Fr. Svet!
J.M.J.
January 11, 2013
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! In this time of grace, when nature also prepares to give the most beautiful colors of the year, I call you, little children, to open your hearts to God the Creator for Him to transform and mold you in His image, so that all the good which has fallen asleep in your hearts may awaken to a new life and a longing towards eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call." (February 25, 2010)
We continue with Fr. Svet's talk to pilgrims in Medjugorje, given in December 2012. He speaks about pilgrimage, how it is prayer, and how it helps us to become the image of God, exactly what Our Lady speaks about in the above message. God wants us to be molded into His image, somehow to become more and more like Him, so that others will be drawn to Him through us:
What do we accomplish in pilgrimage? Why do we go on pilgrimage? The central message of Our Lady in Medjugorje is prayer. So definitely in pilgrimage we learn to pray. Interesting. In pilgrimage we learn to pray. And I said earlier, everything that is included in your pilgrimage is already prayer. Everything that has happened since the very first moment when you had the first thought that you may go to Medjugorje, everything since than that happened in relation to this is prayer. So pilgrimage is prayer itself.
And basically prayer that relates directly to the biblical type of prayer or even more to the way of life of Our Lady and to the way of life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. See when the angel comes to Mary announcing to Her the birth (of Christ) - and Her mission - the Word becomes flesh. That is interesting. The Word becomes flesh. And prayer is always about the Word of God becoming flesh, about us becoming the witnesses for God in this world. And how is this transformation to be? When we become something of the image of God in this world. Prayer is to lead us in this way or it is not prayer. So... Our Lord would like to create the world in His image. That is what our prayer is about and that is the will of God, that is everything that God wants.
So we have our Lord, the Word becoming flesh and the Child is born, and you have this Child that is a normal child, part of the human family, and you see these biblical events, around the life of Our Lady and Joseph which truly make sure every moment to present to us this human story of Christ, the human story of Mary and the human story of Joseph. We see them in normal life. They go to Jerusalem and they just go about life in a way that a normal family should. So... that is Bible. Describing the life, the normal life of Our Lady, of Joseph and Jesus, and all those who came in touch [with them].
So our prayer is our effort that our own life becomes biblical. That my life story becomes a little bit similar to the life story of Mary. And what does it take so that my life story could become Joseph's story? [My life becomes] in the image of God. That means, you and I becoming a pilgrim. So that someone who is your neighbor sees you in this journey. Your neighbor suddenly sees you preparing. Your family sees you: you're about to go somewhere. Where do you go? You even don't know exactly. You don't need to know. But you're going somewhere. And that somewhere is about God, for His sake, for your love of Him, for your desire of Him.
So immediately when this desire for God takes place in your life - that's prayer. You desire Him so much. [Just like] Our Lady does, so every year She goes to Jerusalem, to be there, with His family - Her family. So you desire Our Lord so much, you're curious, you don't know... you're not in control at all, but definitely you desire. You even can't explain: why do you desire it so much? Even if your husband or if your wife or if your neighbor, your child or someone at work comes to ask you: why do you go? You can't explain! But your desire to go - it's there. It's there. There is a seed in your heart, and you are responding. There is something bugging you there, "I want to go". And then actually you see yourself in preparation. You're organizing your work, workplace, you're organizing your family, your friends, all this is somehow in motion and touched, because there is something going on. And you let them know, and that is becoming... you are becoming biblical. There is this biblical event taking place, happening in your own life, for the whole world to see. (Fr Svetozar Kraljevich talks to American pilgrims in Medjugorje, December 2012 : http://www.marytv.tv/MaryTV/fruit-of-medjugorje-archive/409-fm043-12-13-12 )
Becoming biblical! This is how we show the image of God. We live lives that look a lot like the lives in the Bible. We desire God like the Psalmists, we follow God like Abraham and Moses, and we serve God like Peter or Mary Magdalene. We trust God and say yes, like Mary. We listen to God and accept His call like Joseph. We travel in order to meet God, and find ourselves in His presence far from home, like the Holy Family did in Bethlehem.
May our lives become biblical! May we desire only God, and seek Him diligently! Through prayer may we be transformed into the image of God. May 2013 be the year the Word of God becomes flesh in us!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013
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