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Official Commentary on the
monthly message of
February
25th 2007 & a Reflection
by Fr. Jozo OFM
Below
is the official English translation of this month's commentary on Our Lady's
message to the world through the visionary Marija, provided by The Medjugorje Information Centre
~ Acknowledgements information and
links
COME,
Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, your well beloved spouse.
Most
Holy Spirit, open my heart, soften it, and fill it with light and love so that I
may understand clearly what I read below and act on it for my own spiritual
benefit and for the delight of my Heavenly Mother, Your Beloved Spouse. May I
read each word under Your guidance so that, free of all worldly desires and
distractions, I may grow in wisdom and prudence enough to follow perfectly the
wishes of the Most Blessed Trinity. Amen
"Dear
children! Open your heart to God's mercy in this Lenten time. The
Heavenly Father desires to deliver each of you from the slavery of sin.
Therefore, little children, make good use of this time and through
meeting with God in confession, leave sin and decide for holiness. Do
this out of love for Jesus, who redeemed you all with His blood, that
you may be happy and in peace. Do not forget, little children: your
freedom is your weakness, therefore follow my messages with seriousness.
Thank you for having responded to my call."
Monthly message
to the world, February 25, 2007
TIP
Our
Lady has regularly said the messages are for each one of us individually so try reading them as if your own name was
there; "Dear .........." - it can
make them so much more personal, challenging and effective.
O
Blessed Mother, help us hear your words to us. Teach us to listen ever
more carefully to the words of your Son. Pray that our hearts will be
transformed into the hearts he wants us to have, and that we will
always be open to His call. Amen.
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message commentary:- OPEN
YOUR HEART TO GOD'S MERCY
God
ceaselessly searches and calls men to His side, so they can live and
find the fullness of bliss in Him. His merciful love was manifested when
He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us and save us by His
passion, death and resurrection. "For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3, 16)
"Open your hearts to the God's mercy in this time of Lent",
Virgin Mary is saying to us. Where, if not in the God's mercy, can a man
find salvation and hope? We can ask ourselves: why is it so hard to
believe in the God's mercy? By believing in the God's mercy, we return
to the very roots of sin. The hardest thing for a man is to admit his
own sins. When a man does not feel himself a sinner, he will not feel
the need to beseech the God's mercy. On the other hand, the world and
every single human being wail for mercy, forgiveness and love.
In the depths of the God's heart there is a yearning and a desire to
save His own creature from the slavery of sin. Although the awareness of
the sin is decreasing, it nevertheless remains a reality which exists
and whose consequences are damaging us and our families daily. Most
often, a man is haunted by the very thing he denies, by the very thing
he is running from. Only if he has enough courage to stand up to the
thing which hurts him most, which is most embarrassing for him - only
then does the process of healing and deliverance begin. However, it is
also the hardest step for a man. For a drug, gambling or alcohol addict,
the hardest thing is to admit his addiction. Only when he admits it, he
becomes a winner fighting for his freedom, only then he becomes a free
man.
Mother Mary, who invited us to confess more often, in this message
invites us also to seek the shelter of the God's mercy in the sacrament
of the holy confession, through which God forgives our sins, and also
gives us strength to fight and to persist on the path of peace, freedom
and conversion.
"Your freedom is your weakness", Virgin Mary is saying to us.
The time of the Lent is the time which warns us we did not reach our
goal yet. The Lent is telling us we are still in the desert. In this
desert, we are not yet safe. We always have the possibility to fall, to
lose our freedom or to sell it for a little happiness, pleasure and joy
which the sin promises us. God does not want to give us just a little of
something, he wants to give us everything, His own self. The freedom
which God gives us is a gift, a burden and a responsibility. In such
freedom, we are responsible in every moment, and we cannot be released
from that responsibility.
On this road of life, we are not alone and deserted, nor are we left to
ourselves. We should take sincerely the words of the Heavenly Mother, so
we can meet Jesus and walk the path of holiness, peace and freedom.
Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic ~ Medjugorje, 26th
February, 2007 ~ Official
English Translation
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Apparition
to Mirjana on March 2, 2007 Mirjana said that Our Lady was resolute
and She said: "Today
I will speak to you about what you have forgotten: Dear children, My
name is Love. That I am among you for so much of your time is love,
because the Great Love sends me. I am asking the same of you. I am
asking for love in your families. I am asking that you recognize love in
your brother. Only in this way, through love, will you see the face of
the Greatest Love. May fasting and prayer be your guiding star. Open
your hearts to love, namely, salvation. Thank you."
More
Mirjana Apparitions
Fr Jozo's
February Reflection:
My
dear brothers and sisters,
In this message, the original Motherly, love and goodness emanate. It is
because a mother can never sufficiently inspire and ingrain the
fundamental values in her children. This is especially difficult today,
when various shop windows and vendors compete for every child and every
person. Some offer entertainment and leisure, others spring pleasure and
fashion, and others still offer various programs for all age brackets.
In her message, Our Lady reminds us that this is a holy time of Lent and
that this is, in particular, a time of God’s mercy. The indelible
trace of that great mercy is retained in the most beautiful parables and
teachings of Jesus in the Gospels as well as in His encounters with
sinners and sinful inclinations deserving punishment - even stoning.
Jesus’ encounter with the sinner, the woman caught in adultery, is
unforgettable. In it, Our Lord by writing on the ground with His finger,
saves the poor, abandoned sinner. In contrast to those who condemned
her, Jesus approaches her and forgives her sins. Moved by His love and
mercy, she leaves her sin and becomes His follower.
Reflections on the Way of the Cross and Our Lady’s Lamentations along
with Veneration of Our Lord’s Cross and meditation on It, evidence and
reveal to our soul and our heart the depth of God’s mercy. They help
us to comprehend how much Our God loves us and inspire us to respond to
that love. We are called to do the same as St. Francis of Assisi did
when meditating on the Crucified Master, he cried ‘because Love is not
loved.’ He accepted that Love and responded to it by humbly following
the Crucified.
In this message, the Mother reminds us that “The Father so loved the
world as to give His only Begotten Son, that none may be lost.” (Jn
3:16) So that none of us may be lost, our Lord instituted the Holy
Sacrament of Reconciliation with the Father and the Church. He reminds
us that only God forgives sins and that only He can say through His
priest, “I absolve you of your sins.”
Man has a need to bare his sins and to free himself from that wound and
the fire that burns and incinerates. People often think that they are
relieved if they speak of their sin to a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a
journalist or to a friend while having coffee. However, a sin that is
only entrusted to someone and not confessed returns again to us as our
shadow and a personal evil that follows and persecutes us.
Sin can enter into our hearts in a thousand different ways. It can enter
through our eyes if they watch inappropriate and scandalizing scenes and
images. It can enter through our thoughts if we dwell on what is bad and
inappropriate. Sin simply poisons and stains our thoughts. So it is also
with our other senses. There is only one way and means how we can leave
sin and be truly free of it – it is the Sacrament of Holy Confession.
Only God forgives man his sin. It is in that Sacrament that God’s love
and mercy are evidenced the most.
To have a good and holy confessor has always been a great gift of God.
St. Padre Pio and St. Leopold Mandic both helped their penitents leave
their hidden sins and thus come to the peace and the grace of
forgiveness. In such confessions, by a single embrace, the Saints would
change a heart of stone making it repentant. It is through confession
that a Christian finds peace and the strength to forgive and to receive
forgiveness.
To decide to be holy and to desire to live a holy life is our life’s
ultimate goal and call. We are called to holiness because our God is
holy and we are made in His image. We must not deny Him by our
sinfulness, instead we must acknowledge and follow Him with our
holiness. Holiness is a personal decision for each one of us. Just as
sin does not take place without us, so holiness is not realized without
us or without our consent and cooperation. To follow Jesus is our
assignment and call and we can only follow the One we know and love. We
can only follow Him who is our example and the ultimate ideal.
To follow Christ is not an unrealizable goal for only certain
individuals, but a fundamental assignment and the way. To love and to
follow Jesus is the fullness of wisdom and greatness of a Christian. His
Cross, His wounds, His most precious blood are an inspiration to every
Christian. We have not been redeemed by gold or silver, as our first
Pope Peter said, but by the blood of our Lord. He nailed our debtor’s
note to the Cross and paid all of our debts. To look at the Cross and to
make the sign of the Cross means to have gratitude and a sincere love
for everything that has been given to us as a gift. The Cross always
tells us “I redeemed you. You are mine. You are precious in my sight
and I love you.” (Isaiah 43)
The power of the Cross frees us from every fear, from punishment and
from temptation of thinking that the Lord will not forgive us. The Cross
is a sign that God is mercy alone and that He calls us to reconcile with
Him and our neighbor. In my freedom, I must not choose evil and sin. I
must not reject love. In that freedom, I must accept the consequences of
my choice. This is why the Blessed Virgin tells us that “our freedom
is our weakness.” My freedom is my choice and I can choose the greater
good and be faithful to that good – my God, His way and His Gospel. In
all this we are reminded of Our Lady’s call to follow her messages
with seriousness.
This month we will pray for the following intentions:
1. For all Christians to prepare themselves for the Sacrament of
Reconciliation and to confess - in this way to leave sin and sinful
habits.
2. For priests, the confessors, that the Holy Spirit may inspire them in
meeting with penitents. That every sinner may feel the embrace of the
good and merciful Father in the priest.
3. That this holy Lenten time may be a spring time for our Church and
our faith. In this time of grace, we pray that the Church may give a
powerful witness of faith, hope, love of God and man to those who have
not yet come to know God and those who have fallen away from the faith.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, Let us use this time well to also confirm
our apostolate with good works. The Church and the Lord need us and that
is why the Mother is calling us. Let us purify our love for the Church
and for all sinners.
I pray for all of you and invoke the blessing of the Queen of Peace upon
you.
With brotherly sincere greetings to all,
Fr. Jozo Zovko, OFM 28-02-2007
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updated 18th
March,
2007 - Praised be Jesus and Mary - His Peace to all! - ê¿ê
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