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Peace to All! Below is Fr. Slavko's Commentary on Our Lady's message
of 01/25/97. Our next mailing will be the Medjugorje Press Bulletin
later today.

P.S. Welcome to all new members of the email list!

Steve and Ana Shawl
http://www.medjugorje.org
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FR. SLAVKO'S COMMENTARY

Reflection on the Message of January 25, l997

"Dear Children! I invite you to reflect about your future. You are
creating a new world without God, only with your own strength and that
is why you are dissatisfied and without joy in the heart. This time is
my time and that is why, little children, I invite you again to pray.
When you find union with God, you will feel hunger for the word of God
and your heart, little children, will overflow with joy. You will
witness God's love wherever you are. I bless you and I repeat to you
that I am with you to help you. Thank you for having responded to my
call."


Many heartfelt greetings to all those who will be reading these
reflections. Let us first remember the message of Christmas 1996. The
main thought and, I believe, the main prayer of that message was
clearly that we should think about and pray that the God of love and
peace be revealed to us. Once God has given us this grace, then I am
sure that we will live all the messages with joy that Mary has given
us out of the Gospels. Then we will also with joy put our lives into
the reality, according to the Gospels, for eternity. I hope that we
have, and will continue to pray for this and then the God of love and
peace will reveal Himself to us. Also, we should not forget that since
August 2, 1987, Our Lady prays for this grace with Mirjana, in that
they pray for those who have yet to experience the love of God.

Regarding the visionaries, at the moment Jacov, Ivanka, Mirjana, Vicka
and Ivan are in Meugorje. Ivan returned from the USA after several
months, and mid-February he will again be traveling to Australia where
he will be sharing his testimony with many people about Mary's
apparitions and messages. Marija, who is in Italy, is the one to whom
Mary started giving the messages and she continues to do so still
doing so until today. Already ten years have passed since Mary stopped
giving us the Thursday messages, and instead started giving us the
monthly messages. The first monthly message was given to us on January
25, 1987. Marija also entrusted us with something that certainly
should bring joy to us all. She is pregnant with her third child and,
when she recommends herself in prayer, she also prays for all other
pregnant women. Mirjana and Ivanka are at home and live their family
lives. Mirjana continues to meet with Our Lady on the 2nd of every
month. Since August 2, 1987, until January 2, 1997, Mirjana's meeting
with Mary has remained something very, very private. Not even her own
family has been able to be with her for this. It has always been a
private affair. Mirjana always locks herself into her room and starts
praying. On January 2, 1997, Mary told her that from then onward those
meetings would also be open to others, for until then she never knew
at what hour Our Lady was going to be with her. But today she knows
it, for on February 2, Mary will be coming to Mirjana at 11 o'clock.
This should again be a new impulse for us all to pray on the same day
at the same time for the same intention, that being that one prays for
those non-believers, or rather for those who have yet to experience
the love of God. On January 27, Vicka and I will be flying to South
Africa and we will be staying there until February 15. I also ask you
all to recommend this trip in your prayers.

Mary has again given us a message this month through Marija, and this
message is again a motherly word, a motherly advice or a motherly
promise that she is and will remain with us. Very rarely has she
invited us in the way she has in this message. Usually she invites us
to prayer. This time first she says:

I INVITE YOU TO REFLECT ABOUT YOUR FUTURE

When we have all that Mary has spoken to us about until today in front
of our eyes, then one can say that she has always advised us to give
the past to the mercy of God, the future to the love and care of God,
and to work with all decisiveness in freedom with God in the present.
Here for the first time she advises us to think about our future. I
believe that we are all aware of the fact that today many, many people
speak about the future, and, for that matter, there is nearly a
science that calls itself 'futurology'. All that is talked about so
very much can be led back to the same question: What is going to be
happening to us and to the world? There are almost scientific
explanations for an apocalyptic future. When one thinks of all that is
happening today, then one can almost expect such things to happen
soon. And especially so when one speaks about ecology. About how much
dirt and how much poison we are producing, how many weapons, atomic
bombs and all possible radiations we have prepared for ourselves, and
how much radiation all those nuclear reactors will be spreading? When
one considers all these together, then one nearly has a reason to be
fearful. On the other hand, we are constantly being called upon by our
Church and especially by our present Pope to prepare ourselves for the
new millennium, and that we enter third millennium in a renewed way so
that we can then live in peace. There is hope, but we must remain very
aware that our future is dependent upon our present. That which we do
today has great meaning for our future. Exactly this is, I believe,
what we people forget the most easily. When we change our present
behavior, then we are then also promised a better, safer and more
beautiful future. But then again, we should become very aware that we
are mere pilgrims here on earth, for one day our pilgrimage will be
coming to an end. For every one of us in another way, but no-one will,
so to say, survive beyond that time. This too is very important point
about which we should often reflect. Because we are pilgrims, there is
no value in staying stuck to anything. Everything to which we cling
can and will end up hindering us on our path into the future. We see
how many people today are stuck to material goods, to money, to power
or to thrills. So many that many of them have already become
dependent, and have lost any and all inner freedom. No good future can
be promised to an enslaved person. The following are my thoughts about
this message that I would like to give to you all: Live the presence
in freedom, in the freedom with which we cooperate with God. That is
the way for us Christians. That is the way of hope. Mary then tells us
a very dangerous reality.

YOU ARE CREATING A NEW WORLD WITHOUT GOD, ONLY WITH YOUR OWN STRENGTH

This is what is so dangerous. Everything that we do without God, and
also possibly against God, goes against ourselves, against others and
against all of nature. That is also the deepest purpose and meaning of
sin. The first sin in paradise that Eve committed was really an
attempt to form her own life without God, and we all know what that
has cost us. But not only the first sin, but all sins are really our
attempts to form our own lives with our own strength and thus without
God. Here we also come across the secret of evil. How is it possible
that a person, who in his own deepest nature carries the so strong
wish to be well, can also work against himself and others in not
wishing to live within the Commandments of God? That is the deception
of sin, and that is the deception of the world. Sin promises us its
easy solutions, its own peace and its own satisfaction; but all these
are deceptions. Whoever follows the promises of sin ends up destroying
of their own life and that of others. At the very foundation of this
type of behavior, we will always, in one way or another, find pride.
Pride in itself means nothing else but the rejection of the will of
God, the rejection of his programs and the attempt to follow ones own
will and to create ones own programs. Leaning only on our strengths
and figuring only with our own strengths is again what we should have
already learned as being only another deception. God has given us
talents so that we can cooperate with Him, but when we work against
Him and His Commandments, then we lose everything. In this message
Mary also tells us that...>/p>

THAT IS WHY YOU ARE DISSATISFIED AND WITHOUT JOY IN THE HEART

When we work against God, we are unable to be satisfied and unable to
have joy in our hearts. The Christmas message also spoke to us about
joy, and we have already thought about that. Yet it is worthwhile to
ask oneself again, from where do our dissatisfactions and lack of joy
come? The answer is very simple -- from our behavior toward God,
toward ourselves, toward other people and toward nature. Once we have
been freed of our pride, then we will also be able to live in
satisfaction and carry joy in our hearts. Mary again says...

THIS TIME IS MY TIME AND THAT IS WHY ... I INVITE YOU AGAIN TO PRAY.

It has already been years since our Pope, John Paul II, published his
encyclical, THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR. That encyclical speaks of Marian
times, and Mary confirms this. These are her times. God has entrusted
these times to her, and since this encyclical, Mary has been on
pilgrimage with the pilgrim Church. Just as she was Jesus' mother and
teacher, so is she, in a very special way, our mother and teacher in
this time. In this light we can again look at Meugorje, for here we
truly are having Marian times. How many people have during these 15
years and 7 months found God through her, and then in finding God also
found peace, joy, and reconciliation in their lives? How many people
have been freed of sin, and now live as children do in the freedom of
God? We can never find out completely what God has done in the hearts
of people here in Meugorje, but we can only be grateful and continue
to follow Mary without becoming tired in prayer, fasting, conversion
and faith. This too is the program for this coming year -- the year
that has in a special way been consecrated to The Son. And in the
times that belong to Mary, she can only want or wish for one thing,
and that is that we come to know Jesus. And without prayer it is
impossible to come to know, to love and to follow Him. Then Mary
speaks about...

WHEN YOU FIND UNION WITH GOD

God is the life, the truth, the way and the light. We are all aware
that our deepest of all wishes are all to be found here. We wish to
live, for no-one wants to die. We seek for the truth, for no-one seeks
for lies. We seek the way, for no-one seeks lack of direction. We want
light, for no-one seeks darkness. When we become in union with God,
and again this is only through prayer; we will already here on earth
be delving into the eternal and immeasurable love, peace and joy. Then
also...

YOU WILL FEEL HUNGER FOR THE WORD OF GOD

This is our experience when we love someone. When we do, we yearn for
that person. We yearn to be with that person, but if we cannot be with
him physically, then we yearn for a letter or a telephone call, and
are happy about any sign that reaches us from this person. But in
order to feel the hunger for the word of God, then we must also pray
for this grace, and our cooperation here means to pray and to put into
practice Mary's other messages such as to fast. Through prayer and
fasting our hearts will certainly experience true nourishment. Just as
we, when we fast come to understand better what it means to have food,
so too will we come to understand that God speaks to us and that he
has words for us. So, the assignment is very easy to understand. We
should empty our hearts and minds of all useless words, and then our
souls will come to yearn for God. It is true that we consume far too
much useless food for our hearts and for our souls, and that is why it
is often very difficult to cooperate with God and to build a new world
with Him. St. Paul would say that we should discard the old person in
order to put on the new one. Once we are full with the word of God,
then Mary promises us that...

YOUR HEART ... WILL OVERFLOW WITH JOY

>From this again evolves our most fundamental assignment, that...

YOU WILL WITNESS GOD'S LOVE WHEREVER YOU ARE

A sad face cannot become witness to God's joy. A heart without an
inner life cannot be witness to the living God. A heart without love
cannot become a witness for God's love. That is why it is a condition
to witness God's love for us to be able to carry God's love and joy
within our hearts. At the end then Mary says...

I BLESS YOU

She is the mother who speaks for us in front of God, who prays for us,
and who defends us. That is the meaning of blessing. She knows us how
we are, yet she does not accuse or judge us, but rather, as our
mother, speaks on our behalf. That is our chance during this time that
belongs to Mary. She then says...

I REPEAT TO YOU THAT I AM WITH YOU TO HELP YOU

This is why this time is the time of grace. And certainly very many
people have come to recognize exactly that here in Meugorje, and
through these experiences and Mary's helping them, these are the
strengths and the dynamics of Medjugorje. I would like to say one more
thing about this message from another point of view. In this message
Mary is calling upon us to build the new world with, and not without,
God. She wishes us to take our strengths that God has given us, and to
combine them with God. Only then will we become powerful. Otherwise,
with our own strengths alone we are merely condemned to being
dissatisfied and without joy. Precisely this is what all parents and
all teachers of the young must come to know. Here now all we adults
must pose the serious question of what it is that we all want of and
from our children. One thing is certain. We all want our children to
be happy, and that is one of deepest wishes in people's hearts. Even
an unborn child wishes to be happy, and it is happy when its parents
accept and expect it with joy and love. This wish and yearning to be
happy follows us throughout our entire lives, yet all problems begin
where we ought to be good. We want to be happy, but often we do not
wish to be good. There are in truth two paths on which we can fulfill
this wish. We cannot exist without our wish to be happy, but we can
take the wrong methods and wrong paths on which we hope to become
happy. Every word, every action, every egoism, every pride which is
bound to different forms of dependencies wants precisely that, that we
are happy. When someone takes drugs or alcohol, or lives without any
morals; in truth, he only wishes to be happy. But these are the
dead-end paths, those with sudden ends and no way out. Therefore, in
all education it first of all must entail that we help the young to
become good. In precisely this point we find the difficulty in all
forms of raising the young. If we wish to help people to be good, then
we must also teach them to be able to fight, not against the external
powers in the world, but rather against that which we all carry within
our own hearts. If we wish to become good people, then we must fight
against pride, against jealousy, against selfishness, and against
dependency on pleasures. This fight is not easy, and in its difficulty
actually lasts throughout all our lives. It is good to mention here
that the devil and all that is evil are untiring, as Mary herself once
said in a message. When we are good and fight for what is good and
then become tired, then the devil has already won. To go along the
path with Mary means to be called upon by God. This fight to be good
and fight for what is good is not without a purpose. The deepest
purpose and the deepest wish inside our souls, we all know that that
is what we all want. Becoming good and by creating the conditions for
becoming happy -- happy in spirit, happy in soul, and happy in body --
are the ingredients for peace. The cooperation with God is our
salvation, and our peace. All parents and all teachers, who work with
all their strength for the children and young, must also know that
that is the most beautiful when it is in cooperation with God the
Creator. Good education is always very difficult, but it is the most
beautiful work; because we through our efforts are helping to develop
the gifts and talents that He has sown into every human heart. So may
this message help us throughout this year to build upon our life, upon
our family lives, upon our community lives, and upon this Church and
this world with God. This will bring all of us satisfaction and joy,
it that is worthwhile! Let us pray:

God, our Father, we thank You that You want what is good, and that
Your will is our peace. We beg You, send us Your Holy Spirit so that
we can think about our future, and that we with the same Spirit can
live our lives in such a way that our future becomes Your future. We
ask You, free us from all that was created in us without or against
You. Forgive us that we so often wanted to form our lives without You.
Forgive us that we have given too much trust to our own strengths that
are so fragile. We bring to You our dissatisfactions and lack of joy,
so that You will turn everything toward the good. With Mary, to whom
this time belongs, we ask You that You give us the grace of prayer.
Give us the grace that we become in union with You, and that we hunger
for Your word. Bless all those who spread Your word in the Church --
the Pope, all Bishops, all Priests, all Cathecists and all Orders --
so that they all hunger for Your word, so that Your word becomes their
nourishment and they can then lead the others to You. Fill our hearts
with Your joy so that we can witness to Your love. With Mary we ask
You to bless and protect us. Give us the grace to become new people,
and give our families the grace that they can be healed, be reconciled
and become new families. So too we ask the same of You for all
Communities, the entire Church and the whole world. May we all work
with You so that we are ready to build new times with You. Bless us, O
Father, along with Your Son and Holy Spirit. May it be this way. Amen.


Fra Slavko
Medjugorje; January 28, 1997