Dear children! In a special way I call you all to pray for my intentions so that, through your prayers, you may stop satan’s plan over this world, which is further from God every day, and which puts itself in the place of God and is destroying everything that is beautiful and good in the souls of each of you. Therefore, little children, arm yourselves with prayer and fasting so that you may be conscious of how much God loves you and may carry out God’s will. Thank you for having responded to my call. October 25, 2008

There is no denying that the world’s economic crisis is impacting on the lives of ordinary people around the globe! The poor have always been with us, but now there is a new strata of society suffering impoverishment, displacement and unemployment, all because of the greed of some, never satisfied with what they have, always wanting more.

This “consumerism” has imploded on all of us. It has become the norm. Get fat, get rich at someone else’s expense. But now the whole sham is exposed and suddenly we discover the lie we have been fed and accepted for so long. The value of our investments, our hopes in a financially secure future have tumbled. Our jobs and our homes are disappearing because money ain’t what we thought it was. Should we be surprised?

Was not this distraction part of satan’s plan to destroy our souls anyway? To take our eyes and attention from God, to chase a dream, American or of any other making?

Today, Our Lady invites us once again, for the umpteenth time, to pray, to pray for her intentions, to pray for a better world, to pray so that we can realise God’s love for us, to pray that we may co-operate with God’s will, to pray so that God and Our Lady’s plan for each of us will be fulfilled.

And was anyone out there as blind as I have been in not recognising the real currency in life? The currency that purchases untold wealth and happiness, the keys to the house of God with no mortgage attached, the kingdom of heaven? The currency that never devalues but only increases the true riches in life? The currency that poor and rich possess alike? The currency that was spoken about in last Sunday’s homily – not the tribute belonging to Ceasar – but that which Jesus said belonged to God!

It is prayer that is due to God. Prayer is the real currency of this world and the next. It flows from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven.

Prayer is a true and lasting investment. It multiplies and brings benefit to the world. The only bank necessary is our heart. No plastic, no paper, no coin, just an open heart so that it can transfer freely from bank to bank, heart to heart.

This prayer is not invested in government armies and military equipment to combat the evil in the world. Prayer in itself will stop wars, especially war in our own heart. It will halt satan’s plan for this world and his war against our souls.This is why Our Blessed Mother is asking us to arm ourselves with prayer and fasting, not weapons and military might, not wealth gained through gambling on stock markets and selling on pigs in pokes and parcels of debt that can never be repaid.

Prayer is Our Lady’s currency. Its dividend is grace. It is God’s blessing.

So we should pray to save the world, to save our homes, to save our jobs, to save the poor and the marginalised, to save the sick, to save those whose souls are in danger. It doesn’t cost a penny, just our time, our personal sacrifice, but what better way is there to love than to lay down our life for another.

Prayer is an investment for this life and the one to come.

As the years roll on and the numbers visiting Medjugorje increase, so also more accommodation for pilgrims springs up amid the rocky landscape. The latest trend is to build apartments for sale and for rent. This worries some people, especially as there does seem to be a surplus of available accommodation already in and around the village.

But we cannot escape the fact that there IS a need to accommodate the expanding number of pilgrims that flows to Medjugorje. But all this building activity can appear to encroach upon the once very peaceful surroundings and there certainly does seems to be more hustle and bustle in and around Medjugorje area over the past couple of years as new businesses are started and construction continues unabated, seemingly often without any perception of planning need or control.

But we should be careful not to succumb to the temptation to look on this expansion negatively – I have heard many comments from pilgrims, who arrived in Medjugorje during the early years of the apparitons, saying that the place is just not the same anymore. In one sense they are correct in their observations, but personally I feel that by focusing on the expanding development of Medjugorje we can be detracted from the real building work that takes place there – that of the kingdom of God.

The graces are ever-flowing, possibly even more so; there has been no cessation of Our Lady’s appearances. Sinners are continually reconciled with God and each other daily and in ever increasing numbers, year on year. Even the parish grounds have undergone remarkable transformation in recent times, and completion of a new sacristy has taken place this year – for the third time – to accommodate the increase of priests concelebrating Mass; and all of this with the blessing of the local bishop!

So let us view the expanding accommodation facilities of Medjugorje as an opportunity to house more pilgrims. More pilgrims mean more graces dispensed to bear more fruit, and perhaps can be seen as Our Lady’s way of renewing the Universal Church she mothers, and bringing her children back to fill the empty pews when they return home.

• part of the Gospel reading, 29th Week in Ordinary time, Year 2, Wednesday.

When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him. Luke 12 : 48

Dear children! You are the ones responsible for the messages. The source of grace is here, but you, dear children, are the vessels which transport the gifts. Therefore, dear children, I am calling you to do your job with responsibility. Each one shall be responsible according to his own ability. Dear children, I am calling you to give the gifts to others with love, and not to keep them for yourselves. Thank you for having responded to my call. May 8, 1986

• Gospel reading, 29th Week in Ordinary time, Year 2, Tuesday.

Jesus said to his disciples: “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.” Luke 12 : 35-38

Dear children! From day to day I wish to clothe you in holiness, goodness, obedience and God’s love, so that from day to day you become more beautiful and more prepared for your Master. Dear children, listen to and live my messages. I wish to guide you. Thank you for having responded to my call. October 24, 1985

Sunday, June 08, 2008
Good News…
Today, a total stranger called me to say he had just returned from Medjugorje –his first visit. He told me that while he was there he confessed his sins before a priest, the first time he had done so for 40 years. The joy in his voice over the telephone was incredible. He is returning there again in a few days time.

 

• I posted the above item four months ago. Earlier this month I was in Medjugorje and on the first morning sat down for a coffee at Colombo’s.

A man sitting at the table told me he was on his third visit to Medjugorje – all in this year. His name was Jim. He had experienced a major conversion on his first visit.

This was the same man who had telephoned me in June. How God works in mysterious ways! Later in the week, I shall publish Jim’s moving testimony.

Benedict XVI placed the world in Mary’s hands yesterday during his one-day visit to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples.

The Pope’s leading of the Supplication of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, a prayer written by Blessed Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) was one of the high points of this 12th pastoral trip in Italy.

“We implore you to have pity today on the nations that have gone astray, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they might repent and return to your heart,” the text of the prayer reads.

With the words of Bartolo, the Pontiff turned to Mary, saying: “If you will not help us because we are ungrateful and unworthy children of your protection, we will not know to whom to turn.”

In a gesture of filial love, the Pope then offered the Madonna a golden rose. He had travelled by helicopter in the morning to Pompeii, and was welcomed by 50,000 faithful. This is the third time a Pope has visited the shrine.

Pompeii was destroyed by the lava and ashes from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. The new Pompeii arose 1,796 years later, when, in 1872, Bartolo Longo, a lawyer and lay Dominican, built a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The shrine contains an image of Mary to which hundreds of miracles and healings are attributed.

In the homily delivered during Holy Mass yesterday, the Pope evoked the figure of Bartolo Longo, who, like St Paul, had persecuted the Church, “becoming militantly anticlerical and engaging in spiritualist and superstitious practices.” Longo was a satanist priest who later repented when he encountered the “true face of God,” the Holy Father said.

“Wherever God comes in this desert, flowers bloom,” said Benedict XVI. “Even Blessed Bartolo Longo, with his personal conversion, bears witness to this spiritual power that transforms man from within and makes him capable of doing great things according to God’s designs. This city, which he re-founded is thus a historical demonstration of how God transforms the world: filling man’s heart with charity.”

“Here in Pompeii,” the Pope continued, “it is understood that love for God and love for neighbour are inseparable. Here at Mary’s feet, families rediscover or reinforce the joy of love that keeps them united.”

The secret of Pompeii, the Holy Father revealed, is the rosary: “This prayer leads us through Mary to Jesus. The rosary is a contemplative prayer that is accessible to all: great and small, lay people and clerics, cultured and uncultured. The rosary is a spiritual weapon in the struggle against evil, against all violence, for peace in hearts, in families, in society and in the world.”

source: zenit.org

Sixty-eight new images can be viewed at the Medjugorje Gallery. This brings the total numbr of images featured in the Gallery to 845.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation and tells Zion, “Your God is king!” Isaiah 52 : 7

Dear children, In my coming to you, here among you, the greatness of God is reflected and the way with God to eternal joy is opening. Do not feel weak, alone or abandoned. Along with faith, prayer and love climb to the hill of salvation.
part message to Mirjana, August 2, 2008

• Gospel reading, 29th Week in Ordinary time, Year 2, Tuesday.

Jesus said to his disciples: “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.” Luke 12 : 35-38

Dear children! From day to day I wish to clothe you in holiness, goodness, obedience and God’s love, so that from day to day you become more beautiful and more prepared for your Master. Dear children, listen to and live my messages. I wish to guide you. Thank you for having responded to my call. October 24, 1985

Dear children! May your life, anew, be a decision for peace. Be joyful carriers of peace and do not forget that you live in a time of grace, in which God gives you great graces through my presence. Do not close yourselves, little children, but make good use of this time and seek the gift of peace and love for your life so that you may become witnesses to others. I bless you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call. September 25, 2008

•There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven… Ecclesiastes 3

A time for repeating, a time for peace
A time for deciding, a time for peace
A time for carrying, a time for peace
A time for living, a time for peace
A time for gracing, a time for peace
A time for receiving, a time for peace
A time for presenting, a time for peace
A time for opening, a time for peace
A time for using, a time for peace
A time for seeking, a time for peace
A time for witnessing, a time for peace
A time for blessing, a time for peace
A time for calling, a time for peace
A time for responding, a time for peace

• inspired by the first reading for tomorrow’s Mass,
Twenty-fifth week in Ordinary Time, Year 2, Friday