June 25^th will mark the 29^th anniversary of Medjugorje. We thank Our Lady for being with us so long.

The above “jeweled painting” was done by Irena Jakus. Irena passed away within the past year. Please pray for the repose of her soul.

A Gift from the Lord

By Fr. Jozo

   One lovely day in the history of Israel, the figure of Goliath came forth. He was a strong man, proud and invincible. Although Israel was incapable of imagining how it might defeat such a strong warrior, the Lord knew how to do it. He chose a young boy, a shepherd named David. The Lord told him to gather five stones in the river and face the giant, trusting only in God’s help, David went forth; he defeated and killed Goliath.

   Our Lady has chosen you, like David; you who are small, just as you are. She has suggested that you put five stones into your sack, in order to overcome the atheism that surrounds us, that paganistic mentality that is being disseminated and seems invincible. Neither the Church, nor we, are capable of conquering materialism on our own. Our Lady has appeared in Medjugorje to declare that this is possible. Here are her five stones: Prayer, Fasting, the Mass, the Bible and Confession. With these simple weapons we overcome the world.

   Our Lady insists upon prayer. She wept when She appeared upon Krizevac, because Christians no longer pray. Her tears are a medication for you; they fall upon your heart made of stone in order to transform it. Our Lady tells us that to pray means to live as the Church lives. The gifts, the five stones, have not been given to us as a gratuitous perfection, but in order to develop our spiritual potentialities, to cause the growth of the seeds, which will sprout forth if they fall upon fertile soil. Let us take the gift of faith: it is developed if a family prays together, if we learn to live with the Lord. He who prays knows how to love; he who loves knows how to pray. Many families no longer live love because they no longer are united in prayer. This month the leaves have fallen from the trees. Next Spring we will see nature transform and renew itself once again. He who prays transforms quickly. What is the significance of prayer? Let us recall St Augustine’s words, “Man lives if he breathes; prayer is the breath for the Christian.” The Christian who stops praying, dies. Prayer is the first weapon in your knapsack. You must begin praying now so that you may be transformed and raise yourself up and others as well. Priests, parents, everyone, must pray. Prayer is a gift and a principal weapon given to the Church. The Church is neither an idea nor a political party; it is a family that prays, a family that loves. This is the reason Our Lady insists that prayer is needed in order to transform the world.

   The second gift, another stone in your sack, is fasting: from cigarettes, from television, from an evil thought, from a negative project, and from food. Fasting demonstrates your individual capacity to love, and affirms that you are important for everyone. Fasting is medicine and a sacrifice. With fasting, egoism is defeated. He who knows how to fast is capable of hearing his neighbor, of being available for others, and of understanding how to love the entire world. He who fasts sees himself and others truthfully, and is aware of how to cleanse his inner self. Our weakness is nothing if we possess the ability to love. Even our own physical sufferings, if offered to the Lord, are a gift.

   The Mass is the third stone. In May[1988], Our Lady admonished us, “You do not know how to live the Mass.” The Mass is not simply a rite; it is a mystery and a gift of the Lord. It is a sacrament which cannot be comprehended without humility. We are unable to celebrate the Mass without a humble heart, which casts aside the garment of pride. The white garment of the priest is a symbol of humility and of liberation from sin. In the Mass, the Incarnation occurs, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine. This is also a sign of our transformation: from death we are brought to life. The Mass transforms the Christian, transforms the Church, because, with the Mass, Jesus is offered completely to the Church. The Mass is the origin of the Church, the Mystical Body. The Mass-Sacrifice renders the Church a holy family. In the Mass, one is born again, if one’s own life is placed upon the altar as a sacrifice, in the manner of Jesus. We are the drop of water poured into the wine; the Church is united with the Blood of Jesus. Therefore you must not only listen to the Holy Mass, but live it. Without the Mass, the Church does not exist; without it, the Church is an orphan.

   The Bible, which illuminates the path in the dense fog of ideologies, is the fourth stone for the Christian of today. I am sure you know where the salt is, where the flour is, and where to find the sugar in the kitchen. But where is the Bible in your home? When do you read the Bible with your family? The Bible is not one of many books; it is the Christian’s flag. Deprived of the Bible, the Christian is no longer the same person. The Bible is born from the heart of the Lord; it is His Word. Therefore it must remain in first place within the family. It must be set in a place of honor, and that place must be sacred for us. It must be the source of our prayer. The Bible illuminates the Christian’s walk amid doubt and conflicting ideologies today.

   Confession is the fifth stone. Our Lady requests monthly confession of us. I have been informed that in Italy and Switzerland, at many churches, the people rarely confess. This displeases me. The Italians, I state with certainty, are prepared to renew the Church, but they must not neglect Confession. The purpose of Confession is not to recount one’s actions; it is not a psycho-analytical session. It is a sacrament and a source of peace with oneself in the meeting with the Lord. In Confession, I obtain the peace of the Lord, so that I may transmit it to others. A proud person does not know how to confess; humility leads to confession and conversion. To confess well, we must prepare ourselves with fasting and prayer. The proper attitude is that of opening ourselves up before the Lord: “I have brought you my heart. Transform it for me, and give it back to me renewed.” This is what occurs in Confession, which is both a sacrament and a mystery.      

   These are the five stones we must place in our sack as we return home from Medjugorje. Our Lady heals us here. Prayer, Fasting, the Mass, the Bible, and Confession are the true medicines that restore us to health once again, the way through the Red Sea, leading us to the shore where we find peace

St. Felix of Cantalice and Fasting

By Carolanne Kilichowski

   While preparing for a reflection on the life of St. Felix of Cantalice, for his feast day, May 18, I discovered some wonderful facts that I wish to share.  He was a man who loved the Lord with all his heart and wanted very much to please Him! When he was a little boy, he learned that the Fathers of the Desert did not eat meat or bread, as a sacrifice for God.  He swore to do the same, once he was older and able to fast.

   One day, as he was plowing the fields, the young oxen pulling him went out of control, and Felix found himself under the plow, with not even a scratch! He took this as a sign from God that he was saved for a great purpose. He even heard the voice of an angel at one point, telling him to serve God. He joined the Capuchins, and they designated him a questor -a beggar to go about Rome to obtain food for the friars as well as the poor of Rome. 

   Felix found himself in kitchens with fresh baked breads, with aromas that would tempt the best of natures. He was given the best fresh baked bread along with sausages and meats that had strong aromas, to carry in his large sack to take to the monastery. As an old man, he used to joke about his twist of fate, “I never wanted to touch bread again, but the Lord sent me into every bake shop in Rome, and I have done nothing else but lug bread on my shoulders.”

   I could not help think of Medjugorje and the message of fasting on bread and water. How many of us face a problem on a Friday or Wednesday with Our Lady’s request to fast?  Felix had other ways to sacrifice that God was calling him to. Just the fact that he had to go about begging was a big penance in itself!  

   When you are having a problem on fast days, ask St. Felix to help you. He knows how difficult fasting can be, and he will help you to obtain the grace to get through the tough times.  I invite you to discover more on his wonderful life. 

  Lost Love

By Virginia Hogue

  “What do I do now that I have begun a new chapter in my life, since my sons have left the nest?  There must be more to life than existing,” I thought.  I began to remember my once great love, and how I didn’t have time all those years for anything except children and work.  I knew I had to find my love again. Yet, after many years of searching, my love was still missing. The church I attend has Perpetual Adoration, so I made a decision to pray one hour Adoration for nine days … a novena.

   I noticed a change in my attitude after completion of the novena.  I began to think that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  During Mass that morning, I decided to continue to pray an hour of Adoration daily.

   After Mass I followed the priest to his office to ask him to hear my confession.  As the result of many hours of holy prayer and a good confession, I was swimming in God’s graces.  When I left the priest’s office that day, I went to a Catholic book store, looking for a book on saints.  While browsing through the store, a book about Medjugorje caught my eye -- the story of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother.  I purchased it, and then went home to read it.  I was fascinated by the accounts of the Blessed Mother’s visits to the children.  I couldn’t put the book down.  It was around 3:00 AM when I finished reading the story of Medjugorje.

   Then the Holy Spirit came over me.  I began to feel the overpowering change in my soul.  The Holy Spirit let it be known to me, in my heart, that I was to organize a prayer group in my parish, and I was to make a pilgrimage to Medjugorje.  Within a year I completed both of the Holy Spirit’s requests.

   When I would attend church, after my experience with Adoration and the Holy Spirit, people would say to me, “You are glowing -­­- what’s your secret?”  I knew I was glowing -- I could feel it from my soul.   I would reply, “At last I have found my lost love, my God”.

Confession in a Coma

By Sister Emmanuel

    Here is one of many incredible stories that Fr. Tim Deeter shared with me from when he was in the States:
   "Every day I would go and visit the Catholic patients in the hospital behind my parish, and there was one woman who was always on the list, because she was in a coma. Well, one day I had this huge list of patients, and I looked at it and I said, 'Oh, I've got to cut a couple of these people out. Maybe the woman in the coma, she doesn't need to see me. She can't talk to me anyhow, and so I'll just cut her off the list.' But as I went around and visited everybody I felt guilty, and
thought I'd better go and see her. So I went and sat by her bed and went through the whole routine, 'It's Fr. Tim. It's Tuesday.' And at the end I sat there and I said to myself, 'This is really stupid. She can't respond to me, I'm wasting my time. I'm not going to come anymore. I'm going to cross her off my list.'
   "And all of a sudden a thought came to me which was not my own: 'This woman needs absolution from her sins.' And I thought to myself, 'You're right. This woman hasn't been able to go to Confession; she's in a coma.' And so I leaned forward again, and I said to her, 'Any sin that you've committed, that you've not had forgiven, present it now to the
Lord in your mind. Give your sins to the Lord, and then I'll say an Act of Contrition with you.' And so I waited, then I said the Act of Contrition, then I gave her absolution. I sat back in my chair, and the woman sat up immediately from her bed. She didn't look at me, she looked right past me at the Cross that was on the wall. She held out her arms wide, and with a beautiful smile on her face she said, 'Jesus!' and fell back and died. I whipped around to see if Jesus was there, and He was, but not for me to see. He had come for her, at my command, through the sacrament of Penance, and the woman went with Him in great joy!
   "So these sacraments are important things. If God is calling you to the sacraments, don't put them off for other things, because you might not be alive the next day!"

                                                                 Children of Medjugorje, www.childrenofmedjugorje.com,  April 15, 2000 report

God’s Love Letters to the Dying

By June Klins

    A lady once told me that her daughter, a speech therapist who works with the elderly, related that, while working with a man who was barely responsive one day, she spotted a Bible in his room. She asked him if he would like her to read from the Bible, and he nodded yes. So she did. Later, the nurses all questioned her, "What did you do to Mr. so-and-so? He has really perked up!" So the therapist decided to do this with other patients. When another man she read to perked up, she found out that, years ago, he was an evangelist, and what she read to him was his favorite verse from Scripture! She has passed this on to other therapists.

   It is a little known fact that Pope John Paul II, on his deathbed, asked that he Bible be read aloud to him – specifically, Psalm 119, the longest of the psalms,  

Medjugorje