying: “Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we perish not?” (3,9). In this instance, too, God saw their works and spared them.
In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting, as the divine Master repeats elsewhere, is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who “sees in secret, and will reward you” (Mt 6,18). He Himself sets the example, answering Satan, at the end of the forty days spent in the desert that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the “true food,” which is to do the Father’s will (cf. Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,” the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy.
The practice of fasting is very present in the first Christian community (cf. Acts 13,3; 14,22; 27,21; 2 Cor 6,5). The Church Fathers, too, speak of the force of fasting to bridle sin, especially the lusts of the “old Adam,” and open in the heart of the believer a path to God. Moreover, fasting is a practice that is encountered frequently and recommended by the saints of every age. Saint Peter Chrysologus writes: “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself” (Sermo 43: PL 52, 320. 322).
In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God. In the Apostolic Constitution Pænitemini of 1966, the Servant of God Paul VI saw the need to present fasting within the call of every Christian to “no longer live for himself, but for Him who loves him and gave himself for him… he will also have to live for his brethren“ (cf. Ch. I). Lent could be a propitious time to present again the norms contained in the Apostolic Constitution, so that the authentic and perennial significance of this long held practice may be rediscovered, and thus assist us to mortify our egoism and open our heart to love of God and neighbor, the first and greatest Commandment of the new Law and compendium of the entire Gospel (cf. Mt 22, 34-40).
The faithful practice of fasting contributes, moreover, to conferring unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid sin and grow in intimacy with the Lord. Saint Augustine, who knew all too well his own negative impulses, defining them as “twisted and tangled knottiness” (Confessions, II, 10.18), writes: “I will certainly impose privation, but it is so that he will forgive me, to be pleasing in his eyes, that I may enjoy his delightfulness” (Sermo 400, 3, 3: PL 40, 708). 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. In his First Letter, Saint John admonishes: “If anyone has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, yet shuts up his bowels of compassion from him – how does the love of God abide in him?” (3,17). Voluntary fasting enables us to grow in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, who bends low and goes to the help of his suffering brother (cf. Encyclical Deus caritas est, 15). By freely embracing an act of self-denial for the sake of another, we make a statement that our brother or sister in need is not a stranger. It is precisely to keep alive this welcoming and attentive attitude towards our brothers and sisters that I encourage the parishes and every other community to intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community, in which special collections were taken up (cf. 2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27), the faithful being invited to give to the poor what had been set aside from their fast (Didascalia Ap., V, 20,18). This practice needs to be rediscovered and encouraged again in our day, especially during the liturgical season of Lent.
From what I have said thus far, it seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person. Quite opportunely, an ancient hymn of the Lenten liturgy exhorts: “Utamur ergo parcius, / verbis cibis et potibus, / somno, iocis et arctius / perstemus in custodia – Let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and amusements. May we be more alert in the custody of our senses.”
Dear brothers and sisters, 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 (cf. Encyclical Veritatis splendor, 21). May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbour. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass. With this interior disposition, let us enter the penitential spirit of Lent. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Causa nostrae laetitiae, accompany and support us in the effort to free our heart from slavery to sin, making it evermore a “living tabernacle of God.” With these wishes, while assuring every believer and ecclesial community of my prayer for a fruitful Lenten journey, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
• source: www.vatican.va
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Whatever happens to you, accept it...
Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. Mark 9 : 37My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for an ordeal.
Be sincere of heart, be steadfast,
and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
Cling to him and do not leave him,
so that you may be honoured at the end of your days.
Whatever happens to you, accept it,
and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient,
since gold is tested in the fire,
and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation.
Trust him and he will uphold you,
follow a straight path and hope in him.
Ecclesiasticus 2 : 1-6
Monday, February 23, 2009
Medjugorje and Shrine status
If the Holy See is to grant International Shrine status to Medjugorje, then careful scrutiny of liturgical practices is part of the process, and where any practices and customs are deemed not to be in harmony with criteria laid down for Shrine status, then changes are necessary in order to match the standards required.In reaching its decision on Shrine status, the Holy See will not be focusing on personalities, priests, bishops and visionaries. It will not be deciding on the question of the apparitions. It will be guided by the Canon and Liturgical Law of the Church appertaining to Shrines and their status.
The Code of Canon Law (1983) includes the following Canons relating to Shrines:
Canon 1230 The term shrine means a church or other sacred place which, with the approval of the local Ordinary, is by reason of special devotion frequented by the faithful as pilgrims.
Canon 1231 For shrine to be described as national, the approval of the Episcopal Conference is necessary. For it to be described as international, the approval of the Holy See is required.
Canon 1232 (i) The local Ordinary is competent to approve the statutes of a diocese and shrine; the Episcopal Conference, those of a national shrine, the Holy See alone, those of an international shrine.
Canon 1232 (ii) The statutes of a shrine are to determine principally, the authority of the rector, and the ownership and administration of its property.
Canon 1233 Certain privileges may be granted to shrines when the local circumstances, the number of pilgrims, and especially the good of the faithful would seem to make this advisable.
Canon 124 (i) At shrines the means of salvation are to be more abundantly made available to the faithful: by sedulous proclamation of the word of God, by suitable encouragement of liturgical life, especially by the celebration of the Eucharist and penance, and by the fostering of approved forms of popular devotion.
Canon 124 (ii) In shrines or in places adjacent to them, votive offerings of popular art are to be displayed and carefully safeguarded.
It is interesting to note the reference made to shrine ownership in Canon 1232 (ii). Will we possibly see Medjugorje coming under the ownership of the Holy See if granted International Shrine status?
And should International Shrine status be granted to Medjugorje, perhaps a visit by Pope Benedict XVI will be on the cards?
We know his pontifical mission is one of reconciliation, especially within the family of the Catholic Church. We know that he has twice been invited by the Bosnia & Herzegovina government to visit the country, still suffering from the scars and wounds inflicted during the recent Balkan war. We do not know if he has refused this invitation or is waiting for an opportunity to accept only when harmony within the Catholic Church of B&H is first restored.
I sense that Benedict will not be slow in pursuing his mission of reconciliation on all fronts.
Pope cautions against destructive polemics in the church
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Community anniversary...
Celebrations for the 4th anniversary of the opening of the Cenacolo community in Kendal, England, take place next month, March 22.Further details and information about the history and development of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs community can be found at the website:
www.cenacolofriends.org.uk
God wants to...
A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: “If you want to” he said, “you can cure me.” Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “Of course I want to!” he said. “Be cured!” and the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Mark 1 : 40-42Dear children! God wants to make you holy. Therefore, through me He is inviting you to complete surrender.
part message, April 25, 1988.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Fr Jozo on sabbatical
• This is the text of a letter circulated by Vesna Cuzic on behalf of Fr Jozo Zovko.Siroki Brijeg, February 9, 2009
With this notice we desire to inform you that due to health reasons, the need for rest and recuperation, and due to the commencement of construction on Badija, Fr Jozo Zovko has asked his superiors for permission to reside outside of the Province. The Province Board approved this request.
For this reason, we are cancelling all programs planned for the ensuing year. We kindly ask all our co-ordinators and co-workers, organizers of pilgrimages to Medjugorje, organizers of prayer meetings and seminars, and all Medjugorje Centers and pilgrims to respect this and not to plan or ask for a meeting with Fr Jozo during this time.
We thank you for your understanding,
and united in prayer we remain yours truly in Christ.
Vesna Cuzic
on behalf of Fr Jozo
International God-Parenthood for the Herceg-Bosnian Child
For this reason, we are cancelling all programs planned for the ensuing year. We kindly ask all our co-ordinators and co-workers, organizers of pilgrimages to Medjugorje, organizers of prayer meetings and seminars, and all Medjugorje Centers and pilgrims to respect this and not to plan or ask for a meeting with Fr Jozo during this time.
We thank you for your understanding,
and united in prayer we remain yours truly in Christ.
Vesna Cuzic
on behalf of Fr Jozo
International God-Parenthood for the Herceg-Bosnian Child
Friday, February 13, 2009
Listening and speaking...
He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak... Mark 7 : 37Dear children! Listen, because I wish to speak to you and to invite you to have more faith and trust in God, who loves you immeasurably. Little children, you do not know how to live in the grace of God, that is why I call you all anew, to carry the word of God in your heart and in thoughts. Little children, place the Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your family, and read and live it. Teach your children, because if you are not an example to them, children depart into godlessness. Reflect and pray and then God will be born in your heart and your heart will be joyous. Thank you for having for responded to my call.
August 25, 1996
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
“I am not Medjugorje...”
The wise words of Fr Jozo Zovko OFM, the parish priest of Medjugorje at the time the apparitions began in June 1981, always answers perfectly the critics of Medjugorje. Probably because his words are truth.
Man can never be sure or objective, because his thinking, his opinion, never leaves him. If one doesn’t allow oneself to be convinced, if one clings to one’s naturally limited judgement, events will continue to occur without us. This is what happened at Medjugorje. Whether one is convinced or skeptical, for or against, the years pass by at Medjugorje; the signs remain, the fruits remain. And Our Lady’s invitation to peace is still valid
I do everything I can for people to hear this message, so that they may begin to renew their spiritual lives, their family lives.
The position of the Church or the position of individuals is not the point. The point is that this is a mystery in which signs are given. Jesus had forseen our weakness. He told us: “Either make the tree goood, and its fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.”
The devil never ceases to seek out collaborators to harm Medjugorje. When these persons describe a witness, such as myself, for example, they try to show me in the worst possible light so as to provoke a scandal so that the public will say. “Medjugorje is bad.” But I am not Medjugorje! Thank God, I never for one instance thought I was Medjugorje! Slander, lies provocations, I can easily overcome all that. Medjugorje cannot suffer on my account, because God is in it Himself who has wanted it and who protects it from human egoism, pride and disobedience...
Man can never be sure or objective, because his thinking, his opinion, never leaves him. If one doesn’t allow oneself to be convinced, if one clings to one’s naturally limited judgement, events will continue to occur without us. This is what happened at Medjugorje. Whether one is convinced or skeptical, for or against, the years pass by at Medjugorje; the signs remain, the fruits remain. And Our Lady’s invitation to peace is still validI do everything I can for people to hear this message, so that they may begin to renew their spiritual lives, their family lives.
The position of the Church or the position of individuals is not the point. The point is that this is a mystery in which signs are given. Jesus had forseen our weakness. He told us: “Either make the tree goood, and its fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.”
The devil never ceases to seek out collaborators to harm Medjugorje. When these persons describe a witness, such as myself, for example, they try to show me in the worst possible light so as to provoke a scandal so that the public will say. “Medjugorje is bad.” But I am not Medjugorje! Thank God, I never for one instance thought I was Medjugorje! Slander, lies provocations, I can easily overcome all that. Medjugorje cannot suffer on my account, because God is in it Himself who has wanted it and who protects it from human egoism, pride and disobedience...
• Fr Jozo Zovko OFM, from the book Encounters with Fr Jozo, by Sabina Covic
• Medjugorje comes from Heaven. It is a pure gift from God. That is why it was difficult for me to accept it at the beginning... because it calls for change. Unless a person accepts change, the Message of Medjugorje appeals to your soul like a beggar. Medjugorje calls you to relieve you of all your presuppositions and to begin a new approach to things, a radically new way. Medjugorje does not produce Pharisees. Fr Jozo Zovko OFM
• Medjugorje comes from Heaven. It is a pure gift from God. That is why it was difficult for me to accept it at the beginning... because it calls for change. Unless a person accepts change, the Message of Medjugorje appeals to your soul like a beggar. Medjugorje calls you to relieve you of all your presuppositions and to begin a new approach to things, a radically new way. Medjugorje does not produce Pharisees. Fr Jozo Zovko OFM
Our Lady of Lourdes
Pilgrims travelling to Medjugorje via Split in Croatia will pass through the beautiful town of Makarska where there is a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. It was founded by a local bishop in 1908 after he saw similarities between the cave and landscape with those of the shrine at Lourdes in France where the Blessed Virgin appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.Pilgrims often stop off at the Makarska shrine to celebrate Mass and thank Our Lady for their pilgrimage to Medjugorje.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Our Lady’s February message to Mirjana
Dear children, with a motherly heart, today I desire to remind you of, namely, to draw your attention to, God’s immeasurable love and the patience which ensues from it. Your Father is sending me and is waiting. He is waiting for your open hearts to be ready for his works. He is waiting for your hearts to be united in Christian love and mercy in the spirit of my Son. Do not lose time, children, because you are not its masters. Thank you. February 2, 2009
Love is always patient and kind... 1 Corinthians 13 : 4
• Images show the Medjugorje visionary Mirjana receiving Our Lady’s apparition at the Sanctuary of Madonna del Sasso on the shores of Lake Orta in Italy, and afterwards conveying the message to her husband alongside her.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Teaching with authority...
I will raise up a prophet like yourself for them from their own brothers; I will put words into his mouth and he shall tell them all I command him. Deuteronomy 18: 18 They went as far as Capernaum, and as soon as the sabbath came he went to the synagogue and began to teach. And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority. Mark 1 : 21-22
JESUS...
Dear children, I want each one of you to open your heart to Jesus and I will give Him to you with love. Dear children, I want Him to change you, to teach you and to protect you. part message, December 25, 1987
MARY...
Dear children! I am with you and I rejoice today because the Most High has granted me to be with you and to teach you and to guide you on the path of perfection. part message, October 25, 1994
PRIESTS...
I call all priests and religious brothers and sisters to pray the rosary and to teach others to pray. part message, August 25 1997
PARENTS...
Little children, place the Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your family, and read and live it. Teach your children, because if you are not an example to them, children depart into godlessness. part message, August 25, 1999
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