Fr. Jozo's Talk in Siroki Brijeg

Fr. Jozo's Talk in Siroki Brijeg

October 3, 2000




Come, O Most Holy Spirit, come to us today. We need your love, because we desire to go on the new way to return to the Father, to take the step to the Father. O Come, Holy Spirit, You who makes all things new. Today grant a miracle in us and through us. Change our hearts. Take from us our hearts of stone and give us a new heart, a heart that knows how to love, how to pray, how to forgive. A heart that knows how to embrace the cross and recognize the will of God and carry it to the end.

Come, O Most Holy Spirit, You who are our peace, come fill us with peace. You who are love, fill us with love and blessing and salvation. We are not here accidentally. We have been called, that we may be able to recognize our call and our mission. We ask You to come O Most Holy Spirit, that our masks may melt away, that our true face may be revealed before You.

Come, O Most Holy Spirit, may a miracle happen today: the beginning of our conversion, the beginning of our true devotion. Come, O Most Holy Spirit pour out Your grace and Your strength on Your Church and convert us. Sanctify us. Change us.

Come, O Most Holy Spirit, we are the Church united together in prayer with the Mother. As the disciples at the very beginning, united together with Her in prayer for the gift of Your Spirit, for the gift of love, that we may be freed from selfishness and hatred, that we may be freed from every evil, and that we may start to love, that we may start to forgive and to pray, that we may start to fast.

Come, O Most Holy Spirit. Come bless us. Come, change us.You who are prayer, come and anoint us with prayer that we may become the Church that believes in the power of prayer. Come, Most Holy Spirit, renew prayer in us, that we may become the renewers of family prayer.

Come, O Most Holy Spirit, come heal us, come bless us, come convert us. O You who anoints with Your Peace, with Your Joy, with Your Love. Come anoint us.

In the last message O Blessed Mother, You say, that the one who prays, lives joy and peace and love. O Blessed Mother, here is the Church in prayer, here is the Church who desires to renew itself in prayer, firm in prayer, come to fall in love with prayer. O grant that these days may be the renewal of our prayer, of our faith through prayer, of our love through prayer, of a Christian life in prayer. Come, O Most Holy Spirit. Come, pour Yourself out upon us. The Church united together with the Mother is praying to you, You who make all things new. Grant that this Church may become new. It may become a Church of prayer, a holy Church, a sign amongst nations, your city on the hillside, your light on the way, Your Self.

Come, O Most Holy Spirit. Come and pour Yourself out upon us. Our Father who art in Heaven....Hail Mary, full of grace...Mother and Queen of Peace - pray for us. Mother of the Church - pray for us. Mother and Queen of the family - pray for us. Consolation of the Sorrowful - pray for us, help of Christians - pray for us, help of the sick - pray for us, gate of heaven - pray for us. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

A warm greeting to all of you. Welcome to Siroki Brijeg. You are now in a sanctuary, in a church, that was the first to be built after four hundred years of Turkish rule. When the Moslems entered into our land, they had destroyed eighty monasteries in one year. It was terrible, a great sorrow for us. It is then that Pope Pius V called the entire Christian Europe, the entire Church to pray together with him, the Pope. The Church responded in prayer and a miracle took place. Heaven responded to prayer. And in the event that took place in Lepanto, the intervention of Our Lady could be clearly seen. The Turks no longer advanced forward. They were stopped. The Pope proclaimed that day The Victory of Our Lady, The Victory of the Rosary, Our Lady's Day, The Day of Her Rosary.

You are here in Our Lady's church. Here She has waited for you and greeted you as the great Blessed Mother assumed into heaven. No, you are not strangers. In the last message, She says that She loves us all. That She is our Mother and that She blesses us. And it is in this church that during this jubilee year, one can gain the plenary indulgence. It is the church of the jubilee. Here in this church our martyrs also have greeted you. You see on your right here, there is a tomb, a very interesting tomb. When the Communists came here fifty-five years ago, they found thirty Franciscans here in the monastery and they told them that there was no more God. And those soldiers that came were inspired by terrorism telling them that there was no more God, there was no more church, there was no more priesthood nor the need for them. They were told to remove their habits. But not one of those thirty Franciscans was willing to even enter into a debate about this. An enraged soldier took the crucifix from the wall, threw it at the feet of the Franciscans and said, "Now you can choose, this is your last chance, choose - death or life." One by one the Franciscans came forth and embraced Jesus. Jesus humiliated at being thrown on the floor. And each one, one by one, said, "You are my God and my everything." One by one they were taken outside,and they were thrown into the flames to be burned, here in the garden. Those were thirty brothers who went forth to their death with song. Some of them sang Salve Regina, others sang The Litany of Our Lady. They all blessed their enemy and forgave them.

Today at their tomb, we learn who Jesus is for me today. Who is Jesus today in my family? Is Jesus today my God and my everything in my home, in my life and in my work? If truly Jesus is my God and my everything, then can I say that I don't have time to pray. If Jesus is my God and my everything, can I then say that I don't have time or I am not able to go to Mass on Sundays. Who is Jesus today for me and what am I prepared to give for Him today? This is a question that you must ask dear pilgrims. Is Jesus only a theory for you, is He only an ideology? Is He the One whom you have read about or studied about, or is He the One who is truly your God and your everything?

We are now on the eve of the great Franciscan feast, the eve of the feast of our founder. Here we have a statue of St. Francis and an altar and also stained glass. I would like to share something great about this man with you. I feel that many of you are here superficially and I would like for you to be stopped in your tracks. You must receive the word with your heart, because if the seed falls upon the stones, if the seed falls amidst the thorns, if the seed falls upon the road, nothing happens. There is no fruit. Our Jesus says the seed must fall upon the good ground, upon the prepared ground and then one grain bears thirty fold, another sixty fold, or a hundred fold yield. The question is about the terrain, the soil and not about the seed. We are responsible for our hearts. Jesus is directing this parable to our heart. The seed is what man receives in his heart. Sin is also something that man accepts in his heart. It does not take place outside of his heart. The grace of God has its source and spring in God, but it flows through man. God needs us, and that is why today it is important to ask 'who am I?' Will God succeed in speaking His word to me today? What did God want today? And this is the man whom we will reflect on, with whom God succeeded.

St. Francis was a rich young man who believed in what Jesus was saying. He listened to Him. He succeeded in giving the poor everything he owned and following Jesus. When the Lord gave him the gift of His stigmata, of His wounds, the wounds would even form like nails in the hands and in the feet. On Fridays especially the blood would flow from them. During Lent, the blood would flow from his wounds. When the brothers saw him crying, especially before the cross or before the tabernacle, they thought he was crying because he was in pain. Once they dared to ask him, "Why are you crying?" And he answered, "Love is not loved. I do not love enough." And when he returned from Mount Laverna to Prelancia with his wounds, the brothers felt that his end was near. And on today's date, they gathered around him and they asked him to share the final words with them. And they said, "you are saying to us that sister death knocks at your door. Can you leave us your last testament, your last word?" And on today's date and tonight's night, the saint said, "Brothers up to now we have done so little, let us start today."

Saints can only say that. Saints can say that they have done little. But a man with a mask tells everyone that he has done everything he could. He says yes, I have done everything I could as a priest, I've done everything I could as a parent. Dear brothers and sisters on this great day I desire to say to your and my heart, you have done little for your country and for your Church. You as a priest, you as a parent, you as a Christian, we have done little because we do not love.

Why did our Holy Father the Pope pray on the ruins of the temple in Jerusalem, after two thousand years? Do you think it is some kind of a political gesture that he was involved in? Or do you think it is just because of the weakness of a senile old man? What gesture is that? What our Holy Father has done, is the same gesture as our saint Francis has done on today's date? To ask after two thousand years for forgiveness from Jesus, for forgiveness for all those who have murdered Jesus. To say, "Jesus forgive them for you have forgiven them." Why does the Holy Father ask for forgiveness from the five billion pagans? What have you done for Jesus after two thousand years?

You come from countries that were powerfully represented at the Olympics. Australia has covered the entire world with the games through the media. Yes, all of you know how many medals your country has won. Even those who know nothing about Jesus, know about you. Because the goal of all the media, was not to speak about Jesus, but about the Olympics. Now the Olympics are over. So we ask, "Have we done anything for Jesus?" Have you not seen that Jesus is a complete stranger, as in your country, as in your politics, even in your church a stranger? What have we done for Him? We have done too little.

That is why there are still five billion pagans in the world. We succeeded in selling them arms. You succeeded in selling them your cars, your technology, your mass media. But you did not succeed in bringing them Jesus. This is the problem. That is why the Holy Father asks Jesus to forgive us. After two thousand years he asks Jesus to forgive us because we have not loved Him. Because His Church does not love Him. Love is not loved. Because Jesus Your Word is not spread through the Internet, or through your witness of you in books.Yes, Internet is used to spread lies, selfishness, to sell your own selves, your sins, your errors. You lie to each other in the media. Jesus can not be spread through the media. Jesus needs the apostles. He needs witnesses. Jesus needs saints. Jesus needs the person who has seen Him, who encounters Him, and speaks with Him. He needs the one who is prepared to suffer for that meeting. That is why Jesus can not be spread through the media. That is why the media does not convert man. Instead it is the missionaries, the witnesses, truly the witnesses, who do this.

That is why today at the tomb of our witnesses, we learn about the history of the gospel. We learn about the assignment. What can I do for my Jesus? What have I done for my God up to now? Who has come to believe because I am a Christian? Who has said, "I want to follow this man and His faith." One day we will have to point to those for whom we were witnesses, for Jesus says, "You will be my witnesses." How many people have we taught up to today to hold the rosary in their hands? To hold the rosary with faith?

Imagine what would have happened if David had come to doubt in his sling and the five stones. When he saw the thousands of Philistines gathered with Goliath at the head. David did not doubt. Instead he said, "You will be mine today. Yahweh speaks." David was a believer. He believed in his mission, his choice, everything that God gave him. Take these five stones and your sling and you will win.

Today Our Lady is speaking, "This is our victory, this is our strength, this is our history, the history of all victory, the history of all saints, our prayer. Why does Our Lady speak about the renewal of family prayer in the last message? Why does She insist again that new families be born through the formation of prayer communities. Particularly because in the family we learn to pray. Through a family that prays the gift of prayer is awakened. A family that prays has an awakened faith, and awakens the faith in the heart of the children. As a teacher of the catechism, none of these priests can replace the mother, the father, the parents, the family, of their parishes. If the family is not functioning and in order, none of the parishes can replace that family. If you have shown that there is no God in your life and you do not have time for Him, if in your life you have shown that you do not have time to pray, at that moment you have taken your step towards atheism. In this way God becomes distant to you. He becomes the God who is distant, whom you don't need, whom you exclude more and more. That is why the Eucharist as the greatest sacrifice quickly comes into question in your life, and it falls into a shadow.

And then you say you have no time, this is your weekend, you're resting. What an error! What an injustice to say that you do not have time to pray, when you know that God has given you all of the twenty-four hours in your day, and you even carry a watch. And your watch attests that I you have time because it measures time. It tells you dear fellow man not to be unreasonable. This is your time, your watch tells you this. At this time you could do good works. Then how can you say that you do not have time to pray or to give glory to God, to be before your God, to kneel before Him, to give glory and honor to Him, to love Him? No, you must not permit this. You must persevere in doing good. You must persevere to truly do good. And to give to God what is God's. To give to your soul what belongs to it. It is important that you feel that in time you can meet your God. That in time, you can speak with Him. That at this time you can bear a hundred fold, yield, and bear my witness.

Yes, that is why you are important. That is why, nineteen years and four months ago, Our Lady started with six small children and She explained to them that they were important to Her. That they were important for Her plan and project. She told them that She needed them. The children believed. They believed strongly. I know this because I did not believe them at the beginning. I was afraid to believe. What if it were the Communists who were again trying to manipulate our devotion to Our Lady? What if they were setting this up to ridicule our faith? What a scandal this would be if it were their hand at work, if they were manipulating the children. We mustn't believe, I thought. We must investigate. We must see. We must look, examine. How? That is why even the very first Sunday I said, "When the catechism is finished at three o'clock, all of you come to prayer. Come to pray. We must pray for grace."

Our God is neither mute nor deaf. He does not want our faith to be ridiculed. He is truly present in the Eucharist. He is present in His word. He is present among us. Let us go and pray to our God, that He may enlighten us, that He may tell us what is happening here. That we may not make an error. It is terrible to come in conflict with God, into war with God, with His Mother. Every one responded and from that day until today, they have been responding. When Our Lady appeared in the church, She said, "Dear children, thank you for praying together, pray together everyday, pray together with the heart everyday, pray the rosary." She said, "Pray everyday, pray together and pray with the heart." From that day on until today, the Church continually prays. The Church is continually at prayer.

If you ask me what the Church has done for twenty years in Medjugorje, I can say to you that it has prayed. I can say to you that it has fasted. I can say to you that the Church has watched. It has been awakened and is awake today. It is my desire that today you too may discover that great gift, the gift of prayer in that church.

For each pilgrim is like the river, and Medjugorje is like an ocean. When the river enters into the ocean, it intermingles with the ocean and it no longer lives as the river but continues to live as the ocean. And the same happens to us when we come to Medjugorje, we too intermingle like that river. We come to participate in the programs. I must not say I don't understand the language. Medjugorje speaks the language that is understood by all. Yes, everything that is spoken here is spoken in a language that is understood by all. Everything that is breathed is that which is understood, that is felt so deeply and profoundly.

And we must not say, "This is not my Mass. This is not my prayer. I can't climb on the hill of apparitions. It's raining. It's windy. It's nice weather or inclement weather." No those are small, small little trials, hindrances and difficulties through which we have an opportunity to show an even greater love. Just like here, it is not comfortable for you to sit on the floor, here on the stone. But maybe it is even nicer than to sit there up on those pews. I see it as even more beneficial to you, more fruitful. When you feel that your back is killing you, keep sitting. Why? Because you will accept this as your cross and not disturb others.

Let us start to do something as of today, because there is no Medjugorje without sacrifice. Medjugorje is only sacrifice, in the sign of the cross and the cross. That is why it is persecuted, despised, rejected. How many people who have not understood reacted, not opening their hearts even before signs, not opening their lives before the fruits. Yet millions of people who have come, millions of people from all corners of the world of all religions, even Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Moslems, all of the sects separated from the Church, all the communities. How many Anglicans have come. Perhaps among you there are also some I have not named. How many conversions? How many Anglican pastors have become Catholic priests and have prepared themselves for Ordination, for priestly Ordination?

I cannot forget that an Anglican bishop had come here a little while ago. An Anglican bishop from London came. He said, "Any of my priests that have come to Medjugorje, have returned enthusiastic, have become converted. They have started to work with full strength for Jesus. They started to pray the rosary. They pray in their churches." He said, "I have come to see what is at work here." And in the end he concluded, "So often I felt that my faith was lacking the Mother. My faith seeks the Mother. My faith seeks the Eucharist. My soul seeks the Eucharist. It seeks the forgiveness of sins." In my heart I am already certain that this Anglican bishop will one day become a Catholic. Why? Because his thirst cannot be quenched at any other source. There is no other source. This is your Church and my Church. This is Jesus. That is why it is terrible when we transform Jesus into a theory, into a teaching, a philosophy, into a certainty of reason. No, your education is never a guarantee of your belief. Instead, your love and your faith is a gift that is awakened. A gift through which you live. A gift through which you sacrifice.

I recall, it was the fifth day of the apparitions. In the early morning hours, the police came and took the children from their beds. It was Monday. We didn't know where they took them. The children didn't even have time to put on their shoes. The parents were full of tears. The parents were crying. They could not be consoled. They remained in the parish office until noon thinking the children would come back. But they did not. The entire day passed but the children were not back. The evening came but they were not back. Midnight came and they were not back. At one thirty in the morning, they could be heard singing in the distance. It was them. They entered into the parish office and they saw their parents. Vicka saw her mom crying. She said, "Mom, why are you crying?" As her mother dried her tears, she said, " My daughter, do you not see what they are doing to you? Do you not see what they are doing to us? Yet you ask me why I am crying?" At that very moment the expression on Vicka's face changed, as she asked her mother as she embraced her, "Mom, we have to suffer for Our Lady. Mom, suffer this through for Our Lady. You know how to suffer. Mom, we need to suffer. Don't you know how to suffer?"

I had so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I did not. Instead, up to now, I continue to seek the answer. The answer that was posed on the fifth day of the apparitions by the visionary Vicka, "What can I suffer through for my blessed Mother and my Jesus today?"

These days I have had an opportunity of speaking with a man from Austria, a professor who had written a book. His institute came to examine the children, the visionaries. They in response to the examination wrote a very thick book. He was shocked, how their thoughts and their hearts were in accord with what the children were saying. How everything was in perfect harmony. Even the most modern apparatus that was plugged into the children to monitor their brain or their heart, saw that they were in perfect harmony. But this professor said this is not what shocked him. What shocked him is the depth of the mystical life that these children lived. He said that he had written the lives of the saints, the wonders, the miracles of the saints that the Vatican has issued. He said that, "I had the opportunity of examining so many individuals about the saints. I have seen the visionaries are individuals of deep mystical life." Yes, from the beginning Our Lady led them through the cross and the suffering to a mystical life with God.

When I returned from my time in prison, I found Vicka in a coma. I wanted to see her, but I was not permitted. The police did not permit anyone to enter into the village. When I came back it was no longer permitted to enter into the village or to climb the Hill of Apparitions or Krizevac. For years this prohibition to come into the village lasted.

But Vicka came to the church when her coma passed. I was moved to a distant parish, without a telephone, without any communication. And Vicka came crying. A man was waiting for her outside and I asked her, "Vicka why are you crying? What happened?" She dried her tears and then continued to cry again. She said, "I am returning from a clinic." When she was on the way to a clinic, to the hospital in Zagreb, Our Lady appeared to her. The driver said that all of a sudden Vicka said that she needed to have a break. Quickly he pulled over. He stopped. Vicka came outside. When she entered back into the car she was crying. He was afraid to ask her why she was crying. He brought her to the hospital in Zagreb and she continued to cry. Why was a visionary crying? Our Lady said, "Today, Vicka you can choose, health or sickness. The sickness is connected to the apparitions and don't be so concerned about your health. Today, you can choose." And Vicka, as a child, chose health. And Our Lady said to her, "Now you are healthy. I bless you. I will see you again in forty days." Our Lady knew how this would all end up with Vicka. When she was healthy, at that very moment, she went to the hospital where the medical examinations took place, for days, a week, all of the experts and specialists confirmed that Vicka was perfectly healthy. And they gave all of the documentation in support of her health. Vicka was healthy. It was on the return from this clinic that she stopped to see me in my parish. She said, "Father I have chosen wrongly." I tried to console her. I told her that now she had more time to dedicate to the poor, to those who were sick, to show more love for those in need, but I did not succeed in consoling her. She understood everything but she continued crying.

After forty days, during which she longed so fervently, Our Lady came and the first thing she said was, "Blessed Mother forgive me. Please can I choose again today." And Our Lady said, "Yes, you can." "Today I want to choose the cross. Today I choose the cross," Vicka said. At that same moment, Vicka became sick, as she is sick today. And up to today when she is so ill, such as her incurable illness, but Vicka is no longer crying as on that day.

A full sixteen years have passed, since that day, but on Vicka's face a smile has come forth, comes forth like a river, like a spring that heals, a smile that heals, that awakens faith in the heart. A smile that opens hearts, that awakens hope in the heart of man. Vicka suffers and gives thanks with a smile and with love.

Dear friends, this is an answer as of a mystic. She is not a religious. She is not a Poor Clare nun. She is a village child that lives deep mysticism with Jesus and in Jesus. And this is the wisdom of the cross, and this is this foolishness of the cross. Today I choose the cross. According to my heart this is what your coming to Medjugorje is. Today I can choose my cross. Today I can choose Jesus. Today I leave my idols behind, I leave my errors. Today in this church that is designated a church of plenary indulgence, in this jubilee year church, I desire to ask forgiveness for all of my errors, for all of my sins. I desire to be a new person. Today I choose Jesus in my marriage. Today I choose love. I leave behind sin and hatred and conflict and selfishness. Today I choose love. Today I abandon my egoism and pride. Today I choose humility, goodness, love of mankind and to be for others.

Why does Our Lady ask us to look at the wounds of Her Son? From the beginning, we are asked to look at His wounds and contemplate His wounds and His pain. Why? Because the Mother says, "Learn from Him." What can I learn today from my Jesus from His cross. I can learn love. To love means to be for others. To give our lives for others. This is what love is. To intercede for others. To pray for others, Father forgive them. This is what I must understand. Today, to learn from Jesus, to choose Jesus today, because everything else that I have chosen, I have not chosen well. I have chosen wrongly and I do not wish to make a mistake. No I must not make a mistake.

In the last message Our Lady says, "Today, I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Make prayer become joy for you. Renew prayer in your families and form prayer groups. In this way, you will experience joy in prayer and togetherness. All those who pray and are members of prayer groups are open to God's will in their hearts and joyfully witness God's love.

Yes, to discover God's will is all wisdom. It is all wisdom. When St. Francis speaks to crucified Jesus, he says what can I do, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you think that I can do for you? And Jesus said, "Rebuild my church." How? The saint starts to pray. And so it was with St. Benedict, with Don Bosco, with everyone of the saints.

The Church is renewed at that moment when it starts to believe in the power of prayer. When it starts to love prayer. When it starts to pray with fervor and delight for renewal and the Church is not renewed by building itself in a physical way or opening schools or printing books. There have never been as many books as today. And yet there has never been as much atheism amongst us as today. There has never been so much darkness. There have never been so many foolish virgins amongst us who have left behind their lanterns and said I will go and live my own life. I will put my life in order at the last moment. No, this is not how it can be done. You must not make an error.

Today, you are here at the tomb of the martyrs to choose only Jesus. That today before St. Francis you may choose this wisdom. Why does he say, why does St. Francis say,"You are my God and my everything." Who else can you choose? On Holy Thursday He said, "This is My Body given up for you. Here I am. Take Me all of you and eat Me, My Life, My Body, My Blood." We are overjoyed that we have the Eucharist. We are blessed to have the priesthood. We are blessed for this great miracle, the priests. This irreplaceable sacrament, the priesthood. We are overjoyed and blessed to have the Eucharist. We are overjoyed with this great Sacrament.

But a day later, on Good Friday, He said, "Today, I give you My Mother. Behold your Mother." What has Jesus forgotten to leave us or give us, to give over to us, to those He loves? He gave us everything. We have everything. That is why we are here. Because all of this is here, so alive, so powerful, brought to life through Her, through apparitions and Her presence. In the house of Elizabeth a miracle took place. And Elizabeth came to know in her heart, who it was that came to her. The Holy Spirit revealed to her that the Mother of her God had come to her. The Mother of my God comes to me also. That is a blessing and a joy.

Dear friends, the Mother of our God is with us. Dear pilgrim, the Mother of your and my God is here in Medjugorje, for nineteen years and four months. And that is why you have come. No, you have not come because you like to fly. Only a foolish person goes anywhere because he likes to fly. You are not here because you are happy to be in a plane, but because the Mother is here and you could not resist coming. We must come. We had to come. We had to risk everything, even our own lives because we want to see the Mother. We want to speak with the Mother. We want to be with Her. We need Her love. We need Her nearness. We need Her blessing and Her grace. We needed the experience of Elizabeth. And this it what She has done now, for nineteen years and four months.

That is why we are here. Behold the Mother. We are grateful to Jesus for this. We will take His Mother with our heart for ourselves. We will pray that the Lord may bless this sign, that it may be a wondrous sign for us. That whenever we touch the image, that we may receive the Mother with our heart. For this we pray. Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

We will pray that the Mother may enter into our hearts and into our homes. Recall the tragedy of Bethlehem. Our Lady had no room. There was no room for Her Son. There was no room for them because there was no room for the poor. Imagine what it's like and what happens when the Bible, the Word of God, is not listened to or lived in the city of the king of David. They had the prophecy but they did not live it. The prophet announced to them that the Messiah would come through Bethlehem. But when He did come, His Mother found no room. All doors were closed. All hearts were closed. And today we pray that we may be able to have an open heart. We will pray that Our Lady may enter into our hearts and into our lives. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be...

The image of Our Lady will be blessed for you, that you may have a blessed sign, a certainty, a grave certainty of security. Do not be afraid. Behold your Mother. Permit Her to enter into your heart. Do not resist Her messages. It is your Mother speaking. It is Her voice. You must recognize it. It is the voice of the Church. If anyone does not yet have an image of Our Lady, please keep your hands raised visibly.

Lord, bless this image for us and bless our hearts with love, that we may learn how to love the Mother. That we may be able to respond to the love of the Mother. Grant that where ever She enters in, we may find peace and joy and blessing, that we may feel well. Grant that whenever we pray before this image that we may experience the blessing that Elizabeth experienced, the hope and the joy and the love. We beseech You Lord, to bless this sign, the Mother for us. May every destruction of the evil one be removed from every person, every place where She is. May Your Love O Jesus, fill our hearts, fill our lives, fill our families, our days, our time. O Lord, bless this sign for us, that we may be certain that we are beneath Her Motherly mantle, here in this temple. In this sanctuary may great blessing pour out upon us, that we may be able to receive the Mother with a great open heart. That is why Lord, bless our hearts and these images - In the name of the Father....Amen.

Now look at the Mother with your heart. Behold your Mother. The Archangel Gabriel said to Her that She was full of grace. That is what he saw Her as. That is what he proclaims Her to be because that is what She is, full of grace. And Elizabeth says to Her, "You are the Mother of my God." Simeon says, "the Mother of my Savior." And the Church tells us She is the Holy Mother. And what does your heart say? Behold your Mother. Try to seek the answer in your heart. What is your heart saying?

In one of Her messages, Our Lady said, "Dear children, I am your Mother and I love you all. If you knew how much I loved you, you would cry with joy." The Mother who loves you, who awakens love and joy in you. Jesus asks, "Do you love me Peter?" Through tears our first Pope answers, "Master, you know that I love you."

Today you are before the Mother and She says, "I am your Mother and I love you. Do you love me?" Find the answer in the depth of your heart. You may kiss your Mother. Now close your eyes and place Her as a balm upon your wounds, upon your heart. This is your Mother. The Mother who consoles you and strengthens you. She heals and consoles you. Do not be afraid. You have a Mother and She blesses you. It is through man that grace flows and She is perfect, a perfect instrument of God's blessing, life and grace. She is the Mother of my God. Consecrate your life to Her and abandon it to Her. Consecrate your family to Her Immaculate Heart. Behold your Mother.

O Dearest Mother, you know that I love you, heal me, heal my wounds, console me, educate and lead me. Today I desire to be obedient as Jesus on the return to Nazareth, that I too may grow. Jesus, thank You for Your obedience to the Mother. O Beloved Mother, today as Jesus was, so I too desire to be obedient. Jesus, O Jesus I desire to look to You and be obedient to the Mother as You were obedient. That I too may grow in wisdom and knowledge and grace. O Dearest Mother, you know that I love you. Come with me and I desire to come with you. Today I desire to choose you. I desire to choose your message today. "Who loves Me?" Jesus asks. "Whoever listens to My word and lives it, it is he who loves Me."

And now, here is the message of the Mother to you on the reverse of your image. Dear children, I invite you to your individual conversion. This is the reason I am here. This is the reason for the apparitions. This is the reason why there is a place of pilgrimage, that my conversion may commence, that my choice may commence, that my return may begin. There is no other way. No, there is no other way. I will go and return to the Father for there is no other way.

Those are the only doors that the Pope has opened at Christmas this year, proclaiming the great year of favor of the Lord. These doors, through which man passes, following conversion, living conversion, responding to conversion. There is no other answer than this. There is no other program, or key or way. Yes, my conversion. This time is for you. Yes, this is my time. This is the time of my witness. This is the time of my fruits. This is the time of my answer. It is awaited for. This is expected just as the Lord expected the fig tree to bear fruit. Yes, our fruitfulness is expected. Our answer is expected. Our love is expected and this is our time.

This time does not belong to Satan. This time does not belong to the enemy. This time belongs to Jesus. This is His time. This is the time of His witnesses, of His saints, of His co-workers. Without you God's plan cannot be realized. But God can realize His plan with us. Imagine when St. Francis gives his answer, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" And the Lord says, "Help Me to rebuild My Church." His activity begins. His wisdom begins, nights spent in prayer. Nights spent in meditating on the Love of God, the Word of God, the Wounds of Christ, the Passion of Christ. Meditating on His Church.

This is our time. Without us God cannot realize His plan. Let us respond to this great grace. And Jesus teaches us to say, "Our Father, Your will be done." This is what we need to answer. "Let Your will be done Father." That's God's will. And God's will is great, important and high. In the last message also Our Lady says, "In prayer you discover the will of God. In prayer you discover the call, the joy, the strength, the grace. Prayers, the strength of the Church. The strength and power of the Church is upon the knees, with hands folded in prayers. The strength of the one who prays is the strength of the saints.

That is why now I desire to place a rosary in the palm of your hand. And to bless it for you. To bless the rosary for you. That we may now receive the rosary with our heart we pray - Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be...

Lord, we hold the rosary in our hands, as of today we ask You Lord to bless it in a special way for us, that it may be our weapon, our strength, our love. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be...O Lord, bless the rosaries for us. Bless the gift of prayer in our hearts. That as of today we may become prayer, that we may respond to prayer. O Lord, bless today this sign of prayer for us, the rosaries in our hands. That on meditating on the life of Jesus we may come to love Jesus and follow Him. That today we may decide to live with prayer and through prayer, renew love in our hearts for prayer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

You are with a rosary in your hand. Today answer Our Lady's call, to pray with the heart, to pray every day, to pray together with the heart.

Beneath on your image, you see five numbers. The first five messages of Our Lady, noted by only a few words. Permit them as of today to become your program, your roles, your way, your style of life. That you may build them into your life. And that you may permit them to shape and form your life, and change it.

First is the call to the daily prayer of the rosary. Try today to answer the great call - to pray the rosary every day, to pray it with the heart.

The second message is the call to live the Eucharist. The Church is born in and through the Eucharist: one, holy, catholic. When we look at this rose, when we see this flower we see that it ends, the stem ends in the chalice, and from this chalice, all the petals come. All of the petals live in harmony and peace. They are not fighting against each other. There is no ambition against the other. There is no destruction of the other. There is only love and harmony. Each one of them is perfectly in its place. Where is the first place in a flower? Where is the last place? How silly to even think of it. It's silly to think about where the first or the last place of this flower are. There is no first or last place. Where is the jealousy and envy in the Church from? Why do we think that we are last or that we need to be first? We truly need to be there where God wants us. Jesus is this chalice. And we are born from Him from our baptism. We are shaped into one body, His Church, that is His Church. What happens to a petal if it ever thinks to leave the flower, if it says I will leave my flock? That petal is dead. What happens to a person who says I am leaving the Mass? I don't agree with the priest. I don't agree with this or that of the Church. What happens to a person who separates himself from Jesus, from the Church? What is deadly sin? It is deadly! It is my separation from Jesus! Today this petal will be swept away as only garbage. That happens to the person who leaves Jesus. He cannot glue himself back with his own strength or return with his strength. For that return he needs grace. He needs a gift.

How great is the Church when it knows how to live the Eucharist, Holy Church, because God, of whom it is born is Holy. That is why the Sacraments are Holy. They sanctify us. They unite us with God. I no longer live but God lives in me. Love the Mass. This is Our Lady's message, for us to fall in love with the Mass. You must not give or sell out your Mass or your Sunday for anything. Sunday is not for your sports events. Sunday is not made for your recreation as you think. A Sunday without God is empty. Your life and your recreation are empty without the Mass, without the Eucharist. This is what your family needs, that it may know how to celebrate the Mass, how to grow from the Mass on the altar. All of that is important to us. That is why Our Lady says, with great sorrow and tears in Her eyes, when She speaks about the Mass, as She says to us, "Live the Holy Mass. Fall in love with the Holy Mass. Place the Holy Mass in the first place of each of your Sundays."

The third message is the call to the daily reading of the Holy Bible. "Dear children," Our Lady said, "You have forgotten the Bible. Find the Bible in your families. Read it every day." Hold it in a special place. The time has come, dear friends, that you dust the cover of your Bible. That you wash this holy face of the Bible clean from forgetfulness. And that today as priests and as faithful, we may ask for forgiveness from the living Jesus speaking to us in His Word, asking Him to forgive us, for having forgotten the Bible, or not having time for it. Yet we have time to listen to empty, vain, human words and news and manipulations. The Word of Jesus is the Divine Word, anointed by the Holy Spirit. It does not lose strength or power, instead it is Holy. It creates and shapes man. Yes, this is what we must learn. That is why Our Lady desires that we place the Holy Bible in the first place in our homes and to hold it in the first place in our lives. She asks us to open the Bible every day, to read a small part of it and to live it during the course of the day. When you read the Bible, kiss the Bible. Do not be afraid. The Rite, to which our bishop who is here belongs, is the Greek Catholic Rite. How many times they kiss the chalice and the Bible, the altar. Yes, the richness is shown in that kiss. The richness of God's presence, to which, man with gratitude says, "Lord, Your Word will not fall outside of my heart. It will remain in the tabernacle of my heart and I will love it. I will protect it. I will contemplate Your Word as Your Mother did." Our Lady, up to now, specifically gave two messages in which She asked us to do something every day. She asked us to pray the rosary every day. She asked us to read the Holy Bible every day, like Samuel, in humility, to read the bible. May this teaching of Our Lady, of the Mother, just like Eli taught Samuel, in the same way, permit Our Lady to teach you. Speak Lord, your servant is listening. Today, say this to your God, and as of today, tell your God this every day. Always say this to Him, "Speak Lord, your servant is hearing. My heart is open. My family is ready."

The fourth message is the call to fasting. Tomorrow is Wednesday. It is a day of fasting. Even tonight we can simply say, "Lord, Blessed Mother, tomorrow I will not eat. Tomorrow, I want to have more time for love. And through my sacrifice, I want to express my love." Yes, even now I decide to do something for you. What can I suffer through for Our Lady, Mom? Can we not suffer anything for Our Lady? Dear pilgrim, can you and I not fast tomorrow? We can. We must. We need to! That we may be freed from our selfishness and egoism, from the manipulation around us. Because we are manipulated, so much advertising around us, all programs, all journals. Who can free me? Who can free me of that manipulation? Our Lady tells us, "Start to fast."

The fifth message is the call to monthly confession. That is the sacrament through which peace flows, the spiritual anointing, forgiveness. I ask you to remember. I desire as your brother, as your friend and the one who loves you, the one who places you in his heart and promises to pray for you and your families and your intentions, as such a desire to say something that is above all - there is no confession without a priest! Perhaps this is the greatest reason why the Anglican pastors want to be Catholic, to leave sin. Jesus gave the priesthood. In the Hall of the Last Supper, our Holy Father wrote a most beautiful letter to us, in the Hall where the priesthood was born and again reminding all of the priests on the greatness, on the grace, of the source of where and how the roots began. When Jesus said, "How fervently I long to be this night with you." Why? Because He desired to give the priesthood to us. And He gave it. Without the priest there is no forgiveness of the sins. There is no Eucharist. And practically speaking, there is no Church. Let us start to pray for priests.

On the eighth of October, on Sunday, the Holy Father has called all the bishops of the world to come. Perhaps even those who are afraid of flying will come. Because there are four hundred and fifty bishops in the United States alone. But even if they are afraid to come. What does the Holy Father ask of us? He wants us to be like His apostles, to be His Church, to consecrate the Church to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

We are in a time of grace. We are apostles. We are to love. We are to pray with love, to pray with confidence. Pray for priests. Pray for Holy Priests.

I would ask you one thing. I would ask you not to forget Our Lady's messages. I ask you never to forget Medjugorje. I beg you not to forget Medjugorje! I beg you not to betray Medjugorje! I beg you not to betray our priests. You are called to live the messages. Go now and live the messages.


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