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Reflections
on the Year 2007 Messages |
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| January 2007 |
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After twenty years of monthly messages, through which Our Lady has been guiding us on the way to holiness of life, to become a reflection of Jesus and effective witnesses in the world, she is continuing to remind us about the essential means of growing in holiness. In her present message, as in so many of her messages, Our Lady emphasises the importance of reading and praying the Scared Scripture, the Word of God, since all her messages can be regarded as the messages of the Gospel, and her messages could be summed up in the words she spoke at the wedding of Cana: 'Do whatever My Son tells you!' (John 2:5). When Our Lady tells us to put Sacred Scripture in a visible place in our home, she means a place of honour, that will remind us to read and pray it every day. The first time Our Lady called us to read Sacred Scripture in the family was early in her Thursday messages, on 18th October 1984:
When I first when to Medjugorje in May 1984, I interviewed Jelena Vasilj, the interior locutionary, who was related to the family I was staying with, and asked her what message did Our Lady give for priests. This is what Our Lady told her:
Jelena Vasilj and the other interior locutionary, Marija Vasilj, were reading the Bible every day for two hours. In our present time, when marriage and family life are in crisis, it is vitally important that Christian families listen to the Word of God, especially for the sake of the children who may be badly influenced by the world around them. This was the point Our Lady made in her message on 25th August 1996:
Through reading and praying Sacred Scripture we learn the prayer of the heart, unceasing prayer, especially by reflecting on the life of Jesus in the Gospels, and we also learn how much God loves us, especially by sending us his Mother to be our Mother, Teacher and Model. The analogy of the passing flower in the field reminds us about the shortness of our earthly life which should be a witnessing to God's immense love and a preparation, with Our Lady's help, for eternal life and happiness, God's infinite blessing to us all. |
| February 2007 |
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Once again we are in the season of Lent, preparing ourselves to celebrate with joy and thanksgiving the victory of Jesus over sin by His death and resurrection. This preparation, however, calls us to keep in mind the forty days of prayer and fasting of Jesus in the desert when He was also tempted by Satan, but He conquered the Evil One. Our Lady calls Lent the season of grace when through deep prayer, prayer of the heart, especially by contemplating the suffering of our Redeemer, we strive to be united with Jesus, as Our Lady told us on 25th February 1989:
Lent gives us an opportunity also to be freed from the slavery of sin through good confession, a special gift of God's mercy and love for us. Through good confession we receive the peace of Christ, which we are called to take into the world that is without peace. I am quoting another message of Our Lady about the importance of confession:
The main purpose of everything we are asked to do during this holy season is to decide for and to grow in holiness of life, which is the wish of Our Lady for us through all her messages. She wants us to become a reflection of Jesus and effective witnesses in the world around us, so that God's peace may come to every heart. To achieve this, Our Lady calls us to live her messages with seriousness.
Finally, Our Lady reminds us that our free will enables us not only to decide for holiness of life, but also to succumb to Satan's temptations. To help us to conquer the power of Satan, as Jesus did, Our Lady assures us of her prayers.
With her Christmas message Our Lady completed twenty years of monthly messages from January 1987, that is, 240 monthly messages, and I am pleased to mention that I have made reflections on all her monthly messages, although the reflections on the monthly messages during the first six years have never been published. We do not know for how long Our Lady will continue to give us messages, but in the light of her messages I can say with certainty that Our Lady has given to all of us and to the whole Church a most wonderful guidance for the renewal of the Church and for a new evangelisation of the whole world. Through the Second Vatican Council of the Church we were given a very important document about Our Lady's role in the life of the Church (Lumen Gentium, Chapter 8) in which Our Lady is described as Mother, Teacher and Model of the Church. Should we be surprised that Our Lady is actually fulfilling this mission for our time through Medjugorje? As I stated in all my publications, I subject myself to the final decision of the Church regarding Medjugorje, but in conscience I have also to listen to the Word of God in Sacred Scripture: Do not stifle the Spirit, or despise the gift of prophecy with contempt; test everything and hold onto what is good and shun every form of evil. (I Thess 5: 19-22), and to the words of Jesus: Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Rev 2:7) My only fear is this: Our Lady's messages at Fatima were fulfilled too late, after a terrible world war and godless communism about which Our Lady gave warning through the children of Fatima. If Our Lady's requests through her Medjugorje messages are not followed up, what will happen to our world? |
| March 2007 |
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In her last monthly message Our Lady has asked us to make good use of this holy season of Lent by turning away from sin through confession and by striving for holiness of life. It seems that many of her children has responded to Our Lady's request and now she is thanking all of them from her heart. this is a great encouragement for all of us indeed to continue with the spiritual exercises of fastiong and renunciation even after Lent as Our Lady is asking us to do in her present message. The basic call of our Lady through all her messages is to decide and work for holiness of life which will make us into the reflection of Jesus and effective witnesses for Jesus in our world which is moving more and more away from God. This striving for holiness includes our conversion and change of heart through a more spiritual way of living by removing worldly attachments which are of no value to us, as Our Lady told us in a Thursday message on 13 February 1986:
Change and conversion are an ongoing and daily process in our spiritual life, as Our Lady told us in another Lenten message on 25 February 1993:
Jesus Himself stressed the importance of change of life when the disciples asked Him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He told them: I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew18: 1-4) Prayer, daily prayer, preayer of the heart, is our most powerful means to obtain God's grace for our change and conversion, and during this holy season, especially during Holy Week, meditating on the Passion and Death of Our Lord will be the most effective prayer, as Our Lady told us in another Lenten message on 25 February 1998:
Fasting is part of our self-denial which makes our prayer more powerful in union with Jesus, sharing His atonement for the sins of the world, and in our struggle trying to overcome the power of Satan in the eharts of many people, as Jesus told His disciples when they were unable to drive out an evil spirit. This is the kind that can be driven out by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29) Finally, Our Lady is assuring us that she is with us in our striving for holiness and that she wants to take us with her to heaven. WISHING YOU ALL THE JOY AND PEACE OF THE RISEN LORD JESUS! |
| April 2007 |
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In her last monthly message Our Lady asked us to make good use of this holy season of Lent by turning away from sin through confession and by striving for holiness of life. It seems that many of her children responded to Our Lady's request and now she is thanking all of them from her heart. This is a great encouragement for all of us to continue with the spiritual exercises of fasting and renunciation even after Lent, as Our Lady is asking us to do in her present message. The basic call of Our Lady through all her messages is to decide and work for holiness of life which will make us into the reflection of Jesus and effective witnesses for Jesus in our world, which is moving more and more away from God. This striving for holiness includes our conversion and change of heart through a more spiritual way of living, by removing worldly attachments which are of no value to us, as Our Lady told us in a Thursday message on 13 February 1986:
Change and conversion are an ongoing and daily process in our spiritual life, as Our Lady told us in another Lenten message on 25 February 1993:
Jesus Himself stressed the importance of change of life when the disciples asked Him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He told them: I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew18: 1-4) Prayer, daily prayer, prayer of the heart, is our most powerful means to obtain God's grace for our change and conversion, and during this holy season, especially during Holy Week, meditating on the Passion and Death of Our Lord will be the most effective prayer, as Our Lady told us in another Lenten message on 25 February 1998:
Fasting is part of our self-denial which makes our prayer more powerful in union with Jesus, sharing His atonement for the sins of the world and in our struggle to overcome the power of Satan in the hearts of many people, as Jesus told His disciples when they were unable to drive out an evil spirit. This is the kind that can be driven out only by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29) Finally, Our Lady is assuring us that she is with us in our striving for holiness and that she wants to take us with her to heaven. |
| May 2007 |
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Our Lady call to us to pray with her to the Holy Spirit comes from her heart because she has received the greatest gift ever, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,our Saviour, through the power of the Holy Spirit. During the Novena before the Feast of Pentecost we have had great opportunity to pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but Our Lady wants us to realise that we need the help of the Holy Spirit always through whom we can become children of God. The Holy Spirit,the giver of life, as we pray in the Creed, wants to fill us with His manifold gift which we have received at our Confirmation: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, piety, knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Izaiah 11:1-3), so that He may mould us into the likeness of Jesus, the reflection of Jesus, as Our Lady wishes us to become. Through prayer,prayer of the heart,we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit like flowers in the spring to the sun, so that through the working of the Holy Spirit so necessary for our holiness of life: the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, fidelity, humility, tolerance, self-control, and purity of the heart (Galatians 5:22). We have to pray to the Holy Spirit even for the gift of prayer so that
we may be changed,and transformed,converted,and this way we can help also
those who are far from prayer. As Our Lady told us on 25th May, 2003:
God's will for us is holiness of life as Our Lady has been teaching us all these years, based on the Word of God in Holy Scripture: Be Holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leveticus 19:2;1 Peter 1:16). You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Be merciful as your Father is merciful (Luke:6:36). Our Lady wants us to lead a life of love and prayer in union with Jesus sothat we may be able to help her in her mission for the peace and salvation of the world. She is with us, she loves us very much and intercedes for us, as she assures us in her every message. She wants us to become apostles of peace and love, inspired by the Holy Spirit, as she told is on 25th June, 2005:
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| June 2007 |
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With the present message of Our Lady we are celebrating the 26th anniversary of her presence with us through Medjugorje and her messages. It is a unique phenomenon in the history of the Church, but after the Second Vatican Council and in the light of the present situation in the world one can understand this most generous gesture of the Mother of the Church. The Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium, Chapter 8, gave us a very important document concerning Our Lady's role in the life of the Church. Our Lady is described as Mother, Teacher and Model of the Church. We should not be surprised, therefore, that Our Lady is actually fulfilling her great role according to the teaching of the Church. Her present message renews her call to change and conversion of life for us to be able to fulfil God's plan through Medjugorje, that is for peace and salvation of the whole world. This call for conversion has been repeated by Our Lady many times during the past 26 years, and her very first message indicated the purpose of her presence with us: I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world. (26th June 1981) Conversion is not just turning away from sin but it is an ongoing process of growing in holiness of life by living the gospel, as Our Lord stated at the beginning of His mission: The time has come and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the Good News. (Mk 1:15) Our Lady's mission through all these years was to teach and guide us on the way of holiness, to become a reflection of Jesus and to become apostles of peace and love for the salvation of the world. Our Lady was also teaching us how to pray with the heart whereby we are able to understand God's plan for us. In her first monthly message on 25th January 1987 Our Lady told us about God's plan:
What is God's plan for us, and how can we become apostles of love and peace in our world which is without peace and love? In many messages Our Lady has asked us to draw closer to Jesus through deep prayer, so that we may experience His love and be in union with Jesus. His love through us may reach the hearts of all people, thus slowly transforming the world so that Jesus may rule in all hearts. Our Lady told us about the power of love in a beautiful message on 25th November 1991:
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| July 2007 |
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The feast of St James, Apostle and Martyr, the Patron of the Parish of Medjugorje, was the opportunity for Our Lady to call us again to imitate the lives of the saints to become holy. All Our Lady's messages are calling us to holiness of life so that we may become a reflection of Jesus, Apostle of love and peace, and effective witnesses to the love God has for all people. This way we are sharing in Our Lady's mission to save the world which is now in grave peril. According to Our Lady, holiness of life is a life of love, as she told us on 20th November 1986:
Saint James, one of the first martyrs of the Church, gave his life in union with Jesus to save souls, in the sacrifice of love. He was drinking the cup that Jesus had to drink (Matthew 20:21). At the Last Supper, talking about love, Jesus said: A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friend. (John 15:13) Our Lady is calling us all to this sacrifice of love, through fasting, self-denial and offering all our trials, as she told us on 27th March 1986:
Such a life of love, however, requires that we live a life of prayer to become open to all God's gifts, above all the gift of His love, as Our Lady called us on 25th November 1992:
Finally, on the feast of St James, Our Lady's call to imitate the lives of the saints and the sacrifice of love is confirming as so often before that we are called to share in her mission as Co-redemptrix, in union with her Son, the Redeemer of the world. During the past 150 years, the Marian age, many theologians and popes have emphasised the special role of Our Lady as Co-redemptrix, especially the late Pope John Paul II. I believe that Our Lady came during the reign of the late pontiff confirming her role as Co-redemptrix, calling all her children and guiding us, as Mother, Teacher and Model, to participate in her mission so that with our help her promise, made at Fatima, may be fulfilled: Ultimately, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. |
| August 2007 |
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Once again Our Lady is calling us to conversion, as she has done so many times, and one wonders why she has to urge us again and again to change our heart and life and to grow in the life of holiness. I have to repeat another message of Our Lady in which she explains that conversion is an ongoing process of transformation of our life, and that is perhaps what many people do not understand. She said on 25th February 1993:
Our Lady is emphasising the importance of prayer in this message, especially the prayer of the heart through which our life becomes a prayer indeed, and which opens our heart to God’s love and to his many gifts. Thus we become a reflection of God’s goodness, a reflection of Jesus, as Our Lady told us in an early message on 5th June 1986:
In her present message Our Lady is also speaking in a special way to ‘those who are far from God’s mercy’, calling them to conversion, as explained above, and to God in the first place in their lives, so that their prayers may be acceptable to God and they may be saved. Our Lady, the Mother of the Church, is calling to all her children, to all members of the Church, even those who are lukewarm and failing in the practice of their faith. This message reminds me very much of today’s gospel (21st Sunday/C) in which Our Lord is explaining to his listeners that they have to find the narrow door leading to God’s kingdom, otherwise they will be excluded (Luke 13:22-30). The narrow door is love, love for God and for everybody as Jesus loved. Through conversion and a life of prayer, prayer of the heart, we open our hearts to God’s love, as Our Lady explained in a beautiful message on 25th April 1995:
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| September 2007 |
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Our Lady has been calling us with all her motherly love many times, especially in the past few months, to open our hearts to God’s love, so that love may dominate our life and our relationship with everyone. She called us to be love, to be extended hands of God for others, to be witnesses to God’s love in our world which is without love. In order to become love our heart must be open to God’s love through prayer, prayer of the heart, as Our Lady told us three years ago:
To become love for others, first we must love with all our heart and “blaze with more ardent love” for our crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is Love itself, revealing the Father’s love for all His children, as St John writes in his Gospel: God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through Him the world might be saved. (John 3:16-17) At the last Supper, before offering the greatest sacrifice of love on the cross, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the greatest love: A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.(John 15:13) This is the reason why Our Lady, through her school of prayer and love, through her messages, wants to guide us to such a holiness of life which is centred on love, on Jesus himself. She is calling us to the greatest sacrifice, the sacrifice of love, as she told us in a Thursday message on 27th March 1986:
To become a reflection of Jesus, to become effective apostles in Our Lady’s mission to save the world, Our Lady urges us to meditate and pray that our heart may be open to God’s love, so that God’s love may operate in our life, as Our Lady told us in a beautiful message on 25th June 1988:
I was so happy to read our Lady’s latest message, because she revealed her mission of love to the world prior to her apparitions at Medjugorje to a humble widowed mother of six children in Hungary through the Flame of Love devotion which is spreading all over the world, and about which I had prepared a script only ten days before Our Lady’s present message, intending to send it to you with my reflections. |
| October 2007 |
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Our Lady is continuing her call to us to be love and light in this world of darkness and sin, to be a reflection of Jesus to save the world. The central mystery of God's will to save the world is His love for us all as St John wrote: God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but have eternal life. (John 3:16) The redemption of the world is continuing until the end of time, as Jesus told His disciples about their mission to the whole world: And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time. (Matt 28:20) Our Lady's mission through Medjugorje is to lead us all in her school of prayer and love, in her school of holiness of life, to use us in saving the world. We must always keep in mind her first message at Medjugorje on 26th June 1981: I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world. The main aim of Our Lady's school of holiness is to unite us with Jesus, the Saviour of the world, so that by accepting and living her messages we may become 'extended hands of God' to save the world. This is our Christian vocation as Our Lady told us ten years ago:
Our Lady, the Co-redemptrix, was sent by God in our troubled times to teach and lead us to share in Jesus' redeeming work, as she told us also in an earlier message:
Our Lady is so grateful to those who have accepted and are living her messages, but she is also sad about those who have failed to live their Christian vocation and have never come to know the God of love. That is why Our Lady is urging us to live her messages, to become reflections of Jesus, to become love and light for others, witnesses to God's love for the world. Our Lady renews the call of Jesus to his disciples and followers: You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shine for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good worlds, they may give praise to your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:14-16)
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| November 2007 |
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Our Lady’s message, given on the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, helps us to appreciate her loving desire that Jesus may be the King of our life in a special way. St Paul, in his letter to the Colossians (1:15-16), explains what it means that Jesus is the King of all that is created: He is the image of the unseen God and the first born of all creation, for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers – all things were created through Him and for Him. The kingship of Jesus is not the earthly kind of kingship of ruling over people, but is the greatest self-giving love and humble service: The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). By His sacrifice on the cross and through His resurrection we have received the greatest gift, Jesus Himself, to enable us to give ourselves to others and to be a grace for others, as He told His disciples at the Last Supper: A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Our Lady, the Queen of Peace, who has been sent by God in our troubled times, has been urging us many times to give time to God in prayer, prayer of the heart, that He may transform and change us, to become the reflection of Jesus(5th June 2005), to be the extended hands of God (25th September 2004), to be love, joy and peace in this world which is without peace (25th November 2003). To become such apostles of peace and love (25th June 2005), Our Lady asks us to be united with Jesus, the King of Peace:
During all these years Our Lady has been training us through her messages to become apostles of love and peace for our world, helping her Immaculate Heart to triumph, to bring about the reign of Christ, the King of Peace, in all hearts. This special Christmas mission has been foretold by Our Lady at her apparition at La Sallette in 1848. Our Lady talked about the forthcoming satanic age with its disasters and terrible conflicts in the world, but she also talked about the apostles of the last times who as children of light will be called to bring light into the dark world (19th September 1846). This is what Our Lady may have had in mind when she told us six years ago:
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| December 2007 |
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Our Lady’s Christmas message is a continuation of her November message in which she expressed her wish that Christ, the King of all that is created, may be the King of our life. She is bringing us Jesus, the King of Peace, with His blessing of peace for us all. The greatest need in our troubled world is peace in all communities and among all nations. Jesus is the Giver of that peace for which we are all yearning, as Our Lady told us in another Christmas message in 1995:
Our response to the great gift of Jesus through Our lady must be adoration of our King and Creator, and we are told to give time to Him through a life of prayer, as Our Lady asked us twenty years ago:
Our Lady, by calling us to give time to the Creator, that is, to Jesus the King of Peace, is emphasising the divinity of Jesus, one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, through whom all things came to be, as we heard in the Gospel reading on Christmas Day: In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through Him. (John 1:1-3) (Cf. Colossians 1:15-16, quoted in my November reflection.) Our Lady reminds us that our life is only in transit in this world, which may offer us small joys as we have experienced at Christmas time, but she urges us to be united with Jesus who, as God and Creator, will grant us everlasting joy in eternal life. That life begins here through our life of prayer, as Our Lady told us ten years ago:
I wish to thank you for all your kind wishes and prayers. May the God of love, joy and peace be with you all throughout the new year. |