Mary TV: October 23, 2019 Reflection - Marijana shares her story! Part 2!

Jelena Vasilj Valente and Marijana Vasilj Juracic

Inner Locutionists in Medjugorje beginning in 1983

October 23, 2019

St. John of Capistrano

Dear Family of Mary!   

Wednesday, November 23, 1983

To Jelena:

"Oh my sweet children, pray! I ask you only to pray. You yourselves can see that only prayer can save."

Today we have Part 2 of Marijana Vasilj Juracic's sharing about her experience with Our Lady of Medjugorje. She continues to share all that she learned from Our Lady through the inner locutions she received in the 80's. It is amazing how clearly Marijana remembers everything about that time. Our Lady taught Marijana so much about prayer, things we all need to know:

MaryTV
More from Medjugorje
Marijana Vasilj Juracic
October 17, 2019
Part 2

When Our Lady speaks about prayer, most of all she speaks about Prayer with the Heart. We all wondered, and I believe that you wonder, too: what does Prayer with the Heart mean? And Our Lady gave a simple answer. She said, "Prayer with the Heart cannot be explained. Prayer with the Heart can only be lived."

 

And this means that it depends on each one of us personally how we live our personal prayer. How much time we spend praying in a day - do we give any time to God throughout our day? And Our Lady says in order to Pray with the Heart, prayer needs to be in the first place. Every day needs to start and finish with prayer.

 

Our Lady told us that in the beginning of the day we should be praying to God, offering Him our day, asking Him to give us a blessing in this day, to guide us and to lead us. And at the end of the day, we should always be saying the prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving to God.

 

In our prayer group, in a specific way, Our Lady invited us to say spontaneous prayers from our heart. Because, she said these prayers are the easiest way to have our hearts opened. Our Lady told us that prayer is not just repeating the words, that prayer should be encounter with God. Talking to Him. And with our spontaneous prayers, what we can do, is that we can open our hearts, as it were in conversation with God, and in that way, our heart would be open to others around us. Our Lady was asking of our prayer group that our prayer meeting starts and finishes with spontaneous prayer.

 

And she also told us, never forget, dear children, the prayer of thanking God. Because the prayer of gratitude, the thanksgiving to God, is going to bring so much more joy and peace in our hearts. Our Lady says, you need to be aware that your life is a gift of God. Only for that reason you should be unceasingly thanking God.

 

Apart from spontaneous prayers, Our Lady asked of us: to say the Rosary, to say 7 Our Fathers, Hail Mary's, and Glory Be's, to read the Holy Scripture, to meditate, to say the Rosary of Jesus, and also Conversation -- talking about messages and meditating on the messages Our Lady gave to our prayer group. And then, what would follow, would be an exchange of the experiences of each of us who were members of the prayer group.

Our Lady said that the most important prayer that should always be at the first place in our lives is Holy Mass. And she invited us to go to Holy Mass every day, if possible.

 

Our Lady also invited the whole parish to go every day to Holy Mass in the beginning of the apparitions. And that is how the evening prayer program started here in the church of St. James. And the Holy Mass in the evening is in gratitude for Our Lady's presence for all these years.

 

For us who are members of the prayer group, these four years that we spent with Our Lady in her school as she led our prayer group, was like a school of prayer. It wasn't a school of prayer that lasted for four years. It is a school of prayer for our entire life. Most of all Our Lady was teaching us how to live our faith. And Our Lady says without prayer, your faith will not be alive. That is why she always invited us to prayer in her messages.

 

And what Our Lady was asking of us, is for the personal witness. That what we experienced, we may witness in our lives. It wasn't enough just to do that with words, but we needed to witness that by life. Our Lady was asking of us first, to be an example; example to our families, to our children, to our spouses, and then to all other people.  

 

And, thanks be to God, that in the beginning, when Our Lady invited us, she invited also all other people to join us, and many people have joined and started prayer groups themselves. In a certain message that Our Lady would give us, Our Lady specifically mentioned all pilgrims. She would thank all pilgrims who were coming to Medjugorje. Because it was here in Medjugorje, that everyone who comes is invited to a change of life. So, Our Lady first wanted us to change our lives. So then, you who are coming here, would be able to be changed too.

 

Our Lady also said (this is very important to know) that none of you who came to Medjugorje, came here accidentally. Each one of you have received a special invitation from God to be here. And the most important is to be able to understand this invitation of God. Why is God calling me? What does God want from me? And our answer and response, we can find that only in our everyday personal prayer.

 

When it comes to prayer, realize that it is not something that you will do only for a few days while you are in Medjugorje. You need to continue prayer when you go back home. Our Lady said in one of the messages, for every pilgrim, it is important not to finish the pilgrimage on the last day of the pilgrimage here in Medjugorje, but that the pilgrimage actually continues when you go back home. And your pilgrimage can continue, if you continue living prayer, and if you continue living the messages she gave to us here.

 

And Our Lady was also asking something of each one of you. She said that when you come here to Medjugorje, when you experience the messages, when you experience this new way of life, you need to go back home and become an example to others, not by talking about Medjugorje, but by living what you have learned here.

 

And we are aware, especially those of us who live here in Medjugorje, how easy it is to just talk about the messages of Our Lady, to say to people, what the messages are; but how hard it is when we have to witness them, and when we have to show them in our practical life.

 

And Our Lady said in one of the messages, "Dear children, the journey that I am taking you on is not an easy journey at all." Our Lady says, this is the journey that has many obstacles, lots of crosses, lots of temptations. But Our Lady says and promises to us, do not be afraid of anything for I am with you.

 

And these words of Our Lady should always be a personal encouragement to us when we think that it's hard, when we think that we cannot go on. Then it is most important to open our hearts to Our Lady in prayer, and to allow her to lead us. And we who know the messages of Our Lady, we know that the most important message that Our Lady has been constantly giving to us is an invitation to prayer.

 

And very often, pilgrims would ask us, why does Our Lady speak about prayer so much? Why doesn't she speak about something else? Give us some new message? We, as humans, we want always new messages, and we don't even absorb the most basic messages that we are initially given.

 

But Our Lady said in one of the messages, "Dear children, prayer is the only thing that can change you." Through prayer God will be changing you. God will first change your heart, your life, your families. And only then God will change the situation in the world. Because we can change the world only when each one of us personally is changed.

 

If Our Lady said prayer is the only thing, there's nothing else then. And that is why Our Lady for so many years, always again has been giving us this invitation to prayer. As she once said: she did not come here... that her presence here for these many years is not so that she would give some sort of new message to the world. She said that she is here with us as a mother so that she could bring us all on the way of conversion closer to her son, Jesus. But without our open heart, without our acceptance, Our Lady, even if she wanted, would not be able to help us. That is why with our everyday prayer, we need to open ourselves to Our Lady, and we need to allow her to lead us.

 

And one other very important message for pilgrims. Our Lady says many pilgrims come here to Medjugorje, they pray for some special grace from God. And she says, very often it happens, that people come here, they ask for special grace, they pray to receive something, and yet they haven't confessed. Without confession, without a confessed heart, God cannot give us these graces.

 

That is why Our Lady invites us to regular confession. That through confession we would ask first for forgiveness from God. Only then, our hearts will be free from every sin. Our hearts will be cleansed. And this kind of heart can pray and receive every grace from God.

 

And here in Medjugorje, many pilgrims have come to us with their testimonies, that confession was the moment that changed their lives. They were able to confess here after 10, or 20, or 30, or 40, or even more years. And today, many priests even refer to Medjugorje as the greatest confessional of the whole world. So, this is very important to understand in our Christian faith life.

 

Our Lady says that the greatest sign is the sign of our inner change, our inner conversion of our heart. So, this is our confirmation. It is not about the outer signs. It is not about what we will see around us. It is about what will take place within us.....

Tomorrow we will have the final installment! 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2019

 

"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
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