Medjugorje - Commentary on Our Lady's April 25, 2008 Message

Peace to All!

Below please find the official English translation of Fr. Danko's reflection on Our Lady's April 25, 2008 message as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.

God Bless!
Steve and Ana Shawl
The Medjugorje Web

SEARCH FOR THE GOD'S WILL AND DO GOOD

"Dear children! Also today, I call all of you to grow in God’s love as a flower which feels the warm rays of spring. In this way, also you, little children, grow in God’s love and carry it to all those who are far from God. Seek God’s will and do good to those whom God has put on your way, and be light and joy. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of April 25, 2008


In the beginning of the message of April 25th 2008, Our Lady invites us to grow in God’s love. To grow in love means to open to God like flower, to let Him shine on us, envelop us and permeate us. It can happen only in the atmosphere of prayer, because the prayer is like a channel, like a tube, through which God sends His love and His mercy to this earth. True prayer can come only from the heart which allows the might of God’s love to envelop and permeate it. Such God’s love can permeate only the one who prays from the heart, with his/her whole being. God’s love searches for the answer, and the answer is faith. Faith-filled heart can be compared with the light. Like the light, faith chases away darkness, anguish and despair, gives security and strength. In some way, it lightens the way of the people who have it, and leads them, like the dark and light clouds which have led the Israelites through the desert. Those who expect clear and tangible evidence from the faith must be disappointed, because faith is above proofs and arguments. Faith cannot be measured only by knowledge, because it is above all life, i.e. life direction, which cannot always be told through the knowledge. Faith can be compared with the stars which lead the sailors through the night. They do not light the waves upon which the sailors sail, but show them the direction.

Our Lady invites us to search for the God’s will, and it is revealed to us completely only in the personal encounter with Christ. Only searching for and doing God’s will can lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Mt 7,21). God’s will is more important than our will. To search and do God’s will does not mean to get lost or to disown one’s own freedom – on the contrary, it means to get free from the daily slavery and sin. It means to get free from the imprisonment of the small gods like: power, money, other people’s opinion etc. All these idols take your life, only God gives it. All other gods promise a lot, and do not give anything in return. Our Lady accepted the God’s will, she agreed to serve only the one true God and to do His will. By uttering only one word fiat – let it be so for me – she changed the course of history, with the God’s mercy.

By doing the will of God, we enter into the friendly relation with Him. When they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren?And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Mk 3,33-35).

At the end of her message, Our Lady invites us to do good to all people and to be the light and the joy. The light and the joy can be only the one who confirms God’s love every day, like Mother Teresia did. To be the witness means to give oneself completely into the God’s hands, to give one’s whole being, to live the message of the Gospel before we tell it to others, to live in the personal encounter with the God who became Man, to live with the Lord, who died and was ressurected.

Let Mary, Mother of Christ and Mother of Church, help us to carry the message of peace, joy and forgiveness wherever we go – the message which will change the world.


Fra Danko Perutina
Medugorje 26.4.2008

Medjugorje - Our Lady's November 25, 2007 Message

Peace to All! Below please find the official English translation of Our Lady's November 25, 2007 message to the world as provided by the Information Center of Medjugorje.

God Bless!
Steve and Ana Shawl
the Medjugorje Web
http://www.medjugorje.org

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Message of November 25, 2007

“Dear children! Today, when you celebrate Christ, the King of all that is created, I desire for Him to be the King of your lives. Only through giving, little children, can you comprehend the gift of Jesus´ sacrifice on the Cross for each of you. Little children, give time to God that He may transform you and fill you with His grace, so that you may be a grace for others. For you, little children, I am a gift of grace and love, which comes from God for this peaceless world. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Ivan Dragicevic in Medway, Massachusetts - 11/03/07

From someone who was present for Ivan Dragicevic's Saturday apparition:

"There was an apparition to Ivan. The message, he shared, is a private conversation. He did say that Our Lady appeared and prayed over all the people who were present. She and Ivan prayed together in praise of God.

In Ivan's talk he stressed the importance of not just hearing the messages of Our Lady but of making a commitment ot live them in our daily lives. If there was two words that he stressed they were, "Peace" and "Pray." We are to be people who live peace in our families and with every person. We are to be people who pray, seeking to turn our entire day into prayer."

In the Peace of Christ,
David Thorp
Assistant Director
Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community

I Didn't Attend After All

I had some other things to do, and didn't make it.

I would love to hear someone's thoughts on the experience, though. Use the "Comment" link at the bottom of this blog post if you attended or have seen it previously and want to share those experiences.

God Bless!
Erik Haan

Ivan Dragicevic Will Be in My Hometown this Weekend!

I just checked the speaking schedule for Ivan Dragicevic (he's one of the Medjugorje visionaries) and he will be at the Marian Community Center in my hometown of Medway, Massachusetts this Saturday, November 3rd!

I attended two of Ivan's speaking engagements last year, and I can tell you they are very moving. There is a recitation of the Rosary, followed by the daily apparition to Ivan. It is so powerful to be in the building for this. The night ends with a Mass and then a talk by Ivan about the evening's message and his experiences as a visionary for the past 26 years.

I plan to attend and will give a report Sunday morning!

Medjugorje - October 25, 2007 Message

Peace to All! Below please find the official English translation of Our Lady's October 25, 2007 message to the world as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.


From: The Medjugorje Web
http://www.medjugorje.org
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Message of October 25, 2007

"Dear children! God sent me among you out of love that I may lead you towards the way of salvation. Many of you opened your hearts and accepted my messages, but many have become lost on this way and have never come to know the God of love with the fullness of heart. Therefore, I call you to be love and light where there is darkness and sin. I am with you and bless you all. Thank you for having responded to my call."

How Can I Make This Interesting?

My intent in creating this blog is to spread the messages given to us by the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, leading us back to her son Jesus.

It's important I take up my cross and spread these messages but, coming from an online marketing background and realizing this information is readily available elsewhere, I'd like to make this blog an interesting place you'll want to come back to regularly.

Please, if you have any thoughts on what would interest you enough to check back here, feel free to drop me an e-mail at haan.erik@gmail.com or respond through a comment on this blog.

Today I share with you a map to show you where in the world these events are taking place. Medjugorje is located in Bosnia Hercegovina.

God Bless!
Erik

Medjugorje - Commentary on Our Lady's July 25, 2007 Message

The following is first the Virgin Mary's monthly message for the world, given July 25th, 2007, followed by Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic's (of Medjugorje) commentary on the message.

Mary's message:

"Dear children! Today, on the day of the Patron of your Parish, I call you to imitate the lives of the Saints. May they be, for you, an example and encouragement to a life of holiness. May prayer for you be like the air you breathe in and not a burden. Little children, God will reveal His love to you and you will experience the joy that you are my beloved. God will bless you and give you an abundance of grace. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of July 25, 2007

Fr. Ljubo's commentary:

Our Lady calls to us as our Mother and invites and encourages us today, on the day of Saint Jacob the apostle, the patron saint of the Parish of Medugorje and pilgrims to inherit the life of the saints, the lives of those who came to heaven into a homeland we shall never leave. In her message on the 25th of July 2002, Our Lady also said: Dear children! Today I rejoice with your patron saint and call you to be open to God's will… Ask your holy protectors to help you grow in love towards God.” The saints are those who intercede for us and stand up for us before the face of God. That is why we turn to them and give up our prayers to them so that they may present them to God. The holy are an example to us that it is worth being faithful to God and that God will never betray us.

“Let prayer be like the air that you breathe” – says Our Mother Mary. Our body needs air. We know how we feel when we don’t have enough air. Without air our body cannot live. So as we have a physical body we also have a spiritual body. We can imagine that we are spiritually dead without prayer. Without prayer man’s life only consists of the body, material things, on dead things which do not have any life. Prayer is not something that is stipulated or ordered by the Church, God or Our Lady. Prayer is not only a devout exercise. Prayer is much more than this. Prayer is life. Without prayer we are dead and there is no life in us. Without prayer God has no room in us in which he can visit and heal us, save us and heal our hearts and souls.

It is only in prayer that God can reveal his love and we can experience the joy of being beloved children of God and Our Lady. From experience we know that it is not enough to only know that food is good, it is necessary to eat it to be able to live. It is not enough to know that God and Our Lady love us, rather it is necessary for us to experience this, experience it in out life as a reality more true than the physical one we see with our eyes.

“You will experience the joy of being my loved ones” – Our Lady says to us. However, it is necessary to fulfil one condition and this is prayer with our heart in which the soul opens and surrenders to God through Our Lady. The Gospel tells us at Jesus’ baptism at the River Jordan from the heavens thundered the voice of our Heavenly Father: “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1, 11). These words apply to Jesus. But through Jesus and in Jesus, also to you and me. Everyone of us are in Jesus and through Jesus the beloved son of the Father, beloved daughter of the Father, the chosen one, favourite of Our Father’s Heart. In Jesus and through Jesus we are also Our Lady’s beloved children.

Throughout our lives we have been told many times that it is important to love God. However it is far more important that God loves us. Our love towards God is of secondary importance. God’s love for us has precedence: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4, 10) – tells us the apostle John in his gospel. And still adds: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. (1 John 4, 16).

Let the Virgin Mary, full of grace and Immaculate lead us and introduce us to the secrets of Our Father’s heart and love which he has for us.

Fra Ljubo Kurtovic

Medugorje 26.7.200