December 31
When you hear the bells at midnight
The Mother of God speaks of peace in the new year:
Next year will be a year of peace - not because men have named it so - but because God has planned it. You will not have peace through presidents, but through prayer (LJM 12-31-85).
At the same time, to another of the little seers in Jelena's prayer group, Jesus said the following:
When you hear the bells at midnight, you shall fall on your knees, bow your head to the ground, so that the King of Peace will come. This year I will offer my peace to the world. But afterwards, I will ask where you were when I offered it (LJM 12-31-85).
Five years later, on New Year's Eve in 1990, the Gospa said to Ivan's prayer group:
Dear children, tonight your Mother invites you to go together with me to the church in joy and prayerfullness (there was a special Mass at 11:30 p.m.). In tonight's special joy, pray in church for the intention of peace (VPG 12-31-90).
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And in Romans, Paul echoes the Virgin's call to peace:
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding (Rom 14:17-19).
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Reflection: The Queen of Peace fittingly closes the year with a call to peace. This has always been her central message, the primary reason for her apparitions in Medjugorje. And, with the prayers of her children, what wonders she has achieved! The fall of the Berlin Wall, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the collapse of Communism, the rebirth of the Russian republics, the rise of both democracy and the philosophy of human rights.
A new age of peace has dawned "Not through the presidents, but through prayer." All of us who have helped Our Lady through prayer, fasting, and sacrifice; all of us who have tried to live her messages; all of us who have believed in her and trusted her - we too have had a part in ushering in this new age.
In decades to come historians will puzzle over the cataclysmic events of the 1980s and 90s, trying to figure out how it all could have happened. And most will be unaware that it was the work of a young maiden on a hillside in Yugoslavia, who wept for peace. Gathering the faithful from every land, she worked miracles. She continues to this day.
Application: On New Year's Eve in 1985, Jesus said "When you hear the bells at midnight, you will fall on your knees, bow your head to the ground, so that the King of Peace will come." Let us live that message tonight.
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