Permit him to transform you...

Dear children! I call you also today to conversion. Open your heart to God, little children, through Holy Confession and prepare your soul so that little Jesus can be born anew in your heart. Permit him to transform you and lead you on the way of peace and joy. Little children, decide for prayer. Especially now, in this time of grace, may your heart yearn for prayer. I am close to you and intercede before God for all of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.
November 25, 2007

• This report is on Pope Francis’ homily of today is provided by Vatican Radio

The problem is not that we are sinners, but that we do not allow ourselves to be transformed by the encounter with Christ in love:

This was the main focus of Pope Francis’ remarks at Mass on Friday morning in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican.

At the centre of the homily was the day’s Gospel reading, in which the Risen Jesus thrice asks Peter if Peter loves Him. “It is,” said Pope Francis, “a dialogue of love between the Lord and his disciple,” one that retraces the whole history of Peter’s meetings with Jesus; from Peter’s first calling and invitation to follow the Lord, to his receiving the name of Cephas – the Rock – and with the name, his peculiar mission, “which,” said Pope Francis, “was there, even if Peter understood nothing of it [at the time].” Then, when Peter recognised Jesus as the Christ and went on to reject the way of the Cross, and Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan!” and “Peter accepted this humiliation.”

Peter often “believed himself to be a good fellow,” was “fiery” in the Garden of Gethsemane, and “took the sword” to defend Jesus, but then denied him three times – and when Jesus looked on him with that look, “so beautiful [it was],” said the Pope, that Peter weeps. “Jesus in these meetings is maturing Peter’s soul, Peter’s heart,” helping Peter to grow in love. So Peter, when he heard Jesus three times ask him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ was ashamed, because he remembered the time when, three times, he said he did not know the Lord.

“Peter was saddened that, for a third time, Jesus asked him, ‘Do you love me?’ This pain, this shame – a great man, this Peter – [and] a sinner, a sinner. The Lord makes him feel that he is a sinner – makes us all feel that we are sinners. The problem is not that we are sinners: the problem is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done. That’s the problem. And Peter has this shame, this humility, no? The sin, the sin of Peter, is a fact that, with a heart as great as the heart Peter had, brings him to a new encounter with Jesus: to the joy of forgiveness.”

“The Lord did not abandon his promise, when said, ‘You are rock.’ In the episode recounted in Friday’s Gospel, we saw Jesus saying, ‘Feed my sheep,’ and the Lord ‘[gave] over His flock to a sinner.’”

“Peter was a sinner, but not corrupt, eh? Sinners, yes, everyone: corrupt, no. I once knew of a priest, a good parish pastor who worked well. He was appointed bishop, and he was ashamed because he did not feel worthy. He had a spiritual torment and he went to the confessor. The confessor heard him and said, ‘But do not worry. If after the [mess Peter made of things], they made him Pope, then you go ahead!’ The point is that this is how the Lord is. That’s the way He is. The Lord makes us mature with many meetings with Him, even with our weaknesses, when we recognise [them], with our sins.”

Pope Francis went on to say that Peter let himself be shaped by his many encounters with Jesus, and that this, he said, “is something we all need to do as well, for we are on the same road.” The Holy Father stressed that Peter is great, not because he is good, but because he has a nobility of heart, which brings him to tears, leads him to this pain, this shame – and also to take up his work of shepherding the flock”

“Let us ask the Lord, today, that this example of the life of a man who continually meets with the Lord, and whom the Lord purifies, makes more mature through these meetings, might help us to us to move forward, seeking the Lord and meeting Him, allowing us [really] to encounter Him. More than this, it is important that we let ourselves encounter the Lord: He always seeks us, He is always near us. Many times, though, we look the other way because we do not want to talk with the Lord or allow ourselves to encounter the Lord. Meeting the Lord [is important], but more importantly, let us be met by the Lord: this is a grace. This is the grace that Peter teaches us. We ask this grace today. So be it.”

Dear children, In this joyful time of expectation of my Son, I desire that all the days of your earthly life may be a joyful expectation of my Son. I am calling you to holiness. I call you to be my apostles of holiness so that, through you, the Good News may illuminate all those whom you will meet. Fast and pray, and I will be with you. Thank you!
Medjugorje message, December 2, 2006

Challenging Christian comfort zones

St Paul is a nuisance: he is a man who, with his preaching, his work, his attitude irritates others, because testifying to Jesus Christ and the proclamation of Jesus Christ makes us uncomfortable, it threatens our comfort zones – even Christian comfort zones, right? It irritates us. The Lord always wants us to move forward, forward, forward... not to take refuge in a quiet life or in cozy structures, no?... And Paul, in preaching of the Lord, was a nuisance. But he had deep within him that most Christian of attitudes: Apostolic zeal. He had its apostolic zeal. He was not a man of compromise. No! The truth: forward! The proclamation of Jesus Christ, forward!
Pope Francis, May 16, 2013

Dear children! Today as never before I invite you to live my messages and to put them into practice in your life. I have come to you to help you and, therefore, I invite you to change your life because you have taken a path of misery, a path of ruin. When I told you: convert, pray, fast, be reconciled, you took these messages superficially. You started to live them and then you stopped, because it was difficult for you. No, dear children, when something is good, you have to persevere in the good and not think: ‘God does not see me, he is not listening, he is not helping’. And so you have gone away from God and from me because of your miserable interest. I wanted to create of you an oasis of peace, love and goodness. God wanted you, with your love and with his help, to do miracles and, thus, give an example. Therefore, here is what I say to you: satan is playing with you and with your souls and I cannot help you because you are far away from my heart. Therefore, pray, live my messages and then you will see the miracles of God’s love in your everyday life. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, March 25, 1988

Pray for bishops and priests

Commenting on today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (20 : 28-38), Pope Francis said: “Read this fine passage, and while reading it, pray, pray for us bishops and priests. We have such need in order to stay faithful, to be men who watch over the flock and also over ourselves, who make the vigil their own, that their heart be always turned to [the Lord’s] flock. [Pray] also that the Lord might defend us from temptation, because if we go on the road to riches, if we go on the road to vanity, we become wolves and not shepherds. Pray for this, read this and pray. So be it.”
• Pope Francis May 15, 2013

Holy Father, keep those you have given to me true to your name, so that they may be one like us. John 17 : 11

BORN OF A MOTHER...A priest is not born of an angel but of a mother. He is chosen from amongst the people, is annointed with the Sacrament of Priesthood and returned back to the people, to the Church – into their care, their prayer and their love. The priest is a sign of the omnipotence of our God. Pray for priests. Love them. Support them. Help them to be holy. We are weak and fragile. If your knees are not bent in prayer for us, we stumble and fall. We need your prayer. Fr Jozo Zovko OFM

Dear children! Today I call you to look into your hearts sincerely and for a long time. What will you see in them? Where is my Son in them and where is the desire to follow me to him? My children, may this time of renunciation be a time when you will ask yourself: “What does my God desire of me personally? What am I to do?” Pray, fast and have a heart full of mercy. Do not forget your shepherds. Pray that they may not get lost, that they may remain in my Son so as to be good shepherds to their flock.
Medjugorje message, March 18,2009

Living life as a gift to others...

Dear children, the Father has not left you to yourselves. Immeasurable is his love, the love that is bringing me to you, to help you to come to know him, so that, through my Son, all of you can call him ‘Father’ with the fullness of heart; that you can be one people in God’s family. However, my children, do not forget that you are not in this world only for yourselves, and that I am not calling you here only for your sake. Those who follow my Son think of the brother in Christ as of their very selves and they do not know selfishness. That is why I desire that you be the light of my Son. That to all those who have not come to know the Father – to all those who wander in the darkness of sin, despair, pain and loneliness – you may illuminate the way and that, with your life, you may show them the love of God. I am with you. If you open your hearts, I will lead you. Again I am calling you: pray for your shepherds. Thank you.
Medjugorje message, November 2, 2011

• This report is provided by Vatican Radio

We need a “big heart” that is wide open and capable of loving. We must also avoid behaving selfishly at all costs because, selfish people, like Judas, do not understand what giving and love are; they become traitors, isolated and alone. This was Pope Francis’ message Tuesday morning (May 14) during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. Emer McCarthy reports:

Focusing on the Gospel of the day and the contrast between the path of love and that of selfishness, Pope Francis said if we really want to follow Jesus, we must “live life as a gift” to give to others, “not as a treasure to be kept to ourselves”. The Pope quoted the words of Christ: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” But Tuesday’s liturgy, he noted, also presents us with another person: Judas, “who had the exact opposite attitude.” And this, he explained, was because Judas “never understood what gift really mean”.

“Let us think of that moment with the Magdalene, when she washed the feet of Jesus with nard, which was so expensive: it is a religious moment, a moment of gratitude, a moment of love. And he [Judas] stands apart and criticises her bitterly: ‘But ... this could be used for the poor!’ This is the first reference that I personally found in the Gospel of poverty as an ideology. The ideologue does not know what love is, because they do not know how to gift themselves.”

Pope Francis continued: Judas stood apart “in his solitude” and this attitude of selfishness grew to the point of his “betrayal of Jesus.” He said those who love “give their lives as a gift”, the selfish instead “safeguards his life, grows in this selfishness and becomes a traitor, but is always alone.” However, those who “give their life for love, are never alone: they are always in the community, part of the family.” The Pope warned that those who “isolate their conscience in selfishness,” in the end “lose”. This is how Judas ended up, the Pope said, he “was an idolater, attached to money.”

“And this idolatry has led him to isolate himself from the community of others: this is the drama of the isolated conscience. When a Christian begins to isolate themselves, he or she also insulates his or her conscience from the sense of community, the sense of the Church, from that love that Jesus gives us. Instead, the Christian who gifts his or her life, who loses it, as Jesus says, finds it again, finds it in its fullness. And those who, like Judas, want to keep it for themselves, lose it in the end. John tells us that 'at that moment Satan entered into Judas’ heart. And, we must say: With Satan the payback is rotten. He always rips us off, always!”

Instead Jesus always loves and always gives. And this gift of love, the Pope said, impels us to love “to bear fruit. And the fruit remains.” Pope Francis concluded his homily with an invocation to the Holy Spirit:

“In these days of waiting for the feast of the Holy Spirit, we ask: Come, Holy Spirit, come and give me this big heart, this heart capable of loving with humility, with meekness, an open heart that is capable of loving. And let’s ask this grace, of the Holy Spirit. And may He free us always from the other path, the path of selfishness, which eventually ends badly. Let us ask for this grace.”

Ivan and Fr Svet!

The Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic was accompanied by the Franciscan priest Fr Svetozar Kraljevic when he visited Cookham and Maidenhead in the UK last weekend.

Fr Svet celebrated Holy Mass and also translated for Ivan when the visionary gave his witness to Our Lady’s apparitions and messages in the small church of St Elizabeth in the village of Cookham.

After receiving the apparition of the Blessed Mother, Ivan relayed that Our Lady had come joyful, extended her hands and prayed for some time in Aramaic. She asked the people to pray for the realisation of her plans through her Son and then blessed everyone present and all religious articles.

Through Mary to Jesus...

My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.
Fatima message, June 13, 1917

Dear children! Also today, with hope in the heart, I am praying for you and am thanking the Most High for every one of you who lives my messages with the heart. Give thanks to God’s love that I can love and lead each of you through my Immaculate Heart also toward conversion. Open your hearts and decide for holiness, and hope will give birth to joy in your hearts. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, August 25, 2012

Friends of Jesus...

Dear children! I call you anew to consecrate yourselves to my heart and the heart of my Son Jesus. I desire, little children, to lead you all on the way of conversion and holiness. Only in this way, through you, we can lead all the more souls on the way of salvation. Do not delay, little children, but say with all your heart: ‘I want to help Jesus and Mary that all the more brothers and sisters may come to know the way of holiness.’ In this way, you will feel the contentment of being friends of Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, October 25, 2003

Fatima clue for Benedict support on Medjugorje?

The THREE children of Fatima

When Benedict XVI made his apostolic journey to the shrine of Fatima in May 2010 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco, the former Pontiff spoke in a homily of the “little seers” and how the Teacher who had “come from heaven” introduced them to a deep knowledge of the love of the Blessed Trinity and “led them to savour God himself as the most beautiful reality of human existence.”

He added: “We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete. [...] At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart. At that time it was ONLY to three children, yet the example of their lives spread and multiplied, especially as a result of the travels of the Pilgrim Virgin, in countless groups throughout the world dedicated to the cause of fraternal solidarity.”

The SIX children of Medjugorje

“At that time it was ONLY to three children...” Was Benedict XVI alluding to the SIX children of the present time associated with the Medjugorje phenomenon, the SIX seers who also claim they are taught by Our Lady, and whose consistent witness for more than 30 years has resulted in “countless groups throughout the world” striving to live the messages of peace given by Our Lady?

Dear children, you know that for your sake I have remained a long time so I might teach you how to make progress on the way to holiness. Therefore, dear children, pray without ceasing and live the messages which I am giving to you for I am doing it with great love toward God and toward you.” (Medjugorje message, January 1, 1987)

And in a message given to the Medjugorje seer Marija Pavlovic on August 25, 1991, Our Lady made reference to the fulfilment of Fatima:

Dear Children! Today also I invite you to prayer, now as never before when my plan has begun to be realised. Satan is strong and wants to sweep away my plans of peace and joy and make you think that my Son is not strong in His decisions. Therefore, I call all of you, dear children, to pray and fast still more firmly. I invite you to self-renunciation for nine days so that, with your help, everything that I desire to realise through the secrets I began in Fatima, may be fulfilled. I call you, dear children, to now grasp the importance of my coming and the seriousness of the situation. I want to save all souls and present them to God. Therefore, let us pray that everything I have begun be fully realised. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Benedict XI concluded his homily with these words: “May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.”

Interestingly, two months prior to his visit to Fatima in May 2010, Benedict gave notice on March 17 that he had commissioned a fresh investigation into the Medjugorje phenomenon. Three years on, it is generally accepted the work of the commission is completed.

But will any forthcoming announcement from the Vatican hasten the completion of the Fatima prophecy for which Benedict prayed for at Fatima?

Visionary Ivan made visit to England

Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic gave two talks in England this weekend.

On Saturday evening he spoke at St Elizabeth Church in Cookham, and on Sunday morning at St Edmund Campion school and church, Maidenhead.

Ivan’s visit was not widely publicised because of limited seating capacity, and attendees had been asked to register for places.

Ivan was accompanied by the Franciscan priest Fr Svetozar Kraljevic who translated for the visionary.

The Ascension

‘Secrets’ priest booked for the UK

Booked for the UK next month is Fr Petar Ljubicic, the Franciscan priest chosen by the Medjugorje seer Mirjana to reveal the 10 secrets given to her by Our Lady.

He will speak at three venues in the London area. The dates are June 30, July 1 and July 2.

Fr Petar is expected to arrive in London on June 30 following a speaking engagement in Sestola, Italy, on June 29. His busy schedule continues when he leaves for Zurich on July 3 for a conference in Switzerland.

Venues and times for his talks in the UK are:

June 30, 2013
Church of the Sacred Heart
101 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2EF
from 3:00pm to 6:00pm

July 1, 2013
Church of St Teresa
Newbury Park, Ilford, Essex 1G2 7JA
from 5:00pm to 8:00pm

July 2 2013
Church of Christ the Prince of Peace
Portmore Way, Weybridge KT13
from 5:00pm to 8:00pm

• photo © Daniel Miot

Preparing for Scotland in Medjugorje

The Croatia national football team will spend time in Medjugorje preparing for its forthcoming World Cup European Qualifying match with Scotland. The squad is due to arrive in Medjugorje on May 27 and will remain there until June 2 before travelling to Zageb to complete its programme. The fixture will be played in Zagreb on June 7. The return fixture is scheduled for Glasgow on October 15.

While in Medjugorje the Croatian team will stay at the Villa Regina hotel and train at the local Sports Centar.

The Croatia team coach Igor Stimac (pictured) is a regular pilgrim to Medjugorje.

• photo by PIXSELL

Medjugorje Mass for goalkeeper Ivan Turina

A Mass was celebrated in St James Church today for Ivan Turina, goalkeeper of the Swedish soccer club AIK, who died unexpectedly in his sleep on May 1.

The 32-year-old father of one-year-old twins was known to have a congential heart disease. His wife is expecting their third child.

The Croatian born goalkeeper, a regular pilgrim to Medjugorje, had played 89 competitive matches for AIK since signing for the AIK in 2010. He began is career with Dinamo Zagreb and had brief spells with Lech Poznan (Poland) and Xanthi (Greece) before moving to Sweden.

A Christian is a person of joy...

Joy is a grace that we ask of the Lord. These days in a special way, because the Church is invited, the Church invites us to ask for the joy and also desire: that which propels the Christian's life forward is desire. The greater your desire, the greater your joy will be. The Christian is a man, is a woman of desire: always desire more on the path of life. We ask the Lord for this grace, this gift of the Spirit: Christian joy. Far from sorrow, far from simple fun... it is something else. It is a grace we must seek.
Pope Francis, from his homily of today: May 10, 2013

Dear children! Today i rejoice with the little Jesus and I desire that Jesus’ joy may enter into every heart. Little children, with the message I give you a blessing with my son Jesus, so that in every heart peace may reign. I love you, little children, and I invite all of your to come closer to me by means of prayer. You talk and talk but do not pray. Therefore, little children, decide for prayer. Only in this way will you be happy and God will give your what you seek from Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, December 25, 1993

Dear children! At this time of grace, I call you to prayer. Little children, you work much but without God's blessing. Bless and seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead you at this time so that you may comprehend and live in the grace of this time. Convert, little children, and kneel in the silence of your hearts. Put God in the center of your being so that, in that way, you can witness in joy the beauty that God continually gives in your life. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, May 25, 2001

The Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus...

The Holy Spirit was the subject of Pope Francis’ homily during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Martha today. The Holy Father also stressed that it was important for Christians to examine their conscience on a daily basis.

This report is provided by Vatican Radio.

Pope Francis said that the Holy Spirit whom Jesus called the “Paraclete” was the Person of God who is always there to protect us and support us.

The Holy Father underlined the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives by saying that without this presence, our Christian lives cannot be understood.

Pope Francis went on to describe the sort of life one would have without the Holy Spirit. It would be a religious life, he said, a compassionate life of someone who believes in God but without the vitality that Jesus wants for his disciples.

The Spirit the Pope continued, “bears witness” to Jesus, so that we can give it to others.

Turning his attention to the first reading, the Holy Father recalled the beautiful story of a woman called Lydia whose heart was opened so as to pay attention to the words of St Paul. The Pope explained that it is the Holy Spirit that opens our hearts to know Jesus. The Spirit prepares us for our encounter with Jesus, he leads us down the path of Jesus and works in us throughout the day and throughout our lives.

The Pope then invited people to examine their conscience at the end of the day because it is in this way, he added that we can see how Jesus worked in our hearts.

Concluding his Homily, Pope Francis “asked that people be granted the grace to become accustomed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, this witness of Jesus who tells us where Jesus is, how to find Jesus, what Jesus tells us.” The Pope continued by saying, we should get into the habit of asking ourselves, before the end of the day: “What did Holy Spirit do in me? What witness did he give me?” Because, the Holy Father said, he is a divine presence that helps us moving forward in our lives as Christians.

Dear children! I rejoice with you and in this time of grace I call you to spiritual renewal. Pray, little children, that the Holy Spirit may come to dwell in you in fullness, so that you may be able to witness in joy to all those who are far from faith. Especially, little children, pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that in the spirit of love, every day and in each situation, you may be closer to your fellow-man; and that in wisdom and love you may overcome every difficulty. I am with you and I intercede for each of you before Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, May 25, 2000

Mary’s pilgrim journey...

Yesterday, at the end of Sunday Mass, Pope Francis recited the Regina Caeli prayer with the tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for the celebration.

In his remarks prior to the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father spoke about the “spiritual presence of the Virgin Mary, alive in our midst.” On a day dedicated to Confraternities and Popular Piety, he noted that love for Mary is one of the characteristics of popular piety that “must be strengthened and well-ordered.” He invited those present to reflect on “Mary the pilgrim, who follows Jesus the Son, and goes before all of us in the journey of faith.”
source: Vatican Radio

The Pope’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, has also spoken on the theme of Mary accompanying the Church on its pilgrimage journey of faith and evangelisation.

• In the Virgin Mary who goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, we recognise the most limpid example and the truest meaning of our journey of believers and the journey of the Church herself. The Church is missionary by nature; she is called to proclaim the Gospel everywhere and always, to transmit the faith to every man and woman, and to every culture.”

Mary's is an authentic missionary journey. It is a journey that takes her far from home, drives her to the world, to places that are foreign to her daily customs, makes her reach, in a certain sense, the limits of what she could reach.

Herein lies, also for us, the secret of our lives as individuals and as Christians. [...] We are asked to come out of ourselves, of the places of our security, to go to others, to different places and realms. It is the Lord who asks this of us.

And it is the Lord, who gives us Mary as a traveling companion and solicitous mother. She gives us security, because she reminds us that her Son Jesus is always with us.

Benedict XVI, June 1, 2010

The Joyful Journey Mysteries

1. Angel Gabriel journeys to Mary with a message of Good News.
2. Mary journeys to her cousin Elizabeth.
3. Mary and Joseph journey to Bethlehem; shepherds and wise men journey to the place where Jesus is born.
4. Mary and Joseph journey to present Jesus in the Temple.
5. Joseph and Mary make a return journey to Jerusalem in search of Jesus.

She teaches us to be free...

With my love I will teach you simplicity of life and richness of mercy and I will lead you to my Son.
Medjugorje part message, May 2, 2008

• Yesterday Pope Francis visited the basilica of Saint Mary Major where he led the recitation of the Rosary. This translation of his reflection is provided by Vatican Radio.

Dear brothers and sisters! This evening we are here before Mary. We have prayed to her, to maternally take us more and more in union with her Son Jesus; we have brought her our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our difficulties; we have invoked her with the lovely name “Salus Populi Romani” (protectress of the Roman people) asking for all of us, for Rome, for the world, that she keep us in good health. Yes, because Mary gives us health, she is our saving grace.

With his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus Christ brings us salvation, the grace and the joy of being God’s children and the possibility of calling him with the name of the Father. Mary is a mother, a mother who takes care of, above all, the health of her children and knows how to heal them with her great and tender love. The Madonna is the custodian of our health. What does this mean? My thoughts go, above all, to three aspects: she helps us in our growth, she helps us to face life, she teaches us to be free.

1. A mother helps her children to grow and it is her wish that they grow well; this is why she teaches them to not yield to laziness – which is something that derives also from certain wellbeing; she teaches them not to adapt themselves to a life of ease that desires nothing beyond material possessions. A mother takes care that her children’s growth is not stunted, that they grow strong and capable of taking responsibilities upon themselves, that they take on commitments in life and lean towards great ideals. The Gospel of Luke says that in the family of Nazareth Jesus “grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him”(Luke 2 : 40). This is exactly what the Madonna does with us, she helps us to grow humanely and in faith, to be strong and not to yield to the temptation of being men and Christians in a superficial way, but to live with responsibility, reaching upwards all the time.

2. And then, a mother thinks of the health of her children, teaching them to face the difficulties of life. One does not educate, one does not look after someone’s health avoiding problems, as if life was a highway without obstacles. A mother helps her children to look to the problems in life with realism, not to lose oneself in them but to tackle them with courage; not to be weak, to know how to overcome them, in a healthy balance that a mother can “feel” is to be found in between the areas of safety and of risk. A life without challenges does not exist and a boy or a girl who does not know how to face challenges and put himself or herself on the line, has no backbone!

Let us remember the parable of the Good Samaritan: Jesus does not commend the behaviour of the priest or of the Levite, who avoid assisting the traveller who had been beaten, robbed and left half dead along the road, but that of the Samaritan who saw the situation of the man and tackled it in a concrete manner. Mary lived many difficult times in her life, from the birth of Jesus, when “there was no room for him in the inn” (Luke 2 : 7), up until the Calvary: (John 19: 25). And like a good mother she is close to us so that we never lose courage before the adversities of life, before our own weaknesses, before our sins: she gives us strength, she points to the path of her Son. From the cross, indicating John, Jesus tells Mary: “Woman, here is your son,” and to John: “Here is your mother!” (John 19: 26-27). We are all represented by that disciple: the Lord entrusts us to the loving hands and to the tenderness of the Mother, so that we can rely on her support when we face and overcome the difficulties of our human and Christian journey.

3. One last aspect: a good mother not only accompanies her children during their growth, not avoiding the problems and the challenges of life; a good mother also helps to take important decisions with freedom. But what does freedom mean? Certainly not doing all that one wants, letting oneself be dominated by passions, passing from one experience to the next without discernment, following the trends of the moment; freedom does not mean, so to say, throwing all that one does not like from the window. Freedom is given to us so that we make good choices in life! As a good mother, Mary teaches us to be, like she is, capable of making important decisions with the same full freedom with which she answered “yes” to God’s plan for her life (Luke 1: 38).

Dear brothers and sisters, how difficult it is in our time to take important decisions! The ephemeral seduces us. We are victims of a tendency that pushes us towards the ephemeral… as if we wished to remain adolescents throughout our lives! We must not be afraid of definitive commitments, of commitments that involve and have an effect on our whole lives. In this way our lives will be fruitful!

The whole existence of Mary is a hymn to life, a hymn to love and to life: she generated Jesus the man and she accompanied the birth of the Church on Mount Calvary and in the Cenacle. The “Salus Populi Romani” is the mother that looks after our growth, she helps us face and overcome problems, she gives us freedom when we make important decisions; she is the mother who teaches us to be fruitful of good, joy, hope, to give life to others, both physical and spiritual life. This is what we are asking of you this evening, Oh Mary, Salus Populi Romani, for the people of Rome, for all of us: give us the grace that only you can give, so that we may always be signs and tools of life.

Dear children, with much love and patience I strive to make your hearts like unto mine. I strive, by my example, to teach you humility, wisdom and love because I need you; I cannot do without you my children. According to God’s will I am choosing you, by his strength I am strengthening you. Therefore, my children, do not be afraid to open your hearts to me. I will give them to my Son and in return, he will give you the gift of divine peace. You will carry it to all those whom you meet, you will witness God’s love with your life and you will give the gift of my Son through yourselves. Through reconciliation, fasting and prayer, I will lead you. Immeasurable is my love. Do not be afraid. My children, pray for the shepherds. May your lips be shut to every judgment, because do not forget that my Son has chosen them and only he has the right to judge. Thank you.
Medjugorje message, January 2, 2013

Don’t dialogue with the devil...

There can be no dialogue with the prince of this world: let this be clear!
Pope Francis, Saturday, May 4, 2013

Dear children! I invite you to pray with the heart in order that your prayer may be a conversation with God.
Medjugorje message, September 25, 1990

Today, Pope Francis warns us again of the deceitful nature of satan and how the prince of the world will always seek to compromise the truth, the Word of God, and entice sheep to stray from the Shepherd.

This has always been so, ever since the serpent, “the most subtle of wild beasts”, struck up a conversation with Eve and asked the woman, “Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” Here we witness the first instance of the prince of the world attempting to sow the seed of doubt in the Word of God.

Eve responded with words spoken by God: “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden God said: ‘You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.’”

The serpent makes another attempt to entice Eve. This time he contradicts the spoken word of God and says to the woman. “No, you will not die!”

And with that statement the serpent fathers the first lie in the world – that there are no consequences to not living in accordance with the will of God.

This is why Pope Francis warns in his homily today: “There can be no dialogue with the prince of this world.” He added that dialogue amongst humans is necessary, necessary for peace and to understand each other, and should be maintained; but with the prince of the world it is impossible to dialogue because dialogue stems from charity, from love.

Francis reminds us that our only defence, our weapon against the enticements the prince of the world offers each of us is that used by Jesus, the Word of God.

When satan came to dialogue in the desert his mission was to get Jesus to doubt his own divinity; his first two tempting questions begin with the words “If you are the Son of God...” Jesus responds with the Word of God.

The devil then reveals his real intention and offers Jesus all the kingdoms on earth if he will switch allegiance from his Father in Heaven and worship the prince of the world instead. This wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime offer made only to Jesus – it’s a temptation placed repeatedly before all of God’s children. Again, Jesus responds with the Word of God. After that the tempter leaves him.

We can also learn from this exchange that the tempter does not back off at the first rebuttal, even when confronted with the Word of God; he persists both with Eve and with Jesus, and does so with every soul since.

Pope Francis says that the sheep who are meek and humble, who remain in the fold and close to the Shepherd, will always have the Word of God, the Truth, at their side to defend them and not be led astray by proposals the prince and the spirit of this world has on offer.

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

May message to Mirjana

• An estimated crowd of 20,000 pilgrims gathered on and around Apparition Hill yesterday morning for the promised visitation of Our Lady to the visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo. The road through Bijakovici was jammed from the early hours. Many had arrived through the night and waited on the hillside for the apparition at the Blue Cross timed at 9:00am and which lasted 10 minutes.

Dear children! Anew, I am calling you to love and not to judge.

My Son, according to the will of the Heavenly Father, was among you to show you the way of salvation, to save you and not to judge you.

If you desire to follow my Son, you will not judge but love like your Heavenly Father loves you.

And when it is the most difficult for you, when you are falling under the weight of the cross do not despair, do not judge, instead remember that you are loved and praise the Heavenly Father because of his love.

My children, do not deviate from the way on which I am leading you.

Do not recklessly walk into perdition.

May prayer and fasting strengthen you so that you can live as the Heavenly Father would desire; that you may be my apostles of faith and love; that your life may bless those whom you meet; that you may be one with the Heavenly Father and my Son.

My children, that is the only truth, the truth that leads to your conversion, and then to the conversion of all those whom you meet – those who have not come to know my Son – all those who do not know what it means to love.

My children, my Son gave you a gift of the shepherds.

Take good care of them.

Pray for them.

Thank you.

Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.
Luke 6 : 36-38

What’s so special about the Blue Cross?

This is the statue at the lower Blue Cross which Mirjana kneels in front of
while she prays and waits for the apparition of Our Lady.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we look forward to Our Lady’s apparition to Mirjana – and any message – which usually takes place on the second day of each month at the Blue Cross located at the base of the mount known as Podbrdo or Apparition Hill. There are in fact two blue crosses – an upper and lower. The upper blue cross is the original location; the lower blue cross was erected not too many years ago to accommodate Ivan’s prayer group. It is at the lower blue cross where Our Lady appears to Mirjana.

Pilgrims vouch for the power of prayer and peaceful atmosphere to be found at the Blue Cross. Countless apparitions and healings have taken place there over the long history of the Medjugorje phenomenon. My own conversion happened there during my first visit to Medjugorje.

There are varied accounts as to the origins of the Blue Cross and why it has become such a powerful place of prayer, but this explanation by an unnamed member of Ivan’s prayer group is probably the most reliable

• Many pilgrims may not have the correct information concerning the Blue Cross. Many think that the Blue Cross was the site of the first apparition of Our Lady in Medjugorje. Many also think that the visionaries had apparitions at Blue Cross after they had been prohibited from having apparitions on the first place of the Apparition Hill. The correct information is as follows: The first apparition at the site of the Blue Cross occurred on 27 July 1982.

A prayer group was regularly meeting at the first place of the apparitions, but soon the police discovered this. On the evening of July 2, we were walking to the site of the first place of apparitions when suddenly Ivan the visionary knelt down. This place where Ivan knelt became the site of today's Blue Cross. That same evening, Our Lady told Ivan not to proceed to the first place of the apparitions, as the ‘blue angels’ (the communist police) were waiting for them. Our Lady, on several occasions, stopped the prayer group at the Blue Cross, as they were on their way to the first way of apparitions. We travelled the back way to the first place of apparitions because we thought that only we knew that way – not even the police knew of that back way.

In 1982, a member of the prayer group was building his house 200 metres below the Blue Cross. Today, this house is the closest to the Cenacolo Community. He wanted to mark the meeting place of the prayer group with a simple cross. From the framework of the house he was building, he and Ivan built a 3ft high cross. In order to protect this cross from the elements, Ivan found some paint that he had at home. He only had blue paint, that is why the Cross is blue!

After a while, pilgrims started to gather there. They lit candles, and one day, the cross caught fire. One Italian pilgrim asked Marija the visionary if he could take home this wooden cross and replace it with an identical metal cross. This request was approved. He took a sample of the paint from the wooden cross, and in a laboratory, the contents of the blue paint was discovered and duplicated to paint the new metallic Blue Cross that is there to this day. This Italian pilgrim landscaped the Blue Cross area with the rock formations that you see today. He kept the original Blue Cross at his house in Italy, so that people could pray there. One day, I met this Italian pilgrim, and I jokingly asked him what happened to my Blue Cross. He was taken by surprise, thinking that we wanted it back. Of course, I had no intention of taking it back. Let the people pray!

There have been many, many apparitions at the Blue Cross. It is the most suitable outdoor place in Medjugorje for pilgrims who are sick, old or not physically able to climb Cross Mountain or Apparition Hill, because of its close proximity to the road and it is easily climbed. It is an ideal meeting place for the prayer group when there are not so many pilgrims, especially in winter. Even today, apparitions occur at Blue Cross when Ivan returns from America. For years now, however, the prayer group have met in a location in the vicinity of Blue Cross, as pilgrims overflow the area hours before any apparitions begin. (where the second blue cross is erected)

The Blue Cross was a secret meeting place for the prayer group for only a short time. People soon discovered its meeting location because at night, our joyful singing could be heard from far and wide. The communist police tried many times to capture the group of ‘fanatics that walk on the mountains’, but they never succeeded, because Our Lady always protected us. She was always suddenly stopping us to warn us of the police. This also happened twice when we went to Cross Mountain. Today the prayer group meets at a secret place, where we do not sing. Even if somebody hears us, they do not disturb us.

• Up until 2008 Mirjana would receive her apparitions at the Cencolo Community close to her home in Bijakovici, but following instructions from Mostar bishop Ratko Peric, this location became off-limits for “private apparitions”. From then until now Mirjana has generally received her apparitions at the Blue Cross, except when she is travelling or heavy rain makes it dangerous for pilgrims to be on Podbrdo.

At the time of the bishop’s instruction, opponents of Medjugorje began surmising that the bishop was at last “clamping down” on the Medjugorje phenomenon and that it would not be long before other restrictions were enforced by the bishop. However, what the bishop had not revealed at the time was that the Cenacolo Community was about to receive a new decree of recognition as an International Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right, and as an officially recognised community of the Church it would not be prudent to “host” private apparitions attended by the public.

How God works in mysterious ways. Since the switch to the Blue Cross five years ago ALL pilgrims now have access to the hill and many thousands attend the apparition each month, far more than ever able to access the facility at the Cenacolo Community!

Seeing the light...

On the afternoon of the seventh day of the Medjugorje apparitions... five of the group of six visionaries, Vicka, Ivanka, Mirjana, Marija and Jakov accepted an invitation from two women, Mirjana and Ljubica, social workers employed by the communist authorities, to join them for an excursion in their car. Why should they do this? One of the women, Mirjana, was known to the visionaries, a neighbour and resident of Bijakovici, and presumably the children and their parents trusted her.

They were taken to Capljina. Later that afternoon it began to dawn on the visionaries that they would not be back in Medjugorje in time for the scheduled visitation of Our Lady on Apparition Hill, and they realised that this had been the real intention of the two women, to keep them away from Podbrdo.

Around 6:30pm the children asked one of the social workers to stop the car there and then. The woman pretended she didn’t hear them, but was given little choice but to pull up at the roadside when a bright and almost blinding light appeared before her. The visionaries jumped out of the car, walked away from the road and then knelt and faced Podbrdo (Apparition Hill) which could be seen in the distance, flooded by intense light.

The light moved towards the children and with it Our Lady appeared. They went down on their knees praying as the apparition appeared before them. Later, after returning to Medjugorje, the two social workers reported all they had seen and heard to the parish priest Fr Jozo Zovko.

The place where this apparition took place is at Cerno, between Medjugorje and Ljubuski. Pilgrims travel past the spot every day, most of them not realising the importance of the location. All that is clearly visible among the rocky terrain is the Church of St Leopold Mandic, erected some years ago to commemorate this unique happening in the early days of the Medjugorje phenomenon.

And if you stand at the roadside, it is not difficult to imagine how the social workers felt at seeing the intense light make its way towards them from the distant Apparition Hill and being the only witnesses to the children receiving this apparition. Whatever questions they had been asking the children that afternoon, the sight of Our Lady’s light coming to them in this way could only have confirmed in their hearts the truth of the answers they had received from the visionaries.

The church of St Leopold Mandic at Cerno.  photos © bernard gallagher

Last man standing...

Siobhan Mhic Craith belongs to one of the best known families in Irish folk music circles. At one stage, her father, two uncles and their friend from Armagh were thought to be the four most famous Irishmen in the world, and their albums outsold the Beatles in the US during the 1960s. Long before the phenomenon of ‘boybands’, they were international stars, and their red blooded versions of Irish ballads and folk songs delighted audiences all over the world.

They were The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and Siobhan’s father, Liam, was probably the best known of the four as his career lasted until 2009, when a painful and debilitating illness led to his death. He used to describe himself as the ‘last man standing’.

In The God Slot, Siobhan talks about Liam’s loss of belief in all religion, and his battles with his many demons, mainly alcoholism. She discusses her own deep faith, strengthened after a trip to Medjugorje, how it helped during her father’s last hours, and how, despite his resistance, she believes prayer helped him.

• You can listen to the story or download the recording at this link.

Proclaiming with joy

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.
Thank you for responding to my call.
part message, May 25, 1988

Pope Francis: Proclaim Jesus with joy

Pope Francis, during Mass at the Casa Santa Martha on Saturday morning, invited people to proclaim Jesus with joy and to avoid being “closed in on ourselves”.

Reflecting on a reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Father posed a question, why did many people close themselves off to hearing the word of the Lord in Antioch, where the community of Christ’s disciples had gathered.

The reason is, Pope Francis explained, “Simply, because they had closed hearts, they were not open to the newness of the Holy Spirit. They believed that everything had been said, that everything was as they thought it should be and therefore they felt like defenders of the faith and began to speak against the Apostles…”

The Pope went to say that the closed-off attitude of this group can all apply to all closed-off groups in history. These are the people he continued, “that do not have the freedom to open up to the Lord”.

Communities such as these think they are defending the truth, Pope Francis explained, but what they are really doing is spreading gossip and slander. They look inwards and end up destroying each other. But it is the Lord’s community that goes forward, these communities are open to the Holy Spirit, they spread the Word of God. This, the Holy Father, added, is a criteria for the Church, our own consciences, our parish communities and our religious communities. The Pope concluded by saying, look at how Jesus sends us to evangelise, he wants us to proclaim his name with joy. And Pope Francis underlined that we should not be “afraid of the joy of the Spirit,” and not be “closed in on ourselves.” source: Vatican Radio

Dear children! Today I am giving you a message through which I desire to call you to humility. These days you have felt great joy because of all the people who have come and to whom you could tell your experiences with love. Now I invite you to continue in humility and with an open heart speak to all who are coming. Thank you for having responded to my message.
Medjugorje message, June 28, 1985

But you are far from my heart...

I wonder who Our Lady is referring to when she says in her latest message, “...but you are far from my heart.” Is it me, you, all of us, a few?

And how far away are we from the heart of Our Lady. Is it a physical distance? Can it be measured in time? Is it a barrier of some kind? Just exactly what is keeping me or anyone far from the heart of Our Blessed Mother?

Is she saying she has little room in her heart for me or for you, that we don’t measure up to her love, that we are not worthy, are unimportant, or that she has favourites? Is her love conditional in some way?

What is she trying to tell us when she says, not for the first time in her messages to the world, that we are far from her heart?

Like the father who kept watch every day for the return of his prodigal son, the son who went into the world and never wrote home, never contacted his family, never picked the phone up, but squandered his fortune and messed up in so many ways after cutting loose from his source of wealth, we too can place our self at a distance from the source of wealth in our lives, the graces God desires to give us through the presence of his Blessed Mother.

When we stop communicating, stop responding to her calls, her letters, her messages, her desire to share her God-given grace, her wanting to prepare us for meeting with Jesus; when we stop praying so that in the end our heart begins to close and shrink, then that is the time we have moved away from Our Lady's heart and the graces she wishes to share.

When the tank ran dry for the Prodigal Son, when he finally realised he would be better off returning home to receive all that was necessary to sustain his life, he started the journey from a great distance. In a sense, he was never at a distance from the Father’s heart, the Father had always kept a room for his wandering son and waited patiently and with compassion as his son moved further away.

After receiving his inheritance and distracted by what the world had to offer in exchange, the son forgot about his father’s generous and loving heart. But when the world turned against him he remembered his father’s kindness and blessings. “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here I am dying of hunger,” said the son. (Luke 15 : 11-32)

And that is the danger for any of us when we stop communicating with the Blessed Mother and our Father in heaven, when we stop praying. We cut our self off from graces Our Lady desires to nourish us with, graces that will prepare us for returning to our real and eternal home in heaven.

Pope Francis speaks of preparing for our heavenly homeland. Commenting on today’s Gospel reading, he asks that God give us the strong hope, the courage and humility to allow the Lord to prepare our eyes, our hearts, our hearing, for the heavenly homeland, the definitive dwelling.

Mary’s heart is calling us home. She seeks a response. A prayer from the heart can cross great distances and bring us closer to receive the graces she desires to bestow. This happens. Why else does she continually say: “Thank you for responding to my call.”

Dear children! Also today, as I am with you in the great love of God, I desire to ask you: Are you with me? Is your heart open for me? Do you permit me to purify and prepare it for my Son? My children, you are chosen because, in your time, the great grace of God descended on earth. Do not hesitate to accept it. Thank you. April 2, 2008

April message of Our Lady to Marija

Dear children! Pray, pray, keep praying until your heart opens in faith as a flower opens to the warm rays of the sun.

This is a time of grace which God gives you through my presence but you are far from my heart, therefore, I call you to personal conversion and to family prayer.

May Sacred Scripture always be an incentive for you.

I bless you all with my motherly blessing.

Thank you for having responded to my call.

Medjugorje message, April 25, 2013

• I was at a gathering at my parish church this evening. It’s a regular Thursday get-together of people referred to as the ABC group (About Being Catholic).

Primarily organised for people considering joining the Catholic Church the group also includes Catholics wanting to learn more about their faith. Eleven of the 30 or so people present were new Catholics, received into the Church at Easter. Two priests, Augustinians, were also there to guide the group.

Everyone sat in a large circle and the question was put to the new Catholics: What made you want to become a Catholic? A second question was put to the rest of the Catholics: What makes you want to stay in the Catholic Church? And the witness and response to both questions was powerful.

Talk about opening to the warmth and light of the sun! Each heart in turn, like petals in a flower, witnessing to the glory of God in their lives. It was indeed a special time of grace for this family of faith gathered in prayer.

Sons and daughters of encouragement

• Feast of St Mark, evangelist... Mark went with St Paul on his first missionary journey, along with his cousin Barnabas. He made later journeys with Barnabas alone. He was in Rome with Paul, and St Peter, and his Gospel is based on Peter’s teaching in Rome.

All wrap ourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favour the humble. Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and he will raise you up on the appointed day; unload all your worries on to him, since he is looking after you. Be calm, but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round you like a roaring lion, looking for something to eat. Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledge that your brothers all over the world are suffering the same things. You will have to suffer only for a little while" The God of all grace who called you to eternal glory is Christ will see that all is well again: he will confirm, strenthen and support you. His power lasts for ever and ever. Amen.

I write these few words to encourage you through Silvanus, who is a brother I know I can trust, to encourage you never to let go this true grace of God to which I bear witness.

Your sister in Babylon, who is with you among the chosen, sends you greetings; so does my son Mark.

Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to you all who are in Christ.

• First letter of St Peter, 5 : 5-14

Dear children! I call you today and encourage you to prayer for peace. Especially today I call you, carrying the newborn Jesus in my arms for you, to unite with him through prayer and to become a sign to this peaceless world. Encourage each other, little children, to prayer and love. May your faith be an encouragement to others to believe and to love more. I bless you all and call you to be closer to my heart and to the heart of little Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, December 25, 2001

Dear children, the Father has not left you to yourselves. Immeasurable is his love, the love that is bringing me to you, to help you to come to know him, so that, through my Son, all of you can call him ‘Father’ with the fullness of heart; that you can be one people in God’s family. However, my children, do not forget that you are not in this world only for yourselves, and that I am not calling you here only for your sake. Those who follow my Son think of the brother in Christ as of their very selves and they do not know selfishness. That is why I desire that you be the light of my Son. That to all those who have not come to know the Father – to all those who wander in the darkness of sin, despair, pain and loneliness – you may illuminate the way and that, with your life, you may show them the love of God. I am with you. If you open your hearts, I will lead you. Again I am calling you: pray for your shepherds. Thank you. Medjugorje message, November 2, 2001

Entering the Kingdom of God...

Sometimes we are tempted to be too much our own bosses and not humble children and servants of the Lord – and this is the temptation to look for other gates or other windows to enter the Kingdom of God. We can only enter by the gate whose name is Jesus. We can only enter by that gate which leads to a path and that path is called Jesus and brings to a life whose name is Jesus. All those who do something else – says the Lord – who try to enter through the window, are ‘thieves and robbers’. He is simple, the Lord. His words are not complex. He is simple.
Pope Francis, April 22, 2013, reported by Vatican Radio

Dear children! Also today I bring you the newborn Jesus in my arms. He who is the King of heaven and earth, he is your peace. Little children, no one can give you peace as he who is the King of Peace. Therefore, adore him in your hearts, choose him and you will have joy in him. He will bless you with his blessing of peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, December 25, 2006

Dear children! I rejoice with you and I invite you to prayer. Little children, pray for my intention. Your prayers are necessary to me, through which I desire to bring you closer to God. He is your salvation. God sends me to help you and to guide you towards paradise, which is your goal. Therefore, little children, pray, pray, pray. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, September 25, 1994

Thousands turn out for Medjugorje prayer event

Mission is key to ministry. A Church that does not go out of itself, sooner or later, sickens from the stale air of closed rooms.
Pope Francis, April 18, 2013

Fr Ljubo Kurtovic and Jakov Colo

Around 10,000 people attended today’s prayer meeting at the halls of Fiera Milano in Rho, Italy. Visionaries Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti and Jakov Colo were in attendance as well as former pastor at Medjugorje Fr Ljubo Kurtovic who was the main celebrant for the Mass with 50 more priests concelebrating. Fr Jozo Zovko, parish priest at Medjugorje when the apparitions of Our Lady began in 1981, was also due to travel from Zagreb to the event. Italian journalist Antonio Socci gave witness to his experience of faith. It is the second time the event has been held in the halls of the Milan exhibition centre.


• photos: mi-lorenteggio.com and milano.repubblica.it

Vocations are born in prayer

They said to Jesus, “What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?” Jesus gave them this answer, “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.” John 6 : 29

Vocations are born in prayer and from prayer, and only in prayer can they persevere and bear fruit. I like to underline this today, the “World Day of Prayer for Vocations.” We pray especially for the new priests of the Diocese of Rome, whom I had the joy of ordaining this morning. And we invoke the intercession of Mary. Today there were 10 young men who have said “yes” to Jesus and were ordained priests this morning... This is beautiful! Let us invoke the intercession of Mary who is the woman who said "yes." Mary said “yes” all her life! She has learned to recognise the voice of Jesus since she bore him in her womb. Mary, Our Mother, help us to know better the voice of Jesus and follow it, to walk the path of life! Pope Francis, April 21, 2013

Once again I call you to pray for your shepherds. Alongside them, I will triumph. October 2, 2010

I call you to pray with all your heart for your shepherds, because my Son chose them. August 2, 2011

Everyday I pray for the shepherds and I expect the same of you. June 12, 2012

Out of darkness and into light...

• No one loves to live in darkness. No one wishes to live with hate and negative feelings. People always wait for or seek others who will help them come out from the dark and into the light, out of hate and into love, out of hopelessness and into hope, out of destruction and into a new and healed world, out of death and into life and finally out of time and into eternity. 

We are very important in this work because Mary has already said that she can do nothing without us. We must exclude every egoism and every selfishness, and in helping others then we will also find salvation.

• It is useless to curse darkness; let us light a lamp instead, and darkness is already gone. Sometimes it is enough to lift our eyes just a bit above the mud of this world, above our heads, to pronounce a good and positive word, and darkness is already gone.

We have to heal our negative, black, tragic thoughts and pronounce pure words so that God’s health and peace may reach us. It is not enough to say there is no prayer in my family, that we can never get together, that every one goes his own way and after his own business. If nobody wants to to pray, then you start, have the courage to say a word of prayer and a cry, so that through you the light may come down, little by little, on those who are with you.

Fr Slavko Barbaric

Dear children, in your life you have all experienced light and darkness. God grants every person to recognise good and evil. I am calling you to the light which you should carry to all people who are in darkness. People who are in darkness daily come to your homes. Dear children, give them the light! Thank you for responding to my call. Medjugorje message, March 14, 1985

Listening with the heart...

Shortly before Easter I went to confession at the cathedral in the city where I live. I should have realised that there would be queues at that time of year, so I decided to spend a few minutes preparing in front of the Blessed Sacrament, hoping the queue would reduce by the time I was ready.

Like most people, there are issues in my life that keep occurring and I never seem to be able to overcome them. This bothers me and is discouraging. I began to share this with the Lord when I clearly heard the words in my heart: Listen to your Mother. It was an unexpected response. I thought about this for a while and began to realise that there are often times when I fail to listen to our Blessed Mother, and become lazy in not reading and living her messages from Medjugorje. I made a promise there and then to accept what Jesus had said in my heart and that I would read and contemplate on one of Our Lady’s messages every day from now on.

A month has passed and the results are remarkable. I really do feel that the words Jesus gave me have been a crucial key in helping me to leave behind some of the negativity in my life that was keeping me unhappy. I am now beginning to listen with my heart and not just my ears. And it’s amazing that now I have taken this decision I am discovering just how many ‘listening’ opportunities there are in my life. It’s as if by ‘listening’ my eyes have been opened as well.

When I read the Bible, I have noticed that Jesus is always saying, ‘Listen...’ He makes it clear to the people of the time that they have never really listened to the prophets of old, otherwise they would have known who he is. Moses is a classic example of not being listened to. And isn’t our Lady the Queen of Prophets? Perhaps that is why Jesus said in my heart: Listen to your Mother.

And by listening to my Mother, I place myself in a position to listen to others, those who have no voice, who are marginalised; listening to those who are close to me, who often become frustrated because of my ‘deafness’; listening to the Word of God with open ears and heart; listening through prayer and fasting. It is only by listening that I am able to respond. This is why Our Lady always says at the end of her messages: “Thank you for responding to my call.” If I listen, I will respond. If I don’t listen, then there will be little or no response – and then I shall find myself back in the troubled place wondering why I cannot overcome the temptations in my life.

Not listening has its consequences. What happens when a husband and wife fail to listen to each other, or when parents fail to listen to their children, or children fail to listen to parents? And then there are the times we complain about the state of the world or our circumstances. Is nobody listening? Can’t anyone do something? It can be very frustrating when no-one wants to listen to us. There are even moments when we wrongly conclude that God and Our Lady are not listening.

But what have I come to understand since Easter is that not listening is the first sign of a closed heart. Our Lady says that we do not know how to love because we do not know how to listen to her words with love. She says she has come to earth to teach us to listen out of love, to listen and to live her messages.

“May your heart be prepared to listen to, and live, everything which the Holy Spirit has in his plans for each of you.”

The lukewarm...

“Lukewarm Christians are those who want to build a church to their own specifications, but it is not the Church of Jesus...”
Pope Francis, April 20, 2013, reported by Vatican Radio

Dear children! Today also I am calling you to live and follow with a special love all the messages which I am giving you. Dear children, God does not want you lukewarm and undecided, but that you totally surrender to him. You know that I love you and that out of love I long for you. Therefore, dear children, you also decide for love so that you will long for and daily experience God’s love. Dear children, decide for love so that love prevails in all of you, but not human love, rather God’s love. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, November 20, 1986

Dear children, I am calling you to be one with my Son in spirit. I am calling you, through prayer, and the Holy Mass when my Son unites himself with you in a special way, to try to be like him; that, like him, you may always be ready to carry out God’s will and not seek the fulfilment of your own. part message, April 2, 2013

Love... simple and pure... with an open heart

• The following report is from Vatican Radio.

The Word of God is to be welcomed with humility because it is the word of love: thus – and only thus – may it penetrate hearts and change lives. This was the essence of the remarks Pope Francis made at Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel on Friday morning, in the presence of employees and staff members from the Vatican Typography – the printing press – and the L’Osservatore Romano newspaper.

The Conversion of St Paul and the discourse of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum were the biblical readings of the day, and were at the centre of the Pope’s homily, which focused on Jesus as he speaks: speaking to Saul who had been persecuting him; to Ananias, called to accept Saul; to the teachers of the law, saying that anyone who does not eat his flesh and drink his blood will not be saved. The Pope said Jesus’ voice, “passes through our mind and goes to the heart, for Jesus seeks our conversion.” Paul and Ananias respond with puzzlement, but with an open heart. The teachers of the law respond in another way, arguing among themselves and challenging the hard words of Jesus:

“Paul and Ananias respond [after the manner of] the great [figures] in salvation history, like Jeremiah [and] Isaiah. Even Moses had his difficulties [as when he said]: ‘But, Lord, I do not know how to speak, how am I going to go to the Egyptians and [deliver your message]?’ And Mary, [who said]: ‘But, Lord, I'm not married!’. It is the response of humility, of one who welcomes the Word of God with one’s heart. Instead, the doctors answered only with their heads. They do not know that the Word of God goes to the heart, do not know of conversion.”

The Pope explained who are the ones that respond only with the head:

“They are the great ideologues. The Word of Jesus goes to the heart because it is the Word of love, it is a beautiful word and brings love, makes us to love. These ideologues cut off the road of love, and also that of beauty – and they began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ All a matter of intellect! And when ideology enters into the Church, when ideology enters into our understanding of the Gospel, no [authentic] comprehen[sion] is [possible].”

“They are the ones who walk only ‘on the path of duty’; theirs is the moralis[tic outlook] of those who pretend to understand the Gospel with their heads alone. They are not “on the road to conversion, that conversion to which Jesus calls us.”

“And these, on the road of duty, load everything on the shoulders of the faithful. The ideologues falsify the gospel. Every ideological interpretation, wherever it comes from – from [whatever side] – is a falsification of the Gospel. And these ideologues – as we have seen in the history of the Church – end up being intellectuals without talent, ethicists without goodness – and let us not so much as mention beauty, of which they understand nothing.”

“Rather,” said Pope Francis, “the path of love, the way of the Gospel, is simple: it is the road that the Saints understood”:

“The saints are those who lead the Church forward... the road of conversion, the way of humility, of love, of the heart, the way of beauty... Today let us pray to the Lord for the Church, that the Lord might free her from any ideological interpretation and open the heart of the Church, our Mother Church, to the simple Gospel, to that pure Gospel that speaks to us of love, which brings love, and is so beautiful! It also makes us beautiful, with the beauty of holiness. Today let us pray for the Church.”

Pray, pray, pray that your heart may open and be sensitive for the Word of God. November 25, 1997

Dear children! Today I am calling you to the way of holiness. Pray that you may comprehend the beauty and the greatness of this way where God reveals himself to you in a special way. Pray that you may be open to everything that God does through you that in your life you may be enabled to give thanks to God and to rejoice over everything that he does through each individual. I give you my blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, January 25, 1989

Chosen people...

This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people of Israel. Acts 9 : 15

Dear children! Behold, also today I want to call you to start living a new life as of today. Dear children, I want you to comprehend that God has chosen each one of you, in order to use you in his great plan for the salvation of mankind. You are not able to comprehend how great your role is in God’s design. Therefore, dear children, pray so that in prayer you may be able to comprehend what God’s plan is in your regard. I am with you in order that you may be able to bring it about in all its fullness. Thank you for having responded to my call.
Medjugorje message, January 25, 1987