THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE P.O. BOX 6614 ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA

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1 THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE P.O. BOX 6614 ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA SUBSCRIPTION RATE - FREE WILL OFFERING - PLEASE SEE PAGE 8 If this is the first time you have received this newsletter, and you would like a Beginner s Guide, please contact us for one. EDITOR: JUNE KLINS PHONE: (814) jklins1981@verizon.net I beg you, little children, pray and help me to help you. I am your mother and I love you and that is why I wish to help you (5/25/95). EDITOR EMERITUS: JOAN WIESZCZYK SPIRITUAL ADVISOR FR. WILLIAM KIEL VOL. 27, NO. 5 PUBLISHED MONTHLY May 2014 CURRENT MONTHLY MESSAGE OF APRIL 25, 2014 ON THE 25TH DAY OF EACH MONTH, THE BLESSED VIRGIN GIVES A MESSAGE TO THE VISIONARY, MARIJA, THAT IS TO BE GIVEN TO THE WORLD. Dear children! Open your hearts to the grace which God is giving you through me, as a flower that opens to the warm rays of the sun. Be prayer and love for all those who are far from God and His love. I am with you and I intercede for all of you before my Son Jesus, and I love you with immeasurable love. Thank you for having responded to my call.

2 The month of May brings fond memories of Mother s Day celebrations. I remember celebrating Mother s Day as a child by presenting my mother with various gifts through the years: a potted flowering plant, freshly picked wildflowers, a special piece of costume jewelry, a fancy handkerchief. Fr. Bill Kiel Then, as the years went on, the gifts became more personal and meaningful. The month of May was also the month for us to prepare a Blessed Mother altar in the house, which consisted of placing a statue of Mary on a special table in the living room. A white table covering would add a touch of an altar look. Around the statue of Mary, we would maintain for the month a vase with fresh flowers from our yard or the neighbor s yard. The flowers had to be real nothing artificial! The Rosary was prayed each day as a family. The kids in the neighborhood knew when it was near 7 P.M. because our mother would call us, her sons, in to pray the Rosary each evening at 7. Memories! Having been reared in a faith-filled family, there are many memories of following the example of our mother in ways that brought us to appreciate the Catholic Church and its teachings. Our mother taught us how to pray, when to pray and to thank God for His many blessings. Our mother served as a humble example of praying and trusting God and asking Mary Our Mother By Fr. Bill Kiel Our Blessed Mother to intercede for us. When one has a deep devotion to Our Blessed Mother, we are reminded: As a mother, our Blessed Mother desires to help us to have a humble heart and open our heart and put Her Son in first place in our heart. As a mother, She asks us to trust and pray for Her intercession to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As a mother, She asks that we grow closer to the Heavenly Father and listen to the Word of God and carry out the Word. We should speak about the glory of God with our life, because in that way we will also glorify ourselves in accordance to His will. As a mother, She desires to save us from restlessness, despair and external exile. As a mother, She prays that wisdom, humility and goodness may come to reign in our hearts. The love we receive from our earthly mother is miniscule compared to the love we receive from Our Blessed Mother. She has supernatural concern for our soul and salvation. She wants us to know God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Why do we not accept Her love and concern? Have you considered praying to Our Lady in ways that you speak to Her with words that move from your heart to Her Immaculate Heart? Speak heart to Heart! Ask Our Blessed Mother to speak in words you understand; ask Her to meet you where you are in your relationship to Her. Ask for Her prayerful intercession to bring you closer to Her Son, especially when receiving His Body and Blood. Holy Mother of God, pray for us. Mary Queen of Peace, pray for us. Pope Francis and the Rosary Pope Francis once explained that he recites the 15-decade Rosary daily, because he was inspired by St. John Paul II: One evening I went to recite the Holy Rosary that was being led by the Holy Father. He was in front of everybody, on his knees. The group was numerous; I saw the Holy Father from the back and, little by little, I got lost in prayer. I was not alone: I was praying in the middle of the people of God to which I and all those there belonged, led by our Pastor. In the middle of the prayer, I became distracted, looking at the figure of the Pope: his piety, his devotion was a witness. And the time drifted away, and I began to imagine the young priest, the seminarian, the poet, the worker, the child from Wadowice in the same position in which he knelt at that moment, reciting Ave Maria after Ave Maria. His witness struck me. I felt that this man, chosen to lead the Church, was following a path up to his Mother in the sky, a path set out on from his childhood. And I became aware of the density of the words of the Mother of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego: Don t be afraid, am I not perhaps your mother? I understood the presence of Mary in the life of the Pope. Message to Mirjana on April 2, 2014 Dear children, with a motherly love I desire to help you for your life of prayer and penance to be a sincere attempt of drawing closer to my Son and His divine light that you may know how to separate yourselves from sin. Every prayer, every Mass and every fasting is an attempt of drawing closer to my Son, a reminder of His glory and a refuge from sin it is a way to a renewed union of the good Father and His children. Therefore, my dear children, with hearts open and full of love, cry out the name of the Heavenly Father that He may illuminate you with the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit you will become a spring of God s love. All those who do not know my Son, all those thirsting for the love and peace of my Son, will drink from this spring. Thank you. Pray for your shepherds. I pray for them and I desire that they may always feel the blessing of my motherly hands and the support of my motherly heart. We thank Sue Taccone, Joan Peterson, Marge Spase, Annette Ratajczak, Vickie DeCoursey, Susan Kirby, Jean Heid, Julie Hansen, Georgia Chludzinski, Cindy Bielanin, Dianne Yochim, Barb Repasy, Kathy Luschini, Celeste Migneault, Joanne McIntire, and Diane Niebauer for their help with the April mailing. We thank Mike Golovich for the use of his photos. And as always, we thank Pat Berrier, our proofreader, and Jason Klins, our webmaster. THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE May 2014

3 Questions and Answers with Mirjana The following is an excerpt from a talk by Mirjana to pilgrims at her home in April of We thank Michael Stanton, who filmed the talk, for permission to transcribe it. The entire talk and many other videos can be found on his website, betweenthefoldsofhermantle.com. This is a continuation from our April, 2014 issue. Q: What would be your message for all those people who come from all over the world the Rosary being the most important message? M: (interrupted) That is not exactly so Rosary is not the most important than anything else. Mass is in the first place. The most important thing Our Lady has been teaching us here in Medjugorje is love to learn to love to love every single person you encounter and try to see Her Son in every single person you meet. And I personally think that we do pray Rosary, that we do fast, in order to be able to have more love! Because I think when we come before God, there will be just one question He will ask us, How much love did you have? Because if you have love, then you will never kill, you will never steal, you will never lie because you love that person. You see Jesus in that person, and I believe this is the most important of what Our Lady has been teaching us. Since the very moment that you came into my home, I ve been praying for that intention for you, so that you may understand why you are here, so that God may help you to fulfill that. Our Lady does not need our Rosaries. She doesn t need our fasting, our starving, but it is we who need that, in order to be able to be open and to be better people. And for me, to be a better person is to love the way Jesus loved us. Mirjana receiving flowers from a young pilgrim Q: How do you feel during the apparition? M: I think that feeling is the feeling of Heaven. That feeling is something you cannot compare to anything else. I did not go to Heaven. I hope that I will, and I think that would be the feeling. Using simple words to say every mother will understand me I have daughters and as any normal mother, I would give my life for them. But when I am with Our Lady during the apparition, my children do not exist. There is only desire that She may take me with Her so this would never end. People ask me, Did you touch Our Lady? Did She touch you? No, never; and I never touched Her. First of all, even if I could see Her for 100 years, I always know She is the Mother of God, and I m just one of those walking on earth. But I didn t even feel I need to [touch Her], because when Our Lady is looking at you, you have a feeling that She is embracing you, touching you you re protected; you re loved. And then you can only try to imagine the pain I m facing after the apparition. That is why I go straight to my room. I cried, then I prayed, then I cried, then I prayed. In the prayer, God gives me strength to be able to go forward, because without God s help, I would not be able to be normal at all, because to be in Heaven to be here again that is such tremendous difference. Without God s help, we would not be able to overcome that. In talking about Our Lady s voice in order to be able to say what kind of voice She has, I would have to compare it with something; but that is the only thing I was never able to describe, because I have never heard anything similar to that on earth. There was an engineer, a girl from New York, who brought all these different kinds of tones, voices and she was playing different sounds to me. There was nothing that was even close to Our Lady s voice. I think that it would be the voice of love. I cannot describe it. Q: Did Blessed Mother ever talk about how non-catholic Christians say, Just go to Jesus? M: When Our Lady gave me my mission to pray for unbelievers, the question was, Who are unbelievers? And She said to me, Unbelievers are all those who do not feel Church is home and God is our Father. Those are unbelievers. She never says, I need this. I m important. She only talks about God and about Jesus. She s in the last place. If you look at Her messages, She puts Herself behind you priests. But we have to know something you received Jesus through His Mother you cannot go to Jesus without His Mother. They are one same as we are one with Jesus and Our Lady. That is why, when people talk like that, I do not discuss that. I pray to Mother to help them, so that they may understand, because not to have Our Lady in that way we lose a lot. If you ll permit me to say if they will not be angry if you look at the eyes, Marian priests as Holy Father Pope [St. John Paul II] was they have warm eyes eyes full of love. And only a mother can give that. If you look at the eyes of priests who are not Marian priests, they re a little cold. There s something missing, and that is what only Mother can give. I had a group from America, and as soon as they came into my home, one gentleman told me immediately, Let s make it clear from the beginning I am a Protestant. I said, Okay, I m Catholic. Then he asked me, Do you know who Protestants are? And I said, To be honest with you, I do not know a lot because we have no Protestants, but I do know that you always protest against something, (laughter) and he didn t say anything in turn. During those days when he was here, when I was serving him soup, I said, I ll be glad to serve you soup, if you would not protest. So we were kidding. When he was leaving, he gave me a hug and said, I came to know Mother! And that was so great for me. Family cannot be complete without a mother. Prayer Intentions of Pope Francis for May Media: That the media may be instruments in the service of truth and peace. Mary s Guidance: That Mary, Star of Evangelization, may guide the Church in proclaiming Christ to all nations. May THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE

4 My wife and I went to Medjugorje in April of At that time, I was discerning the call to enter the Deaconate. We stayed at Vicka Ivankovic s home with her parents. She was in Rome at the time seeing Pope John Paul II. She would meet with us later that week. It was on the first night at Vicka s home that I experienced a life-changing event. It was later that evening, as my wife and I went upstairs to go to bed. Just as I lay down in bed, I began to feel great sorrow for my sins. This feeling became stronger and stronger. And then all of a sudden, all the weight of my sins was revealed. The only thing I could do was cry and ask for forgiveness. My wife didn t know what was happening to me, and all she could say was, What s wrong? Are you all right?! This lasted for about five minutes and then finally it stopped. I shared with my wife what had happened. I then kept this secret to myself, for fear that someone may think I was crazy. Only my wife and I knew what had happened to me. Some years later, I heard someone else had experienced the same thing I had gone through while in Medjugorje. I must say, that whether we believe in God or not, when this event takes place to all souls, there will be no doubt of our sins and how we have offended Our Lord. I believe what I experienced was what some may call, a revelation of conscience. When Vicka came back from Rome, I asked her to pray for me. She gave us Our Lady s messages, and stayed with us for awhile before she would go to the balcony to reveal the messages to the crowd. When I got back to the States, I still had doubts whether the Lord was truly calling me to Holy Orders. I kept denying that calling, thinking maybe it would go away. The following year, we went to a CCD Congress in Los Angeles. While in line for confession, that feeling in my soul that God was calling me, continued. I then said to God, Lord, if You really are calling me, show me a sign. I said, I need to know that it is Your will and not my own thoughts. After waiting sometime, it was finally my turn. I walked down a row of curtains where the priests were waiting to hear confessions. Someone took me to this curtain, and as I opened it, there was the priest. I sat down across from him, and just before I could say anything, he said to me, Why do you keep running away from Him? You are being like JOB Why do Catholics emphasize Mary so much? Catholics believe that worship is due to God alone. Catholics do, however, venerate Mary. In other words, we honor our Blessed Mother with great reverence and devotion because She is the Mother of God. Mary is the model of perfect love and obedience to Christ. God preserved Mary from sin, and She conceived Our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing Christ into our world. Catholics can t help but honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is full of grace, the Watching Over Me By Ricardo De Leon in the Bible. And then he said, Stand up. He then took his stole, and put it on me. And then he took his hands and put them on my forehead which is a sign of ordination! When I came out of the confessional, my wife told me that Mass was going to start very soon, and we only had ten minutes to get to the arena. On the way, I shared with her what had taken place. When we got to the arena, it was full; the doors were closed. There were many people still outside the door trying to get in. We were way in the back of the crowd, and then the door opened, and a man in a suit waved to me to come forward. I thought, Why is he calling me? Does he need something from me? When I got to the door he said, Follow me. He took me past the crowd and sat us down where the deacons were. They turned around and said, Welcome. It was then that I heard the Lord say to me, My son, do you need another sign? I said, No, Lord, I do not need another sign. I believe God touched my soul in Medjugorje, preparing me for the calling to proclaim the Gospel and share the gift of His love. I know that, for sure. It is God who calls us to serve. We, as deacons, need our brothers and sisters to pray for us. Many more deacons are taking the role of administrators and other important ministries in God s Church. The evil one waits at every corner to bring down those who have been called to Holy Orders. Without your prayers, we lack the strength to continue priest or deacon. We are in the front line of this battle for souls. Our Lady asks that you pray for your shepherds. This, too, is our role as deacons. I have been ordained now for three years, and the Lord is now using me to proclaim His love to His children through the gift of music. Recently by God s grace, I was able to put my music on itunes and Amazon. What a great way to evangelize to the un-churched. Many have forgotten God in their lives. They need to know how much God loves them, and without Him, they will never be happy in this life. My album is called Watching Over Me by Ricardo De Leon. I hope your readers will listen to some of my music and share it with others. I thank you, in advance, for your love and prayers, and may the Lord bless and keep you in His loving arms always. Editor s note: Ricardo is from Fresno, California. Vicka in 2001 Do Catholics Worship Mary? Mother of God and our Mother, for Her yes to God that made the Incarnation possible. And without the Incarnation, we would not have salvation. Mary is the most beautiful model of total submission to the will of God. Catholics do not view Mary as equal to Christ, but rather venerate Mary because of Her relationship to Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, Mary s role in the Church is inseparable from Her union with Christ and flows directly from it (CCC 964). Church pamphlet THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE May 2014

5 St. John Paul II Desired to Visit Medjugorje The following is an excerpt from an interview Zenit news service had with the Postulator of the Cause of St. John Paul II, Slawomir Oder. It was posted on their website, wwwzenit.org, on April 2, Sign on the Pope John Paul II building (the yellow building) in Medjugorje ZENIT: The Pope was also very devoted to Mary Monsignor Oder: Yes, and the process of canonization has helped us to get closer also to this. We investigated Wojtyla s extremely profound relationship with Our Lady. A relationship that people outside sometimes did not understand and which seemed surprising. Sometimes during the Marian prayer the Pope seemed The following excerpt is from a homily given in Medjugorje by Fr. Simon Broughton on August 20, We thank the Welsh Medjugorje Apostolate for sharing it. I look after four hospitals and one of them is probably the biggest hospital in the northeast of England; that is where I am from. We gathered once for Sunday Mass, and I will be honest with you, I was actually spent. I was so tired I could just about say Mass just about, I was so tired. There was this couple, a husband and a wife, who were sitting in the front of the chapel in the hospital and they were both crying. I went over to be honest, I was reluctant to go over. I went over to them, and I asked them, What is wrong. Why are you crying? They said their five-year-old child had caught meningitis and... had now been in a coma for eight days. The doctors and nurses had said to them, Prepare yourselves for the worst. Your daughter has not responded to any of the treatment we have given. It is only a matter of time now. You can imagine being a mother or a father the pain and the haunting they were going through. They weren t Christian. They weren t Catholic, yet they found themselves before the altar of God, asking God who they did not know, for His mercy and His love, and to help their child in their moment of need. I said to them, In a moment we are going to celebrate the Eucharist. I could see by the expression on their faces, they did not understand. I said to them, To us Catholics, this is the moment we encounter God, where God rapt in ecstasy, alienated from the surrounding context, be it while strolling or during a meeting. He lived a most personal relationship with the Virgin. ZENIT: It is also said that John Paul II desired to visit Medjugorje. Can you confirm this? Monsignor Oder: Speaking privately with his friends, the Pope said more than once: if it were possible, I would like to go. They are words that must not be interpreted, however, with a character of recognition or of being official in regard to the events in the Bosnian country. The Pope was always very careful in what he did, knowing the importance of his post. There is no doubt, however, that things are happening at Medjugorje that are transforming people s hearts, especially in the confessional. So the desire expressed by the Pope should be interpreted from the point of view of his priestly passion, that is, his wish to be in a place where a soul seeks Christ and finds him, thanks to a priest, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or of the Eucharist. ZENIT: And why didn t he go? Monsignor Oder: Because not everything is possible in life Our Lady of Medjugorje Help Them is present. I said to them, We will pray for your child and we will pray for your family. And afterwards, can I come up to the Intensive Care Unit and we will say a little prayer for Lily? They were delighted. Yes, yes, please come in. And to be honest with you, straight after the Mass, I went up to the Intensive Care Unit; I could hardly walk, I was so tired. And my only prayer was, Mary, Our Lady of Medjugorje, listen to mother and dad s prayer. Help them. I had a Crucifix that was blessed in the room of Apparitions and I always wear it. I took the Crucifix off and this little baby, this little child of five, she was covered because we couldn t touch her. I immediately placed the Crucifix on top of the child and she woke up from the coma, straight away. So much so, that the nurses and doctors, when they heard mom and dad crying, granny crying and the family, they thought of the worst. The nurses came over; the doctor and they could see their sadness immediately turned to joy, and their fear gave way to hope, as the little girl opened her arms and was fine. In fact, she was so well, she didn t need any help whatsoever. She went home the next day. God can do great things in our lives, but we have to trust in Him. We have to say yes. We have to begin to relive the way of Jesus in our lives, to listen to the Gospel and to respond wholeheartedly. You are the mothers, the brothers of Jesus. You are the living Church. You are called in our time to build God s kingdom and not to be fearful, but to trust. Amen. May THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE

6 Let s Continue to Do Something Beautiful for God By June Klins In our March 2013 issue, I wrote an article called Let s Do Something Beautiful for God in which I explained how I was led to promote having Masses said for Our Lady s intentions. The response has been phenomenal and I thank all those who have participated. I am sure Our Lady is smiling on you. Some people have even arranged to have a Mass said every month for Our Lady s intentions! The original goal was to have 1,000 Masses said by the 33 rd anniversary on June 25, As of this writing, there have been 7,665 Masses reported! The idea to have Masses said for Our Lady s intentions originated or so I thought with a priest in my area. This priest is not a follower of Our Lady of Medjugorje, so he was surprised and delighted when I told him that Our Lady has asked us to pray for Her intentions. He said that for years he has been offering his free Mass each month for Our Lady s intentions. He had never heard of anyone else doing it, but just felt it was something he wanted to do for Her. Little did he know that a saint in the nineteenth century wrote about this very idea. A few months ago, one of our subscribers sent us a copy of a page from Volume 7 of St. Peter Julian Eymard s writings, entitled Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. St. Peter Julian wrote: M. Olier, the holy founder of St. Sulpice... had three Masses celebrated every day, the intention of each Mass being placed in the Blessed Virgin s hands, that She might, in offering it to Her Son for the Church, obtain infinite treasures of grace. St. Peter Julian continued: There was also a pious Jesuit missionary in Quebec who proposed to Blessed [now Saint] John Eudes, founder of the Congregation bearing his name, a plan for an association of priests, whom he called Our Lady s Chaplains, and who were to unite in offering the Holy Sacrifice for the intentions of the august Queen of Heaven, so that, as he put it, the Son of God would ascend to His Father, in the Host, through the very pure hands of For my birthday on December 16, 2012, my mother and father-in-law gave me a book written by Sister Emmanuel called The Hidden Child of Medjugorje. In it, she suggested that when you pray, you could pray for Our Lady s intentions and not your own, since Her intentions for sick, youth, priests, pope, poor souls, and non-believers all cover your own anyway and that, in turn, Our Lady will help you. In January 2008, I was diagnosed with a rare incurable kidney disease on St. Paul s feast day (he went blind...i got kidney disease!). My Swap with Our Lady the one whom He had used to come down to us in becoming man. Soon after I read what St. Peter Julian had written, I read an article in Medjugorje Magazine about a priest who before he died had a Mass said for Our Lady s intentions! Around the same time, someone told me about a priest who offers a Mass every Saturday for Our Lady s intentions. I was intrigued, since I had not heard or thought of this until January of So I did a search on the Internet using the word Mass and intentions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It came up with a number of church bulletins from Massachusetts, California, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania where Masses had been scheduled for the intentions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I had also searched on Mass and intentions of the Blessed Mother. But when I searched on Mass and Our Lady s intentions, I was overwhelmed, as it came up with 30,200 results! One of the websites was a Medjugorje forum from the United Kingdom. A person wrote in 2011, A friend who lives in Beijing is already organizing for this [scheduling Masses for Our Lady s intentions on June 25] to be done in parishes across China! We could have a worldwide anniversary offering for the 25th June. A post in another forum said, I was so moved by 2nd of September [2012] message, I had a novena of Holy Masses offered for Our Lady s Intentions. I looked back to re-read the September 2, 2012 message. In this message Our Lady says, I am calling you because I need you. Our Lady needs us! If every person who reads this would have a Mass said for Our Lady s intentions, we easily could surpass 10,000 Masses. Imagine the graces! If you cannot afford the stipend, you can go together with your friends or prayer group. Some missions still accept $5 stipends. Will you please respond to Our Lady s call and have a Mass said for Her intentions? Mass at St. James in Medjugorje By Shawn O Neill Shawn s son, Joey I go to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore twice a year. I have IGA (Immunoglobulin A). My kidneys retain protein and if I hit 3000 mg, I need a transplant. In 2008, I had 1800 mg. The doctor, through medication, helped me get to 600 mg. Normal is 0 to 150 mg. My goal to avoid kidney transplant for life was 500 mg. On June 10, 2013, I waited over two hours to see the doctor (because they had a new computer system that backed him up); he could not find my numbers, so he called the lab to fax them. He was in a bad mood THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE May 2014

7 and was upset with me because I did not come to see him another day. He gave me two tests the 24-hour one showed 100 mg. That was a big surprise. I told him two things: one not to be hard on his nurses for messing up his schedule and making me wait, and two that it was worth the wait (smiles). He was very thrown off and speechless. The second test showed a negative which was a first since every test after 2002 when they first found blood. For years they had no idea what I had. Now the doctor was in disbelief, and we left looking at each other speechless. My point is that I started praying only for Our Lady s intentions with every Rosary mystery. It makes sense, since in a way, it is selfish of us creatures to only pray for our own intentions, when children die daily from starvation and babies die from abortion. Our stuff is really minor most of the time compared to Our Lady s needs, and Her intentions include ours, so why not! Our six year-old son, Joey, was diagnosed with a brain injury when he was three, and we have been hoping to send him to Medjugorje for a healing. Around January of 2013, I stopped praying for Joey, family, me, etc. only Blessed Mother s intentions, and now boom...seems I have no incurable kidney disease! I mentioned this because I thought the same article, called The Swap (about only praying for Our Lady s intentions) was in The Spirit of Medjugorje years ago. I credit this type of prayer to my cure. In God s will, I hope, Joey is next... Editor s note: Shawn lives in Sterling, VA. Shawn told me that tests done in December of 2013 still show no evidence of kidney disease, but he is waiting for official word from the doctor that he is cured. The Swap article, probably our most circulated article thanks to Sr. Emmanuel originally was in our May, 2002 issue and was reprinted in our May, 2013 issue. It can be found in the archives on our website. Lectio Divina Praying the Scriptures We share the following article at the prompting of our patron saint this year, St. Jerome (who translated the Bible). It was taken from a church bulletin, with permission. This is one way to answer Our Lady s request to read the Bible daily. Lectio Divina, a Latin term, means divine reading and describes a way of reading the Scriptures whereby we gradually let go of our own agenda and open ourselves to what God wants to say to us. As one priest put it, Lectio Divina is a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures. Time set aside in a special way for Lectio Divina enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm. Within this rhythm, we discover an increasing ability to offer more of ourselves and our relationship to God, and to accept the embrace that God is continuously extending to us in the person of Jesus Christ. There are various ways of practicing Lectio Divina, but the stages that are essential to the practice remain fundamental. The first stage is lectio, or reading... where we read the Word of God, slowly and reflectively so that it sinks into us. Any passage of Scripture can be used for this way of prayer, but the passage should not be too long. The second stage is meditatio, or reflection... where we think about the text we have chosen and reflect upon it so that we take from it what God wants to give us. The third stage is oratio, or response... where we leave our thinking aside and simply let our hearts speak to God. This response is inspired by our reflection on the Word of God. The final stage is contemplatio, or rest... where we let go of our own ideas, plans, and meditations. We simply rest in the Word of God. We listen at the deepest level of our being to God who speaks within us with a still, small voice. As we listen, we are gradually transformed within. As we become transformed from within, the profound effect will be on the way we live. These stages of Lectio Divina are not fixed rules, but rather they are guidelines as to how prayer normally develops. The hope is that we will be led to more simplicity, with less and less talking and more and more listening. The movement of the prayer is toward silence. How to practice Lectio Divina: Choose a text of Sacred Scripture that you wish to pray. Again, do not choose a passage that is too great in length. In other words, if you would choose to pray with the Passion Narrative from Matthew s Gospel, only choose a passage from the Passion Narrative, not the entire Narrative. Then, place yourself in a comfortable position and allow yourself to become silent. Ask God to help you remove the clutter that may be in your mind and be at one with God during this time. This will take a few moments as becoming quiet with God is not the norm for many of us... but it will be time well spent. Then, turn to the text and read it slowly. Let each portion of the reading speak to you. Remember, in Lectio Divina, God is in control. It is God who is teaching us to listen to Him, to seek Him in silence. Take a word or a phrase into yourself, memorize it and repeat it slowly to yourself, allowing the word or phrase to speak to you. Do not be afraid of distractions or if you are doing this the right way. If distractions come and they will offer them to God and move on. Then, speak to God. Use words, images, ideas, etc. Interact with God as you would with someone you trust and who you know cares deeply about you. Give to God what has come to you through the time of meditation. Give to God what you have found in your heart. Finally, rest in God s love. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity. Remember, in the practice of Lectio Divina, you may find yourself returning to a word or phrase that has struck you in a profound way. That is good. Stay with the word or phrase. Don t analyze or think too much. Lectio Divina should not be assessed as if you are seeking some kind of goal. Lectio Divina has no goal other than that of being in the presence of God by praying the Scriptures. The practice of Lectio Divina has been a fruitful source of growing in relationship with Christ for many centuries. The Word of God is alive and active and will transform each of us if we open ourselves to receive what God wants to give. Pilgrim Mike Golovich reading his Bible in Medjugorje May THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE

8 The Spirit of Medjugorje Information Center P.O. Box 6614 Erie, PA U.S.A. RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID ERIE, PA PERMIT NO. 685 DATED MATERIAL On June 24, 1981 in Medjugorje, Our Lady appeared to six children. She identified Herself as the Blessed Virgin, Queen of Peace, and has continued to appear daily. Her message is PEACE, peace with God and man. Her words to the visionaries, I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and obtain peace, you must return to God. Today, all but three of the visionaries have daily apparitions of the Blessed Mother. During the apparitions, the visionaries do not react to light, don t hear any sound or react to being touched. They feel that they are outside of time and space. All the visionaries declare to see the Blessed Virgin as they see other people - in three dimension. They pray and speak with Her. The Blessed Mother is confiding ten secrets to each visionary (some are chastisements for the world) and promises to leave a visible sign at the place of the apparitions in Medjugorje for all If you want to receive The Spirit of Medjugorje, please fill out the form below and return to: P.O. Box 6614, Erie, PA with your donation to help spread Mary s messages. Thank you for your goodwill offering. May GOD BLESS YOU. Please check one: New Renew Name MARY IS CALLING YOU Street Address humanity. This time, this period of grace, is for CONVERSION and a DEEPENING OF FAITH. After the visible sign, those still living will have little time for conversion. The Blessed Mother invites us to PRAYER and FASTING and PEACE. You have forgotten that with prayer and fasting you can stop a war from happening. You can suspend natural laws. The publisher recognizes and accepts that the final authority regarding the apparitions at Medjugorje rest with the Holy See in Rome. Permission is given to spread the text of any original works and may be used with the following conditions: 1) No words are changed; 2) Spirit of Medjugorje is cited. For articles by other sources, permission must be obtained from the original source. Distribute Adoration Newsletters Issue #1 or Issue #2 (please circle) (# of newsletters) To borrow an original prayer cloth from Medjugorje for a week, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address below. You must include your phone number. If you want a prayer cloth we made to keep, send a self-addressed stamped business size (4 1 / 8 x 9 1 / 2 ) envelope with $.70 postage on it. Sponsor a subscription for someone overseas (suggested donation: $13 to cover postage) Distribute Beginner s Guides (# of guides) (Please, no foreign checks or money orders, except postal money orders. U.S. FUNDS ONLY) City, State and Zip Code VOL. 27, NO. 5