AHEAD ON OUR KNEES

Queues of open souls… Contrite hearts of penitents… All the faithful - who are at the same time sinners - wait for the moment of their encounter with the Merciful Father. Holiness and sinfulness meet in front of the confessional - the place of reconciliation between God and man. Bended knees and seeking forgiveness have marked the time of Advent. It means that many, in spite of everything - have heard Jesus and Our Lady here in Medjugorje. Repeatedly and perseveringly, they call us on the way of forgiveness, conversion and renewal of love. When these three meet, it is a new beginning for each and every person. Our heavenly Mother knows this well and this is why - practically on her knees - she asks us to walk on this path.

Only forgiveness makes a radical change in human behaviour possible. Forgiving and asking forgiveness is the best and the most efficient strategy for men, for nations, for the world. Therefore every confession is a new beginning, a new challenge, the opening of a door which has been closed. This is how people with bended knees, which always mean and remain the sign of rising up and not falling, enter into a new and unknown time.

With the New Year, we enter into a new beginning. It is good to begin with the attitude of repentance. Reconciled and renewed, we shall better receive fruits of the time that is ahead of us. Time is always a gift - the "kairos" of our Creator. We have to know how to receive and use our gifts and talents. The gift of time is a challenge for everyone who looks ahead, who sees the future. As Christians, we always see the future in the expectance of the future glory in the house of our Heavenly Father.

We ask ourselves how shall we reach there. Running, in haste, trying to catch up with time? No, not at all. Jesus tells us that many run, but only few receive the crown of glory. We can only go ahead in humility, on our knees, sprinkling the dew of forgiveness on our road. Those who do not know how to stop, how to look at themselves in relation to God, to brother men, to nature, can hardly advance in spite of the haste of their steps. Therefore, listening to the humble voice of Our Lady in Medjugorje, let us go on our journey with modest shoes and let us know how to shake away the dust of our sins.

Fr. Mario Knezovic