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