Thomas Daniel before his Baptism

The following is an excerpt from a reflection written by Fr. Slavko Barbaric in September of 1997:

   The problem with human relationships, especially in the families, and the relationship one has toward oneself, is to accept the others the way that they are and oneself the way that one is. Perhaps there is a deep misunderstanding when it comes to this call to accept the others, for we often fear accepting the others the way they are because we then think that they will remain the way that they are. This fear, however, is not good for us. To accept the others with love really means to help the others, to help them to change their lives, and also to help them convert. We all know from experience that we listen to those whom we love, and do not listen to those whom we do not love, and we gladly do what the one whom we love asks of us. We are always ready to do and to offer up anything for those whom we love, and it is here that we often come into conflict with the basic conditions of education. We wish that the others change, and only then do we promise them acceptance, while the others will not change unless they are immediately accepted by us. Here is where we can easily discover the greatness of God's love, and here is where we have the chance to change ourselves. God does not set the condition of, 'be good, and only then will you receive.’ We receive so that we can change. On this point one must again emphasize for parents and educators that they must be very careful that those who are good are not simply rewarded and those who are bad simply punished. Instead the reward ought not really to depend on being good, but instead the reward or the love may become something with which the bad child can then begin with something positive. It is here that all parents and educators need great wisdom and love. Love may never be removed but rather one ought, so to say, to invest it. Our love may never seem to others as being given only as a reward, but rather as the condition upon which he can grow. But when our love is only given as a reward, then it is only a human love. Is it here that Mary calls us to love with God's love. The golden rule for every education is exactly this. Love ought to be invested so that the person may grow and develop without fear, and without distrust. This then is also the condition that we can forgive those who have done evil to us. If we respond to their evil with evil, then there is no hope that the relationships among us can improve. But one must be strong on the inside, for it is only God's love for us that can make us respond to those who have done evil to us with good. Then even those who have done us evil will become able more easily to come to terms with themselves and then to convert….

   Here we must ask ourselves how do we respond when someone has said or done something bad to us, or has behaved badly toward us. Do we respond with bad talk about them, with anger, judgments and accusations concerning them, and then respond with the same as they did to us? Or do we have the courage and inner strength to pray for them? This is the way it ought to be, for this is the way that Jesus behaved on the cross. To all evil words, injuries and humiliations, He always responded only with prayer and repeated offers of reconciliation, and that is why He became the Prince of Peace, and because She simultaneously responded with prayer and reconciliation, Mary also became the Queen of Peace. ...

Editor’s note: Fr. Slavko died on 11/24/00. Visionary Marija is promoting the cause for his canonization.

“Therefore, little children, pray and do not permit Satan to work in your life through misunderstandings, the non-understanding and non-acceptance of one another.” (Our Lady, 1/25/90)

LIVING YOUR LIFE WITHOUT SIN

   There was a little girl, whose father was a pastor. One day, she came to her father and said, "Daddy, can a person go their whole life without sinning?" The father answered, "No, honey, I'm sorry, but that's just not possible."
"What about a year, Daddy? Can a person go a whole year without sinning?" she continued.  "No, I don't think that's possible either."  "What about a day, can a person go a day without sinning once?" "It's very unlikely, no, I don't think they can."  "What about one moment, Daddy, can a person go one moment without sinning?"
"Yes, that is possible." "Then Daddy, I want to live my life, moment by moment."
   Isn't that how we should live our lives - not looking ahead to our whole lives, or distant plans. But live moment by moment, as if this moment were your last one before you reach eternity.

                                                                                                                                         Author Unknown

“To acknowledge one’s sin – to recognize oneself as being a sinner, capable of sin and inclined to commit sin – is the essential first step in returning to God”

                                                                                                                                                 Pope John Paul II

Mystical Events in the Little Village of Medjugorje

By Louise A. Hogg

   For many years I had wanted to go to Medjugorje. My sister and niece went several years ago and brought back many wonderful pictures and souvenirs.  One souvenir that was given to me was a doily made by a woman in this small village.  It was Our Lady with “MIR” crocheted at the bottom.  Every day I would pray that some day I would be able to make this trip to visit with Our Lady and see the wonders of this spiritual place.  But due to medical problems, the trip was next to impossible (I thought).  Plus, the fear of flying was heavy on my mind.

   Last year I was invited to make a pilgrimage in April with my sister, niece and a friend of ours.  Checking with all my doctors, they said there was no reason for me not to go. Would I overcome the fear of flying, especially over water???

   While arrangements were made for the pilgrimage, I prayed continually that I would overcome my fear and also  be well enough to make this journey.

   The day finally arrived.  On April 26, 2006, a pilgrimage group of 31 people made the journey to Bosnia.  I was one of them!!!  In fact, Jesus and Our Lady held me in the palm of Their hands, for there was no anxiety whatsoever – an overwhelming peace had taken over my body.  The fear of flying over water was gone. It took us 28 hours to reach our destination, but it was well worth it.

   Upon arrival, the first thing on the agenda was to go to St. James Church and give a prayer of thanksgiving for our safe arrival. St. James is a beautiful church filled with spirituality, holiness and awe.  There is a statue of Our Lady in the church to the right of the altar.  She seems to say:” Welcome.  Thank you for responding to my call.  I will give you many blessings during your trip, for you have come to me.”  [This statue is pictured on the cover.]

   On Tuesday, May 2, we were able to go to an apparition.  Mirjana, one of the visionaries, was to speak with our Heavenly Mother that day. We were not able to go inside the building where Mirjana would have her apparition, for there were thousands of pilgrims and the building was overcrowded. As Mirjana was about to arrive, the sky started to clear from the morning rain.  Upon looking up at the sky, I could see a huge rain cloud starting to drift away and the sun was peeking from behind it.  As the sun started out from behind the cloud, it was spinning. I took a picture of the beautiful sight. After the picture was developed I could see a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, and rays coming from the dove. At the time the picture was taken, one could not see the dove or the rays, just a cloud and the spinning sun.

   Once Mirjana arrived and entered the building, everyone was anxious with anticipation. When the music stopped, we knew that Mirjana was speaking with the Blessed Mother. Outside there was only silence. The traffic stopped, the people were at a hush, the dogs quit barking, even the birds quit singing!!  When nature stops you know something special is happening.

   At this time, I was prompted to take a picture of the sky above the building where Mirjana and our Heavenly Mother were conversing.  I looked up, saw some clouds in the sky and asked myself, “Why should I take a picture?  There is nothing in the sky.”  But the inspiration kept prompting me to snap.  So I did. Once again, after the picture was developed there was a spectacular vision – our Heavenly Mother showed Her presence. In the sky is an image of Our Lady wearing a crown.

   After Our Lady left, everything turned back to normal.  The birds seemed to have broken into songs of joy, for the songs were even more beautiful than before.

   What I learned was that when prompted to do something, I should never doubt myself. I would have missed two wondrous photos if I would not have followed my inspirations.

   Later I was able to climb Apparition Hill. It had rained earlier, leaving the stones a little slippery, but it was not too bad going up the small mountain.  At the top is a beautiful statue of Our Lady. She seems to say, “Welcome, I see you made it.”  To the left of Our Lady is a statue of Jesus on the cross. It was hard climbing to the cross, for the rocks were bigger and more slippery, but it was attainable. Coming down was the hardest part. Gravity seems to pull you down, and the rocks were more slippery. I sprained my left foot, so now I was limping.  But with the grace of Our Lady I did manage to get through the rest of the pilgrimage.

   Although climbing Mt. Krizevac was out of the question, the day before we left for home, I climbed partly up the mountain. I found a nice comfortable rock to sit on and started to pray the Rosary. At this same moment the bells of St. James started to ring, and then the pilgrims started to pray the Rosary in Croatian.  What a spiritual feeling!   I finished my Rosary and listened as the others at St. James finished theirs.  I felt a gush of warmth envelope me, and something caught the corner of my left eye.  As I turned my head, there was something pink close to my head.  Upon examining it, I found it to be a small pink rose.  Looking at the bush closer and all the bushes around, there were no other flowers and hardly any green stems.  Just the one right next to me.  There was once again a feeling of blessings being bestowed upon me.  A true blessing from God. God shows us His love, but we have to open our hearts and our eyes so that we can feel and see His love.

   An extraordinary event during this trip was the change of the Host during Adoration. We were all praying in the Adoration chapel, when for me the Host changed from white to red, then into the shape of a heart!  I later asked if any had witnessed this moment and they all said no.  Were my eyes playing tricks on me?  Deep in my heart I know this event to be true. Another blessing!

   Throughout my pilgrimage journey from Mirjana’s home to listening to sermons and hearing other speakers, one thing became perfectly clear to me – pray for priests and the Church for they are under attack.  Our Heavenly Mother wants us to pray the Rosary often for priests, for they represent Her Son on earth.  We are not to condemn or judge them, but to pray for them. When a priest gives us his blessing, Jesus stands behind him. Pray to our Heavenly Father and Mother that They may bestow special graces, blessings and protection upon each of Their chosen ones who represent Their Son on earth.

   In the newsletter that came before our trip (the April, 2006 issue of “The Spirit of Medjugorje”), there was an article about the Divine Mercy Shrine in Surmanci, about 15 minutes from Medjugorje. I told my sister that I wanted to visit the church, for I have a great devotion for the Divine Mercy. We did have an opportunity to visit the church.  Oliver, the taxi cab driver, knew the location and took 4 of us there. When we reached the church, I knew this was the church I had been looking for since 2001. During one of my hospital stays, I had befriended a girl about 24 years old. The day that she left the hospital, she drew a picture on a piece of cardboard and handed it to me, saying:” Some day you will go here.”  I asked her where it was and she said she did not know, but that she felt she had to draw it for me and that one day I would go there. 

   The picture was of a church with a steeple, a bell tower and a cross on the top of the tower.  Behind the church it looked like a cemetery with gravestones.  At the very top of the picture was a large cross with rays coming out from it.  On each side of the large cross was a smaller cross.  The crosses were on a hill.

   Before we got to the church, I took a picture from on top of a hill that looked down on Surmanci and the Divine Mercy church. When developed it showed that there was a building behind the church which we found out later was once a school.  The building had windows that could have been mistaken for gravestones.  It looked just like the picture in the drawing.

   The cross with the rays at the top of the drawing I am assuming was the Mt. Krizevac cross, and the two smaller ones, the crosses on top of St. James towers.

   Upon entering the church one comes to a painting of the Divine Mercy image.  We kissed the feet of Jesus, and said a prayer.  Then we found a relic of St. Faustina and said a prayer.

   I later went back to the painting and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet. As I got up, I kissed the feet of Jesus, and when I looked up, the painting had one tear coming from the left of Jesus’ face.  Upon touching the liquid, I found it to be very oily and blessed myself with it. Another blessing. I waited for more liquid to form, so that I could call others to see.  None formed.  

   Always ask for blessings, for on the first day of my trip, I asked Our Lady to bless me – help me see what I need to see, hear what I need to hear, feel what I need to feel. Do what I need to do. Our Lord and Our Lady truly blessed me with the mystical events in this little village of Medjugorje.

   If you ever once said to yourself, “I would like to go to Medjugorje,” Mary is calling you to come to Her.  Please answer Her call.  She will guide you to happenings that will enrich your life.  Do not let medical problems or fears

stop you from being with our Heavenly Mother, the “Queen of Peace,” and Her Son Jesus.

Editor’s note:  Louise is from Belle Vernon, PA.

The Bible - a Catholic Book!

By June Klins

   Recently I was discussing Our Lady’s January 2006 message about reading the Bible with a friend, and she mentioned that among her favorite books of the Bible are Tobit and Sirach.  I said I loved those books too and what a shame it was that the Protestant Bible does not have those books. Many Catholics do not realize that the Catholic Bible has 7 more books than the Protestant one, while some people think that we added those books to the Bible which is not true at all. If we are living Our Lady’s messages I think it is important to be educated about this.
   The Bible did not exist until the 4th century. The Church came FIRST, then the Bible. The Bible is a CATHOLIC book. There is not a single article of the Catholic faith that is opposed to anything in the Bible!
   The Bible as we know it with its 73 books was approved by the Pope in 382 AD at the Council of Rome.  The Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD) ratified the Canon of Scripture, which means the list of books in the Bible. It stayed that way for over 1200 years until the 16th century when Martin Luther chose to remove 7 books : Sirach, Tobit, Wisdom, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Baruch  & Judith. These 7 books had references to the Resurrection in them, and originally the Sadducees had taken those 7 books out of the Hebrew scriptures. Since Martin Luther believed in salvation by faith alone, he took out the second book of Maccabees which has verses which refute his belief.  2Maccabees is part of the apocrypha (the 7 books the Sadducees took out), so he took out all of them. He also removed James, Jude, Hebrews and Revelation, saying they were not the inspired Word of God.  The 17th century Lutherans put the New Testament books back in though, so the Protestant New Testament is the same as the Catholic one.
   The Bible is a Catholic book.  "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work."(2Tim 3:16)  That is why Our Lady wants us to read it every day.  Just do it! 

My Fast Day Experience

By Jeannee Waseck.

   My internet prayer group has had over the years very long, earnest discussions about all aspects of fasting, including "what if you have a medical condition where you need to eat?" as well as fasting from things other than food ...   
  One day I decided, "This Wednesday - I will fast from television!  It really has become a fallback habit of mine and is a good way to start, AND, with my poor father being at the sub-acute rehabilitation facility, the TV isn't going all the time, so I can actually do this!"    Now, with my father being at this convalescent center, I am alone in the house with my two dogs ...  
  It was just after midnight and I was watching something on TV and I said to myself, “Jean, stop!  It’s Wednesday!”  So I shut off the TV and went to pray and read a book ... and several hours later, I turned into bed....  
  I just lay down in the bed and - THE TV BEGAN, LOUD AND CLEAR - actually, at high volume.
  I actually had to laugh - had the Devil gotten that bold?!!   I got up out of bed and there, on the sofa, lying on the channel changer, was my doggy Myndie, who had just shifted her weight enough that - she had hit the "on" button!  She was looking at the screen very bemused, as in - "you woke me up!"    
  May this be an auspicious re-beginning!

Our Lady of Medjugorje Gets Publicity in a Secular Publication

   A photograph taken in Medjugorje last September was judged to be the overall winner in a national photographic competition organized by Shell in the UK in association with “The Sunday Telegraph” newspaper. The competition theme was “Capturing Motion.” The overall winner was the photo shown above, taken in Medjugorje in September 2006. “Wax on the Move” was entered in the Extreme Motion category. There were 1,376 entries for the competition.  Congratulations to the winner Bernard Gallagher, editor of “The Medjugorje Message.”

“Dear children! I call you to be my light, in order to enlighten all those who still live in darkness, to fill their hearts with Peace, my Son. Thank you for having responded to my call!” (Message of Our Lady given to Mirjana, 3/18/98).

Ivan’s Visit

By Jason Smith

   In November I attended Ivan's visit in  Methuen, MA.  I've heard Ivan speak several times, and it's always nice to see that he never gets tired of his goal. He is totally committed from his heart to travel and share Our Lady's messages with sincere devotion and love.  A couple of things he said really became serious to me and I want to share them with all of you.  Ivan mentioned that Our Lady wants us to absolutely choose God each day over all sin and evil, to start praying with our families from the heart because there is too much infidelity, immorality and division and that through prayer, especially family prayer, we'll begin to know peace again and have peace.  Ivan seemed very concerned for the health of our souls and explained there is no healing in our lives unless we have spiritual healing first.  He defended Our Lady's Messages with love and seriousness. I saw Ivan as a son defending his Mother which helped me finally realize how real this all is, and that She is our Mother and we are all Her children. He also describes his visits with Mary as truly Heavenly and that coming back to reality here can be difficult. This really caught my attention because since I  went to Medjugorje that's how I've felt about coming back home -  things  that use to matter don't matter so much anymore and I've learned to realize  we are just here
temporarily.  I'm embarrassed to say this, but it's the truth, I've been in self pity a lot of times and I realize hungering for God is great and that I'm not always happy here on earth, yet I've got to make the best of it and start praying more and taking the focus off of myself and put my trust in God. Then there will be faith, happiness, trust, peace, love and so on.  

    Ivan mentioned Our Lady appeared that night with tears of love in Her eyes and She was joyful.  This made me so happy because in my heart I felt Her Love and  how happy She was to see us and I could really feel the joy Our Lady has about  Christmas in Her Heart, Her Son, Our Savior's birth and the indescribable joy She must be
so filled with. This evening I felt peace, love, yet a serious urgency to start praying more.  Ivan mentioned we find time to do all the things that we want to do, yet prayer becomes neglected.  Life is full of mountains and valleys, yet we've got to stay on the ship.  I pray that all of us will continue to pray for one another and have hope. God is with us and He keeps all His promises, and I know that everything we struggle with, pray for, day in and day out, will all be answered someday, and that the life we have here is just a glimpse, and the indescribable love and joy we're going to experience eternally someday is what we have to look forward to. 

Editor’s note: Jason is from Goffstown, New Hampshire.

 

Ivan’s Schedule                                                                                        

 FEBRUARY 3, Gate of Heaven Church, 606 East 4th St., South Boston,  MA  02127  6-9:30 pm
 
MARCH 30,  St. Louis Church,   26 East Main St.,   Fort Kent,  ME  04743     6 - 9:30 pm
contact:  Fr. Paul LaBree 207-834- 5656

Note: The above schedule was all that was available at the time we took this to print. To check for updates, go to www.medjugorje.org/ivanse.htm
 

Bits and “Peaces”

We are very grateful to all who sent donations for the Medjugorje Center in Uganda. Stephen and his group asked for the names of those who donated so they could pray for them at the Queen of Peace Shrine in Uganda. One lady who gave a donation said, “This is only a crumb, but if everyone gives a crumb it will make a whole loaf of bread!”  How right she is!  If all of our US subscribers sent just one dollar they would be able to finance what they need to send the messages to all of Uganda!

We continue to hear of the many blessings from the Medjugorje prayer cloths we have been distributing. If you would like to borrow an original cloth from Medjugorje and make more, send us a self-addressed stamped envelope with $.39 postage. Please include your phone number and let us know if you need the instructions. If you want one we made to keep, send a self-addressed stamped envelope with $.52 postage on it. If you know of anyone in the military who would like a cloth and would treat it with reverence, please send us his/her name and address and we will mail one. Any overseas subscribers who would like a prayer cloth should contact us and we will mail you one.

Thank you to Diana Stillwell, Dean Rose, and Connie Sanfilippo for their photographs in this issue.