First Sunday of Advent

Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. Matthew 24 : 42

Dear children! These days satan is working underhandedly against this parish, and you, dear children, have fallen asleep in prayer, and only some are going to Mass. Withstand the days of temptation! Thank you for having responded to my call.  
Message given to the Medjugorje parish, January 17, 1985

Medjugorje and the ‘Miraculous Medal’

Today is the Feast of the Miraculous Medal. The medal has an association with Medjugorje. On November 27, 1989, Our Lady said to the visionary Marija:

These days, I want you to pray in a special way for the salvation of souls. Today is the feast day of the miraculous medal, and I want that you pray, in a special way, for the salvation of those people who are carrying this miraculous medal. I want you to spread the devotion and carrying of this medal, so that more souls may be saved, and that you pray in a special way.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

On November 27 1830 at 5:30 pm, during meditation, St Catherine Labouré saw at the present location of the Virgin of the Globe (Rue de Bac) a vision of the Blessed Virgin. She was standing on a globe holding in her hands a small golden globe, her feet crushing a serpent. Coming from the open hands of the Blessed Virgin were beautiful rays of light. At that same moment Catherine heard a voice saying: “These rays are symbols of graces that Mary obtains for people.” Then an oval formed around the vision and Catherine saw emblazoned in a semi-circle this invocation written in gold letters, and until then unknown: “O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to you”. Then the oval turned and Catherine saw on the reverse side, the letter M surmounted with a little cross and below it the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Catherine then heard these words: “Have a medal made as this. Those who wear it with confidence will receive great graces.”

• further information about the Miraculous Medal and St Catherine Labouré can be found at the official website of the Chapel of the Rue de Bac.

Our Lady’s November message to Marija

Dear children! I look at you and I see in your heart, death without hope, restlessness and hunger. There is no prayer or trust in God, that is why the Most High permits me to bring you hope and joy. Open yourselves. Open your hearts to God’s mercy and he will give you everything you need and will fill your hearts with peace, because he is peace and your hope. Thank you for having responded to my call. November 25, 2010

May the God of hope bring you such joy and peace in your faith that the power of the Holy Spirit will remove all bounds to hope. Romans 15 : 13

“But I will heal him, and console him,
I will comfort him to the full,
both him and his afflicted fellows,
bringing praise to their lips.
Peace, peace to far and near,
I will indeed heal him” says the Lord.
The wicked however are like the restless sea
they cannot be still,
and washes up mud and slime.
“No peace” says my God “for the wicked”.
Isaiah 57 : 19-20

The hope of the wicked perishes with death,
the expectation of the godless is frustrated.
Proverbs 11 : 7

• Fr Neil Buchlein’s reflection

Fr Slavko 10th anniversary

This postage stamp was issued in November 2001 to commemorate the first anniversary of Fr Slavko Barbaric OFM, the former spiritual director to the Medjugorje visionaries, who died on Mt Krizevac, November 24, 2000.

Dear children! Today when Heaven is near to you in a special way, I call you to prayer so that through prayer you place God in the first place. Little children, today I am near you and I bless each of you with my motherly blessing so that you have the strength and love for all the people you meet in your earthly life and that you can give God's love. I rejoice with you and I desire to tell you that your brother Slavko has been born into Heaven and intercedes for you. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, November 25, 2000

Before kings and governors...

Jesus said to his disciples: “Men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be the opportunity for you to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. Luke 21 : 12-15

Dear children! I am inviting you to a complete surrender to God. Pray, little children, that satan may not carry you about like the branches in the wind. Be strong in God. I desire that through you the whole world may get to know the God of joy. By your life bear witness for God’s joy. Do not be anxious nor worried. God himself will help you and show you the way. I desire that you love all men with my love. Only in that way can love reign over the world. Little children, you are mine. I love you and want you to surrender to me so that I can lead you to God. Never cease praying so that satan cannot take advantage of you. Pray for the knowledge that you are mine. I bless you with blessings of joy. Thank you for having responded to my call.  
Medjugorje message, May 25, 1988

Take care not to be deceived...

Jesus said: Take care not to be deceived because many will come using my name and saying “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them. Luke 21 : 8

Dear children, God created you with free will to comprehend and to choose: Life or Death. I as a mother, with motherly love, desire to help you to comprehend and to choose life. My children, do not deceive yourselves with false peace and false joy. Permit me, my children, to show you the true way, the way that leads to life – my Son. Thank you. Medjugorje message July 2, 2006

• Jesus, the Christ, true Messiah, died to set us free from the burden of our sins and rose again to open the gates of freedom for all to follow him to eternal life. The promise that the world makes cannot set us free in this way. It is a false freedom, a false peace, a false joy. It is counterfeit. It doesn’t last. It is unfaithful. It binds. It deceives.

There is only one true liberator – Jesus Christ. The world cannot liberate, only proclaim a false message, a false hope and a false promise that imprisons and leads to death.

Alleluia, alleluia! Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand. Alleluia! Luke 21 : 28

Eucharistic springtime...

I would like to affirm with joy that today in the Church there is a “Eucharistic springtime”: How many persons pause silently before the Tabernacle to spend time in a conversation of love with Jesus! It is consoling to know that not a few groups of young people have rediscovered the beauty of praying in adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament. I am thinking, for example, of our Eucharistic adoration in Hyde Park, in London…

Dear friends, fidelity to the encounter with the Eucharistic Christ in Sunday's Holy Mass is essential for the journey of faith, but let us try as well to frequently go to visit the Lord present in the Tabernacle! Gazing in adoration at the consecrated Host, we discover the gift of the love of God, we discover the passion and the cross of Jesus, and also his Resurrection. Precisely through our gazing in adoration, the Lord draws us to himself, into his mystery, to transform us as he transforms the bread and wine. The saints always found strength, consolation and joy in the Eucharistic encounter. With the words of the Eucharistic hymn Adoro te devote, let us repeat before the Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament: “Make me believe ever more in you, that in you I may have hope, that I may love you!” Thank you.

• Pope Benedict XVI speaking yesterday on the Feast of St Julia of Liege, the Belgian saint devoted to the Eucharist.

Dear Children! Today I invite you to fall in love with the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Adore Him, little children, in your Parishes and in this way you will be united with the entire world. Jesus will become your friend and you will not talk of Him like someone whom you barely know. Unity with Him will be a joy for you and you will become witnesses to the love of Jesus that He has for every creature. Little children, when you adore Jesus you are also close to me. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, September 25, 1995

Dear children! Rejoice with me in this time of spring when all nature is awakening and your hearts long for change. Open yourselves, little children, and pray. Do not forget that I am with you and I desire to take you all to my Son that he may give you the gift of sincere love towards God and everything that is from him. Open yourselves to prayer and seek a conversion of your hearts from God; everything else he sees and provides. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, April 25, 2002

Your place or mine...

I must stay at your house today.
Luke 19 : 5

My children, be humble. Through your humility, with his wisdom, God will make of your souls a chosen home. part Medjugorje message, December 2, 2008

Consecrate your heart and make in it the home of the Lord. May he dwell in it forever. part message, March 18, 1996

Of false prophets and their counterfeit crop

Jesus put a parable before the crowds: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off.

When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said. “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does this darnel come from?”

“Some enemy has done this,” he answered.

And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?”

But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13 : 24-30

• Darnel is a weed that bears close resemblance to wheat. So extensive is the similarity, until the ear appears, that it is known as “false wheat”. It grows plentiful in Syria and Israel.

On real wheat the ears are so heavy that it makes the entire plant droop downward, but darnel, whose ears are light, remains upright.

Wheat will also appear brown when ripe whereas darnel is black.

Darnel also has a characteristic which can lead to poisoned intoxication and death. • wikipedia

The light of life...

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord, anyone who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia!  
John 8 : 12

Dear children! Today I am calling on you to decide whether or not you wish to live the messages which I am giving you. I wish you to be active in living and spreading the messages. Especially, dear children, I wish that you all be the reflection of Jesus, which will enlighten this unfaithful world walking in darkness. I wish all of you to be the light for everyone and that you give witness in the light. Dear children, you are not called to the darkness, but you are called to the light. Therefore, live the light with your own life. Thank you for having responded to my call. 
 Medjugorje message, June 5, 1986

Never lose heart...

Jesus told his disciples... about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. Luke 18 : 1

Dear children! Also today I call you to pray for peace. Pray with the heart, little children, and do not lose hope because God loves his creatures. He desires to save you, one by one, through my coming here. I call you to the way of holiness. Pray, and in prayer you are open to God’s will; in this way, in everything you do, you realise God’s plan in you and through you. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, March 25, 2003

Island Girl

With a wave of her hand and her sparkling eye
My island girl bid me good-bye
For another dream in another time
For another life under another sky

But don't just cut off your heart, keep it open and sure
Keep it free from hurt and keep an open door
And let the spirit of love that united our soul
Be a gentle dove and guide you to your goal
And I'll go to that stream and I'll sing my own prayer
That my island girl shall be safe everywhere

Sing away while you can and before very long
The coming tide brings the chosen one
And there is a hope and there is a peace
In that ancient land where my angel sleeps

And when your river runs high, let it flow, let it flow
It's your time with life to let your garden grow
And when your burden gets rough, let it go, let it go
Let your strength return on every breeze that blows
Through that ancient land, through eternity
Oh my island girl, remember me

For your life has its course and you never can say
Who you'll meet and marry along your way
But be sure from the start that the cities behind
Love the land's living heart and breath eternal time

And when your river runs dry and your halo is torn
Drink the living stream in the calm of the dawn
And may you travel in peace and may your children be blessed
And your mind released and your soul caressed
In that faraway land where my spirit flies
To my island girl under those ancient skies

And with a wave of her hand and her sparkling eye
My island girl bid me good-bye
For another dream in another time
For another life under another sky

http://www.altan.ie

CDF prefect to meet with Holy Father today...

• According to Vatican Information Service, the Holy Father is scheduled this evening to receive in audience Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

It is to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith that the International Investigative Commission on Medjugorje submits its conclusions for study.

For souls in purgatory

Dear children! Today I wish to call you to pray daily for souls in purgatory. For every soul prayer and grace is necessary to reach God and the love of God. By doing this, dear children, you obtain new intercessors who will help you in life to realise that all the earthly things are not important for you, that only Heaven is that for which it is necessary to strive. Therefore, dear children, pray without ceasing that you may be able to help yourselves and the others to whom your prayers will bring joy. Thank you for having responded to my call. November 6, 1986

Remembrance Day

• Poppies in Medjugorje

‘Armistice Day’ is commemorated each year,
at the 11th hour of the 11th day, of the 11th month.

† † †

There is a hill in England,
Green fields and a school I know,
Where the balls fly fast in summer,
And the whispering elm-trees grow,
A little hill, a dear hill,
And the playing fields below.

There is a hill in Flanders,
Heaped with a thousand slain,
Where the shells fly night and noontide
And the ghosts that died in vain,
A little hill, a hard hill
To the souls that died in pain.

There is a hill in Jewry,
Three crosses pierce the sky,
On the midmost He is dying
To save all those who die,
A little hill, a kind hill
To souls in jeopardy.

Everard Owen, Harrow, December, 1915

Visionary Ivan visits Bogota, Colombia

• This is footage of the Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic when he received an apparition from the Virgin Mary in Bogota, Colombia, November 6, 2010.

Look in the eyes of your Brother...

 

Let us lift our heads and let us allow Christ to look into our eyes...

Benedict XVI, November 9, 2010

Dear children, Today, with my motherly heart, I call you gathered around me to love your neighbour. MY CHILDREN, STOP! LOOK IN THE EYES OF YOUR BROTHER AND SEE JESUS, MY SON. If you see joy, rejoice with him. If there is pain in the eyes of your brother, with your tenderness and goodness, cast it away, because without love you are lost. Only love is effective; it works miracles. Love will give you unity in my Son and the victory of my heart. Therefore, my children, love.  
Medjugorje message, September 2, 2008

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.
Numbers 6 : 24-26

When we have done all that we have been told...

We are merely servants, we have done no more than our duty.  
Luke 17 : 10

May your life become service to the Divine Love of my Son.
part Medjugorje message, March 2, 2008

Dear children! Today I call you to love and mercy. Give love to each other as your Father gives it to you. Be merciful – with the heart. Do good works, not permitting them to wait for you too long. Every mercy that comes from the heart brings you closer to my Son. Medjugorje message, March 18, 2001

You will shine like bright stars

• FIREWORKS AT THE MEDJUGORJE YOUTH FESTIVAL

Alleluia, alleluia! You will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life. Alleluia!  
Philippians 2 : 15-16

Dear children! Today I pray for you and with you that the Holy Spirit may help you and increase your faith, so that you may accept even more the messages that I am giving you here in this holy place. Little children, comprehend that this is a time of grace for each of you; and with me, little children, you are secure. I desire to lead you all on the way of holiness. Live my messages and put into life every word that I am giving you. May they be precious to you because they come from heaven. Thank you for having responded to my call.  Medjugorje message, June 25, 2002

Pope on pilgrimage...

To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe...

• Pope Benedict XVI, on his arrival today as a pilgrim at Santiago de Compostela.

Thank you for responding to my call...

The call to serve Jesus can come from anyone, anytime. That’s the way God likes to work – through others.

It was Mary who received the first call to take Jesus into her life after the Angel Gabriel had dropped in unexpectedly. Over the next 12 months a number of others got to meet the child Jesus: Joseph, of course, Elizabeth, the wise men, the shepherds, Simeon, Anna and many others not named in the Gospels.

John the Baptist ‘called’ two of his disciples – Andrew was one – and pointed out the ‘Lamb of God’ as Jesus came into view. Andrew then called Simon Peter. Later the two brothers were called by Jesus to be fishers of men. He soon called another pair of brothers, James and John, and then Philip who in turn called Nathaniel.

At Canan, after Mary had called the servants and said to do whatever Jesus told them, it was the steward who called the bridegroom to taste the New Wine!

Then there are the totally unexpected calls in life to meet with and follow Jesus. The Samaritan woman at the well called not just one but all her townspeople. What a witness she turned out to be! And then there was Simon, seized by Roman soldiers, turned around and given little choice but to follow Jesus.

Others heard the call in their hearts less forcefully, but perhaps more amazingly, by witnessing the many signs and miracles performed by Jesus. Surely all of these people wasted no time in telling friends and family of what they had seen and heard, calling them in turn to come and see.

Perhaps the strangest of calls made by Jesus was when he called the dead Lazarus to come out of the tomb! But then, in way, any call from Jesus is a wake-up call – to save us from death.

There is no escaping the call. It comes to us all. It continues until God’s saving plan is complete. We are reminded of this each month when Our Lady ends her message with, “Thank you for responding to my call.”

Today, Our Lady, just as she did with the servants at Canan, continues with her call from Medjugorje to co-operate with her Son. She calls us to co-operate in many different ways.

I am calling you to holiness... December 6, 2006
I am calling you to be my apostles... March 18, 2000
I am calling you to pray... November 25, 1992
I am calling you to renew your hearts... July 25, 1989
I am calling you to live the messages... June 25, 1989
I am calling you to a complete surrender to God... April 25, 1989
I am calling you to the way of holiness... January 25, 1989
I am calling you to complete conversion... January 25, 1988
I am calling you to sincere prayer with the heart... December 25, 1987
I am calling everyone of you to start living in God’s love... May 25, 1987
I am calling you again to offer sacrifices... September 18, 1986
I am calling you to pray the Rosary... June 12, 1986
I am calling you to live in mutual love... May 29, 1986
I am calling you to give the gifts to others with love... May 8, 1986
I am calling you to do your job with responsibility... May 8, 1986
I am calling you to the light... March 14, 1985
I am calling you to love... June 6, 1985
I am calling you to family prayer... December 6, 1984

Focusing on heaven...

They make foods into their god and they are proudest of something they ought to think shameful; the things they think important are earthly things. For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. Philippians 3 : 19-21

Dear children! Today I wish to call you to pray daily for souls in purgatory. For every soul prayer and grace is necessary to reach God and the love of God. By doing this, dear children, you obtain new intercessors who will help you in life to realise that all the earthly things are not important for you, that only Heaven is that for which it is necessary to strive. Therefore, dear children, pray without ceasing that you may be able to help yourselves and the others to whom your prayers will bring joy. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, November 6, 1986

‘Miraculous’ Mosaic

Medjugorje… the joy of angels

I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner. Luke 15 : 10

• It’s an unexpected truth to learn that here on earth each of us is capable of generating joy among God’s angels in heaven. Mostly we are conditioned to petition heaven to send joy to the world instead.

But in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us exactly how this happens, how his angels are constantly rejoicing. I say constantly because Jesus says his angels rejoice over one repentant sinner. One!

If just one different person repents each minute of the day, that gives the angels 1,440 repentant souls to rejoice over daily. Not a lot, is it? But enough for the angels in heaven to receive perpetual joy!

And imagine how that joy intensifies as the number of repenting souls on earth increases.

So for the angels in heaven, what a wonderful source of joy Medjugorje must be – the confessional of the world!

I am here, dear children, to help you and to lead you to heaven, and in heaven is the joy through which you can already live heaven now. part Medjugorje message, May 25, 1991

Feast of St Martin de Porres

Pray and seek the intercession of all the saints. May they be for you an example, an incentive and a joy towards eternal life. 

October 25, 2010

Our Lady’s November message to Mirjana

Dear children; With motherly perseverance and love I am bringing you the light of life to destroy the darkness of death in you. Do not reject me, my children. Stop and look within yourselves and see how sinful you are. Be aware of your sins and pray for forgiveness. My children, you do not desire to accept that you are weak and little, but you can be strong and great by doing God’s will. Give me your cleansed hearts that I may illuminate them with the light of life, my Son. Thank you.  
Medjugorje message, November 2, 2010

• First Sunday of Advent November 28, 2010
You know ‘the time’ has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon – let us give up all the things we prefer to do under the cover of dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ.  Romans 13 : 11-14

All Souls

On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food. On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever. Isaiah 25 : 6-7.

Follow my Son and give me your hands so that together we may climb the mountain and win... part message, July 2, 2007

Happy All Saints!

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Little children, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you on the way of truth and salvation towards eternal life.  May 25,1998

Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth as their heritage.
I want each one of you to be happy here on earth and to be with me in Heaven. May 25, 1987

Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
Give me all your feelings and all your problems! I wish to comfort you in all your trials. I wish to fill you with peace, joy and love of God. June 20, 1985

Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied.
When you find unity with God, you will feel hunger for the word of God and your heart, little children, will overflow with joy.  January 25, 1997

Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.
God is merciful and gives special graces, therefore, seek them through prayer. May 25, 2008

Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God.
Little children, may your hearts be pure and pleasing, so that love and warmth may flow through you into every heart that is far from his love. November 25, 2009

Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God.
Do not talk about peace, but make peace. I am blessing each of you and each good decision of yours.  February 25, 1991

Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of God.
Pray, pray, that you may comprehend and surrender with a spirit that is free, be completely transformed and, in this way, may have the Kingdom of Heaven in your heart on earth. July 2, 2010

Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
Today, with a motherly heart, I call you to learn to forgive, completely and unconditionally. You suffer injustice, betrayals and prosecutions, but by that you are closer to and dearer to God. September 2, 2009