Our Lady, Queen of Peace Since 1981, in a small village in former Yugoslavia named Medjugorje, it is alleged the Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing and giving messages to the world through the six visionaries. Only three - Vicka, Ivan, and Marija, are receiving the alleged daily apparitions at this time. The other three seers, Mirjana Soldo, Ivanka, and Jakov, now receive Our Lady's personal message to them on an annual basis which, in part, they share with the rest of the world as they have each received the ten secrets. Mirjana also is receiving a monthly message on the 2nd of each month. Our Lady has told the visionaries that these are her last appearances on earth and it is for this reason that her visits are so long and frequent. Before her last appearance, she has promised to leave a visible sign on the mountain where the first apparition occurred so that all will believe. (Mirjana) In the beginning, Our Lady made her messages known only for the visionaries on a daily basis. On the lst of March 1984, Our Lady, in addition to the daily appearances, began to give weekly messages to them on Thursdays for the parish community in Medjugorje. On January 8, 1987, since some of the things which Our Lord desired were fulfilled, (as Our Lady said), Her weekly message would be given monthly instead - on the 25th of each month, starting in January of 1987. This has continued until the present. January 8, 1987: "Dear Children! I desire to thank you for every response to the messages. Especially, dear children, thank you for all the sacrifices and prayers which you have presented to me. Dear children, I desire to keep on giving you still further messages, only not every Thursday, dear children, but on each 25th in the month. The time has come when what my Lord desired has been fulfilled. Now I will give you less messages, but I am still with you. Therefore, dear children, I beseech you, listen to my messages and live them, so I can guide you. Dear children, thank you for having responded to my call." The messages our Blessed Mother has been giving us are so rich in God's Mercy and Love. We will not be able to comprehend how important these messages are if we fail to study them as Our Lady pleadingly exhorts us to do so in reading them daily for the good of our souls. In an interview with Vicka, she was asked: How and in what way have Our Lady's messages been accepted? "Our Lady told me that she still had many messages for us, but we cannot be ready for them if we haven't even accepted the ones which have already been given, at least not in the way she would like. What would Our Lady like? "She would like us to accept the message with our hearts and to live them. Often we accept the message, we begin to live it, but then we get tired and we remain the way we were before. Our Lady would like that everyday we live her messages a little bit and that we would make progress in our lives." These messages carry with them the graces to help us fulfill everything which God wants to do in us. In His great love for us, He is sending His Mother to help realize this truth. December 25, 1989: "Dear children!" Today I bless you in a special way with my motherly blessing and I am interceding for you before God that He gives you the gift of conversion of the heart. For years I am calling you and exhorting you to a deep spiritual life in simplicity, but you are so cold. Therefore, little children, I ask you to accept and live the messages with seriousness, so that your soul will not be sad when I will no longer be with you, and when I will no longer lead you like insecure children in their first steps. Therefore, little children, every day read the messages that I have given you and transform them into life. I love you and therefore I am calling you all to the way of salvation with God. Thank you for having responded to my call." Mary tells us, "I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God." Our Lady's mission is one of peace and love. She has come to earth to re-educate us and to help us convert and re-center our lives back to God. Our Lady's role has always been one of guiding people to Her Son, Jesus. What a fantastic opportunity to have before us! It is important that we understand both the magnitude and the urgency of Our Lady's call to conversion, and that we respond to it wholeheartedly. The TOOLSThere are FIVE, we can say BASIC MESSAGES which Our Lady has given to the world. These are: PEACE, FAITH, CONVERSION, PRAYER, FASTING and PENANCE Although Her apparition alone is a message in itself, still Our Lady brought these specific Gospel messages at Medjugorje and continually stresses the need of applying them in our lives. These are the precondition means of avoiding catastrophic wars and thus assuring peace and salvation of mankind. Our Lady is giving us the tools, the tools which are the tools of the Gospel. Our Lady, as a Mother, is teaching her children how to walk, how to give, how to exist, and how to love others and how to live. PEACE. The Blessed Virgin warns: "Peace in the world is in a state of crisis." It is the first and an essential message. On the third day of the apparitions, the Blessed Mother wasn't smiling. She was in tears, and through her tears, she said to the visionary Marija, "I want peace, peace, peace and only peace." Behind the Blessed Mother, the visionary Marija saw a big cross sprinkled with blood. The Blessed Mother was pointing to the cross and repeating: "He is your peace. In Him is your peace." In other words, He is Peace between heaven and earth, between God and man. In the days which followed, the Blessed Mother instructed the children about the ways of peace...She continues to instruct us today. She introduced Herself as the Queen of Peace and over and over in Her messages refers to peace. The last thing She says to the visionaries before leaving is, Go in God's peace. She invites us to Interior peace a peace that the world cannot give but only God can give. For this to happen it is necessary to apply all the basic Gospel messages She brings us, to believe, pray and fast, to reconciliation with one another and with God. FAITH. Our Lady encourages us to have faith: "Have complete faith in God, your Creator; complete reliance on His word. All mankind has the capacity to know that God exists." Especially in the first year of apparitions, She emphasizes, Faith comes with trust, once She sadly stated, "Many believers do not pray." Faith and trust cannot be kept alive without prayer. She encourages us to read the Bible. To enter the Kingdom of God, Scripture tells us that we must have the faith of a child. Also, Jesus tells us: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. If our faith is as small as a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it grow up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches." CONVERSION. This is the second most important message of Our Lady from Medjugorje. Conversion means to accept Jesus with all our heart, completely, with all our being, to make Him the most important person in our lives. Our Lady frequently speaks at Medjugorje of the need for conversion. On January 3, 1986, Our Lady gave this message: "If you pray with all your heart, dear children, the ice-cold heart of your brothers will melt and every barrier will disappear. Conversion will be easy for those who want it. This is a favor which your must beg for your neighbor." So, we can see that conversion comes through prayer with the heart. She is inviting us to go to monthly confession, to pray in front of the cross, to read the Holy Bible daily and to make peace with God and with each other. She has been teaching us slowly, She takes us one step at a time. We must read and reread all Her messages until we learn how to apply them. She has said She prays daily before the cross on Mt. Krizevac for God's Forgiveness for mankind and for conversions. Once She exclaimed, "Give up everything that goes against conversion." In Her most recent messages She is reminding us that this is a special time of grace and to make good use of this time. FASTING AND PENANCE. Our Lady tells us early in the apparitions on December 8, 1981, "Christians have forgotten that they can prevent war and even natural calamities by prayer and fasting." Our Lady is inviting us to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. When asked which fast was the best, She replied, "Bread and water." Jesus went into the desert and there fasted for 40 days. Fasting has always been observed in the Church. The Church has always fasted before important events. All the Saints fasted. On one account the Apostles asked Jesus why couldn't a demon be cast out? Jesus replied that this kind of demon could only be cast out by prayer and fasting. Fasting Helps us to become free. It helps us to be open to the Lord and sensitive to the needs of others. Fasting helps us to better recognize the heavenly bread of the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray for the gift of fasting so that we may come to know and understand at least in some way the secret and mystery of it. This are the tools which Our Lady is giving us. The tools which are the tools of the Gospel. She brings us nothing new. She comes as a concerned and loving Mother and simply tells us. "DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU." |
