In Medjugorje, the Cross of Mt. Krizevac, or Cross Mountain, towers over the village. It can be seen from miles away. And at every hour of the day and night, pilgrims climb the mountain that leads far away from the noise and chaos of the world and their own lives. Here, at daybreak, a lone man kneels before the Cross with his heart open to receive the healing grace of which the Cross of Christ is the source. It’s a struggle to climb the mountain—one must make a firm decision to do so, because it is a struggle to make it up the steep rocky path, often in very cold or very hot weather. But the effort, when offered in sorrow for one’s sins, leads to “hope and peace” and restoration.
The mountain range that overlooks the Field of Apparitions at Caritas was named decades ago a name that is full of meaning for the Caritas Community—Penitentiary Mountain. It is a steep, rocky climb, different from Medjugorje, but as challenging. Recently, the community climbed this mountain as a sacrificial offering to God for graces for all those who will come during the apparitions of Our Lady at Caritas, July 1-5, 2013. Our Lady said on July 2, 2007, “…Follow my Son and give me your hand so that, together, we may climb the mountain and win…”
After a brief rest, the community continued the climb that brought them to the peak of the mountain. A Friend of Medjugorje wrote in August 2007:
“The deterioration of the world’s society everywhere upon the earth, the destruction and attacks upon everything good, the monumental battles growing everyday in our midst, should cause a heightening in our comprehension of Our Lady’s words, “…Reject your arrogance…” Our Lady is urgently encouraging us to be victorious; climb the mountain and win. We must realize that in the military, a soldier’s mission is explicitly clear. “It is to impose one’s will on the enemy.” When Our Lady disclosed on August 2, 1981, that “a great struggle was about to unfold,” no one could have understood what would unfold, the struggle of darkness over the world, which would be so powerful, so unstoppable in being able “to impose its will” on us. The power of evil, our enemy, has not only not been tamed or checked by us, but has defeated us on every level of our society. On August 2, 1981, Our Lady foretold of a showdown coming, a decisive moment where the disclosure of power against us would require a test of our will, based in God’s Will, to be able to prevail over the will of the world. We have arrived at the point of what Our Lady said is about to unfold, and we see it now unfolding. It is in our midst. Christians are startled at how powerful the forces against us are, and how this darkness achieves victory after victory. We can’t seem to “climb the mountain and win.” Moreover, one of the startling revelations in this test is how weak we really are in opposing evil. Evil is becoming rooted into our laws and regulations, oppressing us—laws which used to be based on Christian principles which allowed freedom for us.”
From “The Declaration by Our Lady of a Showdown—August 2, 1981; Are You an Appeaser?
By A Friend of Medjugorje
A Friend of Medjugorje writing the above in August 2007, six years ago, makes it all the more startling to see how much further advanced evil has penetrated into our society in just these past five years. Untiringly, Our Lady gives us the solution to all our problems—prayer, fasting, and the Cross of Jesus.
At the top of Penitentiary Mountain, there is a perfect view of the Field of Apparitions, the lone Pine Tree in the center, under which Our Lady has appeared 33 times (the number of apparitions in the Bedroom is 134), and will appear again this July when we re-consecrate the United States to the Heart of Our Lady. The number of apparitions being 33 is significant and a sign for all of us for July. Medjugorje visionary Marija is coming to pray with us for the healing of our nation, July 1-5. In April, 1990, Fr. Jozo said:
“The problem of the change of Communism is very important. The change of Communism comes as a grace of God. It has nothing to do with politics or diplomacy. All your policies, whichever country you come from, are the same. Even if you call yourself a Christian party or country, it is all the same. Even if you call yourself a Christian Democracy, there is no system which really desires Jesus! All your political regimes are against man, because they never actually place Jesus in the center of everything. What do the political systems want? They never want the real Jesus. No political system wants you to know Jesus and love Him more than anything. If you put culture above Jesus, you won’t make it, you know not Jesus.”
A Friend of Medjugorje said the following:“Our Lady has come to create a great movement, strong enough to resist the will of evil to impose its will upon us. This organization of people, with new mentalities, cannot prevail but by sweat and hard work. That means prayer, fasting, and changing the way one lives to resist the path of society. That also means you will receive great persecutions and struggles but these will aid you in ridding yourself of the arrogant mentality that we can change things through man rather than through God. Everything depends upon you as an individual, collaborating with God, to win this great struggle.”
From “The Declaration by Our Lady of a Showdown—August 2, 1981; Are You an Appeaser?
By A Friend of Medjugorje
On top of the mountain, the community prayed the Rosary while looking down at Our Lady’s valley. Through prayer and fasting, through accepting and living the messages, through sincerely repenting for our sins, through remembering our redemption came through the Cross of Christ we become “light-bearers and carriers of hope” in the darkness that wants to surround us. But the darkness cannot overcome the light of even a single small candle.
In the Caritas Community, we often “keep vigil” in the wee hours of the night, not only praying, but working to keep Our Lady’s words moving out into the darkness, so that hearts will be drawn to the Light of Her Son. “…My children, keep vigil. I, as a mother, am keeping vigil with you…by His Cross, my Son will cast away the darkness that wants to surround you and come to rule over you. He will give you the strength for a new life…”
Three year old Victoria Maria, climbed the mountain on her own, without complaint. She followed the witness of the adults who also climbed without complaint, but rather with joy and laughter. Victoria Maria is learning, at her young age, that the “way of the Cross” leads to joy. Her name means “victory” and “Mary”—“victory of Our Lady”. May we all “climb the mountain and win” that name for ourselves so that…
“…Living (life) according to my Son, you will be a blessing and a hope to all those sinners who wander in the darkness of sin…” March 2, 2013
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