Reflection on the Message of January 25, 2008

JPRAY AND FAST

“Dear children! With the time of Lent, you are approaching a time of grace. Your heart is like ploughed soil and it is ready to receive the fruit which will grow into what is good. You, little dhildren, are free to choose good or evil. Therefore, I call you to pray and fast. Plant joy and the fruit of joy will grow in your hearts for your good, and others will see it and receive it through your life. Renounce sin and choose eternal life. I am with you and intercede for you before my Son. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of January 25, 2008

In her last message, Our Lady entices us to prepare our hearts in the incoming time of lent, which is a time of mercy. She invites us to fast, pray, and make acts of penance, which were always the main features of the lent. In the Old Testament, the penance was reduced mostly to external signs. Today it is mostly so, because during the Lent the faithful renounce food, drinks, sweets and cigarettes, and much less swearing, gossiping and other sins. Christian fast and prayer are the foundation of the collectiveness, because the whole Church is invited to fast, penance and prayer, especially in the time of Christmastide and Lent. Renouncing the material things is only one way of penance for the personal sins. It is the proof that we are ready to renounce something and share with the people living in poverty and squalor. In our preparation, we must not stop at the external signs. The prophets of the Old Testament saw it clearly and warned the people that the only true change is the change which happens in the heart of men. If we change the heart, we change the whole man. Only such change can lead us to the friendship with God and people. Only in such way, our heart will receive the fruit which will grow into goodness. God created us as free beings and everyday we make decisions. We can choose between the good and the evil. The Queen of Peace invites us to renounce the sin and to choose eternal life. This is the only right choice. Every time we choose the good side, we chose the side of God’s sons and daughters and our life is filled with joy. We live a full life. Life is sin is only survival and suffering, while the life in God brings joy and peace. Here on Earth we can already taste the true joy if we live according to God’s commands, and we will experience the full joy in eternity, when God will wipe the tears from every face. Then, “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21, 4). Jesus is our first role model, example, and teacher of spiritual life. Before his first public appearance, Jesus retired into the desert for 40 days, where he fasted, prayed and prepared for his first public appearance. Moses has spent the same number of days on Sinai, and also Eliah on Horeb. In the quiet and solitude, a man can better hear God, because he is not burdened by any disturbances. To go into the desert, to retire, even for longer period of time if needed, should not be justification for escaping people, obligations or job. It should be a privileged time in which we will be renewed in the vicinity of God, so we can live among the people and witness the Joyful news to them. Jesus is the lord of our life and our hearts. He can do what we cannot, for what we do not have the strength.

Mary, “Mother of Church” and our mother, advocates us before her Son. Her advocating and mediating role she started during her life on Earth – at the wedding in Galilee Cana – and she continues with this role today, celebrated in the heaven. By coming here to Medjugorje, Our Lady wants to help us to unite more forcefully with our Savior and Redeemer. If we answer the call of the Queen of Peace and if we prepare with the fast and prayer for the meeting with Jesus, we will be able to participate in the celebration of Easter with clear heart and joyful soul.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje January 26th 2008

Reflection on the Message of February 25, 2008

WITH PRAYER AND RENUNCIATION TOWARDS HOLINESS

“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God’s love. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of February 25, 2008

Throughout almost 27 years of Our Lady’s apparitions, we have been the witnesses of her care for us, just as a true mother cares for her children. She finds each and everyone of us important. No one is excluded from her plan. She wants to bring all of us to her son Jesus Christ.

In her tonight’s message, Our Lady draws our attention to the dedication so characteristic of the time of Lent we are living right now. During Lent God gives us another chance to become better people, to start to change. We should be concrete as prayer is the encounter of a true and concrete man with the true and concrete God. We are asked to become better as people in all areas of our lives. Our Lady provides us with the means that will help us in our fight – by prayer and renunciation.

Jesus is our first teacher of prayer. When asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray, he taught them to pray Our Father. It is a prayer that must not turn into a mere pronunciation or repetition of words. It must be a true address to the Father for his kingdom to come. In the Father we have everything. The only thing we have to do is to listen attentively to what He says to us in prayer. Everything else will be just added to that. We should be persistent in our prayer, and open to God’s spirit which will provide us with strength when things happen in a different manner than we expect them to.

Together with Jesus, Our Lady is our first female teacher of prayer. Some wonder why Our Lady often mentions prayer and calls us to it. Those wondering about that are people who do not pray, those who want to turn everything, even prayer, into sensation. These are the people not yet embraced by the spirit of the Gospel. They still feed on mundane spirituality. Our Lady calls us to prayer as she too has prayed and is aware of the importance of prayer more than we are. She prayed in all the crucial moments of her life: before the embodiment of her son Jesus Christ, when Christ’s conception was announced, on the day of Pentecost when Church was born, the Body of Christ. At God’s offer from heaven she replies with her whole being and full of grace: «I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.» (Luke 1,38). That is why she stands before us as the example of deep faith and prayer.

Another important means of growth in our spiritual life is renunciation. Not for the sake of renunciation itself, but in order for us to create room in us where God can be at work. Every renunciation is a sign of spiritual growth. One should renounce first the thing other than God that one puts first in his life. This thing may be people, fame, power, money, human considerations, we ourselves or something else. God must be put first. Only then everything we have renounced is given its true sense.

Every day in this time of grace we are called to grow through our prayers by which we intercede for those who have not yet come to know God’s love. We are called to pray for the forsaken, lonely, unhappy, aborted, for the souls in Purgatory, for all those who are in need for prayer. May our Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace, help us and bless our noble-minded effort.

Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/2/2008

Reflection on the Message of March 25, 2008

ENCOUNTER WITH GOD – PRECONDITION FOR THE TRUE CONVERSION

“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.” Message of March 25, 2008

In the message of March 25th 2008, Our Lady invites us to personal conversion. This call is addressed to every individual, since no one is excluded from this motherly invitation. To convert means to renounce the previous way of life and to begin a new life in Jesus Christ. The conversion envelops the whole human being; for example, this happened the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke, and St. Paul , St. Francis, and many other known and unknown saints. The conversion envelops our heart and our will, heart because it is the centre of man and, if the heart is converted, the whole man is converted. But, besides the conversion of the heart, there should also be the conversion of the will, because the conversion is a cry for help. The will helps us on the way we have chosen. It helps us not to fail at the first crosses. True conversion asks for the renouncement, not only of the sin, but also from all other small, petty gods which prevent us to choose God completely. Jesus is brilliantly clear when He says: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Lk 9,23). In conversion, we allow God to lead us so we can know His plans for us. There is no conversion without the prayer, since the prayer is, in a way, the first and the last precondition for conversion, spiritual advancement and holiness. Our Lady also points us to this direction, when she says in Her message from June 25th 1992 that she invites us to conversion from day to day. If you do not pray, you cannot say you are converting, says the Lady. The prayer helps us to convert continuously, to always think about God and to remain faithful to Him. The prayer is the conversation between God and man. God knows our hearts better than we do; He is not interested so much in our words as in attitudes of our hearts. One more important thing for the prayer is also commitment. We should commit ourselves totally into the God’s hands, so He can make of us His loving sons and daughters. We should yield to Him our wishes, plans, goals and weaknesses. We should give ourselves to him completely, so He can lead us wherever He wants – to His kingdom. As a true mother, Our Lady directs us the whole time to her son Jesus and never puts herself in the first place.

In the evening message, she also invites us to worship Jesus in the Holy Altar sacrament, since the Worshipping connects us with the whole Church. St Alfonso Maria d’Liguori says that, after the sacrament, among all kinds of devoutness, the first and the dearest to God, and most useful to us, is the devoutness of worshipping Jesus in the Holy Altar sacrament. The nearness of Jesus wakes the living faith in us, and faith is the undeserved God’s gift which God gives to every man. Therefore, all people should open their hearts to accept that gift. Through the faith, we open ourselves to God, and only then can we recognize Him. We could compare the faith with the light. Like the light, it repels darkness, anguish and despair, and gives confidence and strength. In a way, faith lightens the path of those who have it and leads them like the dark cloud led the Israelites through the desert by day, and light cloud by night. Those who expect clear, material evidence of faith must be disappointed. When St. Thomas , in his deep disbelief, said that he will not believe in resurrected Christ before he puts his fingers into Christ’s wounds, Jesus answered him: “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (Jh 20,29). If everything was completely clear, there would be no merit in believing. People do not believe in something they know for certain, but only in something which remains partly hidden. Faith is trust, but it is also love toward the person we believe. Many people are aware that this world is transient in its weakness, yet they choose to believe in those transient values. Our Lady warns us that only God is eternal. Queen of Peace encourages us with love. All of her messages contain love and humility. We are grateful to her for this and we recommend ourselves to her mediation.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje, March 26th 2008

Reflection on the Message of April 25, 2008

SEARCH FOR THE GOD’S WILL AND DO GOOD

“Dear children! Also today, I call all of you to grow in God’s love as a flower which feels the warm rays of spring. In this way, also you, little children, grow in God’s love and carry it to all those who are far from God. Seek God’s will and do good to those whom God has put on your way, and be light and joy. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of April 25, 2008

In the beginning of the message of April 25th 2008, Our Lady invites us to grow in God’s love. To grow in love means to open to God like flower, to let Him shine on us, envelop us and permeate us. It can happen only in the atmosphere of prayer, because the prayer is like a channel, like a tube, through which God sends His love and His mercy to this earth. True prayer can come only from the heart which allows the might of God’s love to envelop and permeate it. Such God’s love can permeate only the one who prays from the heart, with his/her whole being. God’s love searches for the answer, and the answer is faith. Faith-filled heart can be compared with the light. Like the light, faith chases away darkness, anguish and despair, gives security and strength. In some way, it lightens the way of the people who have it, and leads them, like the dark and light clouds which have led the Israelites through the desert. Those who expect clear and tangible evidence from the faith must be disappointed, because faith is above proofs and arguments. Faith cannot be measured only by knowledge, because it is above all life, i.e. life direction, which cannot always be told through the knowledge. Faith can be compared with the stars which lead the sailors through the night. They do not light the waves upon which the sailors sail, but show them the direction.

Our Lady invites us to search for the God’s will, and it is revealed to us completely only in the personal encounter with Christ. Only searching for and doing God’s will can lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Mt 7,21). God’s will is more important than our will. To search and do God’s will does not mean to get lost or to disown one’s own freedom – on the contrary, it means to get free from the daily slavery and sin. It means to get free from the imprisonment of the small gods like: power, money, other people’s opinion etc. All these idols take your life, only God gives it. All other gods promise a lot, and do not give anything in return. Our Lady accepted the God’s will, she agreed to serve only the one true God and to do His will. By uttering only one word fiat – let it be so for me – she changed the course of history, with the God’s mercy.

By doing the will of God, we enter into the friendly relation with Him. When they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren?And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Mk 3,33-35).

At the end of her message, Our Lady invites us to do good to all people and to be the light and the joy. The light and the joy can be only the one who confirms God’s love every day, like Mother Teresia did. To be the witness means to give oneself completely into the God’s hands, to give one’s whole being, to live the message of the Gospel before we tell it to others, to live in the personal encounter with the God who became Man, to live with the Lord, who died and was ressurected.

Let Mary, Mother of Christ and Mother of Church, help us to carry the message of peace, joy and forgiveness wherever we go – the message which will change the world.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26.4.2008

Reflection on the Message of May 25, 2008

I CALL YOU TO CONVERSION

“Dear children! In this time of grace, when God has permitted me to be with you, little children, I call you anew to conversion. Work on the salvation of the world in a special way while I am with you. God is merciful and gives special graces, therefore, seek them through prayer. I am with you and do not leave you alone. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of May 25, 2008

In many of her messages Our Lady has reminded us that the time we live in is the time of grace. For the past 27 years, millions of people from all over the world have been coming to Medjugorje, to this spiritual healing place, so that God may heal their hearts and souls. There are several examples of conversion in the Bible, such as is the conversion of the prodigal son (cf. Luke 15,11-32), or even a more memorable conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9,1-18), together with many others. Each conversion is a result of an event or an encounter, but not any kind of encounter. I am talking about the encounter with God. Saul was a persecutor of Christians in Jerusalem and the whole of Judea (cf. Acts 8-9). Once he went all the way to Damascus to arrest Christians. At the city gates Saul had the encounter with God, which he would remember all his life. That encounter changed him completely and made him convert. Saul, who had been a prosecutor of Christians, then became a disciple of Jesus and changed his name to Paul. Something similar happened to the apostles, too. A decisive moment for them was their first encounter with Jesus, after which they left everything and went to follow Jesus. Something similar happened to the saints, and something similar will happen to us if we search for God’s will in our life through prayer.

Our Lady calls us anew to conversion, which, in other words, means betterment. The majority of today’s Christians have not seen the Lord in flesh, whereas this encounter is a prerequisite for a new beginning. After such encounter, everything changes, life becomes different and better. One should bear in mind, though, that after the encounter with God our crosses do not disappear. It just becomes easier to carry them. Those who have had the experience of meeting with God, become the salt, cabbage and the light of the world. They become instruments through which God’s love and joy in this world are spread. We are all called to convert and continuously change in our path following Jesus. Conversion is a life-long process. Nobody can say that they have completely converted because there is always something we must improve, primarily on ourselves, not on others. Conversion is following evenly in Jesus’ footsteps every day, without negotiating. Conversion is a permanent task of the whole Church. It is not man-made, it is God’s work.

On our path God helps us and gives us special graces, as Our Lady says. These graces, however, need to be sought through prayer. One should show one’s good will and love towards God who is merciful and kind, as written in Chapter 34 of the Book of Exodus: «The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands …» (Exodus 34,6-7). What we should discard first when we start saying our prayer is any kind of hypocrisy. Before God we must not pretend, lie or appear better. We have to be who we really are. We may be lying to friends or neighbours or keep up appearances, but before God we must take off our masks, as he knows us better than we know ourselves. The path of prayer is just like the path of conversion – long and hard, but no fruit is born without pain and effort. The bond between God and man that was previously broken is re-established through prayer.

Our Lady encourages us and does not leave us all alone on this path. She stands before us as an example of prayer by means of which she takes part in the Father’s intention to embody the Son of God. Together with Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may also say: «I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.» (Luke 1,38). In our prayer, let us think of the people in need, especially those who have lost their lives in the earthquake in China .

Fr. Danko Perutina
Medjugorje 26/05/2008

Reflection on the Message of June 25, 2008

BE JOYFUL CARRIERS OF PEACE AND LOVE

“Dear children! Also today, with great joy in my heart, I call you to follow me and to listen to my messages. Be joyful carriers of peace and love in this peaceless world. I am with you and I bless you all with my Son Jesus, the King of Peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of June 25, 2008

It was 27 years ago when Our Lady presented herself in Medjugorje as the Queen of Peace. Throughout all these years she has patiently taught us and called us as a real loving mother to celebrate and practise the sacraments. She has been calling us to convert, to fast, to do penance and to worship Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. In her message marking the 27th anniversary of her apparitions she says that with great joy in her heart she calls us to follow her and to listen to her messages. While thinking about her latest message, as well as the others that we have heard so far, we should never forget the rule of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort saying: To Jesus through Mary! Mary always gathers people around her Son. She calls to a complete surrender to Jesus as only he can make each of us the whole person worthy of Heaven. Our Lady gives us an example of how to be faithful to God, how to live out our faith and how to live by faith. She took part in the acts of the Holy Spirit from the very beginning. Therefore the Church, which is also the work of the Holy Spirit, prays together with the one to whom God has done great deeds. Our Lady stands before us as a great gift, as the most beautiful image of the Church. She speaks in plain words that attract so many people from all over the world. Her messages are easily understood by both, the smallest and the eldest.

Our Lady calls us to be carriers of peace and love in this peaceless world. Today we witness serious dangers the whole of mankind faces, such as nuclear armament, various diseases, global warming, poverty. People live in great fear. Our Lady knows that. That is why she has been calling us, Christians, the faithful, to be carriers of peace and love in this peaceless world since the very start of her apparitions. On the third day of her apparition Our Lady gave us the first of her great messages saying: “Peace, peace, peace – and only peace!”. After that she repeated twice: “Peace must reign between man and God, and among people, too!” A real peace may come only from God who has become “our peace“ in Jesus through Mary. (Eph. 2,14). “This world cannot give” this peace (John 14,27). That is why Christ commanded His apostles to carry it through the world (cf. Matt 10,11) so that all the people may become “men of peace” (Luke 10,6). Sometimes we tend to seek the source of restlessness in others because it is easier to act in this way. However, we must first find this source in ourselves and then deal with it. The source of restlessness is always a sin that one should renounce thus creating conditions for God to work in us.

At the end of her message, Our Lady blesses us with her Son Jesus, the King of Peace. Dear admirers of the Queen of Peace, let us say yes to peace in our hearts, let us choose God thus allowing Jesus to become the Path, the Truth and Life in us.

Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/06/2008

Reflection on the Message of July 25, 2008

THE REAL REST IS IN GOD

“Dear children! At this time when you are thinking of physical rest, I call you to conversion. Pray and work so that your heart yearns for God the Creator who is the true rest of your soul and your body. May He reveal His face to you and may He give you His peace. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of July 25, 2008

It is the time of holidays and vacations and people ask themselves how to make the best of this time and how to rest well. Some choose the mountains, some go to the seaside, some will decide to read a good book, and some will choose to walk in the nature.

Our Lady invites us to take a completely different kind of rest. She teaches us that the real rest can be found in conversion. Conversion envelops the whole person: body and soul, works and deeds. St. Marc cites the first words of Jesus at the beginning of his public acts: “Convert and trust the Gospel” (Mk 1,15). Conversion does not consist only of the external fulfillment of God’s commands. It consists of the personal encounter with Jesus Christ. After this encounter, a man becomes fully aware of who he is and what he is; he becomes aware of his sins and weaknesses, but also of his importance and value. After the encounter with Jesus, a man feels a desire to change his old ways of life, to begin with a new life. He lets Jesus to enter his days, his life, his behavior and thoughts.

Our Lady invites us furthermore to pray, so our hearts would yearn more for our Lord Creator, since only He can give real rest to our soul and to our body.

The heart is the center of man. No one has two hearts, so he can hate with one and love with the other. A man has only one heart, and therefore he must choose forgiveness, peace, love and trust. To forgive means to let another in one’s heart and to accept him as he is. Thomas of Aquina says that human heart is created on the God’s image, to love.

Time of rest is great opportunity to stop for a moment and to start praying again. It is a time for a more intense, deeper encounter with God. The rest is also an opportunity to find more time for the friends whom we may have forgotten, to call them and to share with them good news or decisions we have made recently. Time of rest is the opportunity for a total change of life in relation towards God, towards the others and towards one’s self. Let’s use this rest, so we don’t spend in vain the time which is precious to us.

Our Lady advocates us in front of God and asks of Him forgiveness and mercy for us. She advocates us and follows us on our way; therefore we need not to be afraid.

I would finish with the words of Psalm 62, which says:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to Him.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje July 26th 2008

Reflection on the Message of August 25, 2008

CALLED TO PERSONAL CONVERSION

“Dear children! Also today I call you to personal conversion. You be those who will convert and, with your life, will witness, love, forgive and bring the joy of the Risen One into this world, where my Son died and where people do not feel a need to seek Him and to discover Him in their lives. You adore Him, and may your hope be hope to those hearts who do not have Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of August 25, 2008

At the beginning of her message of 25 august 2008, Our Lady calls us to conversion by saying: “You be those who will convert and, with your life, will witness, love, forgive and bring the joy of the Risen One into this world.“ Everybody needs conversion. It is a life-long process. A true conversion is meeting God. Only those who have meet God in flesh may bear witness to the encounter. Encounters with people often remain superficial, while an encounter with God takes place in the depths of man’s heart and soul leaving a mark on the man as a whole. Every time when a man does not love, he needs conversion. Every time when a man is not faithful to the words of Jesus, he needs conversion.

Any conversion is a two-step process. The first step is that at least once in our life we must kneel before Jesus and tell him from the depth of our heart and soul: Jesus, I choose you, I want to leave my old life behind, I want to be free from all my sins and go with you purified. This is the fundamental decision for God. The second step is to question oneself over and over again every night: Have I obeyed God’s commandments to the fullest, what can I do better when meeting people, how can I love Church more. Only by taking these two steps may we walk up the path of our spiritual life in the right way. Our Lady has called us to conversion so many times. She calls us to be witnesses. It seems as if we are turning a blind eye and remain deaf when thinking that Our Lady calls only those who do not go to Church, those for whom we think that they are not good. Our Lady has them in mind too, but she primarily has in mind those who act like Pharisees, who judge others, pretend to be good and rarely forgive. Those are the people who need a radical conversion.

Our Lady provides us with means, too. She has called us to prayer so many times and, yet again, in her last message she calls us to worship Jesus. God wants those who will worship him in their spirit and in the truth, which means through their actions and life, not just by words because God does not need our words. What he needs is our heart. If we are fully devoted we can represent hope for those hearts that do not have Jesus.

There are thousands of definitions of what man is, and one of them is the following: “Man is a creature of hope!” To us, who are travellers here through this world, hope gives us strength to bravely walk the earthly paths towards our future and not to stand still. Our hope is found only in Jesus’ name. Hope is always turned towards the future. Love is the reality that should be unfolding now, and faith helps us to reach it.

Many might think that the world does not change at all, so we might be wondering what the use of conversion is. To others the world does change, but for the worse. Today we are more capable of completely destroying our world than people used to be so many years before us. We must ask ourselves what the role of conversion in our life is. Is our conversion any good? We may say to others: It does not mean that it is an encounter we may have with other people when, for example, we meet our mother, brothers, sisters or good friends in the street. Surely we would all like to have such close, personal, profound encounters with God, but, generally speaking, our encounters with God are of a different nature. We must also ask ourselves today whether we believe that the Kingdom of God is near. It was one of the ways the encounter with God in flesh may be depicted. Today only a few people feel that God is present. More and more people are becoming atheists or Gnostics. The life here and now is all they have. But we, Christians who follow Jesus’ teachings, believe in his words. He tells us that there is life after death. He tells us that there is God with whom we may talk through prayer. He tells us that the path leading to a new life after death is love of our neighbours that we show in this life. Our spirituality often raises the fundamental question: do I believe in Jesus Christ? If I do, then my view of this life is different and I try to make decisions that correspond to my beliefs. Jesus tells us that we meet God every time we serve others. Conversion is therefore necessary and important every time when I am not faithful to Jesus’ words and his calling to live with him. Conversion is necessary when we experience the loss of love.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medjugorje 26.8.2008

Reflection on the Message of October 25, 2008

ARM YOURSELF WITH PRAYER AND FAST

“Dear children! In a special way I call you all to pray for my intentions so that, through your prayers, you may stop Satan’s plan over this world, which is further from God every day, and which puts itself in the place of God and is destroying everything that is beautiful and good in the souls of each of you. Therefore, little children, arm yourselves with prayer and fasting so that you may be conscious of how much God loves you, and carry out God’s will. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of October 25, 2008

Our Lady invites us to pray for her intentions. If we give ourselves in prayer to the God, the satanic scheme will not be fulfilled on Earth. By this message, Our Lady asks for our cooperation. We are aware that Jesus and Our Lady can prevail over Satan without us, but they ask for our cooperation and our decision. God created us free and asks of us to take sides. God created us without our help, but He cannot saves us if we do not want it.

When Our Lady speaks about the satanic scheme on this Earth, she does not speak about the nature, but about the man and all the sins which mankind does when it fails before the satanic temptations, which are the various kinds of great sins: marriages of the same sex, abortus, killings, fornication, robbing of the poor, curses, drugs, alcohol, etc. The mankind today continuously puts itself in the place of God and repeats the mistake from the first pages of the Bible (Post 3). Human values have become more important than the Christian values. For many people, money has become a god. The consequence of this is that everything which is good and beautiful in the souls of men is being destroyed.

Our Lady gives us the tools to resist the satanic scheme, and these are the prayer and the fast. We all think that we pray a lot and that we have a deep faith. If we would make a poll, we would see that we do not pray so often. We spend more time talking on the phone, drinking coffees, reading newspapers or watching sport, than we spend praying. The fast and the prayer have been, from the Christian beginnings, the main tools in fighting the evil. If we do not pray and fast, we cannot believe, because the faith, i.e. the trust, is established in relation to someone, and this someone is God. The prayer is the encounter with God, and from this encounter, a strong and forceful faith is being born.

Our Lady invites us in the message from November 25th 1987. to pray that the Satan does not attract us with his vanity and false strength. She says: I am with you and I want you to believe me that I love you. Love and humility can be read from every message of Our Lady, and it is the main reason that so much people from the whole world visits Medugorje – because they feel they are loved.

Tonight’s message Our Lady ends with the words: do the God’s will. In 40th psalm, in 9th row, we can read: “It is dearer to me, my God, to do Your will.” A man who does God’s will is filled by joy and serenity. To do the God’s will means to stride toward sanctity. The humility is the characteristic of those who do the God’s will. They are obedient and meek. Those who do not respond to doing the God’s will are focused on the worldly matters and God is not in the first place for them. These are the people who are full of ambition and are trying to fulfill their goals by any means. These are the people who measure everything with this world’s measure, and consequently loose their joy.

Let us all together decide for God once again, let us heed the call of the Queen of peace, and we will become the true witnesses of the God’s love and the love of Our Lady, we will become such disciples as Jesus wants.

Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje, October 26th 2008

Reflection on the Message of September 25, 2008

DECIDE FOR PEACE

“Dear children! May your life, anew, be a decision for peace. Be joyful carriers of peace and do not forget that you live in a time of grace, in which God gives you great graces through my presence. Do not close yourselves, little children, but make good use of this time and seek the gift of peace and love for your life so that you may become witnesses to others. I bless you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of September 25, 2008

Our life is filled with everyday decisions. We always have to make decisions for everything. Some decide for this, some for that. We have to make decisions as long as we live. In her last message Our Lady calls upon us to make our life a decision for peace. Deciding for peace means deciding for Christ: «For he himself is our peace» (Ephesians 2: 14) as St. Paul wrote in his pastoral letter to the saints in Ephesus. Jesus brings peace which is not the superficial or fake peace that people talk about. It is a peace attained through tests and struggles. It fills up human hearts transforming them from within. Jesus says: «Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives» (John 14:27). Jesus came to earth in order to tear down the wall of hostility and unrest that reigned between man and God, and to establish the Kingdom of love, joy and peace. The peace that Jesus gives us is not an absence of unrest or wars, it is a filial and peaceful relationship with God. The peace Jesus brings is peace that touches and changes human hearts thus transforming the world.

All the messages of Our Lady that we have been receiving for the last twenty-seven years are permeated with humbleness, love and peace. On the third day of the Apparitions, while the seers were climbing down the hill, Our Lady appeared to Marija Pavlovic and said: “Peace, peace, peace – and only peace!” “Peace must reign between man and God, and between all people! Our Lady has presented herself in Medugorje as the Queen of Peace. She calls everybody to personally be joyful carriers of peace because we live in the time of grace in which God gives us great graces. These last twenty-seven years have been a true time of grace because Our Lady has been very close to us in a special way. Millions of pilgrims who have found the meaning of life and spiritual peace here are witnesses of that.

Our Lady calls us to be witnesses. Every one of us should become a witness. Faith provides us with strength to be witnesses of Jesus in this world. It is precisely thanks to the testimony of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the apostles and martyrs of the first Church that we have been given the legacy of faith in the Triune God.

True witnesses have left us behind in the Kingdom, especially those who are revered as saints by the Church. They are present even today as a part of the living prayer tradition of the Church since their life, the writings they have left behind or their prayer serve as examples. They contemplate God, praise Him and do not cease to worry about those that they have left on earth. Having entered into the joy of their Lord, they are the true witnesses put above many others. Their mediation is the highest service one may be given according to God’s intention. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us, we can and we must pray to them to intercede for us, as well as for the whole world (cf. CCC 2683).

Therefore, all those who wish to follow Jesus and fight for the truth must know that they may be faced with disapproval. There is only one way to victory, and that is to follow our Lord Jesus Christ because only in this way may we become the tools of peace, as one of St. Francis of Assisi’s sayings goes. May the motherly blessing given to us by the Blessed Virgin Mary – the Queen of Peace – help us attain this.

Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/09/2008