Mirjana's discourse with questions and answers to pilgrims

Content of the article
  1. Part 1 - Overview of Early days
  2. Part 2 - Our Lady's apparitions and messages
  3. Part 3 - Questions and Answers

In her talk to us, Mirjana began by recounting the early days of the apparitions. She did this primarily for those who had never been to Medjugorje before. Any words in italics are mine. The first part of the overview is presented here. Mirjana's words were translated by Miki Musa and therefore are not always grammatically correct but you will get the idea.

Part 2 - Our Lady's apparitions and messages

And I would like to ask you to accept this in a most serious way because if you were able just once to see the tears on the face of Our Lady because of unbelievers, I am so certain that you would pray from the bottom of your hearts, because Our Lady says this time is time of decisions. She says that we who call ourselves God's children, we have great responsibility. When Our Lady asks from us to pray for unbelievers, she decides that we do it in her way and that would be first to feel love for them, to feel them as our own brothers and sisters who were not lucky enough as we were to come to know the love of God.

And only once we feel like that we will be able to pray for them. We should never judge or criticise then. We should simply love them, pray for them and offer them our own example.

So that we may take Our Lady as she has been doing with us here as an example, I will give you an example how you can really show and present Our Lady and God's love.

As we say here we are always having personages coming here from Vatican, high personages you know (grin), high, high (laugh). A cardinal who came to Medjugorje, he said "did you know why I came to Medjugorje?". He said close to Vatican there is a church and on every last saturday of the month I see a few hundred Italians in the church for 2 to 3 hours, together praying. And I simply couldn't understand what does keep them in the church for so long. So one day, I also went there and asked them what are they doing? And they said, "we are the fruits of Medjugorje, here we have the programme of Medjugorje". He said when I saw that it interested me to come and see what is going on in Medjugorje. So they encouraged him to come to Medjugorje with their own example and not with preaching and not with words. And I would like to recommend the same to all of you. When you come back home, not to talk about Medjugorje to the people because you will be boring to them because they don't understand you. First of all, show to them with your own life that you were in Medjugorje and then start talking about Medjugorje.

In these apparitions, Our Lady gave to every one of us visionaries a mission to pray for. My mission is to pray for unbelievers, Vicka and Jakov pray for the sick, Ivan for the priests and the youth, Marija for souls in purgatory and Ivanka for families. But the most important message that Our Lady has been constantly repeating is the Holy Mass, but not only on sunday. Our Lady said to us at the very begining of the apparitions, when we were still children, if you find yourself to chose between attending the Holy Mass or seeing me in the apparition, you must chose to attend the Holy Mass because during the Holy Mass my son is with you.

In all these years, Our Lady never said 'pray and I will give you' but she always says 'pray so that I can pray to my son. So Jesus is always in the first place. Many of the pilgrims who come to Medjugorje believe that we visionaries are privileged, that God will accept our prayers in a better way than your prayers but that is completely wrong way of thinking. When it comes to Our Lady as a mother, she doesn't have a privileged children. We are all just her children that she has been choosing for different missions. She chose 6 of us in order to give the messages but she chose everyone of you.

Thats what she said in one of her messages on January 2nd and I personally believe that is addressing you pilgrims. She said " Dear children, I invited you, open your heart, allow me to enter in order to make you be able to become my apostles", which means we all have the same importance for Our Heavenly Mother.

If you think in a different way and you think that visionaries are privileged, let me give you an example. If you are mother and you have 3 or 4 children, which child do you prefer or like the most? Theres no such thing for a mother. A mother loves every one of her children with the same amount of love. She approaches them in a different way because not every child is the same but love is the same. The same example is with our Heavenly Mother. She loves us all equally and then we can all address her in the same way. She says "open your heart and I will be with you" and it just depends on us whether we really want Our Mother to be with us. Because I always say, it is not important to see Our Lady with your eyes, but it is important to see her with your heart. Many people had a chance to see her with their eyes and they did not understand. It is important that our heart is open and you can see her with your heart. And now its up to you whether you desire that or not.

When we look at Our Lady's messages, when we talk about the privileged ones then we can talk about priests. Because Our Lady never said what they should do but only and always what we should do for them. She said they don't need you to to judge and criticise them, but they need you to pray for them and love them. My children, if you lose respect for priests, then you will lose respect for the church and in the end, Dear God as well. Once again I repeat, God will judge the priests they way they were as priests . Recently, almost every 2nd of the month, Our Lady has been emphasising the importance of praying for priests. For example when she is blessing us and the things that are for blessing, she always says, I am giving you my motherly blessing but the greatest blessing you can receive on earth is a blessing coming from your priest. That is my son himself blessing you. And she says do not forget to pray for your shepherds.Their priestly hands are blessed by my son. Even in this latest message she invited us to pray for our priests. What I can say and you can make the same conclusion when you look at Our Lady's messages, between good and evil, between what is supposed to happen because you have to know what our Lady said, what she started in Fatima she will accomplish in Medjugorje. She said 'My Immaculate Heart will triumph'. So from this moment that we are living now until her triumph, there is a bridge and that bridge are the priests. And Our Lady decided we pray for them so that this bridge may be form, so that we can all cross that bridge to be able to reach, to come to Our Lady's triumph.

In following part of Mirjana's talk she spoke essentially about the specific things Our Lady has been asking us to undertake.

Our Lady asks for us to bring back the prayer of the rosary in our families. Our Lady says that there is nothing in the world that can unite a family like when you pray together. Our Lady says that parents have great responsibility before their children. Because parents are those who are supposed to put the seeds of faith in their children and that can only be done if they pray together and attend the Holy Mass together because children have to see that for their parents, God is in the first place and then everything else. Children are smart and we cannot talk to them about prayer if they don't see us praying. We can't talk to them about the importance of the Holy Mass if they don't see that for us, Holy Mass is in the first place.

Let me give you a cute example from my own family. My older daughter Maria, you saw her yesterday, she was serving here, when she was only two and half years old, I never spoke to her about the apparitions because I thought she's too young to understand that. And one day she was playing in the room with her friend. I was watching over them from time to time and then I heard that other girl saying to my daughter " you know my mum drives a car". My daughter Maria remained quiet for a moment and then said "Big deal, my mum talks to Our Lady " (laughter). Without even saying a word she understood what was happening in our family. Thats why it is important for children to see that their parents live for God with God in the first place.

Then Our Lady is asking for us to fast on bread and water on wednesdays and fridays. She does not ask fasting from those who are really sick. Our Lady said those people who are sick will realise through their prayer what they can do instead of fasting on bread and water.

But I would like to recommend to you, if you never prayed entire rosary every day, if you never fasted twice a week so far, take us an example of the way Our Lady started with us here in Medjugorje. The first thing she asked from us when she appeared here in Medjugorje was to pray on our knees, Creed, seven 'Our Fathers', 'Hail Marys' and 'Glory be' prayers. Sometime after she was asking us to add one part of the rosary and then to fast on every friday. Then sometime after she added second part of the rosary and sometime after to add third part of rosary, and then to fast on wednesdays. We just hope she will stop at this ! (laughter). But that could be as an example. Step by step. But it is important that you try to do it with heart but how much and how, let God be the one to judge. It is important that we have love and do it with love. Because in this world, that we live in, people judge and criticise too much. There is so little of love. And in one of her latest messages, Our Lady said "My name is love and I have come to teach you what you had forgotten and that is to love". So we should allow our hearts to lead us and bring us closer to God. Do not force yourself. Open your heart and pray as much as you can. And at the end you will reach what Our Lady has been asking from us.

Our Lady has been asking from us Holy Confession at least once a month. She says that there is no man on earth who doesn't have a need of a monthly confession. She is asking Bible in our family. I believe that everyone of us has a Bible in our home but Our Lady desires that we open that Bible every day to read a few sentences, doesn't matter how much but that the Bible is really present and not to have it as a little item in our homes standing in a certain corner, that we may say we have it but never touch it. This would be what I consider personally as the most important.

Following part will have the various questions and comments that were put to Mirjana and her responses.

 

For God to live in your hearts, you must love.

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