“Dear children! I call you to work on your personal conversion. You are still far from meeting with God in your heart. Therefore, spend all the more time in prayer and Adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, for Him to change you and to put into your hearts a living faith and a desire for eternal life. Everything is passing, little children, only God is not passing. I am with you and I encourage you with love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Medjugorje - March 25, 2008 Message
“Dear children! I call you to work on your personal conversion. You are still far from meeting with God in your heart. Therefore, spend all the more time in prayer and Adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, for Him to change you and to put into your hearts a living faith and a desire for eternal life. Everything is passing, little children, only God is not passing. I am with you and I encourage you with love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Update on Fasting
My mother, a Registered Dietitian, made a good point about my last post on fasting. Here's what you should know:
While it was requested by Our Lady, for the conversion of sinners and unbelievers, it is not for everyone. If you are sick, physically infirm, or have a medical condition requiring important nutritional balances, you should not in any way feel guilty for not fasting.
Read here to see what Our Lady said about fasting.
If you're unsure if fasting is for you, I think the obvious answer is pray about it and you will know!
Thanks, Mom!
While it was requested by Our Lady, for the conversion of sinners and unbelievers, it is not for everyone. If you are sick, physically infirm, or have a medical condition requiring important nutritional balances, you should not in any way feel guilty for not fasting.
Read here to see what Our Lady said about fasting.
If you're unsure if fasting is for you, I think the obvious answer is pray about it and you will know!
Thanks, Mom!
Medjugorje - Annual Apparition to Mirjana - March 18, 2008
Peace to All!
Below please find the official English translation of Mirjana's yearly March 18 apparition as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje. Our next mailing will be Our Lady's March 25 message to the world. God Bless! Steve and Ana Shawl The Medjugorje Web http://www.medjugorje.org
Below please find the official English translation of Mirjana's yearly March 18 apparition as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje. Our next mailing will be Our Lady's March 25 message to the world. God Bless! Steve and Ana Shawl The Medjugorje Web http://www.medjugorje.org
The annual apparition of our Lady to Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo on march 18, 2008
The visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo had daily apparitions from June 24th 1981 to December 25th 1982. During the last daily apparition, Our Lady gave her the 10th secret, and told her that she would appear to her once a year, on the 18th of March. It has been this way through the years.
This year several thousand pilgrims gathered to pray the Rosary at the Cenacolo Community in Medjugorje. The apparition lasted from 14:01 to 14:08.
Mirjana transmitted the following:
I have never seen Our Lady address us in this manner. She extended her hands towards us and with her hands extended in this way, she said:"Dear children, today I extend my hands towards you. Do not be afraid to accept them. They desire to give you love and peace and to help you in salvation. Therefore, my children, receive them. Fill my heart with joy and I will lead you towards holiness. The way on which I lead you is difficult and full of temptations and falls. I will be with you and my hands will hold you. Be persevering so that, at the end of the way, we can all together, in joy and love, hold the hands of my Son. Come with me; fear not. Thank you."
Monday, March 3, 2008
Medjugorje - Commentary on Our Lady's February 25, 2008 Message
Peace to All! Below please find the official English translation of Fr. Danko's commentary on Our Lady's February 25, 2008 message as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.
Our next mailing will be Our Lady's March 18 annual message to Mirjana.
God Bless!
Steve and Ana Shawl
The Medjugorje Web
http://www.medjugorje.org
--------------------------------
WITH PRAYER AND RENUNCIATION TOWARDS HOLINESS
"Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God's love. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of February 25, 2008
Throughout almost 27 years of Our Lady's apparitions, we have been the witnesses of her care for us, just as a true mother cares for her children. She finds each and everyone of us important. No one is excluded from her plan. She wants to bring all of us to her son Jesus Christ.
In her tonight's message, Our Lady draws our attention to the dedication so characteristic of the time of Lent we are living right now. During Lent God gives us another chance to become better people, to start to change. We should be concrete as prayer is the encounter of a true and concrete man with the true and concrete God. We are asked to become better as people in all areas of our lives. Our Lady provides us with the means that will help us in our fight – by prayer and renunciation.
Jesus is our first teacher of prayer. When asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray, he taught them to pray Our Father. It is a prayer that must not turn into a mere pronunciation or repetition of words. It must be a true address to the Father for his kingdom to come. In the Father we have everything. The only thing we have to do is to listen attentively to what He says to us in prayer. Everything else will be just added to that. We should be persistent in our prayer, and open to God's spirit which will provide us with strength when things happen in a different manner than we expect them to.
Together with Jesus, Our Lady is our first female teacher of prayer. Some wonder why Our Lady often mentions prayer and calls us to it. Those wondering about that are people who do not pray, those who want to turn everything, even prayer, into sensation. These are the people not yet embraced by the spirit of the Gospel. They still feed on mundane spirituality. Our Lady calls us to prayer as she too has prayed and is aware of the importance of prayer more than we are. She prayed in all the crucial moments of her life: before the embodiment of her son Jesus Christ, when Christ's conception was announced, on the day of Pentecost when Church was born, the Body of Christ. At God's offer from heaven she replies with her whole being and full of grace: «I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said.» (Luke 1,38). That is why she stands before us as the example of deep faith and prayer.
Another important means of growth in our spiritual life is renunciation. Not for the sake of renunciation itself, but in order for us to create room in us where God can be at work. Every renunciation is a sign of spiritual growth. One should renounce first the thing other than God that one puts first in his life. This thing may be people, fame, power, money, human considerations, we ourselves or something else. God must be put first. Only then everything we have renounced is given its true sense.
Every day in this time of grace we are called to grow through our prayers by which we intercede for those who have not yet come to know God's love. We are called to pray for the forsaken, lonely, unhappy, aborted, for the souls in Purgatory, for all those who are in need for prayer. May our Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace, help us and bless our noble-minded effort.
Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/2/2008
Our next mailing will be Our Lady's March 18 annual message to Mirjana.
God Bless!
Steve and Ana Shawl
The Medjugorje Web
http://www.medjugorje.org
------------------------------
WITH PRAYER AND RENUNCIATION TOWARDS HOLINESS
"Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God's love. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of February 25, 2008
Throughout almost 27 years of Our Lady's apparitions, we have been the witnesses of her care for us, just as a true mother cares for her children. She finds each and everyone of us important. No one is excluded from her plan. She wants to bring all of us to her son Jesus Christ.
In her tonight's message, Our Lady draws our attention to the dedication so characteristic of the time of Lent we are living right now. During Lent God gives us another chance to become better people, to start to change. We should be concrete as prayer is the encounter of a true and concrete man with the true and concrete God. We are asked to become better as people in all areas of our lives. Our Lady provides us with the means that will help us in our fight – by prayer and renunciation.
Jesus is our first teacher of prayer. When asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray, he taught them to pray Our Father. It is a prayer that must not turn into a mere pronunciation or repetition of words. It must be a true address to the Father for his kingdom to come. In the Father we have everything. The only thing we have to do is to listen attentively to what He says to us in prayer. Everything else will be just added to that. We should be persistent in our prayer, and open to God's spirit which will provide us with strength when things happen in a different manner than we expect them to.
Together with Jesus, Our Lady is our first female teacher of prayer. Some wonder why Our Lady often mentions prayer and calls us to it. Those wondering about that are people who do not pray, those who want to turn everything, even prayer, into sensation. These are the people not yet embraced by the spirit of the Gospel. They still feed on mundane spirituality. Our Lady calls us to prayer as she too has prayed and is aware of the importance of prayer more than we are. She prayed in all the crucial moments of her life: before the embodiment of her son Jesus Christ, when Christ's conception was announced, on the day of Pentecost when Church was born, the Body of Christ. At God's offer from heaven she replies with her whole being and full of grace: «I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said.» (Luke 1,38). That is why she stands before us as the example of deep faith and prayer.
Another important means of growth in our spiritual life is renunciation. Not for the sake of renunciation itself, but in order for us to create room in us where God can be at work. Every renunciation is a sign of spiritual growth. One should renounce first the thing other than God that one puts first in his life. This thing may be people, fame, power, money, human considerations, we ourselves or something else. God must be put first. Only then everything we have renounced is given its true sense.
Every day in this time of grace we are called to grow through our prayers by which we intercede for those who have not yet come to know God's love. We are called to pray for the forsaken, lonely, unhappy, aborted, for the souls in Purgatory, for all those who are in need for prayer. May our Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace, help us and bless our noble-minded effort.
Fr. Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26/2/2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Fasting: It's Not Easy
Our Lady, through the visionaries, has requested each of us fast strictly on bread and water every Wednesday and Friday. I'm doing it, and it's not easy.
Why am I having such a difficult time with it?
I actually found the answer while reading a book about the Medjugorje apparitions. But I'll start with the background on why I'm fasting.
Our Lady has told the Medjugorje visionaries fasting is a means of giving yourself to God and showing Him we are in control of our bodies. It's apparently important to God that we exhibit control over cravings, addictions, and the like because a separation from the things of Earth is important in our spiritual growth.
That makes perfect sense. If we can gain control over our bodies, we get more in touch with the spirit we really are and understand more closely how much we rely on God for what we have.
But I've got to tell you...I am really struggling with it.
I'm typically fine for most of the day. The nature of my job (I'm a technical support representative for an email marketing company) means I'm constantly busy all day and that the day goes by quickly. My workplace offers free Dasani bottled water and I bring bread with me to work, so it's not a big deal.
It's usually the ride home that starts to get me. We're allowed to eat as much bread as we need to, but it's not very satisfying. It becomes tougher when I'm driving home from work and see billboards showing enormous steak and cheese sandwiches or French fries. I typically cave somewhere between my Waltham, Massachusetts office and my Allston home.
But if this is something we're supposed to be doing for God, why is it so incredibly difficult? The answer, claim the visionaries, lies in the foundation we lay for ourselves in our daily lives.
In interviews in The Visions of the Children, by Janice T. Connell, the visionaries state fasting is not only difficult but practically impossible without deep prayer in preparation for it. While some fasting, such as giving up meat on Fridays, is possible without such dedication, the strict fasting Our Lady requests of us is meant to be a serious sacrifice not only for our own spiritual betterment but also for that of unbelievers, the souls in Purgatory, peace in our world, and for the sins of mankind.
These are grave concerns and, thus, require quality time with the Rosary and deep prayer in the days leading up to fasting.
It's something I will continue to work at and, for those who do achieve this sense of spirituality, something that should be rewarding not only in the depths of one's own soul but also for all of humankind.
Erik Haan
Why am I having such a difficult time with it?
I actually found the answer while reading a book about the Medjugorje apparitions. But I'll start with the background on why I'm fasting.
Our Lady has told the Medjugorje visionaries fasting is a means of giving yourself to God and showing Him we are in control of our bodies. It's apparently important to God that we exhibit control over cravings, addictions, and the like because a separation from the things of Earth is important in our spiritual growth.
That makes perfect sense. If we can gain control over our bodies, we get more in touch with the spirit we really are and understand more closely how much we rely on God for what we have.
But I've got to tell you...I am really struggling with it.
I'm typically fine for most of the day. The nature of my job (I'm a technical support representative for an email marketing company) means I'm constantly busy all day and that the day goes by quickly. My workplace offers free Dasani bottled water and I bring bread with me to work, so it's not a big deal.
It's usually the ride home that starts to get me. We're allowed to eat as much bread as we need to, but it's not very satisfying. It becomes tougher when I'm driving home from work and see billboards showing enormous steak and cheese sandwiches or French fries. I typically cave somewhere between my Waltham, Massachusetts office and my Allston home.
But if this is something we're supposed to be doing for God, why is it so incredibly difficult? The answer, claim the visionaries, lies in the foundation we lay for ourselves in our daily lives.
In interviews in The Visions of the Children, by Janice T. Connell, the visionaries state fasting is not only difficult but practically impossible without deep prayer in preparation for it. While some fasting, such as giving up meat on Fridays, is possible without such dedication, the strict fasting Our Lady requests of us is meant to be a serious sacrifice not only for our own spiritual betterment but also for that of unbelievers, the souls in Purgatory, peace in our world, and for the sins of mankind.
These are grave concerns and, thus, require quality time with the Rosary and deep prayer in the days leading up to fasting.
It's something I will continue to work at and, for those who do achieve this sense of spirituality, something that should be rewarding not only in the depths of one's own soul but also for all of humankind.
Erik Haan
Medjugorje - Our Lady's February 25, 2008 Message
Peace to All! Below please find the official English translation of Our Lady's February 25, 2008 message to the world as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.
Message of February 25, 2008
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God´s love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God´s love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
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