Reflection on the Message of January 25, 2006

BE CARRIERS OF THE GOSPEL

“Dear children! Also today I call you to be carriers of the Gospel in your families. Do not forget, little children, to read Sacred Scripture. Put it in a visible place and witness with your life that you believe and live the Word of God. I am close to you with my love and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of January 25, 2006

Mary, Mother of God and our mother, begins her every message with these words: “Dear children!” She knows to whom she is coming and speaking. She is coming to us who are her beloved children. Many a time she said: “Dear children, I am telling you this with love; I am calling you with my maternal love; I am close to you in my love.“ She speaks to us with love, as Jesus spoke to that rich youth in the Gospel: Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21). Jesus did not have success with the rich youth despite the love with which he spoke to him. Jesus’ call did not reach the youth’s heart.

The Blessed Virgin Mary knows that not everybody will embrace her motherly word. Despite that, she has faith, she hopes and loves her children. She loves us even when we, as children, are indifferent, weak and sinful. She remains perseverant and patient even when we do not have faith in her and accept her superficially. Her love does not change because it comes from God’s heart, since she herself is all in God’s heart.

She calls upon us with this message to be carriers of the Gospel in our families. Being a carrier of the Gospel means to be a carrier of joy since the Gospel is a good, joyful news. The Gospel is Jesus Christ. As our mother, Our Lady constantly bestows us with this ideal of the Gospel attained by the saints during their life. This is why St. Paul can say: ” I no longer live, but Christ lives in me“ (Gal 2:20). We need prayer in order to achieve this ideal and to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ.

In her message of 25 December 1992 Our Lady spoke to us and taught us the following: “Dear children! … Do not forget that your life does not belong to you, but is a gift with which you must bring joy to others and lead them to eternal life.” We all know that we can be a burden and a cross to others, as well as others can be the same to us.

Nobody is heavy or dull to Mother Mary because she loves us. Listen to a story that supports these words. There was once an 8-year-old girl carrying her little 2-year-old brother on her back. While passing by people asked her: “Isn’t it heavy for you to carry such a burden?” She replied: “This is not a burden, this is my little brother. ” Only love can make us carry others with joy, and not just tolerate them.

Mother Mary carries everyone of us with her love. She was the first to carry the Gospel, to carry God in her mother’s lap and in her heart. God gave her this mission through Angel Gabriel. She was not scared off by this task and by numerous offspring entrusted to her by the Heavenly Father.

In a lot of her previous messages she encouraged us to read the Scriptures, as she still does today. Mary is a woman-gospel. That is why she calls us to read the Scriptures, which are divinely inspired, permeated with God’s character and His spirit. She has been here since her first appearance 25 years ago. However, she has not come to unveil new truths or to add something new to the Gospels. She has been coming as the Mother desiring us to take God’s word seriously so that we do not think of the Gospels as something abstract, detached from life. And the gospel is not something that happened in the past and finished. The gospel happens and renews in life of every Christian. St. Jerome said: “Who does not know the Scriptures, does not know Christ” In the Bible we find Jesus Christ himself, his love, his grace and omnipotence. God’s word is not man’s word. God resides in his words. Just like the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Heb 4:12).

Through faith in the Bible I touch God Himself. Reading the Scriptures means listening to the words spoken by God to me, receiving the word of the Bible as a gift. Exactly that is the attitude Mary took after having heard the words conveyed to her by the messenger of God, the words that she kept, cherished and thought upon in her heart. I am talking about hearing, listening attentively to and cherishing the words through worship, obedience and admiration. We are not masters of God’s word, we are its slaves. When we are reading the Bible while in prayer and full of faith, we must not search for something that might satisfy our curiosity or a story we could tell to others. We should let God speak to us in peace and silence.

Mary promises us to be close, to provide support and guidance. Let us not be indifferent to her calls.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje, 26 January 2006

Reflection on the Message of February 25, 2006

SAY YES TO GOD

“Dear children! In this Lenten time of grace, I call you to open your hearts to the gifts that God desires to give you. Do not be closed, but with prayer and renunciation say ‘yes’ to God and He will give to you in abundance. As in springtime the earth opens to the seed and yields a hundredfold, so also your heavenly Father will give to you in abundance. I am with you and love you, little children, with a tender love. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of February 25, 2006

Today Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church, wishes to prepare us for Lent with her message. Lent is the season of the church year that we call the strong time. At the beginning of the Gospel, as well as at the beginning of Lent we hear Jesus’ call: „Convert and believe in the Gospel“. At the beginning of Lent, particularly on the first day, we hear the following words: “Remember, man, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” As Holy Scripture depicts in great detail, God created us from the dust of the ground, breathed His breath, His spirit and His life into us. God has placed Himself in the heart of everyone of us. If we break the bond, break our relationship with Him, which we can as we have a free will, then we have no life in us. It means that without God we are dead, we do not exist. In the best case scenario we can merely vegetate. If there is no bond between God and us, if we do not reach out for Him every single day, we are left without His Spirit inside us.

Our Lady is a mother, and a mother cannot remain calm watching her children walk through this world without God. Her words are simple and easily comprehensible, but hard when we have to materialize them in our life. She still speaks today: ” Open your hearts”. God dwells in the heart of everyone of us. And we may be out of ourselves, as St Augustine puts it nicely: “Too late have I love Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved Thee!.“ St Paul says: „He is not far from any of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being“. If we run away from God or if we deny Him faith, then it is not us any more, as the Psalm goes: “Far from Thee, life is life no longer. Not believing in Thee means being nobody.”

Because she is the Mother, Our Lady wants us to live and to have God’s life in us. The path to reach this is an open heart, prayer and renunciation. Only then can we receive what God desires to give us. And when it is God who gives, He gives in abundance. Renunciation is not intended to lose something, but to gain even more. It does not mean holding our hands tight, but to open them so that God may place in them the gifts of peace, love, trust, light and hope.

Our Lady makes us see the image of nature: spring, the earth, the seed. God has placed His own laws in nature and these laws abide by the will of God. We all know how devastating consequences may be when man tries to change the laws of nature. Even more devastating are the consequences when man tries to change the divine laws that God has imprinted in our consciousness and in our spirit.

Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Our Mother, pray for us in this merciful time of Lent and lead us to the path of prayer and renunciation so that we can receive gifts from God which He desires to give us with His infinite love.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.2.2006

Reflection on the Message of March 25, 2006

I AM LEADING YOU ALONG THE PATH OF HOLINESS

“Courage, little children! I decided to lead you on the way of holiness. Renounce sin and set out on the way of salvation, the way which my Son has chosen. Through each of your tribulations and sufferings God will find the way of joy for you. Therefore, little children, pray. We are close to you with our love. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of March 25, 2006

This month the Blessed Virgin Mary begins her motherly message with the following words: “Courage, little children!” Mother wants to encourage, awaken and inspire her children along the path of holiness. Or, as she said in one of her messages: “You, dear children, are not able by yourselves, therefore I am here to help you.“ Mary is full of grace wishing the best to her children, and that is holiness.

In Church everybody is called to holiness. As our dearly departed Pope John Paul II used to emphasize: “Without any hesitation do I say that the perspective into which the whole of pastoral planning is to be placed is under the heading of holiness. It would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and shallow religiosity.” Blessed Mother Teresa used to say: ” Holiness is not the luxury of the few, it is a simple duty for each one of us.” The ideal of Christian holiness is not an extraordinary life lived exclusively by a few “great men” of holiness. Desiring to become holy means desiring to become more and more similar to the person we love. Man is turning into the ideal standing before him. We have the most beautiful, the holiest and the purest Mother – the Virgin Mary.

She is blessed because she believed. Her greatest glory lies in the fact that she has retained nothing of her own, nothing of her ego that might glorify her for her own sake. Neither did she place any barrier to the glory of God, nor did she oppose God’s love and will. She was devoid of any stain of selfishness that may have tarnished God’s light in her heart. Completely devoid of any sin, Mary was pure as the glass of a very clean window having no other task than to let the sunlight in.

It is her apparitions and her being close to here with which she tries to cast God’s light on every heart, to encourage and lead every heart along the path of holiness.

If one is to go to another place, one must leave the place where one is. This is why she tells us to renounce every sin and everything that binds us. To have the courage to say No to a sin and Yes to God.

For our sake was Jesus tried, then suffered, was tortured and murdered. For our sake did he choose the path of salvation. He did all that for our sake, but he did not do it instead of us. He will not and he does not want to make the decision about our eternity for us. He is sending us his and our Mother so that we can decide in favour of life, and not of death.

God has a solution even in cases of most severe pain and suffering. With God nothing is tragic. The Virgin Mary is a witness to that encouraging us not to renounce prayer as a means of protecting us from losing our way on the path of salvation.

Thank you, Mary, for the safety you instil in our insecure hearts. Thank you for bringing Jesus to us and leading us towards Jesus.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.3.2006

Reflection on the Message of April 25, 2006

I INVITE YOU TO HAVE MORE TRUST

“Dear children! Also today I call you to have more trust in me and my Son. He has conquered by His death and resurrection and, through me, calls you to be a part of His joy. You do not see God, little children, but if you pray you will feel His nearness. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of April 25, 2006

In this message the Queen of Peace invites us to have more trust in Her and Her Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. We know how important trust is in life. Life on earth is unimaginable without trusting other people. We can only imagine what it would be like if we went through life doubting everyone and everything. Lack of trust closes us off from other people. Without trust we are defensive towards everyone. Without faith life is endangered. The opposite of faith and trust is not faithlessness and atheism but fear. When fearful a man feels endangered, as if he is being attacked by everyone. When fearful he feels he must defend himself, attack and insult others to preserve his own life. In this way he endangers not only interpersonal relationships with others but also destroys himself.

Fear paralyses man, while faith sets him free and brings with it security, peace and freedom. A child cannot live without trusting its parents. A child has trust in its parents and therefore can count on them and so grow and remain living. Jesus sets before us a picture of a child saying: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18, 3). Many times Jesus said: “Your faith has saved you” (Mark 5, 34); “just believe, do not fear” (Luke 8, 50); “all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9, 23).

It is our lack of childlike faith in God which gives rise to our tenseness, frustration, anxiety, nervousness. There are fewer and fewer moments in our lives in which we feel the true and intensive presence of God. We feel torn apart and tired, while God waits. Jesus through the intercession of his Mother calls us even today and throughout these 25 years of apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

And Mary as our Mother, in this her message, places Jesus before us, crucified and resurrected, Jesus the victor over all that destroys human life.

Jesus Christ is alive, he is not a deceased Jesus but alive. Even today through his mother He would like to tell us: “Believe my mother, love her as I have loved her, do all that she tells you so that you may be part of my Resurrected joy and victory.” A mother cannot be parted from her child. So too Mary cannot be separated from Jesus.

Mary tells us – “You do not see God but if you pray you will feel His closeness”. God is the Spirit and we have a spirit and spiritual capabilities with which we can feel, experience and come together. We have the capability to believe, love and hope. The path to an encounter with God is prayer. No other path or means exists. If anyone should tell you there is another way, do not believe them. God is waiting for us through Mary. He is waiting for us to finally trust and begin living.

Mary is our intercessor, mediator and defender before God. She is tireless with us and does not let us fall asleep. She does not count her apparitions, Her messages. She does not live in mathematics but in love. It is not numbers but us that are important to Her. True love does not know numbers but is infinite.

Let us begin believing and loving so that we may get to know and encounter God and in doing so get to know and encounter ourselves and each other.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26.4.2006

Reflection on the Message of May 25, 2006

PEACE IS THE GIFT GOD GIVES TO YOU

“Dear children! Also today I call you to put into practice and to live my messages that I am giving you. Decide for holiness, little children, and think of heaven. Only in this way, will you have peace in your heart that no one will be able to destroy. Peace is a gift, which God gives you in prayer. Little children, seek and work with all your strength for peace to win in your hearts and in the world. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of May 25, 2006

In many messages the Blessed Virgin Mary cautions us of the importance of her words which she has imparted to us through years of apparitions. She has said: “Dear children! You are not conscious of every message which I am giving you” (15. 11 1984). “I call you to live and accept my messages!” (21.3.1985). “Live in humility all the messages which I am giving you.” (20.9.1985). “Renew the messages which I am giving you.”26.9.1985). “If you live the messages, you are living the seed of holiness” (10.10.1985). “Dear children! My invitation that you live the messages which I am giving you is a daily one, specially, little children, because I want to draw you closer to the Heart of Jesus.” (25.10.1988). “Therefore, little children, every day read the messages that I have given you and transform them into life.” (25.12.1989). “Live my messages and put into life every word that I am giving you.” (25.6.2002).

Our Lady’s messages are nothing less than the Gospel spoken in simpler words and with a mother’s heart. These words can be understood by all. It is certain that Mary is serious; she does not intend to play with our lives.

Holiness is what Mother Mary wants us to achieve and live daily in our lives. A mother always wants what’s best for her children. In her message on the 25.5.1987 she says: I want each one of you to be happy here on earth and to be with me in Heaven.” Certainly she has not come to take something from us or take away the joys of life. She knows well that only with God may we truly be happy here on earth. She is filled with mercy because she is filled with the Lord who she gives to us and to whom she leads us.

Saint Paul tells us: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phl 3, 20). In this message our Heavenly Mother Mary wants to direct our hearts by telling us to think about paradise. It is today that we enter paradise and heaven, here on earth we decide to which side we will go. It is here that we decide whether we will trust in God and surrender all our troubles to Him or whether we will carry our burdens on our own.

Experience tells us that there is much that robs man of peace. There are many causes of anxiety. Worries, haste, intemperance, nonacceptance of ourselves and life situations are only some of the causes of anxiety. Mary knows our fears, anxieties and anxious worries well. It is because of this that she approaches us with this message as a mother.

“Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring [it] to pass.” (Ps 37, 5).

This is the path to peace given to us by Jesus. He tells us: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin… for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matthew 6). We must certainly do everything in our power and then filled with trust surrender to God. Mary has spoken about it so many times and the entire Christian tradition speaks of ways to achieve peace. They are prayer and fasting. They serve not for us to appear good before others. The purpose of prayer and fasting is to find a place inside where man can be alone with God. In this place anxious worries disappear. When I come to peace, to God in my own heart then I do not have to worry about whether I will fulfil the demands of others. People with their expectations and judgements do not have access to this place in which God resides in us. God is the true liberation of man’s worries. Let the words of Our Lady’s message even today lead us to experience peace and union with God.

Fra Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26.5.2006

Reflection on the Message of June 25, 2006

OUR LADY THANKS US

“Dear children! With great joy in my heart I thank you for all the prayers that, in these days, you offered for my intentions. Know, little children, that you will not regret it, neither you nor your children. God will reward you with great graces and you will merit eternal life. I am near you and thank all those who, through these years, have accepted my messages, have poured them into their life and decided for holiness and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of June 25, 2006

It has been twenty-five years now since the apparitions of Our Lady began, and with it the closeness to and love of the Virgin Mary. It has been twenty-five years of grace and the open sky at this place. The cry of St. Elizabeth is spontaneously raised in our hearts: ” But why am I so favoured that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

In her previous messages Our Lady says: “God has permitted me to be with you for so long.” “I will be with you as long as the Almighty permits me.” ” I have come to help you as you cannot on your own.” A mother wants to help her children. She does not only call upon us for conversion. She calls upon us so that she herself, the Mother, may bring us closer to Jesus, the source of redemption.

To love the Virgin Mary, to believe in Her means to return at the foot of the cross of Her Son. It means to reach the source of grace and redemption. It means to experience and live the truth of the words of Jesus: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me! Let him drink who believes in me.” As Sacred Scripture says: “Streams of living water will flow from within him!” (John 7: 37-38). Here in Medjugorje streams of living water have flown from Jesus’ heart and washed many a penitent heart in the Sacrament of the Holy Confession and Eucharist. For all the graces we are to thank the Lord, and Mary who is coming to us.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of her apparitions, the Blessed Virgin Mary is coming to us with a great joy in her heart. She is coming from her glory and the fullness of life to which she wants to lead us as a mother. The Mother is thankful for all the prayers to all the people who have believed in Her and accepted her as their Mother and a mediator on the path of life.

“You will never regret it.” – Mary speaks to us. She has never deceived anybody nor has anybody who has believed in her or has turned to her full of trust in time of need ever remained disillusioned. She has not come to deceive us nor to deprive us of the joys of life. Only with God can we truly experience the fullness and the joy of life. God has never remained beholden to anybody. He will reward us not only after our death, but today as well, here on Earth.

The Virgin Mary thanks to all the people that have accepted her messages. It means to all those who have listened to what she has been telling us. Unfortunately, we sometimes hear a word but fail to pour it into life. It is as if we have a seed but fail to sow it leaving it in our pocket. The same happens with the words of Jesus. We hear them, but we do not pour them into life. It is the reason why in many of her messages Mary tells us the following: “Live my messages; witness them with your life; put them into practice; pour them into life.” If this does not happen, then we are similar to the man Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7: 26 – 27). The same is with the words of the Virgin Mary addressed to us here. And her messages are a gospel told in simple words from a motherly heart. Let us come closer to Mary with our faith and love, so that the house of our life is built on the rock.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/6/2006

Reflection on the Message of July 25, 2006

FIND TIME FOR YOUR SOUL

“Dear children! At this time, do not only think of rest for your body but, little children, seek time also for the soul. In silence may the Holy Spirit speak to you and permit Him to convert and change you. I am with you and before God I intercede for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of July 25, 2006

Our Lady is a Mother, and a mother walks with us who are her children, she thinks about us and takes care of us. At this time when many are thinking about or going on holidays Our Mother Mary invites us to true rest which is necessary for man. After returning from their missionary travels, Jesus said to his disciples: Go for a while in solitude, rest. Man requires rest. Life consists of work and rest. No work, even the hardest, tires a man. The thing that tires a man the most is life without order, various immoderateness and excesses.

Mary knows that man is not only a body but also soul. We deceive ourselves if we think that only the body is tired and that only the body needs rest. We require complete rest. This means it is not enough to just rest the body. Many come back from holidays tired so that they need to rest from their holiday. This happens because man’s soul did not rest and was not filled with God’s strength. Total rest of the soul, body and spirit is achieved by being in silence and peace. Real and true silence is not the lack of outside noise and sounds. True silence is peace from sin and blame, freedom from dirty and rude words; it is deserting dark thoughts and bad plans. Overall rest is achieved only when we decide to be generous and forgive everyone. When we repent for our sins and decide to live differently.

Jesus invites us: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I shall rest you”. Rest is the prayer of the Holy Spirit to help the soul, that He comes down and consoles our heart, to covert us and change us. Rest occurs in those moments when we are united with God who plans and holds our life in his hands. Rest is actually an encounter with our own soul. That is why we need moments in which we can stop so that our soul can catch up with us and come together with us. Rest is not just not working. Rest is the work of the heart and soul. When resting we allow the spirit to strengthen and fill us. That’s why resting on holidays away from God and prayers and the Spirit of the God means returning from holidays even more tired and burdened.

Mother Mary invites us, her children, to find time for our souls and places of silence so that the Holy Spirit may rest in us all that is tired, heal that which is wounded, strengthen what is weak. If we truly love ourselves we will listen to the words and invitation of our Mother Mary who even today does not cease to speak and lovingly calls to us and suffers because of us and for us. Let the Holy Spirit with its light and strength enter our lives so that we may experience true rest and peace which is given to us by God.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/7/2006

Reflection on the Message of August 25, 2006

ONLY IN PRAYER WILL YOU BE CLOSE TO ME AND TO MY SON

“Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray. Only in prayer will you be near to me and my Son and you will see how short this life is. In your heart a desire for Heaven will be born. Joy will begin to rule in your heart and prayer will begin to flow like a river. In your words there will only be thanksgiving to God for having created you and the desire for holiness will become a reality for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of August 25, 2006

The Virgin Mary has not given up, neither her love nor the words of her messages constantly conveyed to us have not changed. What she did for her Son is the same thing she is doing for his brothers and sisters, for everybody that has become her child. Her mantle is now so large that anybody searching a place under it can find it.

Mary wants us to become aware of the brevity of this life here and the eternity for which we have been created. There is only one excellent way in which we may uncover eternity in time, and that is prayer. Through prayer we speak directly to God knowing that the past and the future meet in Him united in an eternal NOW. Opening up to God is opening up towards eternity.

“Only in prayer” – Mary speaks to us. Not in a prayer uttered shallowly in a listless manner, a prayer in which nothing happens, but in a sincere, devoted prayer from the bottom of one’s heart. Do we really open up while praying? There is a way of praying which does not free us completely from our prison. It just makes it a little bit easier. As long as we limit our prayer by praying for something, we cannot rise to eternity. In order to achieve progress in prayer, we must pray for more important things. “So do not worry, saying, ? What shall we eat? ? or ? What shall we drink? ? or ? What shall we wear? ? for the pagans seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Mat 6: 31- 32).

If a prayer does not change us, then we must change our prayer and the way we pray. Only in prayer do we get close to Mary and Jesus, and only in prayer do we become aware of the things we shall never be able to do so anywhere else.

Most people feel tense and under stress. Sometimes we are not even aware of the strain we are under. Just like the people who are not aware of their own absent-mindedness. Only when they start praying do they become aware of their wandering thoughts. Such tension and anxiety are a result of the lack of openness and faith in God. Just as blood wants to flow freely through our veins, just as the air wants to be introduced into our lungs and bring oxygen to our whole body, so Godly life, which is in the depths of our souls, wants to permeate the whole of our body and animate our energy. Tension makes the acceptance of God’s love more difficult for us.

Prayer is not a simple exercise, it is life. Those who want to dedicate themselves to prayer must decide firmly to often raise their spirit during the day, and, above all, to turn their hearts towards God. If we fail to do so and if we let our thoughts and feelings wander, our experience will tell us that prayer is impossible. Prayer is about our heart and life. It is a fruit of love, and we are unable to limit love to a certain period of time.

Mary wants us to experience the joy nobody and nothing may bring to us. She wants us to become holy. Being holy simply means to become what we were cut out for. Not being holy is against nature. Being holy means to be a unique, healthy and normal person created in God’s image.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/8/2006

Reflection on the Message of September 25, 2006

I CALL YOU TO COMPLETE CONVERSION

“Dear children! Also today I am with you and call all of you to complete conversion. Decide for God, little children, and you will find in God the peace your heart seeks. Imitate the lives of saints and may they be an example for you; and I will inspire you as long as the Almighty permits me to be with you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of September 25, 2006

In many of her previous messages the Virgin Mary spoke to us: “I am with you”, “I intercede for you”, “I remain with you on your way to conversion”, “I am with you and I want you to believe me that I love you”.

Even today she is with us, just as she has been with us for all of the 25 years of the apparitions. Our Lady appears not to be visibly present among us in the flesh, but to call us to conversion, to the way of holiness and a new life in Jesus. The seers once asked Our Lady: “Our Lady, why don’t you appear in front of everybody, why do you appear only before us?” Our Lady replied to that question: “Blessed are those who do not see but still believe.” It is not necessary to see something with our physical eyes. Important things that we need in order to live cannot be seen, but we can sense them with our spiritual powers that God bestowed on us. The same is with Our Lady’s presence among us. All those who have believed the Virgin Mary with their open and penitent hearts have experienced and lived up to feel the greatness of God’s mercy in their faith.

Heavenly Mother Mary knows that we tend to forget things easily and we easily get used to the good, to blessing and mercy. When this happens, man forgets all about the Giver, the God who gives life and blessing to everything. In spite of our forgetfulness, Mary has not forgotten to call us today. It is a call from the bottom of a heart which loves and feels pain for each and every one that is far from Her heart.

Even today she presents us with an ideal. Even today she is demanding because she wishes us well. She does not call us to partial or superficial conversion. It is a call to enter into the unity with God. Motherly love is demanding. Do not expect impossible from us, but seek what is in harmony with our nature and what we ardently desire in the depth of our hearts. What kind of mother it would be if she did not want the best for her children. She has not come here to tell us what we want to hear, what is easy or what we like at first sight. She speaks of what is for our good and for our true joy and peace. No mother does good to her children if she makes all their selfish wishes come true. A real mother is demanding when it comes to raising her children.

Mary knows where the source of peace that our hearts are looking for is. We cannot fool our heart with things, not even the most expensive ones. A heart knows who its Creator is and therefore cannot be filled with anything less than its Creator. This is what St. Augustine wrote in his confessions who, after much wandering, finally found God: “Our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”

On the path towards God, and towards conversion there are many who had been there before us – saints. It is why Mary is made an example for us. She is a role model and inspiration. They certainly cannot replace us nor live instead of us, but can intercede for us, give us advice, encourage us to persevere, not to give up and not to withdraw from everything that is good, holy and positive.

As a mother Mary does not give up. She is encouraging us even today. She intercedes for us, loves and suffers for us and often because of us. Let us not make her love, closeness and encouragement be in vain for us and for our lives.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/9/2006

Reflection on the Message of October 25, 2006

I LEAD YOU TO ETERNAL LIFE

“Dear children! Today the Lord permitted me to tell you again that you live in a time of grace. You are not conscious, little children, that God is giving you a great opportunity to convert and to live in peace and love. You are so blind and attached to earthly things and think of earthly life. God sent me to lead you toward eternal life. I, little children, am not tired, although I see that your hearts are heavy and tired for everything that is a grace and a gift. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of October 25, 2006

The Blessed Virgin Mary, given that she is a mother, knows well the heart and soul of man. She also knows the spiritual illnesses into which we can fall prey to: forgetfulness, hardness of heart, negligence, blindness towards and ungratefulness to God for all that we have received and are receiving from Him. That is why this message resounds in our ears and hearts as a reminder, admonition, warning and mother’s reprimand. She has come to awaken us, encourage us and lead us to God who we must choose to follow today and not after our death.

The Virgin Mary, who comes to us through the glory of our Heavenly Father, knows better than we do the perils into which our souls may fall. In times past in our parishes there were folk missions held and the motto of these missions was: “Save your soul”. It is only important to save the soul. The soul is the basis and bearer of everything that man is and by which he exists. To save your soul means to be connected to God, cleansing your soul before God in honest confession, fighting against all sins which could distance us from God and one another.

While we are healthy here on earth, while things are going more or less the way they should, we somehow easily forget about our soul and God. We are hurried, rushing around and fighting to achieve more, have more and to secure our life and existence here. We all know that we will one day have to leave all of this but we still continue to fight frantically and hold tightly to worldly things. These are only signs of how small our faith is, that is, how little faith we have in God. And the consequences of all this are visible indeed. We have increasingly less time for each other, there is increasingly less trust between people, neighbours and in families. There is increasingly more tension, nervousness, fear and anguish in the heart. Our Lady as our mother wants to open our eyes to another reality, God’s reality which we carry in ourselves, but one which is not buried under and suffocated with things and anguishing worries for this life and world. In this worldly life much is needed. We think that it is important to have everything in life. However when a man dies, when he comes face to face with God, then the only important thing is that we have saved our soul and that we fought to stay connected to God.

God has been sending us the Mother of his Son Jesus, and our Heavenly Mother among us for 25 years and four months now. Mary said to us: “I will stay with you for as long as the Almighty allows; I will encourage you for as long as the Almighty allows; There will come a time when I will no longer be with you.”

Our Lady’s presence among us in this manner, through the apparitions is a grace and gift. It is a grace and gift to the Church, to you and me if we accept her as our Mother and we pour Her words into our life. Let a mother’s calls not be in vain in our lives and families. Let us take Her seriously today so that tomorrow it will not be too late.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/10/2006