Peace to All! Below is the official English translation of the Commentary on Our Lady's monthly message of October 25, 2001 as provided by the Information Centre in Medjugorje.

"Dear children! Also today I call you to pray from your whole heart and to love each other. Little children, you are chosen to witness peace and joy.  If there is no peace, pray and you will receive it. Through you and your prayer, little children, peace will begin to flow through the world. That is why, little children, pray, pray, pray, because prayer works miracles in human hearts and in the world. I am with you and I thank God for each of you who has accepted and lives prayer with seriousness. Thank you for having responded to my call." October 25, 2001

OUR LADY COUNTS SERIOUSLY ON US

I believe that words are too weak, too small and insufficient to express the desire and the love of the Blessed Virgin Mary for her children.  Her purity and the greatness of her love cannot be contained in words.  Each and every word has the power to hurt or to heal.  Each and every word contains a spirit and a heart, but it also can transmit rudeness and emptiness.  We know that Our Lady's words come from a pure heart, pacified in God, filled with an untiring love.  This is why this month's message wants to show us the way, the direction.

On the road, a sign is useless if we do not follow it.  If we remain standing next to it, we will never reach our goal. Signs are there to help us not to get lost and thus reach our goal. It is the same with Our Lady's message - it wants to speak to us, to guide us, and we are those who will or will not follow.  For more than twenty years now, Our Lady not only speaks to us, but
wants to cry to each one's heart: Pray.  We can easily find thousand of reasons not to pray, but there is one sufficient reason to pray: the joyful encounter with our Saviour.  The fruit of our prayer is the love we are longing for, but maybe in a wrong way and in wrong places.  We encounter less and less love in human relationships, more and more envy, backbiting, exploitation and lack of understanding.  And we are surprised by it, and we ask ourselves how these kind of corrupted people can be human.  Maybe we are not surprised enough as to why such a small number of people choose prayer.  We are not surprised and we do not ask ourselves why there are less and less families who pray together, less and less families where members carry each others' burdens.  We are not surprised much when someone blasphemes the name of God because we are used to this kind of poison.  We are not surprised very much when families, parents in the family, are ashamed to pray in front of
each other and in front of their children.  Our Lady does not point out our wounds, which she knows too well - she wants to cover them with the purity of her love.

We ask ourselves why prayer is so difficult.  Maybe because we do not believe in its power, perhaps better to say in the power of God who has no other possibility to reach and to save us, to deliver and to heal us.  God can give us only what we ask him for.  Peace can come only there where you open the door to it.  Peace stands in front of your door.

Maybe we pray for peace, but we accept so easily all the sources of conflicts: negative thoughts, accusations, judgments and opinions, suspicions, backbiting and defamations.  Peace has its price, but it cannot be bought like a thing in a shop.  Peace is not a cheap thing; it demands a certain silence, sometimes even a heroic silence.  The struggle for peace is a permanent struggle.  Who ever wants to be a fighter for peace has to be ready to make war against himself, against his own negative tendencies, which bring forth fruits of death and destruction.  It is necessary to put a guard on one's mouth, in order to dwell in the presence of Him who gives peace and who is peace.  Only through peaceful hearts can the Lord establish a kingdom of peace; first in our families, and then in the world.  Let us do what we can, and God will do what seems impossible to us.  If we do not do what is in our power, God will not force a hardened and cold heart.

I believe that Jesus was most hurt by people who did not take Him seriously.  Our Lady said once that many have taken my messages seriously, but they have given up when they met difficulties and suffering.  Jesus takes us seriously, Our Lady counts seriously on us; this is why she has remained with us for such a long time.  As our Mother, she is grateful for all of those who
seriously follow Her call.  Let us not become tired in following Her words.  Let us approach Jesus through Mary with an open heart. Let love attract us to God, and not fear.  Let us approach Him before an affliction forces us to go towards Him.  Let us wake up before a sudden distress or illness awaken us from our spiritual stupor.

Mary, thank you for your appeals, your words and your coming.  Thank you for having obtained so many graces for all those who have opened their hearts, who follow the call of your heart with seriousness.  Thank you, Mary, for all those who will, in visiting this place, make the experience of a new birth in the encounter with their Saviour.  Thank you, Mary, for so many families who gather for prayer and nourish themselves at the source of life.  Thank you, Mother, for so many hearts awakened thanks to the sacrament of Holy Confession and Holy Mass.  Thank you, Mother, for not becoming tired with us.  Do not become tired in calling us, even when we become tired and distant.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje, October 26, 2001