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(c)Mary TV / Anthony Zubac 2018
Pilgrims pray during the Evening Program at St. James Church
February 20, 2019
Dear Family of Mary!
January 25, 2019 "Dear
children! Today, as a mother, I am calling you to conversion. This time
is for you, little children, a time of silence and prayer..."
Here is a teaching that Fr. Slavko Barbaric gave in 1986 about prayer. It is wonderful, and so practical, just like Fr. Slavko!
"Without prayer, dear children, you will be unable to experience either God, me or the graces I am giving you."
Marija and Jakov have left for their
spiritual exercises. The simple fact that the visionaries have to make
their spiritual exercises and pray is significant for us. It should be a
message for us all. I have been with the pilgrims for nearly five years
and I well know that many people have thought that the visionaries are
already saints and that they already possess everything because they see
Our Lady. But I must tell you that if the visionaries do not pray, fast
or regularly go to confession, their faith and their peace will not
grow only by reason of the apparitions. It would be too easy.
If a visionary does not pray or fast he or she could become just like
the telephone. Our Lady telephones to us what we should do through the
visionaries, and that would be the end - everything would remain really
dry within.
Why? Because God leaves us free, because He
wants us to grow, each one according to their personal gifts. Even if
you were to be all the time with a visionary, if you did not pray, you
would not receive graces.
As a small
consolation for you all, if you have not yet seen any of the visionaries
but find the Rosary in your pocket and start praying, you will already
be on the right path.
I will read to you last Thursday's message:
"Dear children, today I invite you all to prayer. Without prayer, dear
children, you will be unable to experience either God, me or the graces I
am giving you. I am therefore inviting you to begin and end your day
always with prayer. Dear children, I wish to guide you as much as
possible, day after day, to pray, but you are unable to grow spiritually
as you do not wish to. I invite you, dear children, to make prayer your
first priority."
Let us be sincere;
what was the response in your heart when you heard Our Lady's words, "I
therefore invite you to pray both at the beginning and the end of your
day", that is to say, starting and ending your day with prayer? If Our
Lady had said, "Please wash your face or have breakfast every day, drink
a little coffee in order not to go to work on an empty stomach." I am
sure you would have said, "Of course, one would die if one did not do
so, or one would not be able to work."
But if Our Lady says, "Pray", what is your reply? "I cannot because I am always in a hurry in the morning, I have not time."
Something else. What would parents do if Our
Lady said, "Pray." Would they wake their children in the morning in
order to pray? Normally, because they usually watch television until
late it is impossible next morning to enter into the spirit of prayer.
If Our Lord tells us through Our Lady, to behave in this way, but
during the day we are not at peace and live in conflict, I assure you
that it is only the result of your own choice.
Our Lord invites us through Our Lady to pray every morning and we say,
"Sorry, I cannot'. What will be the consequences? A void in our soul and
in our heart.
Before the fifth
anniversary of the first apparition Our Lady invited us all to pray
continuously. It is now for five years that she has been appearing and
hoping that at least some of us may walk during the whole day, not just
take a few steps forward.
She invites us to continuous prayer, not just to move our lips. Our Lady is thinking of something else.
I will explain. When Our Lady invites us to pray continuously, to pray
with the heart, she invites us to be in touch with God. I dare say that
in order to pray continuously it is not enough just to love God, but one
must be in love with God. When one is in love with somebody, this
person is ever present in one's thoughts, in one's heart and in one's
feeling, even when at work.
It is only in this way that we can explain continuous prayer. It is not enough just to love, one must be in love!
If someone says, how can I? I ask you and also myself, when was the
last time we prayed for the grace of prayer with the heart, or for
continuous prayer, or for the grace of being always able to accept the
love of Our Lord and Our Lady?
This
message is then very clear. Our Lady is asking us to give first place to
prayer in our priorities. Without prayer we can experience neither God
nor Our Lady. This is quite normal; if we are not in touch with Our
Lord, if we do not pray, if we do not open our hearts to Our Lord, how
can we hear Him?
Here is something very
important and practical. Our Lady says, "I want to guide you day by day
as much as possible to prayer, but you cannot spiritually grow, because
you're not willing to." We can wish it, "yes, I would like to..." as the
lazy student says, "I would like to complete my studies," but when you
tell him to study, he replies, "I cannot". What a useless wish!
It is not enough to say I would like to pray with my heart. It is necessary to try.
Our Lady shows us here a maternal teaching which is practical. Read the
messages. She never recommended a book from which to learn to pray, but
how many times she told us to pray, to meditate on the Rosary, to go to
confession, to be reconciled, and so on.
So Our Lady is like the mother who takes her child by the hand and
tries a new step every day until it can walk. No mother has ever first
given her child a book so that it can understand which muscles to use in
order to walk; she takes him by the hand and begins in a practical way.
And so, Our Lad also does the same. So,
let us kneel down and pray individually, in our families, in
communities, in our prayer groups, and then all else will be given to
us. If we then still dare to find excuses for being unable to pray, this
means that Our Lady's words are still incapable of moving us, but one
day they will.
It is important to fast.
Jesus, said, "Blessed are the poor in heart, for theirs is the Kingdom
of Heaven." This is true, but we are not poor in heart and in our
practical neglect of God we say, "Lord, I do not need you."
The words, 'Poor in heart' may be translated as, blessed are those who
have a need for prayer, who need God. By fasting, little by little we
overcome our neglect of God and we are able to experience to a greater
extent our true selves and our need for God.
This then seems to me to be the summary of Our Lady's school and of her
teaching. In the light of the messages Our Lady shows us her behavior
and tries to enter into our lives, our families, in the whole Church and
in the whole world. The greatest grace when you come to Medjugorje is
this - God gives us a stimulus for prayer. This is the experience of a
great number of people; when one comes here one is able to pray, one
continues to pray, and prayer can grow. Make up your minds to pray, meet
together every week, meditate on the Rosary, read the Bible and let God
speak to you in silence - this then is your prayer group. It is very
easy.
(Fr. Slavko Barbaric - 9th July 1986 - from "I beseech you, listen to my messages and live them." 1986)
Classic! This is Our Lady's priest caring for her little ones!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2019
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