(11/24/13)
(c)Mary TV 2013
J.M.J.
November 25, 2013
"Dear children! Today when Heaven is near to you in a special way, I call you to prayer so that through prayer you place God in the first place. Little children, today I am near you and I bless each of you with my motherly blessing so that you have the strength and love for all the people you meet in your earthly life and that you can give God's love. I rejoice with you and I desire to tell you that your brother Slavko has been born into Heaven and intercedes for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (November 25, 2000)
Yesterday
was the 13th anniversary of the death of Fr. Slavko Barbaric, OFM .
Though Fr. Slavko has been "born into Heaven" he remains very much with
us in Medjugorje. His priestly influence, wisdom, teaching and guidance
are still keenly felt there. Yesterday,
the parish climbed Krizevac, in honor of Fr. Slavko. (Fr. Slavko
climbed the mountain almost every day, early in the morning, to pray and
do penance.) I am including a few pictures of Fr. Merinko leading the
parishioners in prayer, especially at the spot where Fr. Slavko died. It
is a holy spot, solemn and revered. We can all ask Fr. Slavko to
intercede for us. We need his help!
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I want to include
today a homily that Fr. Slavko gave on December 8, 1984 in Medjugorje.
It is a bit long and rambles a bit too, but it contains the essentials
of Fr. Slavko's teaching about Our Lady of Medjugorje, and is so
beautiful. We can receive his words today, as if they were freshly
given; they are so true and deep. This homily is from the "Gray Book -
Open Your Hearts to Mary Queen of Peace." which is out of print.
"I am your Mother, my beloved ones, and I have come to teach you to love"
[I am your mother...]
Every Thursday, Our Lady gives messages for the Parish and for all the pilgrims. Last Thursday, she said: "I
beg you, during this period to renew prayer in your families. In the
name of Our Lord I have given you many messages, but you have not
followed them. If you listen, if you follow my messages, this Christmas
will be unforgettable for you. If you do not follow them, do not allow
this day of joy to become the saddest day for me!" After every message Our Lady says "Thank you for answering my call."
What does this message mean? You can understand it by these happenings
at Medjugorje during the last forty-one months: Mary has decided to
enter into every family and wants to be accepted as Mother. She says in a
message: "If you have not listened to my messages, the day of joy will become the saddest day for me."
In what sense does she say this? Like a Mother she wants to gather us
together in peace and love. If a son or daughter is missing from home a
mother will be sad. We must understand the message in this sense. Each
of us is in a way responsible for whether Christmas will be a day of joy
or not. Our Lady, like a Mother, has entered into our life and
families, into our Church. On 8th May, Our Lady asked all of us to be consecrated to Our Lord [through her]. This means; "I accept you as my Mother and let you enter my heart, my family, my community or where I live."
[Love...]
At the start of this time of Advent Our Lady said: "Dear
children, you do not yet know how to love and you do not know how to
listen to the messages with love, the words I give you: I am your
Mother, my beloved ones, and I have come to teach you to love, to listen
with love, to pray with love but not just because you have difficulties
or crosses. You glorify Our Lord with each of your crosses."
A new
liturgical year is beginning and we see that Our Lady, as Mother and
teacher, tells us: look, our program for this year is as follows: "I am your Mother and I have come on earth to teach you to love."
There is one question which is valid for all of us here in this church
or in the world: who of us can say they have finished this school of
love and know everything? None of us can say this, I believe. Love is
something dynamic and we cannot say today that we loved yesterday and that is sufficient, this is like saying that we breathed yesterday:
we much breathe today as well. It is a hard school that lasts all our
life long. If Our Lady has so much patience with us, our hardness and
the hardness of our heart, then I believe that we are held to follow
her. Our Lady is not coming to us because she has nothing else to do in
heaven: she loves us all as Our Mother and in many messages has told us:
"I am your Mother, and I am the Mother of everyone; I love you all."
[Prayer...]
In a message in November, she said: "Dear
children you are a chosen people and Our Lord is giving you many
graces. But you have not yet understood: I have nothing else to tell you
but this: pray, pray, pray. By prayer you will understand my love for
you and the love of Our Lord."
Our
Lady behaves like a mother who has prepared a large table with much to
eat and drink but now sees her children in the corners of the home
complaining: we are hungry, thirsty, in trouble, have no peace.... The
mother tells them to come, look, everything is ready, to come and be
seated together and eat so there will be no more hunger and thirst...but
peace for all. So, everything is ready, Our Lord has given everything.
If we wait, then it is partly our fault. Let us open our hearts!
In another message in November, Our Lady said: "You
do not yet understand the significance of the messages I have given
you, which Our Lord has given through me. Pray to the Holy Spirit that
he may illuminate you that you may understand." So pray to the Holy Spirit. You will remember other messages about the Holy Spirit: once Our Lady said: "You ask for many things; ask first of all for the Holy Spirit and if He comes, everything else will be given to you."
[Bible...]
On 18th October, Our Lady asked everyone: "Today
I ask you, dear children, to read the Bible. Put it in a prominent
place in your homes so that it may be a stimulus to you to read it and
to pray." This was said on the Feast of Saint Luke the
Evangelist, who has written much about Our Lady that only she could have
told him: her dialogue with the Angel and her prayer, the Magnificat.
[The Rosary...]
It is
very important for us to know that Our Lady asks us for the entire
rosary every day (the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries). Without
knowing the Bible, we are not able to contemplate and meditate well.
Our Lady asks us for these mysteries, not just to make us recite one
hundred and fifty Hail Mary's each day and then to say we have finished!
This is not the sense of the rosary. In a message she said: "Pray with your hearts."
This means that, by contemplating the mysteries of Our Lady's life and
those of her son, Jesus, we come closer to our Redemption. For example
if we say "let us contemplate the second joyful mystery" we meditate on
how Our Lady visited her cousin, Elizabeth. This does not mean just
knowing that Mary visited Elizabeth, but Our Lady wants us to use her
example to find a real stimulus for ourselves during contemplation: who
is waiting for us today, who is waiting for our help, our time, our
words, our consolation? We have contemplated well if we act according to
our prayer, so prayer continues.
Reciting
the rosary with our heart means for each mystery, searching and finding
real stimulation for our daily lives. If you cannot forgive someone or
find it difficult, why not meditate the fifth sorrowful mystery; Jesus
forgives everyone. If we contemplate this mystery with our heart, we
will find grace and be able to forgive and make peace; our conversion
has begun when the Word makes us act.
Jesus once
said: My Word is like a sword, it will never leave you in peace while
you are in sin, while you hate or are unable to forgive. The Word will
not leave you until it has brought forth fruit. This is what it means
for all of us to begin with, so take your time and your prayer will
grow. Prayer comes by praying not by theory about prayer. Prayer comes
by praying as an appetite comes by eating. To say that we do not know
how to pray does not mean that we should not begin: it is but an excuse.
We must find time, take up the Bible and the rosary. Start and you will
see! (Father Slavko Barbaric - Medjugorje, 8th December, 1984)
Fr. Slavko, please pray for
us to move into Advent of 2013 with renewed devotion to our Mother, the
Queen of Peace. Pray that we will put into actions all she has taught
us. Thank you for your example and your priestly ministry! Fr. Slavko,
pray for us!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013
PS. Fruit of Medjugorje!!! Tonight!
PPS. I will send out the November 25 message as soon as I receive it!
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
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