Fr. Martin’s
reflection on - Our Lady’s Message
25th
September 2024
“Dear
children! God has sent me among you, to love you and
encourage you to prayer and conversion, for peace in you and in your families
and in the world. Little children, do not forget that
true peace comes only through prayer, from God Who is your peace.
Thank you for having
responded to my call."
(With Ecclesiastical
approval)
Dear Brother’s and Sister’s of Medjugorje North East and beyond,
Prayer is the sum of our relationship with God. We are what we pray, it
could be said. Prayer is the oxygen that fills the sails of the spiritual life.
Prayer is communication, contact with God. “The degree of our Faith
is the degree of our prayer. The strength of our hope is the strength of our
prayer. The warmth of our charity is the warmth of our prayer.” ( Carlo Carretto)
Everything depends on our prayer for progress in the spiritual life, and
the life of Faith.
This is why Our Lady emphasises ‘Prayer’ in
all her messages in Medjugorje. She
comes amongst us to teach us how to pray. We are like the Apostles who on
seeing Jesus in prayer said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’
(Luke: 11: 1-4.)
Without a prayer life our mission in this world will be fruitless.
So Our Lady begins this
month’s message,
“Dear Children,
God has sent me among you to love you
and encourage you to prayer and conversion, for peace in you and in your familie’s and in the world.”
Our Lady comes to us, because God is sending her amongst us with the
Gospel message of conversion and renewal.
It is in Gods plan that Our Lady Queen of
peace comes amongst us to gather us together as her “Dear Children.” Our Lady tells us why she is here “to
love you,”
Millions of people have experienced this love of Our Lady in Medjugorje.
To know the Love of Our Lady is a beautiful gift, and once experienced she
leads us deeper into the life of Faith. On one occasion Our Lady said, “If
you knew how much I loved you, you would cry with Joy.” Our Lady comes to us from Heaven to help us feel her love and
know the power of her maternal Intercession.
Then Our Lady calls us to prayer and conversion. The fruit of prayer is peace, and it is peace
in our heart’s and familie’s
that our Lady has emphasised from the beginning that is most important.
There can be no real peace without change, i.e. Conversion. That is why
we have to work on our own conversion in our
relationship with God and neighbour.
At this time of writing there are terrible wars and atrocities taking
place in various places throughout the world, and this is serious for humanity.
Each one of us is important in the building of peace and it begins by looking
at ourselves, and entrusting ourselves to God in
prayer and Faith.
Our Lady tells us that Peace in us , spreads to
others in our familie’s and in the world. “I would like to teach you to pray.” Says the message of June, 12th1986.
“Ask God to come to your aid, not according to your desires, but
according to his love. Forget your desires and pray for what God wants, and not
yours.” ( September, 25th, 1991)
This invites our surrender to God, our abandonment to his will for our
lives. Jesus, tells us, “Set your hearts on the Kingdom first, then
all else shall be given to you.” ( Matt: 6: 33.)
Our personal intentions and prayers are part of our prayers, but Our
Lady reminds us that true prayer leads us into the peace of God’s will.
What does Our Lady want us to pray for then?
· For Peace,
· to be protected from Satan,
· for Jesus to be victorious,
· for Our Lady’s intentions,
· for the Gift of the Holy spirit,
· to know the love of God,
· and to give witness.
These are just some of the intentions our Lady has encouraged us to pray
for over the years. Now, she asks us to
pray for peace in our familie’s and in the
world.
Then Our Lady say’s, “Little children, do
not forget that true peace, comes only through prayer, from God who is peace.”
The innermost content of the message of peace concerns not only the call
to avoid war but is foremost a call for conversion towards God and a radical
decision for life. Contact with God is contact with his peace. Life on earth is
a gift from God, and our lives are to be lived in God’s will. In his will is
our peace. Scripture tells us that God does not want death but rather life and
life to the fullest! Yet, humanity is going in the other direction, the path of
destruction and war. That is why Mary,
the Queen of peace, says that she has come to help us and love us. She wants to
raise us to a new level of living, - in peace. She is staying with us for such
a long time to lead us away from the path of destruction and accompany humanity
on the new path of peace in her Son.
She leads us to the love of life in a new way, the way of –
· Prayer
· Fasting
· Reconciliation
The seeds of Conversion, Prayer, Fasting and Reconciliation, should not fall on stony
ground, but on fertile hearts and souls of the pilgrim people of God.
May it be so for us!
God Bless,
Fr. Martin