Reflection in November 2003

Reflection in November 2003

Reflection on the Message of November 25, 2003

BE LOVE, JOY AND PEACE

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

Once again, the Virgin Mary invites us to prayer in this time of Advent that is approaching. Advent and Lent are liturgical seasons in which the Church, as a Mother, invites us to re-examine our life, to make concrete decisions, promises, more decisive turnings on our way towards God. Today, as during all these years, Mary wants that our days do not pass in vain, that our time does not pass beside us, that we do not circumvent God in this time that we live – God who calls us, who seeks us, who stirs us up through Mary.

The greatest joy of a mother is her children. Can we imagine the joy that we are for Mary – the Queen of Peace? She is “the cause of our joy” and she invites us to become the cause of her joy. Her only desire is that Jesus may be born in our hearts. She is most saddened when we lose Jesus, when He is not with us, more precisely, when we are not with Him. It is necessary to undertake everything to return to Jesus, to find Jesus. Humanly speaking, Mary and Jesus suffer when we move away from them, when we abandon them in any way and for any reason. However, our Mother leads us to her Son; with her, it will be easiest for us to find Him and to remain with Him. She has no other more important task than this one, but she can attain it only with our co-operation. This is why she stirs us up and she puts into our hearts the means that the Church offers to her children during the centuries, by leading them to God and by engendering them to a new life in God.

The goal of Our Lady’s messages and of her apparitions is that all know God, that everyone encounters God. She wants that – through us – God may reach everyone. We are all linked to one another and we all are responsible for one another. God can come into this world only through human beings, from one to another. God wants to come into this world through you and me. If He does not pass through us, how will he come? The only full meaning of our life is to enable Him to come. If we do not allow Him, then what is the meaning of our life? And what are we on this earth without Him?

Also in this time of Advent, and in Christmas that is approaching, God wants to come. He has time. He has the whole eternity. But we have only today, the present moment. The eternity does not belong to us – it belongs to God. God needs our naturalness, our simplicity. God needs our nearness, and we need his nearness even more.

It is only through the nearness of God that we will be able, from day to day, to become love, joy and peace in this world, as Our Lady tells us. Because works of love are works of peace. And when love is shared, we feel peace that gets hold of the one who gives love and of the one who receives love. When peace is there, God is there, and thus, God touches our hearts and shows his love for us by spreading peace and joy in our hearts.

Blessed Mother Teresa was praying: “Lead me from death to life. From lie to truth. Lead me from despair to hope. From fear to trust. Lead me from hatred to love. From war to peace. May peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe, peace, peace, peace.”

We are not alone; Mary is with us, with her presence and the strength of her maternal love, desiring that peace of her heart may enter each heart. Let us allow her that.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje November 26, 2003

Reflection in December 2003

Reflection in December 2003

Reflection on the Message of December 25, 2003

I LOVE YOU ALL

“Dear children! Also today, I bless you all with my Son Jesus in my arms and I carry Him, who is the King of Peace, to you, that He grant you His peace. I am with you and I love you all, little children. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of December 25, 2003

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace, tells us: “Dear children! Also today…” Also today, as during all these years for Christmas, the Mother of Peace comes to us carrying in her arms her Son Jesus, King of Peace. Also today, like the first day of the apparitions when the visionaries saw her for the first time on the hill called Crnica, Our Lady comes with the Child Jesus in her arms, as if she wanted to say: I bring Jesus to you and I lead you to Jesus. What do we need more? Let us desire the utmost; let us languish for that, because God does not want to give us a little but everything, not any kind of life but a life with Him, which begins already here.

Nobody could imagine how many hearts – during all these years – would make their experience of God, of a new birth and of a rebirth here; as at the beginning so today. We also cannot measure or imagine the power and the depth of the love of God and of his patience with us. God is patient with us; he waits until we finally trust him, so that He may give us nothing else but Himself. This is why, for Christmas, it is important to look forward to somebody and not to something. Here, the Virgin Mary does not bring something to us. Peace is not something but somebody. It is a person who has a name; it is the King of Peace – Jesus Christ, the Newborn Baby. Let us not be content with mediocrity, tepidity, traditions and customs that go along with Christmas, but let us desire the essence of Christmas. When we arrive to that, then everything has a meaning: feast day garments, food and drink and all decorations that accompany Christmas, according to the proverb: “What is the use of speed if you do not have a goal?” The same applies to our faith. What is the use of all external religious customs if we do not know their foundation, the core and the meaning of all that?

Christmas is a day that belongs to Jesus, and to us too. He is the one who has given us this solemnity, this feast. He, the King of Peace, did not come only to live with us but also to die for us to remain forever with us, to remain Emmanuel – God with us. God did it for us and for our salvation.

Only the small and the humble ones discover God. So many of them discovered Jesus through Mary and through her presence here, among us. Only the humble ones see that the heart of child can see further than the heart of the adult. But the adults also can have a heart of child. The humble ones – those who have a heart of child – see that something incredible has happened among us, something that exceeds our intelligence, something majestic. Also for this Christmas, Jesus comes to tell us, that our sins are forgiven, that God has nothing against us, that He has come to lead us out of darkness, out of restlessness and out of confusion. He penetrated our tombs to lead us to life. He penetrated our hatred to introduce us to love. Jesus Christ – He is Christmas, indeed. God descended on our earth; He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also today, He comes to us through Mary.

When we look at a child, including the Child Jesus in the manger, it seems to us so fragile, so weak and so incredible. Just like His Church: weak, too human, sinful and frail. However, under external appearances is hidden the invincible force of heaven, which wants to live in each one of us, if only we allow it to approach us. Mary, the Queen of Peace, tells us again and again: “I am with you and I love you all.” She loves us all, whether we want it or not; she loves us, whether we receive her or not. If we receive her, it will be for our salvation and for a new life for us and for our neighbor. Let us pray the Lord that it may happen.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje, December 26, 2003