Reflection on the Message of January 25, 2006

BE CARRIERS OF THE GOSPEL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje, 26 January 2006

Reflection on the Message of February 25, 2006

SAY YES TO GOD

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.2.2006

Reflection on the Message of March 25, 2006

I AM LEADING YOU ALONG THE PATH OF HOLINESS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.3.2006

Reflection on the Message of April 25, 2006

I INVITE YOU TO HAVE MORE TRUST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26.4.2006

Reflection on the Message of May 25, 2006

PEACE IS THE GIFT GOD GIVES TO YOU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fra Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26.5.2006