Reflection on the Message of June 25, 2005

APOSTLES OF PEACE AND LOVE

“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.” Message of June 25, 2005

Our Lady concludes each one of her messages by the words: “Thank you for having responded to my call.” With her gratitude, she seems to want to motivate and wake up our hearts, so that we listen to her and walk on the way of conversion and of holiness. Today, she is thanking us for every sacrifice that we have offered for her intentions. In preceding messages for the anniversary of her apparitions, she was saying: “Today I desire to thank you for all your sacrifices and for all your prayers.” (25.6.1990). “Today I am happy, even if in my heart there is still a little sadness for all those who have started on this path and then have left it.” (25.6.1992). Although she knows that all her children will not accept her motherly words, she is not giving up, she believes and she hopes. This is why she was saying: “There are many people who do not desire to understand my messages and to accept with seriousness what I am saying. But you I therefore call and ask that by your lives and by your daily living you witness my presence.” (25.6.1991).

Our Lady’s messages reveal to us the heart of Mary and they speak to us about it. It is the heart of the mother who loves her children. This heart is grateful for every sacrifice, which we offered for her intentions. We need to pray and, from day to day, to offer our hearts to the Heart of Mary, so that we also become grateful.

Only a blind man does not see that all in life is given to us, and that nothing belongs to us: neither the earth, nor people, nor our body, nor life that God gave us. Everything is a gift of God. Only a humble, pure and simple heart discovers the greatness of the love of God and of the gift of God. Only a heart filled with the Holy Spirit, like the heart of St. Elisabeth, exclaims: “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1,43). The heart of Elisabeth is grateful because, in the Visitation of Mary, it recognizes the gift and the blessing.

God has created everything for us, and not for any reason, and not anyhow, but magnificently, marvellously, and out of love. We should relearn the alphabet of the language and of the conversation with God. We need to learn how to say thank you; and not only superficially, with our lips, our mouth, or our reason, but with our whole being and with our whole life.

God gave us more than life and all that He has created for us; he gave Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, in the fullness of life and love, gave Himself in the Church and through the Church in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist.

In these days and in this time, God sends to us also the Mother of His Son Jesus and our Mother, so that we become her apostles of peace and love in our families and in the world. Our families and the world need people who will spread peace and love, because there is too much disorder, too much fear, too much darkness and too much wickedness among us. Gospa, who dwells in the glory of Heaven, and who comes and speaks from this glory, knows that love and peace are stronger, and that it is worthwhile to love and to spread peace. Mary, our Mother, knows that we cannot do it by our own forces, and this is why she is advising us to pray to the Holy Spirit by Whom she conceived Jesus. She is encouraging us to pray to the Holy Spirit, whose force and power made it possible to the apostles to become fearless witnesses of Jesus, until shedding of blood. We cannot do it, but the Holy Spirit in us, He can do it. We are called to holiness and to sanctification of our life. Saint Paul reminds us: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thess 4,3) Only on this way of sanctification and of holiness we can experience the joy and the truth of the words of the Scripture: “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thess 5,16) We are neither alone nor abandoned. Mary, our Mother, is with us and she is giving us her motherly blessing.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje, 26.6.2005

Reflection on the Message of July 25, 2005

FILL YOUR DAY WITH SHORT AND ARDENT PRAYERS

“Dear children! Also today, I call you to fill your day with short and ardent prayers. When you pray, your heart is open and God loves you with a special love and gives you special graces. Therefore, make good use of this time of grace and devote it to God more than ever up to now. Do novenas of fasting and renunciation so that Satan be far from you and grace be around you. I am near you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of July 25, 2005

The Virgin Mary tells us: “Fill your day with short and ardent prayers”. She wants to tell us to wrap the whole day with prayers, so that God can come, and that the evil and the wicked one cannot have access to our life. There is too much evil and wickedness, too much sinister and dark news, which fill our hearts with worries and fear. There are too many news about tragedies, terrorism, assassinations, which surround us, and about which we hear each day. There are so many malicious words, which hurt trust and love in us and in our neighbour. There is too much superficiality in our conversations, and we go away empty and burdened. Mary shows us the way, she is putting into our hands the means, so that God may find a place where to come.

Whatever we look at, listen to or read, is shaping our interior life, our heart, and then our words. Our words and our conversations reveal the contents of our heart. If our heart is anguished, in darkness and filled with negativism, then our words will be similar. Such a heart will see only what is bad and negative in others. “Blessed are the pure of heart, they shall see God”, tells us Jesus. A pure heart is unable to make dirty, to wound or to burden others. A pure heart will try to wipe and wash the dirtiness of others. Who is nervous and unhappy will make all around him nervous and unhappy.

You have undoubtedly already experienced that some people radiate a certain restlessness, nervousness and darkness. There are others who radiate peace, security and trust. They are connected to God, because He is the source of peace, of security, of love and of trust. Mary wishes that all of us, her children, belong to God, that we are people who radiate peace and love. Only a heart that is praying becomes an open heart. Only to an open heart, God can grant his grace, his force and his almightiness.

It is not enough to read and to hear the Gospel and the words of Our Lady’s message. They have to be carried out, put into practice. Many have heard the Gospel and Our Lady’s message, but it is possible to distinguish those among them who have put into practice what they have heard. Only those who have tried to put into practice at least something of what they have heard, deserve heaven. There are people who pray unceasingly without ever doing anything. There are some who pray, but criticize everything and everyone. They measure all according to their theoretical prayers, which are sterile, if they are not put into practice in our life. The prayers have a meaning only if they change our life, our heart, and if we try to put them into practice. God is doing nothing without us – He is doing everything with us. He is waiting for our works in order to collaborate with us, to help us. This is why: to pray and to do nothing, means to prevent the realization of what we are praying for.

The worst of all things, it is to wait a long time before putting one’s decisions into practice. It is necessary to do immediately, and not to delay, to leave for later. More we delay our prayer, our work, an obligation, more we create a feeling of emptiness and helplessness. Then we begin to pity ourselves and we fall into depression. It is necessary to start with one small millimetre, and then you will be greater than all those who criticize. Faith without works is useless; such a faith is dead.

The words of Our Lady’s message will be a dead letter if you do not try at least a little bit to put them into practice in your life. When we begin, we will discover the infinitude and the almightiness of God in our life. May God, through our decisions and our prayers, protect us from Satan and wrap us with his grace.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.7.2005

Reflection on the Message of August 25, 2005

MAKE GOOD USE OF EVERY MOMENT

“Dear children! Also today I call you to live my messages. God gave you a gift of this time as a time of grace. Therefore, little children, make good use of every moment and pray, pray, pray. I bless you all and intercede before the Most High for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of August 25, 2005

In her preceding messages, Our Lady was telling us: “Live my messages; open your hearts for my messages; live my messages in humility and in love; be open for my messages; with a great joy, I am inviting you to live my messages; I am praying, that the Holy Spirit helps you and increases your faith, so that you can still more accept the messages that I give you here, in this holy place; live my messages and put into practice each word that I give you, let them be precious for you, because they come from Heaven; with me, little children, you are in safety, I wish all to lead you on the way of holiness.” This is the goal of Our Lady’s apparitions, of Her presence and of each word that She is addressing to us in love.

“God gave you a gift of this time as a time of grace”, tells us Mary. We have received everything from God as a gift: life, time and eternity. Often, we have the impression that time is running, that we have wasted our time. People often say: I have no time. And this is why so many live under stress, are tensed, nervous and empty. Each one finds time for what he likes. We deceive ourselves when we say not to have time. If we do not have time for God, this is the sign of our lack of faith, heart and love, not only for God but also for ourselves. Those who really love themselves will find time for God, for prayer, for the encounter with themselves and with God.

We ask ourselves: why do we have to live this strange life with all its difficulties and sufferings, sins and failures, before the door of eternity opens? If God is Love, if He is so good, why didn’t He give us everything at the same time? Why such a long time, before arriving at the goal? God created us imperfect, not to make life difficult to us, but to allow us to have share in his Trinitarian life. God does not want that we only receive, but that we learn how to give too. Love is giving and receiving.

God lives outside of time, in the eternal now, in the bliss of happiness where He is missing nothing. From this bliss of happiness, in this time, is coming the Virgin Mary to help us, so that we can arrive where She is. God has not created us perfect, but He gave us possibilities, which we have to develop ourselves. God gave us free will, with which we can reject Him or choose Him.

The meaning of time is in the fact that we can progress and grow. The time, in which we live, can become for us a time of grace if we choose Mary and listen to Her, who is speaking to us. This is our chance for growth. Like Mary, saint Paul recommends to Ephesians, but to us also: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” (Ep 5,16-17) Saint Paul has written to the Colossians: “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” (Col 4,5) We should not waste our time, because it is precious and limited. To make use of it intelligently and to take guard of it, means to redeem it. Each time that we renounce to our selfishness and choose love, we transform our time into eternity, in life, which does not pass. Love alone is eternal and preserves us from corruption. Only the time spent in prayer is a time that is made use of. Only the time used for God and for men – in love – is a redeemed time. Let us help the Virgin Mary to lead us already now towards eternity.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26.8.2005

Reflection on the Message of September 25, 2005

IN LOVE I CALL YOU

“Dear children! Even though you are far from my heart, in love I call you. Convert. Do not forget, I am your mother and I feel pain for each one who is far from my heart; but I do not leave you alone. I believe you can leave the way of sin and decide for holiness. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of September 25, 2005

The Virgin Mary calls us with love. In Her words, we hear the echo of the words of Jesus: “Convert and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1,15). Mary wants to tell us: believe in the power of God who can and who wants to change you, to save you, to heal you and to set you free. Although by our life we are far away from the heart of Mary, she is calling us and is not becoming weary. We are her children. A true mother never abandons her child.

A child needs a mother; it cannot live nor survive without her. And when a child remains without a mother, it knows what it means to be without a mother. Our Heavenly Mother isn’t made of plastic or of wood; she isn’t a dead souvenir, but a mother who feels pain for each child who is far, cold, sick. We have a mother who has a heart that loves and that suffers. Love and suffering always go together. True love is verified in the moments of trial and of suffering. It is easy to love the other when it is pleasant and comfortable to be with him. It is easy to love the other when we find him sympathetic and when we like him. But it is difficult to love the other when liking ceases. When the other becomes difficult, boring and unbearable. It is difficult to love when the other does not want to understand or to accept us. It is then, that authenticity, truth and divine quality of our love are tested and verified.

Every human love is limited. In fact, there is only one love. God is love. Every love should sprout out from the heart of God, in order to be able to survive all deaths and all the sufferings.

The Gospel is telling us that Jesus loved the young man whom He called to sell everything and to follow Him, if he wanted to be perfect. And we know that the young man did not have courage to leave all the richness of this world that he possessed. God is calling also today. He is not forcing anybody. The freedom of God and the freedom of man are always in the game together. God remains faithful. He will never deceive us.

God is calling us through our conscience. God is speaking through his word, to which we listen and that we read. He is speaking to us through all kinds of events. In these days, he is speaking to us in a simple and intense way through Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother.

The Virgin Mary believes that we can leave the way of sin. She believes in you and she believes in me. The most difficult is when – after repeated falls into sin and after having confessed so many times the same sin – we think that nothing can change any more. We become attached to our falls and we start to believe that they are stronger than the grace of Jesus. Or worse still: we become attached to our slavery and our chains, and we begin to think that they are comfortable, and we start to convince ourselves about it. We should always lift up our eyes to the heart of Jesus who, also today, can and wants to set us free. For our part, it is important to want, to decide, to fight, to ask and to pray. Then, we will be lifted up and we will be set free. We should never say: “I cannot”, but “I will try”, and even after repeated falls, we should say it with even more determination and courage.

Mary believes in us. Let us put our faith in Her and in ourselves. Let us have the desire to become different, to be transformed, to become new men who, day after day, follow God and walk and on the path of God.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.9.2005

Reflection on the Message of October 25, 2005

I AM A GIFT TO YOU

“Little children, believe, pray and love, and God will be near you. He will give you the gift of all the graces you seek from Him. I am a gift to you, because, from day to day, God permits me to be with you and to love each of you with immeasurable love. Therefore, little children, in prayer and humility, open your hearts and be witnesses of my presence. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of October 25, 2005

The Virgin Mary came to lead us to Jesus, the Saviour. Only in His Name is our salvation and our life. For 24 years and 4 months now, she is showing us the way, she is inspiring us and calling us. God is with us. Jesus promised to us: “I am with you every day until the end of the world”. God is with us at every moment. The problem is that we are not always with Him. God remains always faithful. He has never misled or disappointed somebody who trusted in Him.

The Virgin Mary teaches us that – in order to be with God – it is necessary to believe, to pray, and to love. To be a Christian means to be on the way and to seek God unceasingly. Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened – Jesus has promised this.

God awaits only one thing: that we address ourselves to Him. He awaits our prayer and our trust. Our prayer should not be petty and selfish, but great as God is great. The most important in prayer is to seek God. When we find Him and encounter Him, we have everything. When we put God at the first place, all the rest finds its place.

God is close to us. It is in Him that “we live, and move, and have our being” (Ac 17,28) and this is why we can make the experience of God. God is a person, and this is why we can know Him by our person, by our heart. We can know God because He revealed to us and He continues to reveal to us the incommensurability of His love. Through her apparitions, Our Lady is revealing to us her inner heart, which loves infinitely. She grants us her trust, and this is a gift, this is a grace. In trust, she is speaking to us and she is making herself known to us. When we grant our trust to her as a Mother, we know her. The depth, the beauty, and the purity of her heart attract us then more and more towards her.

The Virgin Mary desires so much that we are close to God. This is why she is telling us: “believe, pray and love”. If we speak to God, if we kneel down in front of Him and if we pray, He reveals Himself to us, He grants us His richness.

A woman tells that, during Adoration in the church, in one moment, she made the experience of the simplicity of God; she understood that, only in simplicity, we can know Him. She felt sweetness and tenderness, and she was seized by clarity, beauty, and truth, which were revealed to her at that moment. She was transformed; and ever since, she is not the same any more. She says that, ever since, her problems aren’t an insurmountable barrier any more. The experience gives the certainty that God exists, and that He is with us.

Similar experiences were made many people here in Medjugorje. Mary, our Mother, is with us; we can encounter Her, we can make the experience. After an encounter with her, our life is not the same any more; it changes, it becomes new, transformed. We need experiences in life in order to become wise, prudent, and sober people. Youthful enthusiasm, as noble as it is, disappears quickly. Gospa does not want to lead us towards a superficial optimism, but towards true wisdom of life, wisdom that we also obtain through suffering and pains, which beget a new life in us. May Gospa, our Mother, guide us always on the ways that lead to God. May Mary, our Mother, lead us towards a new life with God.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje, 26.10.2005

Reflection on the Message of November 25, 2005

I PRAY BEFORE GOD TO GIVE YOU THE GIFT OF FAITH

“Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray until prayer becomes life for you. Little children, at this time, in a special way, I pray before God to give you the gift of faith. Only in faith will you discover the joy of the gift of life that God has given you. Your heart will be joyful thinking of eternity. I am with you and love you with a tender love. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of November 25, 2005

During 24 years and 5 months of apparitions in the parish Medjugorje, the love of Gospa remained unchanged, as much as her maternal messages, messages with which she wants to attract us – as with cords of love – towards the heart of Jesus, so that we can live and not barely subsist. Today also, she says: pray, pray, pray. Today also, she calls to what is most difficult for contemporary man, and it is prayer. There is no other way to arrive to God; there is no more comfortable or easier way, than the way of prayer. She is not only calling to prayer, but she is praying in front of God for us, she is asking God to grant us the gift of faith. In faith, Mary pronounced the words of her abandonment to God: “Be it done to me according to your word” and ” Behold the handmaid of the Lord”. These short words contain the whole life of Mary. In these words, she said everything, and she has completely given herself to God.

Faith is a gracious gift of God, gift that we can and must ask from God. God gives us what we ask. Mary is praying with all those who pray. As a Mother, she is praying for us all, she is asking from God the invaluable gift of faith. She knows well that, without faith, we live in darkness and ignorance. Without faith, life is impossible. When we live without faith and trust, we are under the influence of fear, and we feel threatened and insecure. Fear kills life much more than work. The reason for which worries kill more people than work is in the fact that people worry more than they work. Against fear, only faith is successful. Faith means to rely on God who remains invisible for us, God whom we nevertheless experience as our fundamental support. Faith is a support that we cannot see. Faith is the sure ground on which you can stand; faith is the light that you light in the darkness of your heart. Faith means to open the door to confidence, to open the windows to love, to accept smile, joy, light and health.

Faith is like a jump in a parachute from the plane. If you jump from the plane, you see only the ground, and yourself inevitably precipitating towards the ground, on which you will be pulverized. It is a jump into nothingness, into destruction, into death. But, after this dreadful experience, another incredible experience comes: if you draw the grip of the parachute, above you a cord opens, which holds you attached to a tissue. You left the safety of the plane, you were precipitated towards death which awaits you down there, on the firm ground, and what stopped you, it is the solidity of a piece of tissue – the parachute. This small piece of silk preserved you from death; it gave you the force to leave the safety of the plane. This is faith. When you start to entrust yourself to somebody, you have the impression to jump into emptiness. The fear seizes you, and you have the impression that you are going towards nothingness. But it is enough to light in oneself the certainty that all will go well, and fear is cut.

We do not put our faith in a tissue, nor in a cord, but in a Mother who walked the same ways that we walk, who lived the same anguishes, apprehensions and sufferings, which we live. This is why she is our certainty, and she is promising never to deceive us, she could never deceive us.

In faith and trust in God open up for us spaces of light, of truth, of certainty that God is showing us. In faith and trust, we realize that all in life was given to us, and that nothing belongs to us: neither life, nor people, nor this earth. We are created for eternity. Mary wishes that now, today, we start to live this eternity. She wishes that we decide for eternity now, so that it may not be too late tomorrow.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic

Medjugorje 26.11.2005

Reflection on the Message of December 25, 2005

IN MY ARMS, I BRING YOU LITTLE JESUS, THE KING OF PEACE

“Dear children! Also today, in my arms I bring you little Jesus, the King of Peace, to bless you with His peace. Little children, in a special way today I call you to be my carriers of peace in this peaceless world. God will bless you. Little children, do not forget that I am your mother. I bless you all with a special blessing, with little Jesus in my arms. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of December 25, 2005

Today also, in her arms and in her heart, the Blessed Virgin Mary brings and gives Jesus, the King of Peace. She is doing this throughout the history, since Jesus was conceived in her womb. Saint Elisabeth was the first who had the privilege to meet Mary, full of grace, who carries and gives Jesus. Mary wants to lead us all to Jesus; she wants to give Jesus to us all. She does not keep Him for herself, because she knows that He is a gift offered to her, too. Mary knows that Jesus is a gift of God not only for her, but for all humanity. The meaning of life is to give, not only things, but life. This is why she is teaching: “Dear children, your life does not belong to you, but is a gift with which you must bring joy to others.” (Message of 25.12.1992)

Only human being is able to recognize and receive God. Human being alone can receive the fullness of the love of God, and love in a manner worthy of God. Jesus has descended from heaven for our salvation. Love, only love motivated Him to come down from heaven because of us. God is love and all that He does, He does it out of love.

The Virgin Mary appears and she calls us, her children, for so many years now, only because she loves us. Our response to her calls and her messages should be only love. With the help of Mary, we can also grow in holiness and be those who will be able to carry Jesus to others. Jesus that we receive in the Holy Communion is the same Jesus that Mary received, the One that she is giving us.

Mary fully believed in the accomplishment of all that was told to her on behalf of the Lord. Today, she believes that God wants and can perform in our lives his works of peace and of love. In her life, she made the experience of the absolute power of the love of God who governs and who leads the history of humanity, and each heart, which opens to Him. Mary is the person who knows Jesus best, because He grew in her most pure womb, under her heart, and because she followed Him by her tender love until the Calvary. This is why we are sure that we will arrive to Jesus if we listen to Mary and follow her maternal words, which do not compel, but which attract by love. She came here to us. We did not call her, she came to call us. She went by herself towards her cousin Elisabeth when she felt invaded by the grace, full with Jesus. Today also, she is full with Jesus and she brings Him to us, she gives Him to us. Mary receives everything from Jesus, King of Peace, and she gives us all that is from Jesus.

In many messages, Mary invites us to pray for peace. The world languishes for peace, but it is unable to set up the conditions necessary for peace. Human happiness is unimaginable without the peace of the heart. Peace generates a deep security. Peace is the major desire of the human heart, but cannot be realised without God. To wait until the world, human forces and powers give us peace, this means to advance on the way of the lie and disappointment.

Mary never misled nor disappointed anybody. It was never heard that she abandoned someone who sought her help and her protection. Let us pray to Mary, and let us open ourselves to her heart, so that we can make a deep experience of peace and carry peace to all around us.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.12.2005

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