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This year Lent begins early, and Our Lady is calling us to approach this holy season, a time of grace, by doing all the good actions and exercises that will unite us with Jesus more and more, so that we may become effective instruments in drawing others to Jesus, to a life of holiness. Our Lady reminds us that our hearts are like ploughed soil ready to receive the seed to produce good fruits. St Matthew in his Gospel records the words of Jesus about the parable of the sower in great detail, emphasising the importance of the rich soil with can produce even a hundredfold crop (Chapter 13).

How can we make our hearts become such a rich soil? The season of Lent calls us to repentance for our sins, to prayer of the heart, self-denial, fasting and other spiritual exercises, like making the Stations of the Cross, which help us to grow in holiness of life. A year ago, Our Lady gave us three beautiful messages in which she explained what we should do during the holy season of Lent to make our hearts produce many good fruits.

On 25th January 2007, Our Lady called us to read and pray Sacred Scripture in the family. On 25th February 2007, she said:

Dear Children, Open your heart to God's mercy in this Lenten time. The Heavenly Father desires to deliver each of you from the slavery of sin. Therefore, little children, make good use of this time and through meeting with God in confession, leave sin and decide for holiness. Do this out of love for Jesus, who redeemed you all with His blood, that you may be happy and in peace. Do not forget, little children: your freedom is your weakness, therefore follow my messages with seriousness.

On 25th March 2007, she added:

Dear Children, I desire to thank you from my heart for your Lenten renunciations. I desire to inspire you to continue to live fasting with an open heart. By fasting and renunciation, little children, you will be stronger in faith. In God you will find true peace through daily prayer. I am with you and I am not tired. I desire to take you all with me to Heaven, therefore, decide daily for holiness.

Through the above exercises we open our hearts to Jesus to receive from Him the gifts of peace and joy which he promised to his disciples at the Last Supper:

Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. (John 14:27)

I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

Our Lady in her latest message is also asking us to plant joy in our hearts so as to produce many fruits and so that we may become even more effective apostles of love, peace, and light for our sinful world. Our Lady wants us to be apostles of peace in union with Jesus as she told us in an earlier message:

Dear Children, I invite you to open the door of your heart to Jesus as the flower opens itself to the sun. Jesus desires to fill your hearts with peace and joy. You cannot, little children, realize peace if you are not at peace with Jesus. Therefore, I invite you to confession so Jesus may be your truth and peace. So, little children, pray to have strength to realize what I am telling you. I am with you and I love you. Thank you for your response to my call. (25th January 1995)

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The above message makes me feel the sadness of Our Lady that after all these years and after so many calls to conversion she still has to urge us to personal conversion. In her first message, on 26th June 1981, Our Lady stated: I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the world. During all these years she was teaching us and training us to become her helpers in her mission to the world, but how can the world be converted if we, her children, are still far from that conversion and transformation which makes us apostles of love and peace? What is the hindrance preventing us from becoming holy instruments in Our Lady's hands for saving the world? It is perhaps our preoccupation with earthly things, as Our Lady told us in an earlier message:

Dear 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. (25th April 2000)

When Our Lady speaks of conversion, she means the ongoing, daily conversion which is God's grace obtained by deep prayer of the heart, as she told us many years ago:

Dear Children, Today I bless you with my Motherly Blessing and invite you all to conversion. 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 testimony 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, little children, pray and God will give you what you concretely have to do, and where you have to change. I am with you and place you all under my mantle. (25th February 1993)

The most important way to become a reflection of Jesus and to achieve true conversion is a deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, as Our Lady told the parishioners of Medjugorje at the beginning of her Thursday messages:

This evening, dear children, in a special way, I am grateful to you for being here. Adore continually the Most-Holy Sacrament. I am always present when the faithful are in adoration. Special graces are then being received. Thank you for your response to my call. (15th March 1984)

The most obvious way of deepening our love for Jesus is to live the Holy Mass, as Our Lady told us in a Thursday message on 2nd April 1996:

Dear Children, Today I invite you again to put prayer in the first place in your families. Little children, when God is in the first place, then you will, in all that you do, seek the will of God. In this way your daily conversion will become easier. Little children, seek with humility that which is not in order in your hearts, and you shall understand what you have to do. Conversion will become a daily duty that you will do with joy. Little children, I am with you, I bless you all and I invite you to become my witnesses by prayer and personal conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.

By living the Holy Mass we shall experience the living faith in Jesus who lives in us as St Paul has experienced it. I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me (Gal. 2:20).

Let us commit ourselves to this total transformation of our life, helped by our Blessed Mother.

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In her last monthly message Our Lady called us to personal conversion because - as she told us - we are still far from meeting with God in our hearts. In her present message she shows us the special way for our total conversion and transformation: growing in God's love as a flower which feels the warm rays of spring. Growing in God's love means not only to grow in loving God, but rather to grow in love and in holiness of life through God's love for us. In a Thursday message Our Lady told us that to grow in love we need God's blessing every day:

Dear Children, I wish to call you to grow in love. A flower cannot grow without water. Neither can you grow without God's blessings. You should pray for blessings from day to day so that you can grow up normally and carry out your activities with God. Thank you for your response to my call. (10th April 1986)

To receive God's blessing and graces we must pray with all our heart, helped by Our Lady, as she told us ten years ago:

Dear Children, Today I call you, through prayer, to open yourselves to God as a flower opens itself to the rays of the morning sun. Little children, do not be afraid. I am with you and I intercede before God for each of you so that your heart receives the gift of conversion. Only in this way, little children, will you comprehend the importance of grace in these times and God will become nearer to you. Thank you for having responded to my call. (25th April 1998)

In order to become apostles of love, joy and peace to others, especially to those who are far from God, we must surrender ourselves to God completely, so that He may work in us and through us. Our Lady loves the analogy of flowers and nature to understand God's working in us, as she told us on 25th May 1989:

Dear Children, I am calling you to openness to God. You see, little children, how nature is opening herself and is giving life and fruits. In the same way I am calling you to a life with God and a complete surrender to Him. Little children, I am with you and unceasingly I desire to lead you into the joy of life. I desire that each one of you discovers the joy and the love which is found only in God and which only God can give. God wants nothing else from you but your surrender. Therefore, little children, decide seriously for God because everything passes away. God alone does not pass away. Pray that you may discover the greatness and the joy of life which God is giving you. Thank you for having responded to my call.

As the feast of Pentecost is coming soon, we should turn to the Holy Spirit who is the personified love of God, praying especially the Novena to the Holy Spirit which begins on Friday, 2nd May, asking for His gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, piety knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11: 1-1). Through the Eucharist Jesus living in us (see last monthly message) and through the Holy Spirit working in us producing the special fruits of holiness we are enabled to "do good to those whom God has put on our way and to be light and joy" for them: fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, fidelity, humility, tolerance, self-control and purity of heart (Galatians, 5: 22).

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Our Lady's presence with us through Medjugorje and through her messages during so many years is a unique phenomenon in the history of the Church and this is a time of special graces indeed as Our Lady told us so many times. Our Lady's mission for the salvation of the world was indicated by her very first message on 26th June 1981: I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world. She simply united herself with the mission of Jesus who said to Nicodemus: God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son…He sent His Son into the world…so that through Him the world might be saved (John 3:16-17). The mission of Jesus, who is with us always as He told His disciples (Matthew 28:20), lasts until the end of the world and that is why He sent His Mother, the Mother of the Church, to our very sinful world to save it with the help of his faithful followers. That is why Our Lady has been calling us so many times to conversion, change and transformation of our heart and life in order to become the reflection of Jesus (5th June 1986) and so to become effective instruments in her hands and in God's hands for the salvation of the world, as she told us on 25th March, 1994:

Dear Children, Today I rejoice with you and I call upon you to open yourselves and to become instruments in my hands for the salvation of the world. I wish, my dear children, that all of you who have experienced the fragrance of holiness through these messages that I am giving you, would take it into this world which is hungry for God and for His love. I thank you all that you have responded in such large numbers and I bless you all with my motherly blessing. Thank you for your response to my call.

We must always keep in mind Our Lady's promise at Fatima: Ultimately my Immaculate Heart will triumph. Through her mission and messages Our Lady is preparing us, all her willing children, to help her Immaculate Heart to triumph as she told us on 25th September, 1991:

Dear Children, My special call today is to invite you all to prayer and renunciation, 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 to 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. Forget your own desires, dear children, and pray for what God desires instead. Thank you for your response to my call.

Our Lady has been urging us all these years to take her messages to the world through the holiness of our life which is the result of our true conversion and transformation, and thus to become peace where there is no peace and light where there is darkness, so that every heart may accept the light and the way of salvation, as Our Lady told us on 25th February, 1995.

Our Lady reminds us that in order to become such effective instruments in her hands for the salvation of the world, we need God's special graces for which we must pray with all our heart, specially praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, helped by Our Blessed Mother who is with us and will not leave us alone, as she said at the end of her message.

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On the 27th anniversary of her apparitions at Medjugorje Our Lady speaks of joy in her heart, indicating that her mission to the world finds response in many hearts. However, Our Lady also knows that in our world there is still so much hatred, hostility and lack of peace and so much to be done on our part in helping her Immaculate Heart to triumph over Satan and bring lasting peace to every heart. That is why she is renewing her call to follow her and listen to her messages as she has done so many times in the past years.

Last month Our Lady called us to conversion, to transformation of our lives into holiness of life, so that we should be able to work for the salvation of the world by being joyful carriers of peace and love to our world and by being the reflection of Jesus (5th June 1086). Joy, peace and love are special gifts of God for which we must pray for every day so that we become the reflection of Jesus indeed. Jesus said at the Last Supper: Peace I leave your, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. (John 14:27) It is our Christian vocation to pass on all these gifts to others. Our Lady’s mission is to teach and guide us to fulfil the commandments of Jesus, as she told the servants at the wedding feast of Cana: Do whatever he tells you. (John 2:5) That is the meaning of one of her beautiful messages:

Dear Children, Also today, I call you with great joy to live my messages. I am with you and I thank you for putting into life what I am saying to you. I call you to renew my messages even more, with new enthusiasm and joy. May prayer be your daily practice. Thank you for having responded to my call.
(25th June 2003)

When Our Lady’s messages are lived by us with joy, then we shall be anxious to share them with others, so that more and more people will be able to find peace, joy and love through conversion of their heart. This way we become missionaries of Our Lady, as she told us on 25th February 1995:

Dear Children, Today I invite you to become missionaries of my messages, which I am giving here through this place that is dear to me. God has allowed me to stay this long with you; and therefore, little children, I invite you to live with love the messages I give and to transmit them to the whole world, so that a river of love flows to people who are full of hatred and without peace. I invite you, little children, to become peace where there is no peace and light where there is darkness, so that each heart accepts the light and the way of salvation. Thank you for your response to my call.

At the beginning of the Church, the apostles and disciples were taking the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. In our time, all faithful Christians, especially those who are following and living Our Lady’s messages, are called to become apostles of peace and love to our troubled world, as Our Lady told us three years ago:

Dear Children, Today I thank you for every sacrifice that you have offered for my intentions. I call you, little children, to be my apostles of peace and love in your families and in the world. Pray that the Holy Spirit may enlighten and lead you on the way of holiness. I am with you and bless you all with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.(25th June 2005)

At the end of her message, Our Lady joins her blessing to the blessing of her Son, Jesus, the King of Peace. We should accept this wonderful blessing with joy knowing that we are not alone in our mission for the salvation of the world. We should renew all our efforts to live the messages of peace, love and joy, given to us all these many years through Our Lady, the Queen of Peace.

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We are in the holiday season when we hope to have a good rest from work, or to enjoy ourselves by going to special places. Our Lady reminds us that we should not think of rest or enjoyment for our body only, - but what is more important - also of rest for our soul in prayerful silence. Such rest of the Soul is an opportunity for spiritual renewal which includes silence of our heart in order to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Our Lady has urged us many times to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, like flowers in the spring open to the sun, to receive the gifts and strength of the Holy Spirit which we need on our way to holiness of life. Our path to holiness includes the conversion and transformation of our hearts in order to become the "reflection of Jesus", to become effective instruments in Our Lady's hands for the salvation of the world. In one of her messages Our Lady describes the work of the Holy Spirit in us as effecting miracles in us and through us (25th May,1993):

Dear Children, Today I am calling you to open yourselves to God through prayer so that the Holy Spirit may begin to work miracles in and through you. I am with you and I intercede before God for each one of you, because dear children, each of you is important in my plan to save. I call you to be bearers of peace, and of all that is good. God can give you peace only if you change and if you pray. That is why, my dear children, pray,pray, pray, and do that which the Holy Spirit inspires to do. Thank you for your response to my call.

When Our Lady speaks of change and conversion, she means an ongoing process, "daily conversion" (25th February 1993), in the spirit of Our Lord's gospel call: "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect"( Mt.5:48). In fact all Our Lady's messages, teaching and guidance in her school of prayer and love to mould us into instruments of God's peace for the salvation of the world can be summed up in a few words which she spoke to the servants at the wedding of Cana: "Do whatever my Son tells you" (John 2:5).

Change and transformation of our life, our life of holiness, is not the result of our own efforts, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit with our co-operation through prayer, especially through prayer of the heart. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, leading us on the way of truth and salvation towards eternal life as Our Lady told us on 25th May, 1998:

Dear Children, Today I call you to prepare yourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. My dear children, this is a time of grace and so, again, I call you to decide for God the Creator. Allow Him to transform and change you. Prepare your heart to listen to, and live everything that the Holy Spirit has in His plan for each one of you. My dear children, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you on the way of truth and salvation towards eternal life. Thank you for your response to my call.

Stimeg. Hungary. 26th July 2006.

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Our Lady has called us many times, especially during the past year, to conversion, to change and transformation of our hearts, to holiness of life, because we are so slow in responding with all our heart to her call to become effective instruments in her hands by witnessing through our example of love and joy to Jesus, the Saviour of the world. The most important ways of such transformation of our lives are a life of prayer and adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Our Lady told us about this a few months ago, on 25th March 2008:

Dear Children, I call you to work on your personal conversion. You are still far from meeting with God in your heart. Therefore, spend all the more time in prayer and Adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, for Him to change you and to put into your hearts a living faith and a desire for eternal life. Everything is passing, little children, only God is not passing. I am with you and I encourage you with love. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Jesus is the One who changes us and we must do everything that helps us to come closer to Jesus, to become his friends in order to be witnesses of His love and peace in the world, as Our Lady told us on 25th February 2002:

Dear Children, In this time of grace, I call you to become friends of Jesus. Pray for peace in your hearts and work for your personal conversion. Little children, only in this way will you be able to become witnesses of peace and of the love of Jesus in the world. Open yourselves to prayer so that prayer becomes a need for you. Be converted, little children, and work so that as many souls as possible may come to know Jesus and His love. I am close to you and I bless you all. Thank you for your response to my call.

Union with Jesus, especially through our adoration of Him in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, will be a great joy for us that, in our witnessing, will help others to seek Jesus and to discover Him in their lives. Such joyful union with Jesus enables us to fall in love with the Blessed Sacrament, as Our Lady told us in a beautiful message on 25th September 1995:

Dear Children, Today I am asking you to fall in love with the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Adore Him, little children, in your parishes, and in this way you will be united with the entire world. Jesus will become your Friend, and you will not talk of Him like someone whom you barely know. Unity with Him will be a joy for you, and you will become witnesses to Jesus' love, which He has for every creature. Little children, when you adore Jesus, you are also close to me. Thank you for having responded to my call.

In recent times attacks have been made on Medjugorje by certain people, and they have been published in the Catholic and secular papers. Those concerned should read the document of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, Chapter 8, about the role of Our Lady in the life of the Church. It is clearly stated than she is the Mother, the Teacher, and the Model of the Church. I quote just one sentence: 'The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first born among many brethren (cf. Romans 8:29), namely the faithful, in whose birth and education she cooperates with a maternal love.' (no. 63). We should be very grateful to God that in our troubled world Our Lady, Queen of Prophets, is doing through Medjugorje exactly what the Church is teaching about her role in the life of the Church.

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Our Lady, the Queen of Peace, came into our world which is without peace, to teach and guide her wiling children through her messages, to become instruments in her hands for the salvation of the world as she told us on 25th March 1994:

Dear Children, Today I rejoice with you and I invite you to open yourselves to me and become an instrument in my hands, for the salvation of the world. I desire, little children, that all of you who have felt the fragrance of holiness, through these messages which I am giving you, to carry it in this world, hungry for God and God's love. I thank you all for having responded in such a number and I bless you all with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.

To become effective instruments in Our Lady’s hands for the peace of the world, we have to become missionaries of her messages by living God’s gifts of peace and love, as she told us on 25th February 1995:

Dear Children, Today I invite you to become missionaries of my messages, which I am giving here through this place that is dear to me. God has allowed me to stay this long with you; and therefore, little children, I invite you to live with love the messages I give and to transmit them to the whole world, so that a river of love flows to people who are full of hatred and without peace. I invite you, little children, to become peace where there is no peace and light where there is darkness, so that each heart accepts the light and the way of salvation. Thank you for your response to my call.

Our Lady calls this time a time of grace, because if we live her messages we shall grow in holiness of life through prayer of the heart, conversion, change and transformation of our heart, and we shall become more and more open to God’s gifts of peace, love and joy by which we become witnesses to others, as Our Lady told us on 25th September 2002:

Dear Children, Also in this peaceless time, I call you to prayer. Little children, pray for peace so that in the world every person would feel love towards peace. Only when the soul finds peace in God, it feels content and love will begin to flow in the world. And in a special way, little children, you are called to live and witness peace – peace in your hearts and families – and, through you, peace will also begin to flow in the world. Thank you for having responded to my call.

In order to teach and guide us to become apostles of peace for our world, Our Lady is staying with us so long, a unique phenomenon in the history of the church. Our Lady is doing this very important task as the Mother, Teacher and Model of the church, according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (cf. Lumen Gentium, chapter 8). Sadly, the opponents of Medjugorje do not seem to understand this. We do not judge them, but we feel sorry for them that they failed to recognise the signs of the times, about which Our Lady told us on 25th January 1993:

Dear Children, Today I call you to accept and live my messages with seriousness. These days are the days when you need to decide for God, for peace and for the good. May every hatred and jealousy disappear from your life and your thoughts, and may there only dwell love for God and for your neighbor. Thus only thus, shall you be able to discern the signs of this time. I am with you and I guide you into a new time, a time which God gives you as grace, so that you may get to know Him more. Thank you for having responded to my call.

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During the past two centuries, since the French revolution, not only is Satan's power is manifesting itself more and more among people and nations of the world through all the conflicts, wars, godless movements, terrorism, etc., causing the death of millions of innocent people and the loss of salvation of many souls, but also Heaven's efforts to help mankind are being manifested more and more by God sending His mother, our mother, the Co-redemptrix, the Mediatrix of all graces, the Queen of Peace, during this period, the 'Marian Age', ever since 1830 when she gave us through Catherine Laboure the miraculous medal to protect us from Satan.

Through subsequent apparitions at La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje and many other places Our Lady is guiding us and teaching us to grow in holiness of life so as to become effective instruments in her hands to overcome the power of Satan. We are in the latter part of this Marian Age, following Our Lady's promises at La Salette and at Fatima: Ultimately my Immaculate Heart will triumph, when through her messages at Medjugorje Our Lady is preparing her willing children to be the apostles of the last times, the children of light, bringing light into a dark world, helping her Immaculate Heart to triumph over Satan and to save the world, as she indicated in her message on 25 September 1991:

Dear Children, Today, in a special way, I invite you all to prayer and renunciation. 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 onto the way of death and sin. Therefore, dear children, help my Immaculate Heart to triumph in the sinful world. I beseech all of you to offer prayers and sacrifices for my intentions so I can present them to God for what is most necessary. Forget your desires, dear children, and pray for what God desires and not for what you desire.

Our Lady is asking us to arm ourselves with prayer and fasting because prayer with fasting, or with any other kind of self-denial, is a powerful weapon against Satan, as Jesus told His disciples when they were unable to drive out an evil spirit: This is the kind that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). The best prayer is, of course, the Holy Rosary which unites us with Jesus and Our Lady in a special way, and allows the power of Jesus to work through us against Satan. Through prayer and fasting God gives us the gift of peace which we have to carry into the world which is without peace, as Our Lady told us in another message:

Dear Children, Also today I call you to prayer, especially today when Satan wants war and hatred. I call you anew, little children: pray and fast that God may give you peace. Witness peace to every heart and be carriers of peace in this world without peace. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. And you do not be afraid because the one who prays is not afraid of evil and has no hatred in the heart. (25 September 2001)

When Our Lady's requests made at Fatima in 1917 were not fulfilled by the Church terrible events followed. I dare not to think what might happen to the world and to the Church if Our Lady's present requests are ignored. I hope and pray that all those children of Our Lady who are reading this reflection are making a firm decision to live by the messages of Our Lady.

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Our Lady's presence with us by teaching us the holiness of life through her messages is a time of grace indeed as she has told us so many times. Teaching us to become holy, to live the Gospel of Jesus, for such a long time since 1981 is a unique phenomenon in the history of the Church. As I explained in my article, Our Lady's mission to the Church through Medjugorje, the Second Vatican Council, in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, Chapter 8, about the role of Our Lady in the life of the Church, has stated that she is the Mother, the Teacher and the Model of the Church. Our Lady is fulfilling that role through her apparitions and messages at Medjugorje in a very special way. She is training us to become apostles of peace and love for our world which is without peace.

As we come closer to Christmas, this time is also called a special time of grace during which we should open our hearts through prayer, fasting and small sacrifices so that Jesus may be born in our hearts, as Our Lady told us in another November message:

Dear Children, Today, again, I invite you to pray, so that through prayer, fasting and small sacrifices you may prepare yourselves for the coming of Jesus. May this time, little children, be a time of grace for you. Use every moment and do good, for only in this way will you feel the birth of Jesus in your hearts. If with your life you give an example and become a sign of God's love, joy will prevail in the hearts of men. Thank you for having responded to my call. (25 November 1996)

Once we can experience the birth of Jesus in our hearts, we realise that peace and love will dominate our lives since Jesus himself is the King of Peace and He gives us His peace as he promised at the Last Supper: Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you (John 14:27). In this way we become witnesses of peace to the world and hope begins to flow through us as a river of grace to touch the hearts of all whom we meet.

Our Lady foretold at La Salette (1846) that the countries of Europe will be the scene of wars and conflicts, but she also spoke about the apostles of the last times, the children of light bringing light into a dark world. Our Lady of Fatima (1917) also spoke about future terrible events, but she foretold that ultimately my Immaculate Heart will triumph. Our Lady of Medjugorje is preparing her willing children to be the apostles of the last times, apostles of peace and love, to help her Immaculate Heart to triumph over the power of Satan and to save the world, as she told us on 25th June 2005:

Dear Children, Today I thank you for every sacrifice that you have offered for my intentions. I call you, little children, to be my apostles of peace and love in your families and in the world. Pray that the Holy Spirit may enlighten and lead you on the way of holiness. I am with you and bless you all with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.

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Our Lady’s Christmas message is centred on her Son, Jesus, without whom our life is meaningless. We live in a world which through its philosophy of global economics seeks to centre our lives on material values. The recent collapse of some financial and industrial institutions shows the real truth about materialistic philosophy.

Our Lady, whom God sent through Medjugorje into our world as Queen of Prophets, has been urging us through all these years to live the Gospel of Jesus by living her messages, centring our life on Jesus who is our salvation, as she told us on 25th June 1994, the anniversary of her first apparition at Medjugorje:

Dear Children, Today I rejoice in my heart at seeing you all present here. I bless you and I call you all to decide to live my messages which I give you here. I desire, little children, to guide you all to Jesus because He is your salvation. Therefore, little children, the more you pray, the more you will belong to me and to my Son Jesus. I bless you all with my Motherly Blessing and I thank you for having responded to my call.

As we look at the crib in our churches, it helps us to understand that it was utter poverty into which Jesus was born, but we may also realise that the love of Mary and Joseph, the joy of the shepherds, the singing of the angels, can give more happiness than all the material comfort. As we contemplate Jesus in the manger, the words of Our Lady’s last monthly message come to mind, when she said: I am calling you again to pray for little Jesus to be born in your heart. But Our Lady wants everybody to experience the birth of Jesus in their hearts through our witnessing by being love, joy and peace, as Our Lady told us five years ago:

Dear Children, I call you that this time be for you an even greater incentive to prayer. In this time, little children, pray that Jesus be born in all hearts, especially in those who do not know Him. Be love, joy and peace in this peaceless world. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call. (25 November 2003)

Our Lady urges us to surrender our lives into the hands of Jesus, for Him to lead us and protect us from every evil. She calls us to put Jesus in the first place in our life so that He, the Prince of Peace, may be our peace and joy which we can give to others, as she told us in another Christmas message:

Dear Children, This is the time of grace. Little children, today in a special way with little Jesus, whom I hold in my embrace, I am giving you the possibility to decide for peace. Through your 'yes' for peace and your decision for God, a new possibility for peace is opened. Only in this way, little children, this century will be for you a time of peace and well-being. Therefore, put little newborn Jesus in the first place in your life and He will lead you on the way of salvation. Thank you for having responded to my call. (25 December 1999)

The Gospel of St John often mentions the infinite love of God the Father who sent His Son into our world to save us all. For that salvation we utterly depend on Jesus, as He told His disciples at the Last Supper: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

I wish to thank you for your kind wishes and prayers. May the God of love, joy and peace be with you all throughout the New Year.

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