22nd Medjugorje Youth Festival

The 22nd Medjugorje Youth Festival begins tomorrow, August 1. You can follow all the events live via several internet tv and audio links listed on the parish website

The festival ends Friday, August 5.

Sanctus Hosanna

• Best listened to with headphones and viewed at 480p

Accepting the Gift

• Today in Scripture... Friday

Accept God’s message for what it really is: God’s message, and not some human thinking. 1 Thessalonians 2 : 13

“Is not his mother the woman called Mary…?” And they would not accept him… Matthew 13 : 35-37

Dear children! Today I invite you to accept with seriousness and to live the messages which I am giving you. I am with you and I desire, dear children, that each one of you be ever closer to my heart. Therefore, little children, pray and seek the will of God in your everyday life. I desire that each one of you discover the way of holiness and grow in it until eternity. I will pray for you and intercede for you before God that you understand the greatness of this gift which God is giving me that I can be with you. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, April 25, 1990

A Tabernacle for the Lord

• Today in Scripture... Thursday

Moses did exactly as the Lord had directed him… Moses erected the tabernacle. He fixed the sockets for it, put up its frames, put its cross-bars in position, set up its posts. He spread the tent over the tabernacle and on top of this the covering for the tent, as the Lord had directed. He took the Testimony and placed it inside the ark… He brought the ark into the tabernacle… Exodus 40 : 16-20

Dear children! Today I call you, together with me, to begin to build the Kingdom of Heaven in your hearts; that you may forget that what is personal and – led by the example of my Son – think of what is of God. What does he desire of you? Do not permit Satan to open the paths of of earthly happiness, the paths without my Son. My children, they are false and last a short while. My Son exists. I offer you eternal happiness and peace and unity with my Son, with God; I offer you the Kingdom of God. Thank you. Medjugorje message, August 2, 2010

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

Pilgrimage pointers

This transcript of a talk given by Fr Svet in Medjugorje may appear a lengthy read, but please persevere. You will be greatly rewarded. Thanks to Angela Callan for the transcription and writing every word by hand. Love in action!


• There are a number of things I would like to share with you and I don’t know where to start. We are pilgrims, and in this pilgrimage, in this journey of life, everything is ‘fast forward’. There are many surprises and many challenges and we always wonder how we are doing in this art of living.

We always address ourselves to finding the best answers, the best solutions, the best avenue to get there; to accomplish things and sometimes be good, to be victorious, to be sensible, to be useful. We answer our calling to be good human beings, to be a good worker, a good mother or father, a good friend, neighbour, brother or sister. So we always wonder and pray and think ‘how can we be the best we can be?’ And don’t we make some terrible mistakes? Someone said, “God help me to protect my friends from myself.” And that is more critical than helping protect myself from others.

WE ARE LIKE SCIENTISTS...
Probably on a pilgrimage like this we want to answer some of those questions. We want to investigate – basically, we are scientists every day. Did you ever think of that? These scientists have the privilege that they know the formulas of physics and mathematics, to make machines. But how about the mother who is trying to be the best mother possible? She is using everything she has to be the best she can be. Every day she is a scientist investigating her own soul and the soul of her child, and the mysteries of the world, to be the best she can be. And that curiosity that will keep us curious every day to know that the secrets and mysteries have to be part of our living, every day. We will be the best when we are in the image of God. In this world, unfortunately, our basic mistake is that we create God and others in OUR image. That is where we go wrong – we would like to create God and the world, including every human being around us, in our image. That is where we go wrong and where we are broken. So we are becoming these curious scientists of the soul to investigate the mysteries of life, to become the best we can be, the best we need to be for the well-being of our brothers and sisters and for the glory of God.

What is the best way to do this? We all have to invest our lives to know. When Our Lady comes to speak to mankind with the message of God, with the message of the Holy Spirit, she is addressing precisely that: our human, existential need to be the best we can be.

PILGRIMAGE IS PRAYER...
Basically I would like to reflect on how we can improve our human relationships. Of course, God is very much a part of all this and He would like to help us to be active in these human inter-relationships. There is one message that comes from God the Holy Spirit, (and Our Lady is at the service of this message) and that is prayer. It’s as simple as that. She is calling us to prayer.

The purpose for us here today is to see what does it mean to pray. We are all called to enter into the business of prayer. I said earlier that we all create God and those around us in our own image, so we create our own prayer, our own beliefs. So we say, “I’m nice, really, I believe in God.” – and we do it all wrong. So in pilgrimage Our Lady would like to actually teach us how to pray. In pilgrimage we are into the business of prayer.

Many people will be speaking to you and people from all over the world are in the same position – we are all pilgrims. You don’t come to me or anyone here, you don’t come to the visionaries for them to make your pilgrimage – but we all involve ourselves in the business of pilgrimage.The other word for pilgrimage is prayer. Prayer or pilgrimage is a whole cultural way of living, a whole mentality, a whole approach to life. Prayer is something we need to be and prayer is the way to be. Pilgrimage is the way to be. Pilgrimage is basically when I say to God, “I am ready. I would like to be curious and ready. Whatever surprise you might have for me today, tomorrow... I am ready.” That is the mentality the Holy Spirit would like to create in us! Without this ‘I am ready for you my Lord’ I will do my own thing. But with this ‘I am ready’ we say those words of Peter: “Speak to me Lord, I am ready to listen.” Those are the words in the Old Testament, the major words in the Old Testament and the New Testament: “Lord, speak to me, I am willing to listen.”

WILLING TO LISTEN...
So in pilgrimage you are basically coming to that attitude, ‘I am willing to listen’. There are many things that need to happen in this process of becoming willing to listen. These things will happen in pilgrimage. So pilgrimage is the most profound, the best way of becoming a person of prayer. Actually, without pilgrimage we cannot become a person of prayer. In pilgrimage we are being thrown into a mill and crushed. Our old ways are crushed so that we can receive new ways.

In the Book of Revelation we have, “Behold, I am making all things new,” so this is Revelation happening to you. So suddenly you are not reading about Peter, but Peter is you. You are not far distant and an observer of events, but you become the very centre; this is happening to you. You become a biblical person, with biblical things happening to you. God is calling you name and bringing you on this long journey so that you can encounter Him.

This pilgrimage is tailored precisely according to your needs. Whatever your thoughts are in the process of pilgrimage, this is something responding to your situation. Your pilgrimage is the most unique, intimate experience that happened to you that only you and the Lord do know. It has absolutely nothing to do with Medjugorje. Your coming to this place is to do with the drama in your own life. Medjugorje is just a challenge, a spark from God, that initiates this process in you.

So we are not investigating the mountain. The mountains are helping us to investigate our own soul. We are not investigating the Church’s stand on Medjugorje, we are investigating where we stand with the Lord. We are not investigating whether the children are telling the truth or not because, after everything is said and done, there is only you and the Lord, face to face, to speak to. We cannot avoid that reality – in pilgrimage there is that intimate process, you and the Lord. I walk my walk, you walk your walk. I deal with my own stupidity and troubles, you with your own. We will answer to the Lord for these and we will be glorified or punished, but this something intimate that each of us have to do.

MAKING SPACE IN OUR LIVES...
In pilgrimage we create space in our lives for God. That is the basic. Suddenly, you leave your family, your brothers and sisters, your work, your friends, your power, your comforts. In the New Testament Jesus spoke about leaving brothers and sisters for His sake. In pilgrimage you do precisely that. You register these moments when your are packing your suitcase. You cannot take your car, you cannot put your kitchen into your suitcase, your friends, your jobs. You have to leave the props that support the whole system of your life. You have to leave your comfort and security zones and suddenly learn to live without all that, to learn a new art of living.

Suddenly you learn in pilgrimage that you can survive the mountain, and that you are able to climb the mountain. That’s prayer. That’s the process of surrender. We all have a kingdom of our own. Sometimes it’s not large – it’s as large, maybe, as your own kitchen. But we do have that kingdom, and suddenly that little we have is gone and lost. We don’t have it anymore. It is surrendered. That’s pilgrimage. That’s prayer.

WALKING IN PRAYER...
Through pilgrimage, prayer is something that is happening to your body and your soul. It’s a total experience of your life. That is the way God likes us to pray. We usually pray in our ordinary life with portions of our being.

So we say a few prayers, even spend one hour in prayer every day, but then all the rest of the time we live in this secular world where God is not present that much any longer. We attend church on Sunday, but then we have our business as usual where God doesn’t have much to say. In pilgrimage God would like to change that. Suddenly, God enters into all corners of your life. That is the way he would like to teach us to walk in prayer, to live in prayer by becoming pilgrims, to enter into this amazing journey of pilgrimage which is the business of God.

It wasn’t wise in Peter’s eyes that Jesus went to Jerusalem. He allowed himself to be crushed, and that is part of the pilgrimage. So basically, pilgrimage is a stupid thing to do, not wise, not sensible. Don’t expect others to approve it, to confirm it, or to praise you for it, or to understand you. On the contrary, you can be judged harshly, condemned by your own family and friends, and by many you thought would affirm you, encourage you. Pilgrimage is a daring journey, but that is all in the school of prayer.

WHEN HEARTS ARE CRUSHED...
I am going to share something with you. I am the Rector of Mother’s Village and 83 people are employed there. Today there are 350 there for lunch. You get into a situation of human relationships when someone is in charge of a portion of the work there and takes it very seriously. I am sharing my frustrations with you.

This person in charge, he suddenly sees that someone is doing something wrong. Wrong, period! The mistake that people make is that with the justice of God and their righteousness, they go charging in and in a rage crush the heart of another person. If someone then reprimands them for the tension that is suddenly in the workplace, they will say, “Don’t you know I’m right?” So with vengeance and justice they walk around ‘right’. They are able to crush their fellow co-workers and make tension in the whole place and create situations that are not desirable.

This happens because we are not willing to suffer. We are so often so willing to condemn, judge and be righteous. The most damage we do to ourselves and others is by being righteous, by being right. That is why Christ goes to be crushed on the Cross. He didn’t say a word to the person who was crucifying him. He allowed that person to learn himself, in his own time. At that moment he didn’t know what he was doing. He allowed him to learn, to grow, to find out in his own way.

That is the way we will be brothers and sisters and pilgrims: allowing the person next to you to be stupid, to be wrong, and you remain silent again and again and again, and be calm and then the situation will be resolved by itself.

Pray to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God will teach you, but only after you have suffered and prayed. Then you become a redeemer yourself, a co-redeemer with Jesus Christ for your family, for your children for your friend, for your neighbour, in such a way that we stand not as judges but as brothers and sisters who will bring blessings to others, not condemnation. This person might be or is wrong, but the damage that is coming to this person in this harsh way is far greater damage than the initial wrong that this person was doing. Then we inflict greater sufferings with greater consequences that this initial damage that was there, that we thought we needed to address.

WOUNDS TO ATTEND...
In pilgrimage, we actually learn to walk, become willing to suffer, to experience injustices, willing to be misunderstood. We walk with the shortcomings, wrongs, injustices done against us. The time will come, but only after we have suffered a bit, when we will be able to address the situation, to dress the wound and clean it and let it grow better. Then these people around will realise that they were seen doing wrong, and they were not rejected or crushed – and they will appreciate that and they will grow. This is the area where we need to investigate the mysteries and secrets and wisdom of life.

We pilgrims pray in such a way because all this is common sense. we don’t need to wait for a child to do something stupid to warn them, gently, with the love of God, and not with vengeance and poison of our own, fears and selfishness. Pilgrimage is something we allow to happen. As we go with pilgrimage we go with God, and we meet other people because this is where we are meant to be, where we are created to be. We will be allowed to have the cup to drink, but also where we will bless abundantly so many we will encounter on the journey of our life. We are so quick with this judgement against others that with the same mentality we accuse God, where we even see him doing something wrong to us.

When Christ walked towards the Cross, to embrace it, to lift it on his shoulders, he questioned God for letting him be in such a position. If Christ was able to come to such a position then we too will be in a similar position where God will allow us to walk into this encounter with the Cross; then in our justice we will condemn even God for being wrong. This is the same mentality we use in our relationships with the people around us. In this mill, in the prayer, in this pilgrimage we are crushed in those selfish attitudes. Our selfish ways are crushed.

Often we are like an angry dog who has experienced beatings and thinks that everyone wants to harm him. So before he is hit, he bites. In pilgrimage we need to allow ourselves be crushed, to become a new person, so that we become blessed ourselves, like Our Lady, and not only blessed ourselves but medicine for the wounds of others. So God will be able to bring you to where he is expecting you to be, there to bless. There is somewhere a wound for you to attend to and heal, just by being there, present. So in this pilgrimage we allow a similar process to Christ allowing himself to be crushed. “God count on me.”

SACRAMENTS...
There is an area of major crisis in the Church where we decide what our faith needs to be, what we need to believe, especially in the area of morality. Sometimes people realise that they are wrong. They realise that they are broken and they know that sometime they will change that. Others refuse to change and they say, “If I am wrong, God will forgive me,” without realising that they need to receive forgiveness from people.

How do we find true faith, true life, true prayer, not made in my image but in the image of God? That is something we are searching for. That is the whole problem of faith today, where Christians stand or fall. In pilgrimage our ways are crushed and the ways of God discovered – and this is in Sacraments. So the ultimate objective of our pilgrimage is Sacraments. We find God in Sacraments. So all the questions that you have in this area of morality, dogmas, human relationships, prayers – all the answers are in the Sacraments. There is the solution to every problem and every question there could be, or would ever be – in the Sacraments.

So in pilgrimage our ultimate goal is to encounter God in the Sacraments. In Sacraments we will see his face. Outside the Sacraments we will not be able to find him and he will not be able to find us. This means something very, very important, like Sunday Mass. The Eucharist is THE Sacrament of our faith. All the other Sacraments lead us towards the Eucharist, the Holy Communion with God and with each other. The fulfilment of this Sacrament will be in Heaven, the Holy Communion with God.

NOT TO BE THERE...
When we return home, the pilgrimage begins. We don’t really realise the consequence of our physical appearance. The world has led us to believe that the power of opinion is crucial – and that’s as wrong as it could be.

It’s not feelings – we say, “I didn’t feel right, so I didn’t go to church. I didn’t feel I wanted to go.” The ultimate act against God is not to be there. That’s all one could do, not to be there. That’s the sin of every sin and the source of every other sin – not to be there. That’s as far as we can go in sin, not to be there. If you are not there you are absolutely not there. We don’t realise that. If you are not there you are somewhere else, so you are or you are not. It’s more than a soldier who has to be in his own place and nowhere else. When a soldier is not in his own place at the time he needs to be, that’s treason. In war, that’s as far as you can go. When I am not at church on Sunday, every church in the world is empty and broken, annihilated because I am not there. We don’t realise this.

When you come, it’s the most you can do. So pilgrimage is when I come. So when you come to church you might be crushed, you might have doubts, you don’t like the priest, you don’t like this or that, BUT you are there. The problems of the Church arise when we decide not to be there, to be anywhere, to do anything.

ABORTION MENTALITY...
This attitude begins with the mentality of abortion. This may be challenging for you. Not to be in church on Sunday is the touch of abortion, to be pulled out of the Body of Christ and to be thrown into the garbage of the world. When we are not in the Body of Christ we are thrown into the garbage. That’s when the mentality of abortion comes.

With prayer, Our Lady would like us to be in the right place at the right time. When you are there, in the right place at the right time, then the world can count on you. Otherwise the world will lead you anywhere, the world will decide where you go. The things of the world, the attitudes of the world, the values of the world, will take over – and who cares? In pilgrimage we go on a journey for God, that we are able to say, “God, count on me. I will go wherever you call me.” When we create a mentality of pilgrimage and prayer then we will be there when God calls us.

A prayer we should say every day is, “God, please protect other people from me.” When we want to squeeze someone’s neck and not feel sorry for it, we have to postpone our just reaction (and God will give us a hint). That’s when we suffer most, when we postpone our just reaction.

Fr Svetozar Kraljevic OFM, Medugorje.

• Transcript by Angela Callan

Today in Scripture... Wednesday

When Moses came down from the mountain of Sinai (as he came down from the mountain, Moses had the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands) he did not know that the skin on his face was radiant after speaking with the Lord. And when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, the skin on his face shone so much that they would not venture near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community came back to him; and he spoke to them. Then all the sons of Israel came closer, and he passed on to them all the orders that the Lord had given him on the mountain of Sinai. Exodus 34 : 29-32

Be the light... the reflection of Jesus

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

Come closer... accept the messages...

Dear children! I am your Mother and I invite you to come closer to God through prayer because only he is your peace, your savior. Therefore, little children, do not seek comfort in material things, but rather seek God. I am praying for you and I intercede before God for each individual. I am looking for your prayers that you accept me and accept my messages as in the first days of the apparitions and only then when you open your hearts and pray will miracles happen. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, September 25, 1993

July message of Our Lady to Marija

Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit; may they be in God’s love. Permit me, little children, to lead you; open your hearts to the Holy Spirit so that all the good that is in you may blossom and bear fruit one hundredfold. Begin and end the day with prayer with the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, July 25, 2011

• The one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.
Matthew 13 : 23

Mystery marks on Medjugorje crucifix

Take a close look below at the five images of the Crucified Christ. They are photographs taken of the Tyrolean Cross that stands at the top of Apparition Hill, close to Our Lady’s statue.

The first two images (A) (E) clearly show distinctive brown/red markings on the right side of the face of Jesus. I once heard pilgrims refer to these markings as indications of blood. They are not part of the wood grain. So what are they? The pictures were taken in May 2004.

Move on four years to February 2007 and in the “flashed” photograph (B) the stains are even more pronounced.

But two years later, in September 2009 (C), the markings seem to be absent. There is a suggestion of the “stain” that was once on the cheek bone, but the rest of the heavy discolouration that started at the eyebrow is no longer there.

Finally, the fourth photograph (D) was taken in March 2003 and shows none of the markings that appear in the photograph taken just over a year later in May 2004.

Are the blemishes applied by human hand, perhaps wood stain, or preservative? Are they weather stains, maybe produced by rain dripping from the canopy above? Or is there a more wondrous cause?

• The crucifix was donated by Austrian pilgrims from the Tyrol.

A • MAY 2003... distinctive marks on face. © Bernard Gallagher

E • MAY 2004... Side elevation showing the markings.  © Bernard Gallagher

B • FEBRUARY 2007... marks even more prominent. © Bernard Gallagher

C • SEPTEMBER 2009... marks have almost disappeared. © Bernard Gallagher

D • MARCH 2003... before the marks appeared. © Bernard Gallagher

A • MAY 2003... close-up of distinctive marks on face. © Bernard Gallagher

C • SEPTEMBER 2009... marks have almost disappeared. © Bernard Gallagher

Growing in faith...

Let them both grow till the harvest…
Matthew 13 : 30

Dear children! May this time be a time of personal prayer for you, so that the seed of faith may grow in your hearts; and may it grow into a joyful witness to others. I am with you and I desire to inspire you all: grow and rejoice in the Lord who has created you. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, January 25, 2010

Lord, you have the message of eternal life...

 
The law of the Lord is perfect, 
it revives the soul. 
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted, 
it gives wisdom to the simple. 
The precepts of the Lord are right, 
they gladden the heart. 
The command of the Lord is clear, 
it gives light to the eyes.
Psalm 18

• From the archive, January 2007...

I’ve been giving some serious thought over the past few days about how I struggle with some things in my life and never seem able to come to terms or overcome these particular issues. I constantly ask God to help – even plead, but nothing seems to come back. And I got to thinking...

There I am, praying everyday, asking for this and that, to be blessed in all sorts of ways. But when God does deliver, does offer with both hands, I start getting picky, like choosing only those chocolates I like from the selection box, the gifts that give a little buzz and pleasure, those I enjoy.

The other ‘sweets’ in the box I tend to leave alone, discard, or put onto one side with a response like: “Thank you, but I’ll tackle that later” – like not wanting to waste time chewing through a tough toffee when there are soft centres that can be absorbed more easily and give the buzz ‘I want’. The hard stuff I’ll leave to later, that’s if I can ever be bothered to go back to it at all.

And then the next day I start all over again: “Lord help me with this, help me with that...” and the whole process is repeated over and over until it is God’s time to step in and break the hopeless cycle.

Last night Jesus stepped in... In my mind’s eye I saw a picture of Him with his two hands outstretched before me, similar to how one receives communion in the hand. Both hands were full of gifts, some in brightly coloured wrapping, others in dull brown paper tied with string, which I didn’t like the look of. But I took them all because I was concerned if I didn’t maybe He wouldn’t offer them again.

And yes, it was the bright boxes that I first began to open – every fool knows that all good things come in bright and attractive wrapping. So I continued sifting through the gifts, taking some, ignoring others, until I sensed that I was being shown a lesson, God’s revealing ways. And then I realised how blind I have been to the fact that the Father only hands out goodness, nothing bad. There isn’t a bad bone in Him; that the brown paper gifts, the tough toffees, are full of God’s goodness and necessary for my health in mind, body and soul; and that if I don’t start chewing on the hard toffees, the tough decisions, and having patience to untie the knots on the string parcels, then I will remain deficient in many areas of my life.

I have to WORK at the gifts and the talents handed to me by God, not sit back and look for the soft and easy route all of the time. I know now that graces come in all sizes, colours and packages. All, like vitamins, are given to me because I am need of them. If I discard some then my spirit will not be healthy. My body also may suffer unnecessary.

Our Lady gives gifts of plenty from Medjugorje. There is a programme called the Five Stones. It involves Prayer, Fasting, Monthly Reconciliation, reading the Bible and frequent attendance at Mass. All beautiful gifts, but not always easy to chew on or even swallow. It can be so easy to be ‘picky’ with these as well.

So next time I come on to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, asking for this and that, I have a feeling He will say, “I gave you that last week. Best check inside yourself first. Go on, make an effort. Untie the string, take off the wrapper and get chewing!”

Dear children, I am coming to you in this your time, to direct the call to eternity to you. This is the call of love. I call you to love, because only through love will you come to know the love of God. Many think that they have faith in God and that they know his laws. They try to live according to them, but they do not do what is the most important; they do not love Him. My children, pray and fast. This is the way which will help you to open yourselves and to love. Only through the love of God is eternity gained. I am with you. I will lead you with the motherly love. Thank you for having responded. Medjugorje message, October 2, 2006

Enriched by prayer

The one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.  
Matthew 13 : 23

Dear children! May this time be a time of personal prayer for you, so that the seed of faith may grow in your hearts; and may it grow into a joyful witness to others. I am with you and I desire to inspire you all: grow and rejoice in the Lord who has created you. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message,
January 25, 2010

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

Apparition Hill is just a mound of rocks and thorn bushes that occasionally allows a small tree or shrub to blossom and bear fruit. And yet it is covered in rich soil, represented by the hearts of the pilgrims that daily ascend the rough ground to visit the site where Our Lady first appeared at Medjugorje – hearts that are changed through prayer and reconciliation; hearts that have become open to receive the Word.

Conversion of the heart...

COLOURS OF CONVERSION... AN OUTWARD SIGN OF INWARD CHANGE

Jesus answered his disciples... “The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:

‘You will listen and listen again but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes for fear that they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.’

“But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear and never heard it.” Matthew 13 : 13-17

Dear children! Today, I call you to become my witnesses by living the faith of your fathers. Little children, you seek signs and messages and do not see that, with every morning sunrise, God calls you to convert and to return to the way of truth and salvation. You speak much, little children, but you work little on your conversion. That is why, convert and start to live my messages, not with your words but with your life. In this way, little children, you will have the strength to decide for the true conversion of the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, September 25, 1998

A QUESTION FOR VICKA...

• How much effort is needed to start conversion and a life in accordance with the messages?

Vicka: “It does not require much effort. What matters most is that you want conversion. If you want conversion, it will come, and no effort is needed at all. But as long as you struggle, as long as there is a fight going on inside you, it means you are not determined to make that step. You’d better never start struggling if you are not persistent to the end, asking of God the favour of conversion.

“Conversion is a grace. Conversion will not drop down out of the blue sky, if you do not want it. Our conversion is our whole life. Who can say today, ‘I am converted’? Nobody. We have to go the way of conversion. Whoever says he is converted is lying, he hasn’t moved an inch. He who says he wants to be converted, he is on the way of conversion, he prays for conversion every day.

“We know very well how to hear and understand the message quite well. The trouble is that we resort to the messages mostly when we have some problem, but you see, God even uses that way so He can draw people closer to Himself.

“We should try to pray for the grace from Jesus and Our Lady to help us, naturally along with our good will, to open our hearts. If we ‘manage’ to open them, there will be no problems accepting Our Lady’s message.”

STEP BY STEP... on the hill of apparitions

• best listened to with headphones

STEP BY STEP

Step by step, stone by stone,

Mother Mary, Mother Mary,

Lead us home, lead us home.

Prayer by prayer, bead by bead

Mother Mary, Mother Mary,

Intercede, intercede.

Joy by joy, light by light

Mother Mary, Mother Mary,

Star so bright, star so bright.

Cross by cross, grace by grace,

Mother Mary, Mother Mary,

We embrace, we embrace

D       G     D        G 

Step by step, stone by stone,
A      D G   A      D G

Mother Mary, Mother Mary,
Bm   D  G     D    A  D

Lead us home, lead us home.

© bernard gallagher, July 2011

Oasis of Peace

They said: “Is it possible for God to prepare a table in the desert?” Psalm 77

Dear children! You know that I promised you an oasis of peace, but you don't know that beside an oasis stands the desert, where Satan is lurking and wanting to tempt each one of you. Dear children, only by prayer are you able to overcome every influence of Satan in your place. I am with you, but I cannot take away your freedom. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, August 7, 1986

FACT! JPII wanted to visit Medjugorje

Blessed John Paul II expressed a desire to visit Medjugorje on more than one occasion. Confirmation of this wish was actually transmitted to the Medjugorje parish and the local bishop by the former President of Croatia Dr Franjo Tudjman.

The late Fr Slavko Barbaric OFM revealed this fact in March 1997, shortly before the visit of the Croatia President to Bosnia Herzegovina in April 1997. Writing in his commentary notes on the message of March 25, 1997 Fr Slavko said:

“On Saturday, March 15, Medjugorje had an important visit in that the President of Croatia, Dr. Franjo Tudjman, came here after an official visit in Mostar. Many locals welcomed him, as he did them, and then he came into the Parish Office where he spoke with the Priests. Present were also the Provincial, Fra Tomislav Pervan, and the Bishop of Mostar, Mons. Ratko Peric. The President emphasized that the Holy Father had told him twice that he wishes to come to Medjugorje when he comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is certainly very important for us all to know this and not to forget it.”

Although the Pope had expressed his wish to visit Medjugorje when he travelled to Bosnia Herzegovina the following month, his desire was not fulfilled. News agencies reported that in a papal audience held after the visit the Pope said: “In the course of the war pilgrimages of the faithful to the Marian shrine in Bosnia Herzegovina did not stop as also not in other parts of the world, especially in Loreto, in order to request the Mother of Nations and the Queen of Peace to intervene in that suffering region.”

Love is a sure sign...

A SIGN FOR THE RISING OF MANY IN THE WORLD, BUT REJECTED BY SOME.

Some of the scribes and Pharisees spoke up. “Master,” they said “we should like to see a sign from you.” Jesus replied, “It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign!” Matthew 12 : 38

Dear children! Today, I call you to become my witnesses by living the faith of your fathers. Little children, you seek signs and messages and do not see that, with every morning sunrise, God calls you to convert and to return to the way of truth and salvation. You speak much, little children, but you work little on your conversion. That is why, convert and start to live my messages, not with your words but with your life. In this way, little children, you will have the strength to decide for the true conversion of the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, September 25, 1998

• I once spent a short time in the company of Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, the Medjugorje visionary. I had compiled a list of questions to ask her, all which she duly answered. But it was her answer to my final question which made the most impact on me.

The question was: For those who are unable to travel to Medjugorje, for whatever reason, how does Medjugorje come to them?

I was expecting her to respond with an answer along the lines of having to pray and fast and make use of the Sacraments, but instead she replied: “Through you. Be an example – a good example.”

Our Lady speaks about “signs” in several of her messages. She says that Medjugorje is a sign in itself to all of us, and her long stay is also a sign of her immeasurable love. But mostly Our Lady invites us to become a sign of God’s grace in our lives, a sign of love. She says that when we surrender and unite with God, and work on our personal conversion, we become a sign of God’s love to others.

Little children, work on your conversion so that your example may be a sign and an incentive for conversion to others… Pray in such a way that your prayer, your surrender to God, may become like a road sign… If, with your life, you give an example and become a sign of God’s love, joy will prevail in the hearts of men… Become a sign to this peaceless world… Little children, be a sign to those who are far from God and his love…

There are many signs in this world that testify to God, but seeking and recognising Jesus in others is a sure sign of his revealing love and promise: “Seek and you shall find”. To love Jesus in others is to love Jesus within our own heart.

A NEW “SIGN” SEEN AT MEDJUGORJE

Nightline in Medjugorje

You can watch other segments from the documentary produced by ABC’s Nightline programme at its website via the logo link below.

I AM has sent me to you...

And God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am. This” he added “is what you must say to the sons of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3 : 14

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. Medjugorje message, October 25, 2007

What does she look like?

This is a trailer from ABC’s Nightline programme, Miracles from the Mother of God. If you are living in in the United States or its Territories you can view the programme by clicking on the Nightline logo:

The protection of Mary...

 In our day, Our Lady has been given to us as the best defence against the evils that afflict modern life; Marian devotion is the sure guarantee of her maternal protection and safeguard in the hour of temptation. Pope Benedict XVI, May 11, 2007

Dear children! Pray during this month. God allows me every day to help you with graces to defend yourselves against evil. This is my month. I want to give it to you. You just pray and God will give you the graces you are seeking. I will help along with it. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, October 25, 1984

Dear children! Today I also rejoice at your presence here. I bless you with my motherly blessing and intercede for each one of you before God. I call you anew to live my messages and to put them into life and practice. I am with you and bless all of you day by day. Dear children, these are special times and, therefore, I am with you to love and protect you; to protect your hearts from Satan and to bring you all closer to the heart of my Son, Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, June 25, 1993

The Lord is compassion and love...

It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals everyone of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion. Psalm 102

Dear children! Today I wish to give you my own love. You do not know, dear children, how great my love is, and you do not know how to accept it. In various ways I wish to show it to you, but you, dear children, do not recognise it. You do not understand my words with your heart and neither are you able to comprehend my love. Dear children, accept me in your life and so you will be able to accept all I am saying to you and to which I am calling you. Thank you for having responded to my call.  Medjugorje message, May 22, 1986

• Love is the most beautiful gift we can give to anyone. Love is the greatest gift. Whatever we give to others, or whatever others give to us, if it is given without love, it seems to lose some value. When we receive human love, our heart lives and blossoms. What joy, then, should our human heart feel when we hear the joyful news that God is giving us his love... Mary. She also wants to give us her love as a gift. Mary’s love is resourceful and finds ways of opening the eyes of those she loves, so that we can see and accept love. The first response to love is that it be accepted and not rejected. Only then can we effectively respond and discover love.

However, in this message, Our Lady complains – as a mother who loves. We, the people, her children, are not recognising her love. Our hearts are closed, our eyes blinded, and our ears deaf. What is happening with people today? Many do not recognise love anymore and are not able to accept love. This is the description of a terrible diagnosis for spiritual death! What great sadness Our Lady must feel when she sees her children in such condition! Her sadness is as great as is her love. How hard it would be for a mother if her own children did not recognise her or if their hearts were not open to her.

So man today is in a strange situation: the further he is from love, the more he desires it. Unfulfilled desire disappoints and closes the heart, and man becomes unhappy. This is the circle of death in which many people are entangled. God, in his love, is not forgetting the world and is offering himself through Mary.

I am convinced that there is nothing left for us but to pray that we can recognise and accept Our Lady’s love and God’s love with our heart. Then we will be able to accept with love all of her messages and everything she wants to give us. It is very difficult to see blindness in those whom you regard as your own. When those we love close their eyes to us, it offends us he most; but when they are open to our love, we are joyful.

Fr Slavko Barbaric

He was in the world that had its being through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own domain and his own people did not accept him. But to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God. John 1 : 1-12

• adapted from the book: IN THE SCHOOL OF LOVE, by Fr Slavko Barbaric ofm

Most beautiful but hardest message for Marija

Alleluia, Alleluia! Train me, Lord, to observe your law, to keep it with my heart. Alleluia! Psalm 118-34

• During an apparition, the visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti asked Our Lady, “Gospa, do you have anything especially for me?” The answer was, “I am giving you my love so that you can give it to others.”

On one occasion I asked Marija (pictured) if she could single out the one message that was the most beautiful and the most hardest. After a short pause she remembered the above question and Our Lady’s answer. I wanted to know why this was the most beautiful and the most hardest message. She answered, “To experience the beauty of Our Lady’s love and to realise that this love is a gift, is something most beautiful in life. But when I try to love others and to give this love to others it is so hard that I am ashamed of my incomplete love in the light of Our Lady’s all-encompassing, motherly love.”

Then I asked, “What can be done?” The visionary answered, “Well, I pray every day that I can be open more and more to the love of Our Lady and that I can hand it over to everyone. I pray for others that they will be able to experience this love and transmit it to others. We are so far from love toward one another and that is a sign that we are far away from God’s love. The closer we would come to God’s love, the easier our life and our witnessing to others would be.”

I believe there is no better way for the rest of us than daily prayer for the gift of love, so that we can experience that love which is most beautiful and accomplish what is hardest.

Fr Slavko Barbaric OFM

• adapted from his book: IN THE SCHOOL OF LOVE

The enemy within...

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” Matthew 10 : 34-36

Dear children; today I call you to a difficult and painful step for your unity with my Son. I call you to complete admission and confession of sins, to purification. An impure heart cannot be in my Son and with my Son. An impure heart cannot give the fruit of love and unity. An impure heart cannot do correct and just things; it is not an example of the beauty of God’s love to those who surround it and to those who have not come to know that love. You, my children, are gathering around me full of enthusiasm, desires and expectations, and I implore the Good Father to, through the Holy Spirit, put my Son – faith, into your purified hearts. My children, obey me, set out with me.  
Medjugorje message, JULY 2, 2011

• Afterwards Mirjana said that as Our Lady left she saw a scene that showed darkness on the left and a cross in golden light on the right. Mirjana said she believed that this was Our Lady’s way of showing the difference between a pure and impure heart.

Dear children! Today on the birthday of my Son, when my heart is filled with immeasurable joy and love, I invite you to open fully and surrender fully to God. Throw out all the darkness from your heart and let God’s light and God’s love enter your heart and dwell there forever. Be carriers of God’s light and love to all people, so everyone, in you and through you, can feel and experience the authentic light and love that only God is able to give you. I am blessing you with my motherly blessing! Special message of Our Lady to Jakov, December 25, 1999

Dear children, I, as a mother, am coming to you and showing you how much God, your Father, loves you. And you? Where are you, children of mine? What is in your heart in the first place? What is not permitting you to put my Son in the first place? My children, permit God’s blessing to fall upon you. May God’s peace permeate you, the peace that my Son, and he alone, gives.” Medjugorje message,  September 2, 2005.

Dear children! Do not seek peace and happiness in vain, in the wrong places and in wrong things. Do not permit your hearts to become hard by loving vanity. Invoke the name of my Son. Receive Him in your heart. Only in the name of my Son will you experience true happiness and true peace in your heart. Only in this way will you come to know the love of God and spread it further. I am calling you to be my apostles. Special message of Our Lady to Mirjana, March 18, 2000.

Feed the world...

Dear children! Also today, I call you to be love where there is hatred and food where there is hunger. Open your hearts, little children, and let your hands be extended and generous so that, through you, every creature may thank God the Creator. Pray, little children, and open your heart to God’s love, but you cannot if you do not pray. Therefore, pray, pray, pray. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, September 25, 2004

Thus says the Lord: “As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.” Isaiah 55 : 10-11

MARY’S MEALS... a simple solution to world hunger

Visionaries pray Magnificat

This film clip is from a wonderful double-DVD set issued by the Information Centre Mir Medjugorje recording the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the Medjugorje phenomenon. It shows five of the visionaries praying The Magnificat: Ivanka, Marija, Ivan, Mirjana and Mirjana. Vicka was absent recovering from an accident.

The DVD, available with English, Italian, French, German, Polish, Slovakian and Croatian translation, is priced at just 13 euros and is a wonderful memory of the historic occasion. It can be obtained from the Franciscan store in Medjugorje and also from Fotođani (next to Colombo).

* special thanks to Rose for bringing me back this gift from Medjugorje. 

The kingdom of heaven...

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: “As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” Matthew, 10 : 7

Can it really be that Heaven is within reach of us all, here and now? Where is this kingdom if it is close at hand?

Some say that Medjugorje is like heaven on earth, such is the level of peace to be discovered there. “If only it could be like this at home” is a comment frequently heard in Medjugorje.

It’s not rocket science for any visitor to relate this phenomenon to the visitations of the Blessed Virgin these past 30 years, known by her title Our Lady Queen of Peace.

Her opening words in her first ever message, given to Marija on the third day of the apparitions, June 26, 1981, were: “Peace, peace, peace; only peace!” And in later messages she affirms all we have been taught by the Church and Scripture that peace can only come with the acceptance of her Son, Jesus.

In Medjugorje we rediscover God in our life, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Medjugorje, Mary, the mother of Jesus, responds to the request of her Son, “As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”

In a special message to the visionary Mirjana just a year ago (July 2010), Our Lady said: “Dear children, my motherly call, which I direct to you today, is a call of truth and life. My Son, who is Life, loves you and knows you in truth. To come to know and to love yourself, you must come to know my Son; to come to know and to love others, you must see my Son in them. Therefore, my children, pray, pray, pray, that you 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. Thank you!

And when we find this peace, when we discover the love of Jesus in our hearts, the kingdom of heaven, we become empowered, as the Apostles were, to proclaim the message and the gift received without charge: “The kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”

At Medjugorje we experience the closeness of heaven. We see the sick cured, lives resurrected, lepers cleansed and devils cast out. And then we cannot refrain from speaking of what we have seen and heard. Acts 4 : 20

So coming to Medjugorje in our search for peace is undertaking a journey to come to know Jesus and the love he offers to each of us. Where Mary is we find Jesus. Where Jesus is we find Mary. Two Inseparable Hearts, calling you and me to be one with them and to go on to call others and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

Stealing blessings...

Paul Gauguin’s Vision of the Sermon, Scottish National Gallery

In last Saturday’s Mass reading we are shown how Jacob deceived his father into giving him the blessing Isaac had wanted to give his eldest son Esau. Because of this stolen blessing Jacob became wealthy and successful, but also made an enemy of his brother.

In today’s first reading, Jacob spends a night wrestling with his conscience, until eventually this inner struggle brings him face to face with God and produces a repentant heart and a plea for God’s true blessing. He becomes a changed man. No longer is he Jacob. Now he becomes Israel.

I remember a talk given by Fr Svet at Medjugorje to english-speaking pilgrims when he spoke of how we are capable of stealing God’s blessing. He particularly mentioned the use of drugs and how some drugs can replicate a “spiritual” state in people, but this was not the way God had intended any of us to reach a state of spiritual happiness.  The apparent blessings are counterfeit, stolen, and simply an illusion. But the forbidden fruit to happiness is always there to tempt us.

Jacob came to his father to receive blessings, not as his true self, but disguised as his brother. He received apparent blessings – success and wealth, with wives, slaves and children, but the Lord showed Jacob, who wrestled with himself through the whole night, that the true blessing was being at rights with God and his brother.

This was the first call made by Our Lady at Medjugorje (Gate of Heaven) when she said: “Peace, peace, peace, only peace! Reconcile with God and with each other!”

Just this month she reminds us again of the need to purify our hearts by admitting and confessing our sins. For some of us, this may incur some sleepless nights as we wrestle with our conscience. Our conflict may leave us physically weaker as Jacob was when his wrestling experience left him with a dislocated hip. But our spiritual state and soul will be strengthened and renewed when we submit to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to repent and receive the entitled blessings of the Father in his mercy and love.

One Love...

Medjugorje... gate of heaven...

The Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I never knew it... How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than a house of God; this is the gate of heaven!” Genesis 28 : 16-17 – Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, Monday

GATE OF HEAVEN is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Our Lady’s July message to Mirjana

Dear children; today I call you to a difficult and painful step for your unity with my Son. I call you to complete admission and confession of sins, to purification. An impure heart cannot be in my Son and with my Son. An impure heart cannot give the fruit of love and unity. An impure heart cannot do correct and just things; it is not an example of the beauty of God’s love to those who surround it and to those who have not come to know that love. You, my children, are gathering around me full of enthusiasm, desires and expectations, and I implore the Good Father to, through the Holy Spirit, put my Son – faith, into your purified hearts. My children, obey me, set out with me. Medjugorje message, July 2, 2011

Afterwards Mirjana said that as Our Lady left she saw a scene that showed darkness on the left and a cross in golden light on the right. Mirjana said she believed that this was Our Lady’s way of showing the difference between a pure and impure heart.

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most loving Jesus, when I consider your heart and see it full of mercy and tenderness, my own heart if filled with joy and confidence that I should be so kindly welcomed by you.

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. Matthew 11 : 3-30

Dear children, I invite you to open the door of your heart to Jesus as the flower opens itself to the sun. Jesus desires to fill your hearts with peace and joy. part message, January 25, 1995