Reflection on the Message of June 25, 2006

OUR LADY THANKS US

“Dear children! With great joy in my heart I thank you for all the prayers that, in these days, you offered for my intentions. Know, little children, that you will not regret it, neither you nor your children. God will reward you with great graces and you will merit eternal life. I am near you and thank all those who, through these years, have accepted my messages, have poured them into their life and decided for holiness and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of June 25, 2006

It has been twenty-five years now since the apparitions of Our Lady began, and with it the closeness to and love of the Virgin Mary. It has been twenty-five years of grace and the open sky at this place. The cry of St. Elizabeth is spontaneously raised in our hearts: ” But why am I so favoured that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

In her previous messages Our Lady says: “God has permitted me to be with you for so long.” “I will be with you as long as the Almighty permits me.” ” I have come to help you as you cannot on your own.” A mother wants to help her children. She does not only call upon us for conversion. She calls upon us so that she herself, the Mother, may bring us closer to Jesus, the source of redemption.

To love the Virgin Mary, to believe in Her means to return at the foot of the cross of Her Son. It means to reach the source of grace and redemption. It means to experience and live the truth of the words of Jesus: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me! Let him drink who believes in me.” As Sacred Scripture says: “Streams of living water will flow from within him!” (John 7: 37-38). Here in Medjugorje streams of living water have flown from Jesus’ heart and washed many a penitent heart in the Sacrament of the Holy Confession and Eucharist. For all the graces we are to thank the Lord, and Mary who is coming to us.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of her apparitions, the Blessed Virgin Mary is coming to us with a great joy in her heart. She is coming from her glory and the fullness of life to which she wants to lead us as a mother. The Mother is thankful for all the prayers to all the people who have believed in Her and accepted her as their Mother and a mediator on the path of life.

“You will never regret it.” – Mary speaks to us. She has never deceived anybody nor has anybody who has believed in her or has turned to her full of trust in time of need ever remained disillusioned. She has not come to deceive us nor to deprive us of the joys of life. Only with God can we truly experience the fullness and the joy of life. God has never remained beholden to anybody. He will reward us not only after our death, but today as well, here on Earth.

The Virgin Mary thanks to all the people that have accepted her messages. It means to all those who have listened to what she has been telling us. Unfortunately, we sometimes hear a word but fail to pour it into life. It is as if we have a seed but fail to sow it leaving it in our pocket. The same happens with the words of Jesus. We hear them, but we do not pour them into life. It is the reason why in many of her messages Mary tells us the following: “Live my messages; witness them with your life; put them into practice; pour them into life.” If this does not happen, then we are similar to the man Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7: 26 – 27). The same is with the words of the Virgin Mary addressed to us here. And her messages are a gospel told in simple words from a motherly heart. Let us come closer to Mary with our faith and love, so that the house of our life is built on the rock.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/6/2006

Reflection on the Message of July 25, 2006

FIND TIME FOR YOUR SOUL

“Dear children! At this time, do not only think of rest for your body but, little children, seek time also for the soul. In silence may the Holy Spirit speak to you and permit Him to convert and change you. I am with you and before God I intercede for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of July 25, 2006

Our Lady is a Mother, and a mother walks with us who are her children, she thinks about us and takes care of us. At this time when many are thinking about or going on holidays Our Mother Mary invites us to true rest which is necessary for man. After returning from their missionary travels, Jesus said to his disciples: Go for a while in solitude, rest. Man requires rest. Life consists of work and rest. No work, even the hardest, tires a man. The thing that tires a man the most is life without order, various immoderateness and excesses.

Mary knows that man is not only a body but also soul. We deceive ourselves if we think that only the body is tired and that only the body needs rest. We require complete rest. This means it is not enough to just rest the body. Many come back from holidays tired so that they need to rest from their holiday. This happens because man’s soul did not rest and was not filled with God’s strength. Total rest of the soul, body and spirit is achieved by being in silence and peace. Real and true silence is not the lack of outside noise and sounds. True silence is peace from sin and blame, freedom from dirty and rude words; it is deserting dark thoughts and bad plans. Overall rest is achieved only when we decide to be generous and forgive everyone. When we repent for our sins and decide to live differently.

Jesus invites us: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I shall rest you”. Rest is the prayer of the Holy Spirit to help the soul, that He comes down and consoles our heart, to covert us and change us. Rest occurs in those moments when we are united with God who plans and holds our life in his hands. Rest is actually an encounter with our own soul. That is why we need moments in which we can stop so that our soul can catch up with us and come together with us. Rest is not just not working. Rest is the work of the heart and soul. When resting we allow the spirit to strengthen and fill us. That’s why resting on holidays away from God and prayers and the Spirit of the God means returning from holidays even more tired and burdened.

Mother Mary invites us, her children, to find time for our souls and places of silence so that the Holy Spirit may rest in us all that is tired, heal that which is wounded, strengthen what is weak. If we truly love ourselves we will listen to the words and invitation of our Mother Mary who even today does not cease to speak and lovingly calls to us and suffers because of us and for us. Let the Holy Spirit with its light and strength enter our lives so that we may experience true rest and peace which is given to us by God.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/7/2006

Reflection on the Message of August 25, 2006

ONLY IN PRAYER WILL YOU BE CLOSE TO ME AND TO MY SON

“Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray. Only in prayer will you be near to me and my Son and you will see how short this life is. In your heart a desire for Heaven will be born. Joy will begin to rule in your heart and prayer will begin to flow like a river. In your words there will only be thanksgiving to God for having created you and the desire for holiness will become a reality for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of August 25, 2006

The Virgin Mary has not given up, neither her love nor the words of her messages constantly conveyed to us have not changed. What she did for her Son is the same thing she is doing for his brothers and sisters, for everybody that has become her child. Her mantle is now so large that anybody searching a place under it can find it.

Mary wants us to become aware of the brevity of this life here and the eternity for which we have been created. There is only one excellent way in which we may uncover eternity in time, and that is prayer. Through prayer we speak directly to God knowing that the past and the future meet in Him united in an eternal NOW. Opening up to God is opening up towards eternity.

“Only in prayer” – Mary speaks to us. Not in a prayer uttered shallowly in a listless manner, a prayer in which nothing happens, but in a sincere, devoted prayer from the bottom of one’s heart. Do we really open up while praying? There is a way of praying which does not free us completely from our prison. It just makes it a little bit easier. As long as we limit our prayer by praying for something, we cannot rise to eternity. In order to achieve progress in prayer, we must pray for more important things. “So do not worry, saying, ? What shall we eat? ? or ? What shall we drink? ? or ? What shall we wear? ? for the pagans seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Mat 6: 31- 32).

If a prayer does not change us, then we must change our prayer and the way we pray. Only in prayer do we get close to Mary and Jesus, and only in prayer do we become aware of the things we shall never be able to do so anywhere else.

Most people feel tense and under stress. Sometimes we are not even aware of the strain we are under. Just like the people who are not aware of their own absent-mindedness. Only when they start praying do they become aware of their wandering thoughts. Such tension and anxiety are a result of the lack of openness and faith in God. Just as blood wants to flow freely through our veins, just as the air wants to be introduced into our lungs and bring oxygen to our whole body, so Godly life, which is in the depths of our souls, wants to permeate the whole of our body and animate our energy. Tension makes the acceptance of God’s love more difficult for us.

Prayer is not a simple exercise, it is life. Those who want to dedicate themselves to prayer must decide firmly to often raise their spirit during the day, and, above all, to turn their hearts towards God. If we fail to do so and if we let our thoughts and feelings wander, our experience will tell us that prayer is impossible. Prayer is about our heart and life. It is a fruit of love, and we are unable to limit love to a certain period of time.

Mary wants us to experience the joy nobody and nothing may bring to us. She wants us to become holy. Being holy simply means to become what we were cut out for. Not being holy is against nature. Being holy means to be a unique, healthy and normal person created in God’s image.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/8/2006

Reflection on the Message of September 25, 2006

I CALL YOU TO COMPLETE CONVERSION

“Dear children! Also today I am with you and call all of you to complete conversion. Decide for God, little children, and you will find in God the peace your heart seeks. Imitate the lives of saints and may they be an example for you; and I will inspire you as long as the Almighty permits me to be with you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of September 25, 2006

In many of her previous messages the Virgin Mary spoke to us: “I am with you”, “I intercede for you”, “I remain with you on your way to conversion”, “I am with you and I want you to believe me that I love you”.

Even today she is with us, just as she has been with us for all of the 25 years of the apparitions. Our Lady appears not to be visibly present among us in the flesh, but to call us to conversion, to the way of holiness and a new life in Jesus. The seers once asked Our Lady: “Our Lady, why don’t you appear in front of everybody, why do you appear only before us?” Our Lady replied to that question: “Blessed are those who do not see but still believe.” It is not necessary to see something with our physical eyes. Important things that we need in order to live cannot be seen, but we can sense them with our spiritual powers that God bestowed on us. The same is with Our Lady’s presence among us. All those who have believed the Virgin Mary with their open and penitent hearts have experienced and lived up to feel the greatness of God’s mercy in their faith.

Heavenly Mother Mary knows that we tend to forget things easily and we easily get used to the good, to blessing and mercy. When this happens, man forgets all about the Giver, the God who gives life and blessing to everything. In spite of our forgetfulness, Mary has not forgotten to call us today. It is a call from the bottom of a heart which loves and feels pain for each and every one that is far from Her heart.

Even today she presents us with an ideal. Even today she is demanding because she wishes us well. She does not call us to partial or superficial conversion. It is a call to enter into the unity with God. Motherly love is demanding. Do not expect impossible from us, but seek what is in harmony with our nature and what we ardently desire in the depth of our hearts. What kind of mother it would be if she did not want the best for her children. She has not come here to tell us what we want to hear, what is easy or what we like at first sight. She speaks of what is for our good and for our true joy and peace. No mother does good to her children if she makes all their selfish wishes come true. A real mother is demanding when it comes to raising her children.

Mary knows where the source of peace that our hearts are looking for is. We cannot fool our heart with things, not even the most expensive ones. A heart knows who its Creator is and therefore cannot be filled with anything less than its Creator. This is what St. Augustine wrote in his confessions who, after much wandering, finally found God: “Our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”

On the path towards God, and towards conversion there are many who had been there before us – saints. It is why Mary is made an example for us. She is a role model and inspiration. They certainly cannot replace us nor live instead of us, but can intercede for us, give us advice, encourage us to persevere, not to give up and not to withdraw from everything that is good, holy and positive.

As a mother Mary does not give up. She is encouraging us even today. She intercedes for us, loves and suffers for us and often because of us. Let us not make her love, closeness and encouragement be in vain for us and for our lives.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/9/2006

Reflection on the Message of October 25, 2006

I LEAD YOU TO ETERNAL LIFE

“Dear children! Today the Lord permitted me to tell you again that you live in a time of grace. You are not conscious, little children, that God is giving you a great opportunity to convert and to live in peace and love. You are so blind and attached to earthly things and think of earthly life. God sent me to lead you toward eternal life. I, little children, am not tired, although I see that your hearts are heavy and tired for everything that is a grace and a gift. Thank you for having responded to my call.” Message of October 25, 2006

The Blessed Virgin Mary, given that she is a mother, knows well the heart and soul of man. She also knows the spiritual illnesses into which we can fall prey to: forgetfulness, hardness of heart, negligence, blindness towards and ungratefulness to God for all that we have received and are receiving from Him. That is why this message resounds in our ears and hearts as a reminder, admonition, warning and mother’s reprimand. She has come to awaken us, encourage us and lead us to God who we must choose to follow today and not after our death.

The Virgin Mary, who comes to us through the glory of our Heavenly Father, knows better than we do the perils into which our souls may fall. In times past in our parishes there were folk missions held and the motto of these missions was: “Save your soul”. It is only important to save the soul. The soul is the basis and bearer of everything that man is and by which he exists. To save your soul means to be connected to God, cleansing your soul before God in honest confession, fighting against all sins which could distance us from God and one another.

While we are healthy here on earth, while things are going more or less the way they should, we somehow easily forget about our soul and God. We are hurried, rushing around and fighting to achieve more, have more and to secure our life and existence here. We all know that we will one day have to leave all of this but we still continue to fight frantically and hold tightly to worldly things. These are only signs of how small our faith is, that is, how little faith we have in God. And the consequences of all this are visible indeed. We have increasingly less time for each other, there is increasingly less trust between people, neighbours and in families. There is increasingly more tension, nervousness, fear and anguish in the heart. Our Lady as our mother wants to open our eyes to another reality, God’s reality which we carry in ourselves, but one which is not buried under and suffocated with things and anguishing worries for this life and world. In this worldly life much is needed. We think that it is important to have everything in life. However when a man dies, when he comes face to face with God, then the only important thing is that we have saved our soul and that we fought to stay connected to God.

God has been sending us the Mother of his Son Jesus, and our Heavenly Mother among us for 25 years and four months now. Mary said to us: “I will stay with you for as long as the Almighty allows; I will encourage you for as long as the Almighty allows; There will come a time when I will no longer be with you.”

Our Lady’s presence among us in this manner, through the apparitions is a grace and gift. It is a grace and gift to the Church, to you and me if we accept her as our Mother and we pour Her words into our life. Let a mother’s calls not be in vain in our lives and families. Let us take Her seriously today so that tomorrow it will not be too late.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medugorje 26/10/2006