 |
YEAR
2000 MESSAGES
OF
OUR LADY OF MEDJUGORJE
|
YEAR
2000 MESSAGES |
Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
 |
ear children! I call you, little children, to pray without ceasing. If you pray, you are closer to God and He will lead you on the way of peace and salvation. That is why I call you today to give peace to others. Only in God is there true peace. Open your hearts and become those who give a gift of peace and others will discover peace in you and through you and in this way you will witness God's peace and love which He gives you. Thank you for having responded to my call.
|
ear children! Wake up from
the sleep of unbelief and sin, because this is a time of grace which God gives you. Use
this time and seek the grace of healing of your heart from God, so that you may see God
and man with the heart. Pray in a special way for those who have not come to know God's
love, and witness with your life so that they also can come to know God and His
immeasurable love. Thank you for having responded to my call.
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
|
ear children! Pray and make good use of this time,
because this is a time of grace. I am with you and I intercede for each one of you before
God, for your heart to open to God and to God's love. Little children, pray without
ceasing, until prayer becomes a joy for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
|
ear children! Also today I call
you to conversion. You are concerned too much about material things and little about
spiritual ones. Open your hearts and start again to work more on your personal conversion.
Decide everyday to dedicate time to God and to prayer until prayer becomes a joyful
meeting with God for you. Only in this way will your life have meaning and with joy you
will contemplate eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call.
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
|
ear 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.
[Commentary by
Monsignor George Tüttö]
| ear
children! Today I call you to prayer. The one who prays is not afraid of the future.
Little children do not forget, I am with you and I love you all. Thank you for having
responded to my call. |
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
| ear
children! Do not forget that you are here on earth on the way to eternity and that your
home is in Heaven. That is why, little children, be open to God’s love and leave
egoism and sin. May your joy be only in discovering God in daily prayer. That is why, make
good use of this time and pray, pray, pray; and God is near to you in prayer and through
prayer.Thank you for having responded to my call. |
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
| ear
children! I desire to
share my joy with you. In my Immaculate Heart I feel that there are many of those who have
drawn closer to me and are, in a special way, carrying the victory of my Immaculate Heart
in their hearts by praying and converting. I desire to thank you and to inspire you to
work even more for God and His kingdom with love and the power of the Holy Spirit. I am
with you and I bless you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call. |
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
| ear
children! Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. May prayer become joy for you.
Renew prayer in your families and form prayer groups. In this way, you will experience joy
in prayer and togetherness. All those who pray and are members of prayer groups are open
to God’s will in their hearts and joyfully witness God’s love. I am with you, I
carry all of you in my heart and I bless you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for
having responded to my call. |
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
| ear
children! Today I desire to open my motherly heart to you and to call you all to pray for
my intentions. I desire to renew prayer with you and to call you to fast which I desire to
offer to my Son Jesus for the coming of a new time – a time of spring. In this
Jubilee year many hearts have opened to me and the Church is being renewed in the Spirit.
I rejoice with you and I thank God for this gift; and you, little children, I call to
pray, pray, pray – until prayer becomes a joy for you. Thank you for having responded
to my call. [Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
|
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
|
[Commentary by Monsignor George Tüttö]
[top]
Commentaries by Monsignor George Tüttö
REFLECTION ON THE February
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
Our Lady is renewing her call to us to use this
special time of grace God is giving us by praying unceasingly, by prayer of the heart, in
order to become witnesses to God's infinite love through living a life of prayer and love.
She gives to her message a sense of urgency, calling us to "wake up from the sleep of
unbelief and sin", because it appears that in view of all the evil happenings in the
world, and perhaps because of our own experience of trials, sickness and hardships, we may
feel helpless as if paralysed, lacking in trust in Godıs goodness. Our Lady reminds us
that this is a special time of grace God is offering us and we should pray especially for
the healing of our hearts so that we may become willing instruments in His hands for
helping others to open their hearts to faith, hope and love.
We are asked to pray especially for those who have not come to know God's love. The world
around us becomes more and more cruel and godless; God's laws on morality and
responsibility are ignored and one wonders what kind of world it will be in the future
without God. That is why we cannot afford to ignore Our Lady's urgent call.
In her Christmas message Our Lady asked us to put little newborn Jesus in the first place
in our lives so that Jesus may rule in our hearts and that we may become his reflection
indeed. Only Jesus, working in us, through us and with us, can make us see God and all
people with the heart, that is, with love, with the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. To
become such apostles of love for our time, we must become men and women of prayer, of deep
prayer, of unceasing prayer, prayer of the heart.
Our Lady is calling us to a mission in our troubled world for which we may be encouraged
also by the words of St James: "Anyone who can bring back a sinner from his erring
ways will be saving his sould from death and covering over many a sin" (James 5:20).
In a special way, our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II (Our Lady's beloved son, see message
of 25th August, 1994), is a
model for us who - in spite of his age and frail health - through his journeys and
pilgrimages to many parts of the world, is promoting harmony, peace and reconciliation
between all religions and peoples of the world. We must pray for him that his mission of
peace may long continue.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE March
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
Our Lady is continuing with the main theme of her previous messages, urging us to use this special time of grace by unceasing prayer for us to become open to God and to all his gifts, especially the gifts of love, joy and peace. The very fact that she repeatedly renews this call indicates the urgency of her message. We also notice the absence of her usual way of saying, 'I call you', 'I invite you' to do this or that. Now she just says: "wake up from sleep" (25 February), "pray and make good use of this time", "pray without ceasing". This is a firm request of a loving Mother to her children and we must take her words very seriously.
When Our Lady repeatedly says that this is a time of grace, she wants to tell us something very important about the present period of time, perhaps indicating a new beginning in the life of God's Holy Church. In the history of man's salvation many tragic events happened followed by new beginnings, like after the Floods God's Covenant with Noah; after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah God made a new Covenant with Abraham; after the many plagues inflicted on the Pharaoh and his people, the liberation of the Israelites from the slavery in Egypt followed and God renewed his Covenant with his people through Moses.
The messianic age, the birth of the Church, the New Covenant and the coming of the Holy Spirit, followed after the tragedy of Good Friday, through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. In the Church's history, the renewal of the Christian faith in the early Middles Ages followed the evil corruption of the Dark Middles Ages. The disunity among Christians for centuries caused many conflicts and wars among communities and nations, and "Instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, the children of the Church indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-wittiness and scandal" (Cf. Tertio Millennio Adveniente, No.33). In this great Jubilee Year we must hope and work for a new beginning, a New Pentecost, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as Our Lady promised at Fatima.
Our Lady, with her motherly love and solicitude, intercedes for us before God, so that we may commit ourselves to a life of unceasing prayer, the prayer of the heart. Through such a life of prayer we open our hearts to God's gift of love, joy and peace which will transform our lives and we shall become a reflection of Jesus indeed, apostles of God's love for all mankind. By witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus through a life of love, joy and peace we are sharing these gifts with others, working towards universal reconciliation, peace and unity. We are very fortunate in having a Supreme Pontiff, our Holy Father the Pope, Our Lady's beloved son, who leads the way.
If we hope for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the whole world to renew the face of the earth, then this time of grace is a very great opportunity for us indeed which we must use to the utmost of our abilities. When we all, in spite of all the disturbing,, and upsetting events in the world around us, experience joy through unceasing prayer, then it will be the sign for the closeness of a new beginning in the life of the Church and the world.
In her February message Our Lady urged us to 'wake up from the sleep of unbelief and sin'. Now, during Lent in this Jubilee Year, the year of grace and favour, Saint Paul urges us to the same:
"You know 'the time' has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon - let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the dark,. let us arm ourselves and appear in the light ... Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ .... .. (Romans 13:11-14).
"As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For he says: 'At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation 1 came to your help'. Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation " (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
London, 26th March 2000
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE April
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
In her present message Our Lady returns to her basic
concern for us, expressed in many messages: Our personal conversion, Her repeated call to
pray with the heart, to open our hearts to God's gifts, to make use of this special time
of grace, is aiming at our change and transformation into the likeness of her Son, Jesus
Christ, to "become His reflection which will enlighten this unfaithful world walking
in darkness" (5th June, 1986).
We must always keep in mind Our Lady's very first message revealing the purpose of her
coming to Medjugorje: I want to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world.
(26th June, 1981) Our
Lady began her evangalising mission at Medjugorje and in the hearts of her children who
listen to and try to live by her messages, because universal conversion and reconciliation
must begin in the Hearts of individual souls.
In her loving concern for our growth in the spiritual life Our Lady reminds us of the
obstacle preventing us to make progress in our personal conversion: we are too much
concerned about the material aspects of our life rather than about the spiritual needs as
Saint Paul urges us too:
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, You must look for the things that are in Heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the Earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ and God. (Colossians 3,1-3).
Problems of health and sickness, expectations from
people and institutions, financial worries and many other issues in the world around us
may take the priorities in our concerns, and Our Lady wishes us to overcome them by
trusting more in God's providence and mercy. Our Lady gave her message in the very week
when we are preparing for the Feast of Divine Mercy by a Novena, and this is a special
time of grace indeed to open our hearts towards the loving mercy of God to change and
transform us so that our hearts may be united with the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Such transformation, such personal conversion is not a single event on our spiritual
journey of faith, but it is an ongoing process of spiritual growth, as Our Lady told us in
an earlier message:
Dear children,...I wish that each of you decides himself for a change of life and that each of you works more in the church, not through words and thoughts but through example, so that your life may be a joyful witnessing for Jesus. You cannot say that you are converted, because your life must become a daily conversion. In order to understand what you have to do, my little ones, pray and God will give you what you actually have to do, and where you have to change... (25th February, 1993).
Prayer, deep prayer, is, therefore, the way to open
our hearts for the Grace of ongoing conversion, change and transformation, and Our Lady
firmly tells us that we must give time to God and to prayer every day as the priority of
our life. Only in this way we shall discover the deeper meaning of our life which should
be a life of prayer, love and service, a joyful witnessing for Jesus. Only such a life
will enable us to experience a joyful encounter with God in this life, as a foretaste of
the, eternal joy of Heaven.
London, 29th April 2000
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE May
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
In the wake of recent important events in the life of the Church, the canonization of Blessed Faustina on Divine Mercy Sunday and the beatification of the two young visionaries of Fatima, Franciso and Jacinta, a sense of joy is filling the hearts of the faithful and we all feel that this is a joyful time of grace indeed. Our Blessed Mother begins her message by stating that she shares our joy.
As we approach the Feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, this holy season is even more a time of grace, filling us with great expectations. Our Lady draws our attention to what our primary concern should be in this time of grace: our spiritual renewal. In her April message Our Lady urged us to commit ourselves with all our strength and devotion to our personal conversion, change and transformation, especially through a life of deep prayer. In her present message Our Lady interprets the main purpose of this time of grace, the Great Jubilee Year, in terms of spiritual renewal in the life of the Church and in each individual Christian.
The grace of such renewal is the gift of the Holy Spirit and Our Lady is calling us to pray, especially through the Novena to the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us in fullness, changing and transforming us into the image of Jesus so that we may be able to give effective witness to all those people around us who have no faith. This reminds us of the sad reality of the secular world in which we live. More and more people are falling away from the faith in God and the power and, influence of the Evil One is seemingly on the increase. The powerful witness of those, however, who open themselves to the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit will check the evil trends in our world and through our renewed life of peace, joy and love the Holy Spirit will renew the face of the earth indeed (Cf. Psalm 104:30).
To be able to give effective and joyful witness to people without faith, joy and love, we must open our hearts completely to all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit which provide an intensive programme for our spiritual renewal. We should prayerfully reflect each day on these gifts so that they may become a reality in our lives. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord (Cf. Isaiah 11: 1-2).
The twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity (Cf. Galatians 5:22-23).
Transformed and changed by such great gifts, we shall be able to come closer to people who are alienated from us through their lack of faith and ungodly behaviour; with courage we shall be able to face every situation and confrontation; and with wisdom, goodness and love we shall be able to give God's forgiving love to those who hurt us and overcome every difficulty which we may encounter by our joyful witnessing to Jesus. Our Lady's assuring words are a great encouragement to us to embark on the path of spiritual renewal: she is with us and intercedes for each one of us before Jesus.
London, 26th May, 2000.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE June
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
We all may be surprised at the brevity of Our Lady's
message, marking the 19th anniversary of her apparitions at Medjugorje. However, it is Our
Lady's style to say only a few words when she wants to tell us something very urgent and
important, as on some certain occasions she just said: "Pray! Pray! Pray!". On 15th November 1984 Our Lady
gave a short but very moving message: "I only wish to say: Pray, pray, pray! I do not
know what else to tell you because I love you and wish that in prayer you come to know my
love and the love of God."
Our Lady's call to prayer is at the heart of all her messages. In nearly every message she
calls us to prayer, not just to say prayers, but to be continuously prayerful with prayer
of the heart, with unceasing prayer. Such prayer is, for example, the Holy Rosary, when we
reflect on the life of Jesus with Our Lady. In fact, all these years, in her school of
prayer, Our Lady has been teaching us her way of praying so that our prayer becomes a
great channel of grace. Through prayer of the heart we open ourselves to God's gift of
conversion, transformation, renewal of our life in love, peace and joy, to be able to
witness to God's love for all his children.
I feel that there is a special reason for Our Lady saying to us: "The one who prays
is not afraid of the future." Today (26th June) is the day when the Holy See revealed
the Third Secret of Fatima to the world through the internet. With the help of a friend I
was able to receive it and I publish it after my reflection. However, it is recommended
that one should read also the explanation of Cardinal Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. Since it is a document of several pages in length I expect it
will be available in print.
The Third Secret of Fatima has frequently aroused fear and anxiety among the faithful
regarding the future, and perhaps that is the reason for Our Lady's messages, assuring us
not to be afraid of the future, provided that we pray, that is, we are in union with God,
living under his protection.
Sister Lucia, the surviving visionary of Fatima, following the request of the Holy Father,
explained the meaning of the secret to Archbishop Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 27th April, 2000, prior to the Holy Father's visit to
Fatima for the beatification of Francesco and Jacinta. She repeated her conviction that
the vision of Fatima concerns above all the struggle of atheistic communism against the
Church and against Christians, and describes the terrible sufferings of the victims for
the faith in the twentieth century. Regarding the Bishop dressed in white, Sister Lucia
was in full agreement with the Pope's claim that "it was the Mother's hand that
guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of
death."
Whether the Third Secret refers only to the twentieth century's persecution against the
Church, we cannot be sure. But whatever the future brings, Our Lady wants to assure us
that those who pray should not be afraid.
Today we have heard about another revelation, a scientific announcement regarding the
decoding and mapping of the human DNA, with immense possibilities in genetic engineering
which may fill with great apprehension and even fear of the future, if such engineering is
interfering in the sanctity of human life. Human life is more than the combination of
genes.
Yes, the future is full of fearful possibilities and that is why it is so important to
obey Our Lady's request to live a life of prayer, putting ourselves completely into the
protecting arms of our Blessed Mother. She echoes the words of God: "Do not be
afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name. You are mine." (Is 43:1).
The Third Secret of Fatima
The letter of Sister Lucia, kept at the Vatican
since 1957, containing the third part of the "Secret" revealed on 13th July 1917
at Cova da Iria, Fatima.
I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the
Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.
After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little
above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out
flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in
contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand:
pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice:
"Penance, Penance, Penance!". And we saw in an immense light that is God:
"something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of
it" a Bishop dressed in White "we had the impression that it was the Holy
Father". Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain,
at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree
with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half
in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed
for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on
his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired
bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other
Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks
and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a
crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and
with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.
London, 26th June, 2000.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE July
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
Our Lady is calling us very firmly to keep in mind the purpose of
our earthly existence: preparation for our eternal life in heaven. In the midst of our
troubles, worries and fears, we easily get immersed in earthly concerns and we may lose
sight of our ultimate destiny: to reach our eternal home with God. The world around us is
hungry for the promises of earthly paradise, but the daily news about the many tragedies
all over the world reminds us of how fragile our earthly existence is.
St Augustine's words come to my mind: 'Our soul is restless until it finds its rest in
God.' Jesus is offering us his peace and rest, if we are humble enough to learn from him
(cf. Matt
11: 28-29). Our Lady wants to help us by reminding us of the priority concern of our
life: seeking God's kingdom first and his righteousness, and then we shall receive the
other things as well that we need for our earthly life (cf. Matt 6:33).
Seeking God's kingdom first requires from us that we turn from earthly desires, often the
selfish cravings of our hearts, and that we open our hearts to God's gift of love and joy
instead. In other words, Our Lady reminds us of the first Gospel call: 'Repent and believe
the Gospel.' (Mark 1: 15). The word Gospel ('evangelion' in Greek) means
'joyful news', the life-giving word of God which brings joy into our life. This is the
kind of joy that Jesus wanted to share with his disciples by revealing to them all that he
learnt from the Father (cf. John 15: 11-15). Turning
away from sin and opening our hearts to God's life-giving word is what conversion is all
about, and to which Our Lady has been calling us in many of her messages. She is also
teaching us the way of obtaining this joyful gift of conversion, that is prayer, deep
prayer, the prayer of the heart, expressed by Our Lady's favoured words: 'Pray, pray,
pray!', in which and through which we encounter the God of joy. This Jubilee Year, the
time of grace, gives us great opportunities to live a life of prayer and love, inspired
and guided by Our Lady's messages.
In this message, Our Lady summarises her basic call through Medjugorje in all its aspects:
the call to conversion, daily conversion, change and transformation, through a life of
prayer and love. By such a life we are to witness to the Gospel, reflecting the life of
Jesus (cf. message of 5th June
1986), drawing and helping other people towards God's gift of love, joy and peace.
This way we are preparing the way to our eternal home in heaven.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE August
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
There is nothing more uplifting to our spirit than
when someone dear to us is sharing his or her joy with us. This is what our Blessed Mother
wishes to do. What is the cause of her joy that she wants to share with us? It is
something most encouraging to read Our Lady's words when she tells us that there are many
who have come closer to her and are carrying, in a special way, the victory of her
Immaculate Heart in their hearts by deep prayer and conversion. I hope and pray that you
are among those whom Our Lady is so pleased about.
Our Lady's message of the
previous month was about prayer and conversion by calling us to turn away from
selfishness and sin, and to open our hearts to God's joy through deep prayer , prayer of
the heart. Now she puts before us the fruit of such commitment: sharing in the victory of
her Immaculate Heart. In the wake of the revelation of the Third Secret of Fatima, Our
Lady draws our attention to her great promise made at Fatima that, in spite of all the
evil works of Satan, ultimately her Immaculate Heart will triumph. Through her messages at
Medjugorje she tells us that she wants to achieve this victory with our help, involving us
in her crusade for peace in the world by overcoming the power of Satan, as she told us at
the time of the war in former Yugoslavia.
25 September 1991
Dear Children, my special call today is to invite you all to prayer and self-denial, for now - as never before - Satan wants to show the world his shameful face by which he wants to seduce as many people as possible on the way of death and sin. therefore, dear children, help my Immaculate Heart to triumph in a sinful world. I beseech all of you to offer prayers and sacrifices for my intentions, so that I can present them to God for what is most necessary.
The message of Fatima, renewed at Medjugorje, calls
us to prayer, sacrifice and reparation to share in the redeeming work of Jesus for the
salvation of souls, according to the intentions of Our Lady and in union with her. By
doing this, we are facilitating the victory of her Immaculate Heart. Our Lady is urging us
to more fervent commitment to build up God's kingdom in our midst, not through our own
strength, but with the love and the power of the Holy Spirit, that is, through the
manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit which we will receive through deep prayer, prayer of the
heart, as Our Lady has told us so many times.
Coming closer to Our Lady really means that we should have a heart like her heart, that
the Holy Spirit may work very powerfully in us and through us. Our hearts to become like
her heart is Our Lady's deep desire, as she told us on 25 November 1994:
Dear Children, I am with you and I love you all. I am your mother and I wish your hearts to be like mine. My little ones, without prayer you cannot live and say that you are mine. Prayer is joy. Prayer is what the human heart thirsts for. Therefore, dear children, draw closer to my Immaculate heart and you will discover God.
Our Lady's real purpose is to draw us to the Heart of Jesus, her Son, to be united with Him completely, so that we may be instrumental in bringing about the reign of Christ in all human hearts. This was in Our Lady's mind when she urged us, on 25 October 1988 to consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the consecration to her Immaculate Heart.
Dear Children, my special desire is to draw you closer to the Heart of Jesus. Therefore, dear children, I am calling you today to the prayer of consecration to Jesus, my dear Son, so that each of your hearts may be His. And then I am calling you to consecration to my Immaculate Heart. I want you to consecrate yourselves as persons, families and parishes so that all belong to God through my hands.... I do not want anything for myself but all for the salvation of your souls. Satan is powerful. For this reason, my dear children, entrust yourselves - by unceasing prayer - to my maternal heart.
Our Blessed Mother assures us of her presence with us and of her motherly blessing. There is no need to be faint-hearted. We are called to great things which will change the face of the earth.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE September
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
In most of her messages Our Lady is calling us to
prayer to open our hearts to God's gifts, especially the gift of conversion, change and
transformation in order to become a reflection of Jesus and effective witnesses to the
Gospel. She has often called us to encounter the God of joy in prayer so that prayer
itself becomes joy for us, and when we are joyful and happy about what we are doing, we
want to do it unceasingly. Our Lady is calling us to this joyful way of praying, unceasing
prayer, prayer of the heart, and she is teaching us to do it in union with her because she
wants to share her joy with us. In her last monthly message Our Lady explained the main
reason for her joy: through prayer and conversion we are carrying the victory of her
Immaculate Heart in our hearts.
Now, in order to make our sharing in the victory of her Immaculate Heart more effective,
she leads us to the next stage in our life of prayer. Our Lady wants us to pray with her,
not just as individual souls, but as a group, as a community, like a family or prayer
group where the uniting force is love. Shared prayer is powerful prayer because Jesus
promised that he himself is with those who pray together: In truth I tell you once again,
'if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my
Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.' (Matt 18:19-20)
The special feature in Our Lady's latest message is her request to us to form prayer
groups. Apart from her request to the young people of Medjugorje at the beginning of her
apparitions to form a prayer group which she herself wished to lead, this is the first
time that Our Lady is asking her children all over the world to form or join prayer
groups. In the intimate atmosphere of a group of like-minded people we learn to open our
hearts to God by opening our hearts to each other, thus experiencing real joy and
togetherness. This is a powerful incentive to become joyful and effective witnesses to
God's love in order to change the face of the earth, by helping Our Lady to bring about
the victory of her Immaculate Heart and the reign of Jesus in all hearts.
Many people may be familiar with 'charismatic' prayer groups. Some excesses in the way of
praying and behaving in such prayer groups may have contributed to negative attitudes to
some such prayer groups, and that is why it is important to keep in mind St Paul's
teaching on praying in groups, in which the various gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to
build up the community, that is, the Church, and not to divide it (cf. 1
Cor 14:26-33). That was in Our Lady's mind as well when she called us to work more in
the Church by example so that our life may be indeed a joyful witnessing for Jesus:
Dear Children, ... I want every one of you to decide for a change of life and each of you
to work more in the Church, not in word, not in thought, but by example, so that your life
may be a joyful witnessing for Jesus. You cannot say that you are converted, because your
life must become a daily conversion.... (25 February 1993)
Our Lady is calling us to great things which will change the face of the earth and that is
why she assures us again of her unceasing presence with us and of her motherly blessing.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE October
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
In many of her messages Our Lady has asked us to
open our hearts to God through prayer. Now she is telling us something very beautiful
about the opening of her heart: she wants to open her motherly heart to us so that by
being very close to her heart we may be able to pray for her intentions from our heart.
More than that, she wants to pray with us as a mother prays with her children, and in
order to make our prayer very effective, she calls us to fast, that is, to make sacrifices
which she wishes to offer to her Son Jesus for a very special intention: 'for the coming
of a new time - a time of spring'.
What is this 'new time - a time of spring' for which she is preparing us? It is the age of
rebirth and renewal of the face of the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit; the
time of universal peace, conversions and reconciliation in which, through the victory of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary with our participation (see August message), the reign of
Jesus Christ in all hearts will come about, to the glory of the Father. That will be the
age of real peace in the world and that is at the centre of Our Lady's mission
through Medjugorje by her messages of peace, and with our help as she told us exactly ten
years ago:
As the Great Jubilee Year is coming to its close,
Our Lady is sharing her joy with us and she gives thanks to God both for the gift of grace
during this year which enabled many people to open their hearts to her, and for the
renewal in the Spirit that the Church is experiencing. Considering all the fearful
tensions and conflicts in the world at large, one wonders about what the reason for Our
Lady's joy and gratitude is. I am sure Our Lady has in mind the great and important event
which happened a few weeks ago, on 8th October, in St Peter's Square in Rome. The Holy
Father, Pope John Paul II, in union with 1500 bishops and 80 cardinals, in the presence of
the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, entrusted the world and the Third Millennium to Our Lady
after listing the many blessings God's holy people had received during this Holy Year.
'In this year of grace, countless people have known the overflowing joy of the mercy which
the Father has given us in Christ. In the particular Churches throughout the world, and
still more in this centre of Christianity, the widest array of people have accepted this
gift. Here the enthusiasm of the young rang out, here the sick have lifted up their
prayer. Here have gathered priests and religious, artists and journalists, workers and
people of learning, children and adults, and all have acknowledged in your beloved Son the
Word of God made flesh in your womb. O Mother, intercede for us, that the fruits of this
Year will not
be lost and that the seeds of grace will grow to the full measure of the holiness to which
we are all called.'
I feel that Our Lady's present message is her way of saying 'thank you' for what happened
in Rome on 8th October. Her joyful message helps us to be positive and confident in our
outlook on life and on the future, in spite of what is happening in the world around us.
All this requires from us a life of prayer in union with our heavenly Mother,
unceasing prayer, prayer of the heart, as she has aksed us so many times. And now again,
using her threefold call, 'pray, pray, pray!', she is praying with us so that she may
share her joy with us and thus our prayer may become a joy for us.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE November
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
Our Lady gave us a most inspiring and consoling message following the tragic death of Father Slavko Barbaric, OFM, aged 54, the spiritual director of the visionaries of Medjugorje, on the previous day, 24th November. Our Lady’s messages are first addressed to the parish of Medjugorje, then to all her children throughout the world, and so her comforting words were very much needed by the people of Medjugorje who must have been gravely shaken by Father Slavko’s death, but equally her consoling message is a great comfort to all of us who have been veyry much upset by the unexpected death of the great apostle of Medjugorje.
[top]
REFLECTION ON THE December
25th MESSAGE
by
Monsignor George Tüttö
As usual Our Lady is appearing to the visionaries on
Christmas Day with little Jesus in her arms. This beautiful gesture brings home to us the
heart of Our Ladys messages. She is giving us Jesus in a special way by training us to
open our hearts to Jesus, to become a reflection of Jesus which will enlighten this
unfaithful world walking in darkness (cf. Thursday message, 5 June, 1986). Our Lady's loving
plan was shown by her very first apparition at Medjugorje on 24 June, 1981, holding the
Baby Jesus in her arms, unveiling Him to the visionaries, indicating that she wants to
give us Jesus in a new way, by her mission through Medjugorje.
Christmas Day is the day of joy as Our Lady has often said, and she is sharing her joy
with us as she did in her last monthly message when she revealed that Father Slavko had
been born into Heaven and intercedes for us.
This time the reason for her joy is the manifold blessing of the Jubilee Year which is
coming to its end, and Our Lady is thanking God for everything that His grace has worked
in the hearts of her children, especially in those who have surrendered themselves to God
completely. This call for abandonment of ourselves to God through Marys hands has often
been the subject of Our Lady's messages and it appears that during this Holy Year many of
Marys children have taken this decisive step.
I quote one of the most beautiful messages of Our Lady calling us to surrender
our lives to God through her:
.... 25 July, 1988
Our heavenly Mothers blessing and the blessing of
the little Jesus for our undertaking to belong to God completely and the prayer of Our
Lady for us are the guarantee that with Our Ladys help we shall experience the joy of
Jesus, the Lord of our hearts. Filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, in union
with tour Blessed Mother, we shall become effective evangelisers for our sad world.
By opening our hearts to the Child Jesus, we realise that God wants to come into our life
as a Child so that only joy should fill our hearts and not fear. Then people around us may
also open their hearts by recognising Gods love through us.
To become effective evangelisers for our time, Our Lady is giving us little Jesus as the
Saviour of our hearts who is calling us to follow Him through holiness of life, that is
through a life of prayer and love. We learn this holiness of life in Our Ladys school of
prayer and love through her messages.
I feel that this Christmas message is heralding the new time, calling us to renew our life
in Jesus, with the help of Our Lady, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God
the Father, so that we may become effective evangelisers at the beginning of the third
Millennium of the Christian Church, helping Our Lady to bring about the victory of her
Immaculate Heart and the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in all hearts.
[top]