Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2014
Our Lady’s Message December 15, 2013
“Dear children! I am carrying to you the King of Peace that He may give you His peace. You, little children, pray, pray, pray. The fruit of prayer will be seen on the faces of the people who have decided for God and His Kingdom. I, with my Son Jesus, bless you all with a blessing of peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Medjugorje Update:
(Excerpts from the Information Center “Mir” Medjugorje, www.medjugorje.hr)
++ 12/25/13 At the last daily apparition to Jakov Colo on September 12th, 1998, Our Lady told him that henceforth he would have one apparition a year, every December 25th, on Christmas Day. This is also how it was this year. The apparition began at 3:07 pm and lasted 8 minutes. Afterwards Jakov transmitted the message:
Little children, today in a special way, Jesus desires to come to dwell in each of your hearts and to share with you your every joy and pain. Therefore, little children, today in a special way, peer into your hearts and ask yourselves if the peace and joy of the birth of Jesus have truly taken hold of your hearts. Little children, do not live in darkness, aspire towards the light and towards God’s salvation. Children, decide for Jesus and give Him your life and your hearts, because only in this way will the Most High be able to work in you and through you.
++ The Parish Office has encouraged all families to pray more intensively together and to participate in the prayer programme that is held in the church and on hills in this special season of Advent. In the following four Sundays of Advent, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will take place also after the main Holy Mass at 11 a.m. This is the quiet period for our parish and there are groups of pilgrims from Italy, the United States, Germany, Austria and Korea.
++ 12/18/13 Gisella Barreto: “After coming to Medjugorje, I felt as if my world began to change” A pilgrim from Argentina, Gisella Barreto came to Medjugorje. Gisella is a very famous person in Argentina and in the other countries of Latin America as well. She won several beauty contests, became TV hostess, and even though she lived in the world of glamour, none of that ever made her happy. She came to Medjugorje in 2010 as a result of her mother’s desire and that is when her world started to change. She does not work in media anymore, she does not live in the world of glamour, but she witnesses instead of that and teaches religion in schools and she said how only now she feels happy and blessed in her life after so many years. Gisella told us that she came here to thank Gospa in Medjugorje. She said that her mother was always a pillar of faith in their family and that she raised her four children in the faith.
She had beautiful childhood but it all changed in the time of adolescence. That is when she was attracted to the world with all of its challenges. Gisella was very pretty and that is when she entered the world of glamour. She won at several contests and was a semi-finalist at the contest for Miss Argentina. “That life was seemingly nice and attractive, it was actually a true trap of the world. I always looked unhappy and my mom used to tell me to surrender all to God. She was in Medjugorje on three occasions and showed me Our Lady from Medjugorje and told me to thank Her for all. It was after that visit to Medjugorje that my life began to change. This is where I understood that it is not enough just to be a good person, but our soul needs to be filled with God. It was through the emptiness in the heart that the world starts to enter within us.”
Pope prescribes daily rosary for what ails you
“I want to recommend some medicine for all of you,” the pope said Nov. 17,2013 at the end of his Sunday Angelus address. “It’s a spiritual medicine.”
Holding up a white medicine box with an anatomical drawing of the human heart on it, Pope Francis told some 80,000 people gathered for the midday prayer that the boxes contained a rosary.
“Don’t forget to take it,” he said. “It’s good for your heart, for your soul, for your whole life.”
Praying the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet will help people reap the fruits of the Year of Faith, he said, because they are “a spiritual aid for our soul and for spreading love, forgiveness and brotherhood to everyone.”
Volunteers, led by Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, director of papal charities, gave away about 20,000 boxes containing a rosary, a Divine Mercy holy card and a medical-style instruction sheet.
In addition to describing how to pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a devotion begun by St. Faustina Kowalska, the information sheet states categorically that no negative side effects have been reported.
The sheet recommends daily use of the beads for both adults and children, but adds that it can be repeated as often as necessary. It also notes that receiving the sacraments increases the efficacy of the prescription and that further information and assistance can be received from any priest.
The Swiss Guards, their family members and the Albertine Sisters who work in their barracks spent weeks in October, the month of the rosary, preparing the boxes and inserting instructions in Italian, French, English or Polish. Archbishop Krajewski got the idea from Archbishop Slawoj Glodz of Gdansk, Poland; a seminarian in Gdansk had made similar boxes for youths attending a retreat.
St. Francis de Sales…Feast day Jan. 24
Our Savior gave the sacrament of penance and confession to His Church so that we may be cleansed from all our iniquities no matter how often and how greatly we have been defiled by them. Why should we die a spiritual death when we have this sovereign remedy at hand?
Message from Blessed Mother to visionary Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo in St. Brigetta chapel in Portland, Oregon February 1990
“Dear Children, I have been with you nine years. For nine years, I wanted to tell you that God, your Father, is the only way, truth and life. I wish to show you the way to eternal life. I wish to be your tie, your connection to the profound faith. Listen to me!”
Take your rosary and get your children, your families with you. This is the way to come to salvation. Give your good example to your children; give a good example to those who do not believe. You will not have happiness on this earth, neither will you come to heaven if you are not with pure and humble hearts and do not fulfill the law of God. I am asking for your help to join me to pray for those who do not believe. You are helping me very little! You have little charity or love for your neighbor and God gave you the love and showed you how you should forgive and love others. For that reason, reconcile and purify your soul. Take your Rosary and Pray. Take all your sufferings patiently. You should remember how Jesus patiently suffered for you.
The Joy of Our Lord is Our Strength
Fr. Jerry from the Philippines
Homily at St. James Church,
Medjugorje October 29,2013
Yes, the Lord uses signs and you talk about signs. You know nothing happens by accident for those who love God. It is not an accident that we are here in Medjugorje. You did not decide to come to Medjugorje. You were called by the Blessed Mother and She is very happy that we are now looking for Her Son. Many of us have traveled so many miles. I came from the Philippines. We are hers. Mama Mary is very happy, smiling at each one of us.
About this time, 33 years ago, I was ordained a priest. And I ask you, pray for us, your priests. Medjugorje is the Confession capital of the world. But if there are no priests, there will be no confessions. There will be no Eucharist. Please pray for each one of us here, your priests. And be kind to your priest as well. That’s very important, pray for us.
Brothers, do things Medjugorje tells us. Prayer is powerful- the most simple prayers, your Rosary, meditation. Please go home with the spirit of prayer. As you know, Medjugorje is not a place; it is a spirit you bring with you. If you and I become more prayerful then this world would be a better world.
The second message is humor. It is powerful. Medjugorje is about joy. You heard Vicka today, that joy in her eyes, in her heart, it is so contagious. Let our Church be joyful again. Please do not forget joy because the joy of the Lord is our strength. And one more thing. Medjugorje reminds us about simplicity. Go back to basics. It becomes so complicated, when all we need is a simple, peaceful life. I’ll share with you a simple story that talks about simplicity. We were all born and we will all die. Simple. When you were born, you and I, it was clean. It is up to you to keep it clean. You keep it clean, it is clean. You mess it up, it is messy. It is your call it is your choice. Blame no one, blame nothing for your situation. We believe in one God. You and I, today we say, Lord, were it not for You in my life, what would I be now? There is a God and you are not Him. Please don’t forget that.
The God we believe in is the Trinity. There is God the Father who made you and me and this beautiful creation. God the Son, the second person is our Saviour, who died for you and for me. And the third person in the Trinity is God the Holy Spirit, our guide who leads us where we go. A beautiful prayer anytime we are tempted, anytime we have problems, “Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit.” Keep it simple. One of the three things to do while we are still alive, number one, love God. Don’t forget to love Him. Second thing the Lord called us to do is to love your neighbor. Yes, don’t hurt people. Some of us can be so prayerful, but we hurt others with our thoughts and words and deeds. And finally, the third thing to do is love yourself. Take good care of yourself.
One of the things we need in this life, keep it simple, remove sin from the heart. Let us ask the Lord, “Lord help me to spend the rest my life, the best of my life.” We are not getting any younger. Number two, we don’t need in our lives, heaviness of heart, worries, anxiety, regrets, travel light and don’t worry. Look at the birds in the air, they neither sow nor reap, but your Father takes care of them. We are sorry about so many things. We have a Mother and a Father who loves us. I know someone who once said, the more you worry, the more you will hurry to the cemetery.
And finally what is most important in our coming to Medjugorje, I hope we experience Jesus. It is the Blessed Mother who brings us closer to Her Son Jesus. Lord that I may see You more clearly, love You more dearly and follow you more nearly. Brothers, we are here. We have a mission. We have a final destination.
Before we finish, let us make a promise to see each other in heaven someday. I invite all of us now to bow our heads, with our right hand over our heart and close our eyes and pray precisely for that.
Let us all pray for the grace of a hapy death. We do not know when or where or how the Lord will call us. But grant dear Blessed Mother, Mama Mary, when the hour comes, I will be ready to welcome You. That I be reconciled through the world and with myself and with You, that I have done my mission.
Thank you Lord and help us to have beautiful lives. Help us to live the rest of our lives the best of our lives.
CENTER FOR PEACE – WEST
Our Lady’s most frequent message in 2013 “PRAY…”
“Pray without ceasing”, “prayer works miracles”,” pray with the heart”, “pray,pray,pray”,”be prayer”, “open yourselves little children to prayer”, “pray, pray, pray until love and peace begin to reign in your hearts”, “ I unceasingly pray for you”.
in 2014…
PRAY, PRAY, PRAY