THE MEDJUGORJE WITNESS

• Be purified of sins and in Jesus, my Son, recognise the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the entire world. May He be the meaning of your life...

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part message given to Mirjana, March 2, 2008

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• Propitiation is the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding divine retribution. It is related to the idea of atonement… 

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Source: Wikipedia

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• Throughout the world, countless people choose to believe in the Medjugorje phenomenon and have changed their lives by doing so. Not all make pilgrimages to Medjugorje but instead accept the testimony of those who return from the small village and want to witness to all they have seen and heard there. Others are able to ‘come and see’ for themselves and visit the well of Living Water.

 

God thirsts for his people. We thirst for God. 

 

It is said that prayer is the encounter between God’s thirst and ours.

 

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman who arrived at the well to draw water, he was tired and thirsty and he asked the woman for a drink. In her conversation, her prayer with Jesus at the well, the woman discovers he is the Messiah. “I am he” said Jesus.

 

The Samaritan woman hurried back to her town to tell the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?” This brought people out of the town and they started walking towards Jesus (setting out on their pilgrimage journey.)

 

Many Samaritans of that town had believed in him on the strength of the woman’s testimony when she said, “He told me all I have ever done,” so, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, and when he spoke to them many more came to believe; and they said to the woman, “Now we no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he really is the saviour of the world.” (John 4 : 1-42)

 

Listening to and speaking with Jesus is prayer.

 

At Medjugorje, the presence of Our Lady is always accompanied by the Holy Spirit, Living Water that becomes a spring inside the pilgrim, welling up to eternal life; the same Spirit that came down upon the apostles at Pentecost and gave them the gift of speech, to speak of and witness to all that they had seen and heard; the same Spirit who spoke to Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs… (Acts 2 : 1-13) the same Spirit who still speaks to pilgrims who travel to Medjugorje from all over the world,  and then return home and speak about the marvels of God in their own language to their own people.

 

Medugorje is a perpetual Pentecost.

 

Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life. (John 4 : 14)

 

Mary said to the angel, “But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” the angel answered “and the power of the the Most High will cover you with its shadow…” (Luke 1 : 34-35)

 

• Dear children! The Most High is giving me the grace that I can still be with you and to lead you in prayer towards the way of peace. Your heart and soul thirst for peace and love, for God and his joy. Therefore, little children, pray, pray, pray and in prayer you will discover the wisdom of living. I bless you all and intercede for each of you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Medjugorje message, June 25, 2014

 

• Dear children! You are the ones responsible for the messages. The source of grace is here, but you, dear children, are the vessels which transport the gifts. Therefore, dear children, I am calling you to do your job with responsibility. Each one shall be responsible according to his own ability. Dear children, I am calling you to give the gifts to others with love, and not to keep them for yourselves. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Medjugorje message, May 8, 1986

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• These days, I forget many things, especially names, and even what I was doing yesterday. I have to accept that this is all part of the ageing process. And I do.

 

In her Medjugorje messages Our Lady often uses the phrase: “Do not forget...” One of my favourites is “Little children, do not forget that I am your mother.”

 

It reminds me of the verse from Isaiah:

 

Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will not forget you. (49:15)

 

God’s covenant is lasting. It is written down, inscribed in his heart. He calls us, and keeps calling, even when we forget and break the promises we make to him. I have to trust my memory to him. It was his to give and his to take back.

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• I would lead you and bring you Into the house of my mother, who used to instruct me; I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates.

 

Song of Solomon 8:2

 

• Through the Holy Spirit you will become a spring of God’s love. All those who do not know my Son, all those thirsting for the love and peace of my Son, will drink from this spring.

 

Part message to Mirjana, April 2, 2014

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• The world changes. Governments change. Fashions change. Opinions change. People change. Habits change. Hearts change. But the Word of God never changes. The Truth can never change. Our Lady bears the Word of God. Nothing new.

 

Ivan Dragicevic

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• Pope Leo XIV has called on world leaders to lay down their weapons and choose “encounter” over domination.

 

“Let those who have weapons lay them down!”, the Pope urged on Easter Sunday in his traditional Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World) message.

 

Speaking to the tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square, Pope Leo urged “those who have the power to unleash wars” to chose peace. 

 

This should not be a peace “imposed by force”, he stressed, but one achieved through dialogue – “not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them”.

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• Source: Vatican News

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• Full text of the Urbi et Orbi message at this link.

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• Let me tell of your power to all ages (Psalm 40 : 18)

 

• When Easter Sunday (2017) arrived, I have to confess I wasn’t exactly in a joyful frame of mind. I hadn’t been feeling too well for the past three days and my wife was also struggling with sickness.

 

Not being able to drive because of recent surgery and knowing my wife was not well enough either, we resigned ourselves to not getting to Mass on Easter Sunday morning.

 

I have a habit of regularly checking BBC News on my iPad and it so happened today that the news channel was transmitting live coverage of the papal Easter Mass from Rome. I decided to watch it, but first I had to take my medication for the morning. I propped the iPad on a kitchen surface with one eye on the screen and another on sorting my medication.

 

The Mass had progressed to the time of serving Holy Communion and it went through my mind then how everyone would be receiving healing through the Eucharist while I was having to settle for a handful of tablets. This disturbed me and I felt a longing for the Lord’s body and blood.

 

Later I took to my bed for a couple of hours rest. I recall that one of my prayers before I closed my eyes was to seek consolation and healing in receiving the Word through scripture as I wouldn’t be receiving Holy Communion today.

 

Around mid-afternoon I took it into my head to see how I could make my way to evening Mass at 5:00pm without having to rely on my wife to drive me – even if it meant walking the long distance. As it happened she was feeling much better and prepared to drive us both to church.

 

Arriving about half-an-hour before the start of Mass, we had sat in the pews for only about five minutes when a priest approached us and asked how I was feeling after my recent operation. I said my recovery was progressing reasonably well. And then he asked when was the last time I had received the Sacrament of the Sick. I answered: “Just over three weeks ago, before my operation.” “Come with me” said the priest, and we both followed him to a small room close to the sacristy.

 

I sat down on a chair as the priest proceeded to administer the Sacrament of the Sick, anointing my hands and head with chrism oil and praying over me. Then he turned to my wife who was standing beside me. He began to pray over her and within a few seconds she had collapsed on the ground, resting in the spirit. The priest then continued to pray over her, anointing her hands and head.

 

After he completed the anointing, he left the room and the two of us together, man and wife, in the presence of the Lord. Afterwards my wife said: “I needed the Lord to hold me in that way.” She was blessed – we both were – but especially my wife who had cared for me during my illness which had run through the whole of Lent, and then had to endure her own sickness.

 

When she was ready, I helped my wife to her feet and we returned into the church for Mass.

 

Reading back through the gospel passages describing the Resurrection experiences of those who followed Jesus, I can’t help feeling that the experience my wife and I were blessed with was a role reversal of a kind… Jesus came looking for us – came to us – and when my wife fell at his feet, he clung to her, not wanting to let her go. It was his day of resurrection and he wanted us both to be resurrected in this way as well, even though it was late in the day.

 

How great is our God of Surprises when he comes to meet us in the most unexpected ways, especially after his resurrection, when he comes to anoint and heal us with his merciful love, when he rolls away the stones and the sins that entomb us, when he fulfils his promise and empowers us with his Holy Spirit and makes us all witnesses to his saving love.

 

And the Resurrection is not the end of the story. There is always more to come. There is no end to God’s love.

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• The Harrowng of Hell… This is the Old English and Middle English term for the triumphant descent of Christ into hell (or Hades) between the time of His Crucifixion and His Resurrection, when, according to Christian belief, He brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world. 

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source: catholic.com

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• Endless are the signs and wonders reported at Medjugorje. But there is one that has been around for a long time and so could be considered somewhat of a permanent fixture. But I doubt if many, if any, pilgrims are aware of its mystery.

 

It’s located in a field at the rear of St James church and close to the bronze statue that represents both the Crucified and Risen Christ.

 

In the summer months, especially when sizeable congregations spill out into the field during outdoor Mass and prayer events, pilgrims can be seen resting against a large rock to take advantage of any shade it provides from the sun.

 

The above picture shows a group of men doing this while praying the Rosary, and when I look closely I can’t help but be reminded of the Bill Withers song “Lean on Me”.

 

Lean on me, when you're not strong

And I'll be your friend.

I'll help you carry on;

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need

Somebody to lean on.

 

Take a closer look at the shape of the boulder, particularly the profile on the left side. Recognise the ‘rock face’, the ‘face set like flint’, the ‘rock of ages’?

 

I offered my back to those who struck me,

my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;

I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.

The Lord comes to my help,

so that I am untouched by the insults.

So, too, I set my face like flint;

I know I shall not be shamed.

Isaiah 51 : 6-7

 

Isaiah’s prophecy is about the time of  Christ’s passion and death on the cross, so it doesn’t surprise me that the ‘rock face’, set like flint, is just a few yards from the Risen Christ sculpture! Also, observe the cross a pilgrim has scratched on the ‘eye’ of the rock!

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To prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath – since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity – the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it – trustworthy evidence, and he knows he speaks the truth – and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken; and again, in another place scripture says: They will look on the one whom they have pierced.

 

John 19 : 31-37

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Even my friend, in who I trusted,

who ate my bread, has turned against me.

 

Psalm 40 : 10

 

They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray Jesus.

 

John 13 : 2

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• The beautiful stained windows in the church of St James at Medjugorje were installed for the the Feast of the Assumption in 1987.

 

The designs were produced by the Croatian artist Branimir Dorotić, and manufactured by the Italian company Domus Dei, Rome. 

 

On the one side of the church are shown 14 events from the life of Our Lady; and on the other wall are windows that depict occassions associated with the Medjugorje phenomenon.

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• The name “Medjugorje Messages” is not the most appropriate, because if you go to the New Testament, you will find them all. They are not “Medjugorje Messages”. They are messages from Jesus Christ. And if you want to know what is happening in Medjugorje, just open the bible and you will find out everything. Everything is there. The messages in Medjugorje were here before Our Lady appeared. She just dramatised them in the lives of the priests, the visionaries, the parishioners, as well as in your own lives. 

 

Fr Svetozar Kraljevic OFM

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• Evangelicals consider the moment of conversion to be when one acknowledges he is a sinner, asks God’s forgiveness, and accepts him as Lord and Master. In Herzegovina, that is only the beginning: conversion is an ongoing, life-long process as bit-by-bit, with our cooperation, God conforms us ever more to the image of his Son. 

 

Conversion, then, means staying in touch with the reality of what is going on in us and around us, and dealing with that reality in obedience to God, in faithfulness and in love. We find ourselves constantly asking: “If Jesus were here, what would he do?” Or: “If I am to be holy and live according to the call and commandments of God, what do I need to do now?”

 

To be holy does not mean to be strange, a fanatic or a freak. It means to be a very normal, healthy, balanced person. Forget what the world or the devil might tell you: it is normal to lead a holy life, for that is the life that God created you to live. Holiness means wholeness.

 

Fr Svetozar Kraljevic OFM

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• In a talk given at Medjugorje to English-speaking pilgrims, Fr Svet spoke of how we can be susceptible to stealing God’s blessing. He particularly mentioned the misuse of drugs and how some drugs can replicate a “spiritual” state in people. But this was not the way God had intended any of us to reach a state of spiritual happiness. The apparent blessings are counterfeit, stolen, and an illusion. But the forbidden fruit of happiness is always there to tempt us.

 

Jacob came to his father to receive blessings, not as his true self, but disguised as his brother Esau. He received apparent blessings – success and wealth, with wives, slaves and children, but the Lord showed Jacob, who later wrestled with the Angel of the Lord through the whole night (his conscience?), and before an arranged meeting to reunite with Esau, that the true blessing was being at right with God and with his brother (cf. Genesis 32-22-31).

 

This was the first call made by Our Lady at Medjugorje (Gate of Heaven) when she said: “Peace, peace, peace, only peace! Reconcile with God and with each other!”

 

During this final week of Lent we may experience the call to purify our hearts by admitting and confessing our sins. For some, this may incur some sleepless nights as we wrestle with our consciences. Our conflict may leave us physically weak, just as Jacob did after his wrestling bout left him with a dislocated hip. But our spiritual state and soul will be strengthened and renewed when we submit to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to repent and receive the entitled blessings and merciful love of the Father.

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• An update on the Medjugorje books auction I posted about on February 21. There were no bids at the auction, but the set was eventually sold later via Ebay.

 

I’m pleased to report the price paid was £50, enough to feed two children at school for a year via the Mary Meals Charity.

 

I’ve now posted another set of Medjugorje titles for auction as displayed above and listed below:

 

• Our Lady Speaks frrom Medjugorje, by Andrew Jerome Yeung

• Up on the Mountain, by Fr Kenneth J. Roberts

• Queen of Prophets, The Gospel Message of Medjugorje, by Dudley Plunkett

• Dear Arthur (McCluskey), The Fruits of Your Labour, by Sylvia Anne Hoskins

• The Message of Medjugorje, The Marian Message to the Modern World, by Mark I. Miravalle

• Medjugorje Unfolds, in Peace and War, by Robert Faricy SJ and Lucy Rooney SND

• Queen of Peace in Medjugorje, by Jacov Marin

• God Exists, The best of the Spirit of Medjugorje, Vol 3, edited by June Klins

 

I’ve set the auction starting price at £50, and again, ALL proceeds from the sale will be donated to Mary’s Meals Charity.

 

To access the auction,  simply open up Ebay on your web browser and in the Ebay search bar enter the auction number: 127778806720, then sign in or register to bid.

 

Auction ends on Sunday 5 April, 2026.

 

All books have been used, but most are in good condition. 

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Then one of the twelve, a man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

 

Matthew 26 : 14-16

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The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

O nations, hear the word of the Lord,

proclaim it to the far-off coasts.

Say: “He who scattered Israel will gather him

and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.”

 

Jeremiah 31 : 10

 

Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray. Little children, when you pray you are close to God and He gives you the desire for eternity. This is a time when you can speak more about God and do more for God. Therefore, little children, do not resist but permit Him to lead you, to change you and to enter into your life. Do not forget that you are travellers on the way toward eternity. Therefore, little children, permit God to lead you as a shepherd leads his flock. Thank you for having responded to my call.

 

Medjugorje Message, November 25, 2006

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• The Jews fetched stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, “I have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God.”

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John 10 : 31-33

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• Jesus replied to the Jews, “I tell you most solemnly, before Abraham ever was, I Am.”

 

At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

 

John 8 : 58-59

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• The image shows detail from Pietro Perugino’s fresco in the Sistine Chapel: The Delivery of the Keys.

Perugino is pictured third from the right, dressed in black.

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• Dear children, Winds of peacelessness, selfishness and sin are catching hold of many hearts and leading them into peacelessness and perdition. That is why I am calling you, little children: return to God and to prayer, so that it may be good for you in the hearts and on the earth on which you live. I love you, little children, and that is why I am not tiring of calling you to conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.

 

Medjugorje Message, April 25, 2025

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• Dear children, The poison of selfishness and hatred rules human hearts and that is why you do not have peace. I am calling you, little children: be love and my extended hands to all those whom you meet. In humility, pray for peace and work on reconciliation among people, so that it may be good for every person on earth. Thank you for having responded to my call. 

 

(with ecclesiastical approval)

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• The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

 

Luke 1:26-38

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• The feast of St Gabriel was once observed on March 24, the day before the Annunciation but was changed in 1969 and moved to September 29. It is now celebrated alongside the archangels Michael and Raphael. 

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• The above image is detail from Leonardo’s painting of the Annunciation (Ufizzi Gallery, Florence) in which the artist has depicted the angel as both Jibril and the Holy Spirit, the Islamic version of Gabriel, which may explain why Leonardo’s version of the Annunciation does not show any Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit coming down on Mary.

 

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• When we transform our life and give our spirit a new image, we find it very hard and tiring to turn back from the darkness of earthly passions to the serene calm of the divine light. We ask God to help us so that a complete conversion may be brought about in us.

 

St Augustine commentary on Psalm 6, 5

 

Return, Lord, rescue my soul.

Save me in you merciful love.

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• Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Lazarus, here! Come out!” The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, let him go free.” John 11 : 43-44

 

• Dear children! Today I desire to share Heavenly joy with you. You, little children, open the door of your heart so that hope, peace and love, which only God gives, may grow in your heart. Little children, you are too bound to the earth and earthly things, that is why, Satan is rolling you like the wind rolls the waves of the sea. Therefore, may the chain of your life be prayer with the heart and Adoration of my Son Jesus. Give over your future to him so that, in him, you may be joy and an example with your lives to others. Thank you for having responded to my call. 

 

Medjugorje Message, August 25, 2016

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• RESCUE him, O Lord, in this his evil hour,

As of old so many by Thy gracious power:(Amen)

Enoch and Elias from the common doom; (Amen)

Noe from the waters in a saving home; (Amen)

Abraham from th’ abounding guilt of Heathenesse; (Amen)

Job from all his multiform and fell distress; (Amen)

Isaac, when his father’s knife was raised to slay; (Amen)

Lot from burning Sodom on its judgment-day; (Amen)

Moses from the land of bondage and despair; (Amen)

Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; (Amen)

And the Children Three amid the furnace-flame; (Amen)

Chaste Susanna from the slander and the shame; (Amen)

David from Golia and the wrath of Saul (Amen)

And the two Apostles from the prison-thrall; (Amen)

Thecla from her torments; (Amen:)

—so, to show Thy power, 

Rescue this Thy servant in his evil hour.

 

• excerpt from The Dream of Gerontius, by St John Henry Newman

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• The Lord revealed it to me; I was warned. O Lord, that was when you opened my eyes to their scheming. I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughter-house, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, “Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten!”

 

Jeremiah 11 : 18-19

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• An atheist who is a keen mountain climber is climbing a high and difficult peak. He is all alone, way up on the mountain height, He is crawling along a narrow ridge. He moves with great care as there an immense drop over the side. Then, despite all his experience, his foot slips and he tumbles over the edge.

 

A small tree is growing out of the wall of the cliff and as he falls he grabs a branch of the tree. Hanging there and peering down into the depths of below, he has second thoughts about religion and cries out to God for help. The only answer to his cry is the echo of his own voice. He tries again, “Oh, God, help me and I will believe in you!” Again the only answer is an echo. He cries out again, “Please, God, help me. If you help me I will do anything you ask.”

 

This time the silence is broken by a might voice booming out over the valley. The voice says, “That’s what they all say when they are in trouble.” The excited converted atheist shouts back, “No, God. I am different from the others. I really will do anything you ask.”

 

“All right then”, answers the voice, “let go of the branch!”

 

Adapted from: Give God a Chance, by Robert Kelly SJ

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• Dear children! May this time be an incentive for personal conversion for you. Pray, little children, in solitude, to the Holy Spirit to strengthen you in faith and trust in God, that you may be worthy witnesses of the love which God bestows upon you through my presence. Little children, do not permit trials to harden your heart and for prayer to be like a desert. Be a reflection of God's love and witness the Risen Jesus by your lives. I am with you and I love all of you with my motherly love. Thank you for having responded to my call. 

 

Medjugorje Message, April 25, 2020

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• Saint Joseph’s dreams are four dreams described in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament in which Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is visited by an angel of the Lord and receives specific instructions and warnings of impending danger. All four dreams come from the period around the Nativity of Jesus and his early life, between the onset of Mary's pregnancy and the family's return from the Flight to Egypt. They are often distinguished by numbers as “Joseph’s first dream” and so on. Especially in art history, the first may be referred to as the Annunciation to Joseph.

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The four dreams are:

• First dream: In Matthew 1 : 20–21, Joseph is told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because she has conceived by the Holy Spirit. (See also the Annunciation in Luke 1 : 26–38, when an angel visits Mary and she agrees to conceive “through the power of the Most High”.)

• Second dream: In Matthew 2 : 13, Joseph is warned to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt.

• Third dream: In Matthew 2 : 19–20, while in Egypt, Joseph is told that it is safe to go back to Israel.

• Fourth dream: In Matthew 2 : 22, because he had been warned in a dream, Joseph awakens to depart for the region of Galilee instead of going to Judea.

 

• source: Wikipedia

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• Joseph is also venerated by Augustinians as the Protector of the Order of St Augustine (OSA).

 

• The above image is detail from the Adoration of the Magi painted by Sandro Botticelli, c1478-80, and housed in the Uffizi, Florence.

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• Today is Mirjana’s 61st birthday. It is also the day when she receives her annual apparition promised to her by Our Lady.

 

It was on her birthday six years ago when Mirjana was informed by Our Lady that her regular apparitions to the seer on the second day of each month had ended. As far as I understand, no explanation was shared publicly.

 

March 18 is not only a significant date in Mirjana’s life because it’s her birthday, but relates to other events in her life.

 

Mirjana is on record as saying the first ‘secret’ relates to a severe regional event, a disaster, and people in Medjugorje “will know immediately that it is in connection with the secrets”.

 

• Mirjana and the significance of March 18.

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Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

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• Dear children! I want you to understand that I am your Mother, that I want to help you and call you to prayer. Only by prayer can you understand and accept my messages and practice them in your life. Read Sacred Scripture, live it, and pray to understand the signs of the times. This is a special time, therefore, I am with you to draw you close to my heart and the heart of my Son, Jesus. Dear little children, I want you to be children of the light and not of the darkness. Therefore, live what I am telling you. Thank you for having responded to my call.

 

Medjugorje Message, August 25, 1993

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• Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;

that he will come is as certain as the dawn:

his judgement will rise like the light,

he will come to us as showers come,

like spring rains watering the earth.

 

Hosea 6 : 3

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• One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

 

Mark 12 : 28-31

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• We must be conscious that we do not believe in a dead God but in a living God, the Risen Christ, in the Christ who speaks to us. Each time we open the Bible, it is Jesus, it is his Word that speaks to us, the Word which is the light, the Word which makes all things new, the Word to follow... the Word–our Peace.

 

Fr Jozo Zovko OFM

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O that today you would listen to his voice!

‘Harden not your hearts’

 

Psalm 94 : 8

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• I had managed to break through the crowd and was walking side by side with my son. I called him through the shouting voices. He stopped. Our eyes met, mine full of tears and anguish, his full of pain and confusion. I felt helpless; then his eyes said to me, “Courage! There is a purpose for this.” As he stumbled on, I knew he was right. So I followed and prayed silently.

 

• Adapted from Richard Furey’s booklet: Praying the Stations with Mary the Mother of Jesus. published by Twenty-Third Publications

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• Croatian Post Mostar has issued a new stamp to coincide with the recent Catholic IT Conference held in Medjugorje last week.

 

The annual event was the third organised by the Information Center Mir Medjugorje. It is designed as a platform for people from the IT and technology sector with the aim of promoting the ethical use of technology.

 

• More details about the conference at this link.

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• Yesterday, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV received in Audience the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, His Excellency Mr. Željko Komšić, Chairman of the Presidency, His Excellency Mr. Denis Bećirović, and Her Excellency Ms. Željka Cvijanović. They subsequently met with His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations.

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During the cordial discussions held at the Secretariat of State, the parties expressed their satisfaction with the good bilateral relations. Particular attention was given to the need for inclusive and constructive dialogue in order to ensure the stability of the country and the juridical and social equality of all its constituent peoples.

Lastly, there was an exchange of views on several regional and international matters, including peace and security in the Western Balkans and the repercussions of the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

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• source: Holy See Press Office

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• One of the most unusual Stations of the Cross I have come across is a set of clay tablets produced by Carmel Cauchi, a Maltese artist who settled in the UK in the late 1960s. From there on he designed and made hundreds of religious items for English Catholic churches.

 

All 14 stations feature only the head of Christ, portrayed to reflect his expression at each stage of the Way of the Cross. Pictured above is the first station – Jesus is Condemned to Death – and closeup detail of his face and a pointer to the line from Isaiah (50 : 7) – “I have set my eyes like flint…”

 

Flint (silica) is a very hard sedimentary rock, and is often used as a mix in clay modelling and stoneware. So these stations can also be viewed as tablets of stone, and identified with the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, or Tablets of Testimony, that Moses was given by God on Mount Sinai as written in the Book of Exodus.

 

Like Moses, Jesus was a lawgiver. In Matthew’s gospel (5 : 17) Jesus said, “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them.”

 

The expression – eyes set like flint – mirrors Christ’s determination to persevere in his mission and passion, pointing to another passage from Isaiah (50 : 6) – “For my part I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.”

 

On every tablet we are invited to view the face of Jesus and be reminded that we walk and share with Christ in his Passion during our own times of pain and suffering… “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face… (1 Corinthians 13 : 12).

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• An image of all the Tablets of Stone is published at this link.

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• During an apparition, the visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti asked Our Lady, “Gospa, do you have anything especially for me?” The answer was, “I am giving you my love so that you can give it to others.”

 

On one occasion I asked Marija if she could single out the one message that was the most beautiful and the most hardest. After a short pause she remembered the above question and Our Lady’s answer. I wanted to know why this was the most beautiful and the most hardest message. She answered, “To experience the beauty of Our Lady’s love and to realise that this love is a gift, is something most beautiful in life. But when I try to love others and to give this love to others it is so hard that I am ashamed of my incomplete love in the light of Our Lady’s all-encompassing, motherly love.”

 

Then I asked, “What can be done?” The visionary answered, “Well, I pray every day that I can be open more and more to the love of Our Lady and that I can hand it over to everyone. I pray for others that they will be able to experience this love and transmit it to others. We are so far from love toward one another and that is a sign that we are far away from God’s love. The closer we would come to God’s love, the easier our life and our witnessing to others would be.”

 

I believe there is no better way for the rest of us than daily prayer for the gift of love, so that we can experience that love which is most beautiful and accomplish what is hardest.

 

• Fr Slavko Barbaric OFM, adapted from his book: In the School of Love

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• Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.

 

John 4 : 14

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• Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!"' (Mt 27:27-29).

 

St Paul described his thorn in the flesh as an angel of Satan, allowed to beat him and stop him from getting too proud (2 Corinthians 12 : 7). 

 

In the picture above, the sculptor Carmelo Puzzolo has presented Christ’s crown of thorns as a family of serpents, “a brood of vipers”.

 

• Dear children! My presence is a gift from God for all of you and an encouragement for conversion. Satan is strong and wants to put disorder and unrest in your hearts and thoughts. Therefore, you, little children, pray so that the Holy Spirit may lead you on the real way of joy and peace. I am with you and intercede before my Son for you. Thank you for having responded to my call. ” Medjugorje Message, May 25, 2016

 

Paul’s prayer: In my weakness, Lord, you are my strength; your grace is enough for me; your power is at its best when the thorns are piercing me.

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• Fr Svetozar Kraljević OFM is booked to lead a retreat organised by the Medjugorje Apostolate of England and Wales.

 

The event will be held at the Kairos Centre in Roehampton, south-west London, 13th to 15th March 2026. 

 

For further information and to book, contact Paul Spencer, pilgrimsofmary@hotmail.com

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