EDITOR: JUNE KLINS PHONE: (814)

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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 EDITOR EMERITUS: JOAN WIESZCZYK SPIRITUAL ADVISOR FR. WILLIAM KIEL VOL. 32, NO. 1 PUBLISHED MONTHLY JANUARY 2019 MONTHLY MESSAGE OF DECEMBER 25, 2018 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. January 1 is the feast of Mary, Mother of God. She is our Mother as well, and our hope is that you will feel Her motherly love through this issue and all of our issues! The picture above was taken in Medjugorje. The artwork was done by a cousin of Fr. Slavko Barbaric. May you and your families have a very blessed and holy New Year. Thank you for having responded to Her call. Dear children! I am carrying to you my Son Jesus who is the King of Peace. He gives you peace and may it not be only for you but, little children, carry it to others in joy and humility. I am with you and am praying for you in this time of grace which God desires to give you. My presence is a sign of love here while I am with you to protect you and lead you towards eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call.

2 Please Pray for Fr. Bill Our dear Spiritual Advisor, Fr. Bill Kiel, gave us permission to share that he has been diagnosed with cancer. He welcomes our prayers. Please join us in prayer of the heart to the Gospa for Her healing intercession, and in praying the following prayer to St. Peregrine, who is the patron saint of cancer patients. O great St. Peregrine, you have been called The Mighty, The Wonder-Worker, because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you. For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the consolation and cure of Fr. Bill, whom we entrust to you. Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy. Amen. Editor s note: If you would like to send a card or note to Fr. Bill, you can send it to him c/o The Spirit of Medjugorje, P.O. Box 6346, Erie, PA 16512, and we will forward it to him. Patron Saint for 2019 By June Klins For many years, we have been randomly choosing the name of a saint to be our holy protector for the year. St. Faustina s community used to do this every year on New Year s Day. This can be a fun and educational thing to do with your family, friends, prayer group, or parish. Almost always, there is a connection between the saint and the person or group who randomly picked it. What is especially heartening is the fact that the saint does not leave you at the end of the year. So, if you do this every year, you will eventually have a whole army of holy helpers protecting you! Although any list of saints can be used, there is a good one on this site: You can also use the saint generator on However you choose, it is important to pray to the Holy Spirit first! The tradition goes that it is the saint who chooses you, not the other way around. The saint wishes to help you. As you pray with the saint every day, that saint will pray for you and help you. On August 25, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI recommended choosing a special saint as a model. The Pope encouraged everyone to have a devotion to a particular saint, so that the saint can intercede but also be a model to imitate. On October 25, 2017, Our Lady said, May saints be models to you and an encouragement for holiness. This year, my seven year-old granddaughter, Molly, picked the saint for The Spirit of Medjugorje after we prayed a Hail Mary asking Our Lady s intercession. I smiled when Molly read the name of St. Philip Neri because I knew that he had a good sense of humor. Providentially, the day before Molly picked St. Philip, her father (my son), had just discussed with me some ideas for cartoons he would like to draw for our newsletter. He had been our cartoonist years ago, and was considering starting it up again. I think St. Philip was already on the job! In my research, I learned that St. Philip, who was born in 1515, was a priest renowned for his evangelization and known as Fr. Bill in Tihaljina The Third Apostle of Rome after Saints Peter and Paul. Our Lady has called us apostles many times, and most recently on December 2! St. Philip is a patron saint of humor and joy. He said, A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one. Our Lady has mentioned the word joy or some form of that word over 300 times in Her messages. Clearly, She wants us to be joyful people. Perhaps that is why St. Philip has chosen us this year to help us to be more joyful. Thank you, St. Philip Neri. Please pray for us. Our thanks to Peggy Chludzinski, Diane Niebauer, Joanne and Tom McIntire, Irene and Dan Zuba, Charlotte Newcamp. Dianne Yochim, Vickie DeCoursey, Sue Taccone, Marge Spase, Rose Heintzel, Julie Hansen, Chris Falk, Chris Opron, Cindy Bielanin, Estrella Igras, Omega Cooper, Kathy Wayman, Barb Sirianni, Darleen Wilkinson, Louise Lotze, Georgia Chludzinski, and those who want to remain anonymous for their help with the December mailing. We thank Dave Wayman and Chris Falk for their photos in this issue. We also thank our proofreader, Pat Berrier, our webmaster, Jason Klins, and our prayer group administrator, Patti Millar. Prayer Intention of Pope Francis for January Evangelization: That young people, especially in Latin America, follow the example of Mary and respond to the call of the Lord to communicate the joy of the Gospel to the world THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE JANUARY 2019

3 Jakov A cheerful glance brings joy to the heart The following was excerpted from a talk given to pilgrims in Medjugorje by visionary Jakov Colo in September of When you live your life immersed in God s love, then you simply have to be happy. And we have to give this joy to other people. I sincerely say this to you when I give my testimony, it s different when you look at people in front of you who are smiling. And it doesn t cost us a penny. A smile means so much! First what I d like to say to you thank you for having responded to (Prov. 15:30) Our Lady s call because everyone who comes to Medjugorje although many people think they re here by accident nothing happens by accident. We are here for one reason only Our Lady has invited us. God wanted us to be here. And that s why the most important thing for us should be when we come to Medjugorje that our first words are Thank you thank you for all these 36 [now 37] years. Imagine how great God s love is. For 36 years God is allowing Our Lady to be with us. And how much God loves us! And imagine how much Our Lady loves us! For 36 years She s been saying to us, Dear children. For 36 years She s been saying to us, If you only knew how much I love you, you would cry out of joy. Imagine that love of our Mother. I can see here that many of you are parents and how much you love your children, the same way as I love my own children. Every day I want to show them that I love them and I want to hug them, kiss them, so that they may feel the love I have for them, and this is something that Our Lady wants to do to each one of us. Unfortunately, what so often happens is that we do not respond to that love. Then we should ask ourselves, How much love do we have for our Mother? She is the Mother who cares about Her children. When we reached the statue of Mary on Apparition Hill, I paused for a while (not just from shortness of breath from the hike) in prayer to Mary, asking Her to intercede for me in asking Her Son if my father was with Them in Heaven. If in Purgatory, would my prayers for him give peace or shorten his stay there? He had died 10 years before from cancer. Well, Joyce Posavetz, in our group, took a picture from behind with Mary in the center and I was to the right looking directly at Mary with no others to the right. What Medjugorje is All About Jakov s Message on December 25, 2018 The apparition began at 1:38 P.M. and lasted for nine minutes.our Lady came with little Jesus in Her arms. Our Lady addressed the following message to Jakov: Dear children, on this day of grace, I am calling you to love. Little children, God loves you immeasurably and that is why, little children, full of trust and without looking back and without fear, completely surrender your hearts to Him so that God may fill them with His love. Do not be afraid to believe in His love and mercy, because His love is stronger than every one of your weaknesses and fears. Therefore, my children, full of love in your hearts, trust in Jesus and say your yes to Him, because He is the only way which leads you to the Eternal Father. A Medjugorje Moment By Joe Ambrose She wishes well to Her children. She wants to bring us to salvation and we can find salvation only in Jesus Christ. And that s the only reason to come here to Medjugorje. Look at Medjugorje. What do we have here? Only rocks and stones (laughter). But I love every single piece of the rock. Imagine how many graces those stones received, how many prayers were said on those rocks and stones, how many tears were shed on those stones and rocks, and how many people changed their lives on those rocks. Truly when I find myself here, I feel so protected. In front of us we have Saint James Church. Behind us there is Cross Mountain. On the right, Apparition Hill. What else are we looking for? What else do we need? I always say Medjugorje is not about us visionaries. Medjugorje is not about whether you are going to see a physical sign or not. We are looking for signs, but there are signs all around us. I am a sign. You are a sign. Each one of us is a sign of God. Medjugorje is something completely different. Very simply, Medjugorje is a place where life is being changed, where people start a new life with God in their hearts. In order to be able to accept this, we have to do something and that is to be pure. We should cleanse our hearts from every sin, from everything that is stopping us, blocking us from coming closer to God so that we are able to be free If our hearts are free then our hearts are open to every grace, and Medjugorje is the place of grace. Therefore we have many priests with us and priests are very important. They represent Jesus to us. Look at how many people are waiting there in the queues and they wait to go to Confession. And it is amazing and so beautiful to see, because through this, we can see that people desire to change. We have to open our hearts in a special way when we are here in Medjugorje we have to say our yes to the Lord. Lord, I abandon my life to You. I abandon my heart to You. I desire to live in Your love. I want Your love to live in my heart so that You may reign in my life. And if we do that, then we will be able to appreciate what Medjugorje is all about. In the photo, there to the left of Mary and to the right of the Cross of Our Lord was my father looking directly at me! The hair color, black glasses and jawline were his. I guess I got my answer. Praise to God and thanks to His Mom! Editor s note: Joe lives in Indiana, PA. If you have a Medjugorje moment to share from your pilgrimage to Medjugorje we invite you send it to us. We already have a number of people willing to share their Medjugorje moments, so thank you, Joe, for this idea. JANUARY THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE

4 This happened in 1988 on my first trip to Medjugorje. Heavy on my heart was the fact that I had four miscarriages in a row. I lost four babies. I was a maternity nurse at the time, and I spent my whole career helping pregnant women. I was so mad. Why did this happen? My first loss was at 17 weeks. It was a cord accident. The baby was strangled, and I had to go through a procedure that they go through for abortion because the baby had already died. That was horribly painful for me, and it was very hard for my husband. Then I had three more losses in earlier stages of pregnancy. So how I ended up in Medjugorje is a miracle in itself. My brother and his wife and my parents decided to go and I heard about it, and I just decided to go. The village was just dirt roads, no signs, nothing. It was just so simple. The people on my trip were experiencing many miracles, but nothing was happening to me and I was just going through the motions. So the second to the last day, I said, You know what? I came all this way. I m going to the vineyards and pray. It can t hurt anything. It was a hot August day in It was 90-some degrees. I just went out in the vineyard by myself and got down on my knees and just said, This is not fair; this is hurting. It was so hot and there were bees everywhere. I decided to look up at the sky. The clouds, all of a sudden, formed baby faces. They were like cherubs, little cherub baby faces and they kept going in front of me like a movie camera, just baby faces. I looked and I cried, What is happening? Then the next thing I saw in the clouds was the shape of Jesus reaching out for the children like you see on the children s Bible stories, and He was reaching out for those baby faces. I thought, Oh my gosh! These are my babies! I am being told they are with Him. Then after that, the next thing I saw was a silhouette of Jesus with the crown of thorns on His head. And all of a sudden I had an instant knowledge, I don t know how to describe it, but I just knew that there was, Chiara Amirante, founder of the Nuovi Orizzonti Community in Italy is a woman who deeply loves the Church and has a privileged place in Rome. John Paul II named her consultant for the dicastery for the Pastoral Care of Migrants, then Benedict XVI named her consultant for the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, and finally she was one of the first women called to the synod. This has enabled her to meet with Pope Francis several times. After the Pope s statements about Medjugorje when he returned from Fatima on May 13, 2017, Chiara had several encounters with the Holy Father. In one of them, which lasted more than My Miracle in the Vineyard By Kathy Grady Vineyard in Medjugorje Francesco and Chiara! By Sr. Emmanuel first of all, a reason for suffering and second of all that Jesus cares that we hurt. He wasn t some whippersnapper. He really cared that we have pain and this is maybe the reason for our suffering. And it was the most healing thing that ever happened to me. I was bawling in this vineyard on a hot August day. Of course I still think about those children. Now I have seven grandchildren. That was so many years ago that that happened and maybe that s the way God gave back to me. I don t know. I have no way to know that, but it was just really a miracle of Medjugorje. In 1984 all those losses happened, and then four years later all that hurt was healed, at least the acute pain. I still think about it. It s still very sad, but it s not the kind of sad that engenders anger. And then I went on to become a parental grief counselor, so there was some good that came out of it. It s a very common thing to lose pregnancies, and a lot of women don t really know how to cope, and husbands don t know how to cope. They don t know how to support their wives. So that was maybe in God s plan. I took courses and studied on my own. Mostly it s just sharing. People relate more when you share from your heart. They say, OK, you know. You re not preaching to me from some book. You were hurt. We tried and could not have any children after that. We had three children before that though. No problems. Then all of a sudden You know something? What else this taught me? God is in charge of reproduction. My whole career was women s health and I am a women s health practitioner. I had been practicing birth control. I don t know if this is God s way of saying, You re not in charge. And I look back and maybe that was the painful reason He had to teach me. In college I did a paper on Humanae Vitae and I understood it, but I thought, This is the modern world. I m doing women s health and this is medical. Now I see the deeper truth. But it took some years and some pain. Editor s note: Kathy lives in Lewis Center, OH. an hour, Medjugorje was at the heart of the conversation. I have known Chiara for more than twenty years, and I am glad to see that a person so well trained at the school of Mary had the opportunity to be heard by the Pope. Chiara has so deeply embedded the messages of the Blessed Mother into her life that she radiates the motherly light of Mary, and thus attracts many people to God, especially young people who are wounded by all sorts of addictions and wrong doings in the world. Her vocation is to bring out those who have fallen into this pit of hell and who can find no help in our society. This is a great challenge! THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE JANUARY 2019

5 The first talks with the Pope were private, and Chiara always respected the papal secret. But recently the Holy Father said to her: Chiara, this time you can talk about what I told you about Medjugorje. I quote Chiara here on some points from her last talk with Pope Francis: I would like to share a piece of news that has given me great joy. It is true that the statement by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017 in the Lisbon plane gave us a blow to the heart: I prefer the Virgin Mother, our mother, rather than the Virgin as head of a telegraph office who sends messages every day at a specific time... That is not the mother of Jesus... Who thinks the Virgin would say: So, come tomorrow at such and such a time, and I will give a message to such and such a visionary? No, that can t be! And even if Pope Francis then added: In Medjugorje there are fruits, so many fruits, this did not alleviate our grief caused by this assertion: This is not the mother of Jesus. After this statement was broadcast by all the televised newscasts in the world, I had the grace of meeting the Holy Father. Know that I have his blessing to talk about his words on Medjugorje. I felt the need to speak with him, because I see that some information circulating in the Vatican is not true. For example, ill-informed priests believe that Mary has already given more than 50,000 messages, which led Pope Francis to believe that She was giving several appointments each day to several visionaries to say different things. So I pointed out, No, that s not it at all! To date, there are only 672 messages. There is the monthly message on the 25th, given to Marija for the world, and one on the 2nd, received and conveyed by Mirjana. Pope Francis then told me that he had saved Medjugorje. In fact, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wanted to issue a negative opinion, but he supported the Ruini Commission which expressed a positive opinion on the first apparitions. The Holy Father said, Medjugorje is very much close to my heart! During the press conference on the Lisbon plane, he pointed out that there were fruits, that this could not be denied. He sent Mgr. Hoser precisely because he believes that the fruits are important, and that Medjugorje must be protected. He told me that he was the one who authorized the pilgrimages. He is now rallying for the moment through his envoy, Archbishop Hoser to keep all that is beautiful in Medjugorje. Let us continue to pray for Pope Francis, for the Church and for all his intentions. Well, my friends, these conversations between Pope Francis and Chiara are a real turning point for Medjugorje, and they give us so much hope! Children of Medjugorje, November 2018 report. Jesus is the one safe Teacher. Do not be late to enroll in His school. In the same school, you will find one other safe Teacher Mary, the Mother of God, Mary, the Educator and the Queen of Peace! One such school is worth more than the finest world universities! Mary does not get tired of directing us to her Son: Do whatever He tells you to do! This is the answer to the initial question: What can we do to accomplish the works of God? ~ Mons. Henryk Hoser, Apostolic Visitor to Medjugorje, excerpted from his homily to the Youth Festival on August 5, 2018 Message to Mirjana on December 2, 2018 Dear children, when you come to me, as to a mother, with a pure and open heart, know that I am listening to you, encouraging you, consoling you and, above all, interceding for you with my Son. I know that you desire to have a strong faith and to express it in the right way. What my Son asks of you is to have a sincere, strong and deep faith then every way in which you express it is proper. Faith is a most wonderful mystery which is kept in the heart. It is between the Heavenly Father and all of His children; it is recognized by the fruits and by the love which one has towards all of God s creatures. Apostles of my love, my children, have trust in my Son. Help all of my children to come to know His love. You are my hope you who strive to sincerely love my Son. In the name of love, for your salvation, according to the will of the Heavenly Father and through my Son, I am here among you. Apostles of my love, along with prayer and sacrifice, may your hearts be illuminated with the love and the light of my Son. May that light and love illuminate all those whom you meet and bring them back to my Son. I am with you. In a special way, I am alongside your shepherds. With my motherly love I Hands of a Priest by Jeff Tiner illuminate and encourage them that, with the hands blessed by my Son, they may bless the entire world. Thank you. Our condolences to the family of John Brady, who died on November 5. John had been one of our mailing helpers this past year. Please pray for the repose of his soul and consolation for his family. Thank you. Bits and Peaces As of December 25, 2018, the number of Masses reported for Our Lady s intentions is 26,762. What a wonderful New Year s resolution this would be to have a Mass said in 2019 for Our Lady s intentions. A big thank you to all who renewed your subscriptions last year and all who sponsored someone overseas to receive our newsletter. I am sure Our Lady is smiling upon you THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE JANUARY 2019

6 Last year was the 20 th anniversary of my first pilgrimage to Medjugorje. I really wanted to return and say Thank you to Our Lady, but did not think it was possible for many different reasons. Apparently Our Lady had some gentle reminders for me, as well as some anniversary surprises, so She invited me once again and smoothed the path for me. Although this was my 8 th pilgrimage to Medjugorje, there were several first-time experiences for me. For starters, this was the first time I had been to Medjugorje in November. I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful weather we had sunny and warm during the day, beautiful blue skies, with cool, jacket-weather at night. It was also my first time to stay in a hotel in Medjugorje. Again I was pleasantly surprised with the homey, family atmosphere. The hotel (Hotel Ruza) is owned by villagers, not by outside corporations looking to make money, as I had expected. In fact the first thing I noticed when I walked in were the beautiful murals in the dining room depicting a nun with St. John Paul II and with Fr. Slavko. I later learned that this nun, Sr. Josepha, was a sister of one of the owners of the hotel, and she was a founder of the orphanage where Vicka sometimes speaks to pilgrims. The gracious young man who served us our meals had been one of their orphans. The first night when we arrived in Medjugorje, I began to lose my voice. By the second day, I had no voice at all! I usually get laryngitis once a year, but what timing! It was very humbling to meet people for the first time and not be able to talk. As Jakov says (page 3), Nothing happens by accident, and I thought it was no coincidence that the word humility kept cropping up in talks and meditations at Adoration. But this was the first of the gentle reminders I believe Our Lady wanted to reinforce for me. In Her message of August 25, 2018, Our Lady said, Pray more, speak less. I am still trying to work on that! That same evening, we went to the International Mass in the church and it was packed. I was way in the back corner, and could not see, so I did not know until after the Mass was over that the celebrant was Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the Vatican envoy to Medjugorje. What a blessing! The following day, we climbed Apparition Hill. I walked back by myself through the fields. It was so peaceful. I reminisced about walking through the fields with my mother twenty years earlier. I knew she was with me in spirit when a butterfly accompanied me for a bit. My mother loved butterflies. That day was topped off by evening Adoration in the church. It is always so awesome to worship God with people from all over the world. Another first for me was our trip to St. Cornelia s orphanage the next day, where we had Mass. Later in the pilgrimage, some of the children from the orphanage came to our hotel to sing. So beautiful! After the orphanage, we headed back to the church rectory to hear a humorous, inspirational talk by Fr. Leon, chaplain to the English-speaking pilgrims. My 20th Anniversary Pilgrimage By June Klins View from the back way down Cross Mountain The next day, before we climbed Cross Mountain, our guide, Stephanie, was telling the story of the early days when the people saw the word Mir (meaning peace ) in the sky, and at that very moment, when she said Mir, Our Lady surprised me with a fragrant odor of roses. It did not last long, but it did return briefly again at the Fourth Station of the Cross (Jesus meets His Mother). I felt that Our Lady was telling me She was with me on my climb up the mountain, which was a very difficult climb for me this time. Later, a priest told me that the reason I had such a hard time was because in my backpack I was carrying all the intentions people had given me. I had a very heavy spiritual load, including three serious intentions of my own. When we reached the top, Stephanie told us that it is a tradition to pray five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys, and five Glory Be s for Our Lady s intentions. I went over and placed my hands on the cross and prayed the fifteen prayers. After I was done, I opened my eyes, and could not believe that what was written (by a pilgrim) on the cross between my hands was the word Vietnam. One of my heavy intentions was for my husband who suffers from PTSD from Vietnam. I burst into tears and could not stop crying for a long time. Like the apostles on Mt. Tabor, I did not want to leave the mountain. I really wanted to stay longer and walk back alone, since I knew the way. But I realized that it would get dark soon and I did not think it prudent to descend the mountain alone in the dark. On the way down the back path, I found myself lagging behind the group. One of our three priests, Fr. Bill, stayed with me all the way down. As we talked, Fr. Bill shared that he had a large parish in Michigan, and would be going back to many phone calls and situations that would need his attention. I shared that I, too, as editor of this newsletter, would be going home to many phone calls, s, and snail mail to answer. Then Fr. Bill suggested that we not even think about what was ahead and to just drink in the peace. Fr. Bill has no idea how those four little words have helped me since my return home. As difficult as it was, my Cross Mountain experience was a highlight of my pilgrimage. But the next day rivaled it. We had a meeting with visionary Mirjana in her house, another first for me. I had heard Mirjana speak a number of times outside her house, but I had never been inside. Mirjana spent nearly two hours with us giving her testimony, answering questions, and even posing with us for our group photo. (I have a hunch that Stephanie had some clout in arranging this, since her son is married to Mirjana s daughter.) After we left Mirjana s, we walked to Cenacolo, where one of our priests, Fr. Joe, was the celebrant for the Mass another first for me and for everyone else. We had heard two of the men from Cenacolo give their testimonies two days prior, and they explained how the men learn to conquer their addiction problems through prayer, work, and mentorship, with no medications. At Mass, all of the men were so joyful. Their joy was palpable. It brought some of us to tears. These JANUARY THE SPIRIT OF MEDJUGORJE

7 men had been lost but now were found. It is obvious that they know that the Mass is the ultimate prayer of thanksgiving. After Mass we talked to one of the men, who is considering religious life. I gave him the petitions that I had prayed for on both mountains, at Mass, at Adoration, and at the Risen Jesus statue. He said they would pray over them as well and take them to one of the visionaries to be lifted up at an apparition. The next day, my roommate, Chris, and I decided to forgo the trip to the castle since we had been there several times. (See our May 2013 issue.) Instead, we walked to Rosie s Tea Room (from Mary TV) where we had a very enjoyable visit. One of our subscribers, Patrick Kelker, dropped in to see Rosie, saw the newsletters I had brought there, then noticed my name tag. Another surprise arranged by Our Lady! It is always such a treat to meet our subscribers! The following day, we visited the Oasis of Peace and heard an inspiring talk by one of the sisters there, named Sr. Faustina. Later, a few of us made a side trip to Surmanci, to the Divine Mercy Shrine there, where we venerated the relics of St. Faustina and St. John Paul II. The rest of the The following is an excerpt from a homily given on July 16, 2014, in St. James Church in Medjugorje. We thank Cathy Nolan of MaryTV for transcribing it. You can listen to the entire homily in the English homily archives of I m here from Bedford in England with a couple of friends of mine. And today we made the decision to climb Mt Krizevac. It was lovely when we set out. But by the time we got to the top of the mountain, it looked more like Mt. Sinai with a big dark cloud hanging over us, and thunder and lightning. And then the rain started. It wasn t a very wise decision, and we thought we had better get back down before it got too bad...coming down from Mt. Krizevac was treacherous. I felt very vulnerable, and a little frightened that I might end up falling and breaking something and heading off for the hospital in Mostar. But thanks to Our Lady and our guardian angel, they saw us all safely down. We all can feel vulnerable and frightened. We are afraid of falling. Sometimes we do fall. Sometimes we fall badly. We are afraid of the future and sometimes we doubt. We lose hope. We are frightened by our worldly conflict. And we wonder: Is there a God at all? Does He care? These things go through our minds at times. We come to this place to seek reassurance, to seek strength and to receive hope, to come for forgiveness and healing. We are in need of our Mother. And She is here! If we place our hand in Hers, She will see us safely down the mountain of our fears. She will lead us to Her Son who whispers, It is I, do not be afraid. We come here with our many burdens and concerns, our heartaches, too. Leave them there before Jesus. Leave them there before His Mother. Allow Jesus to heal, to forgive and to strengthen. Allow Him to act in you and above all to love you! There are five words to keep in mind always. Jesus loves you very much. If we keep that in mind, then everything else will fall into place. In this place we can become aware of our great dignity and destiny. Listen to that murmur of Living Water that whispers within, Come to the Father. We are called to climb the mountain of God. And we do so, not unaided, but time was quieter, with times for private prayer, Mass, and Adoration. I visited the Risen Jesus statue a few more times and touched some hankies to the knee, which was weeping. During our final days, a few people shared their stories with me and I hope to share some of those stories with you. (One of them is already in this issue.) The last gentle reminder I felt that Our Lady was teaching me came through two of those stories, as well as several of the talks and meditations: Do not be afraid. The last morning of our pilgrimage, I got a text from home with two serious prayer requests. We were scheduled to leave Medjugorje for Dubrovnik after breakfast. I decided to skip breakfast and walk over to the church to pray for those intentions. I prayed the Joyful Mysteries at the statue of Our Lady and the Sorrowful Mysteries at the Crucifix in the Candle Park, and the Glorious Mysteries on the walk back, trying my best to pray more (and speak less), not be afraid, and drink in the peace. When I got home, within a week, one of the prayers was answered, the other within a month. Thank you to Our Lady and Her Son for a most beautiful anniversary pilgrimage. The Mother Is With Us with the help of Our Blessed Lady, and with the help of each other. We are on pilgrimage together. We should take care of each other, be concerned for each other, and give each other a helping hand in the journey of faith, the journey of life. We keep our eyes and hearts fixed on the goal. And our time here in Medjugorje affords us little course corrections that we need to steer in the right direction: Prayer, Fasting, Confession, Adoration, the Mass, personal conversion I m a parish priest and am very busy with my parish, the school, the prison, a hospital, and two parishes to serve. I also have various diocesan responsibilities. I am constantly doing, instead of just being. One can get so caught up on the busyness of life that one forgets the purpose of life. So thank God for a place like this. Thank God for Medjugorje. I can just be here. I need the course correction in my life; otherwise my duties can prove exhausting. Without that chance just to be, I cannot do. That applies to every one of us... But we learn here that we have to integrate being into our daily lives. That is why Our Lady tells us to Pray, pray, pray. This is the summation of Her messages. Pray, pray, pray. Through prayer, understanding will be given to us, and strength, renewed hope, and a new perspective on things. In prayer, we can be ourselves, naturally, before God. In fasting, we can receive His love for us, and like the prophet Elijah, we will hear that still small voice. So pray for a listening heart, so that we will hear the voice of God and receive His love, His forgiveness, and He will take away all our fear and heal our wounds, the wounds of our humanity. He wants to do this for you. Let Him. Let Him be God. Let Him act freely in your lives. Turn up every day in prayer, and let Him hold you, and hold you close... Then when you get into that attitude of prayer, something extraordinary will happen. We will be filled with divine joy. And we shall be able to laugh again. Don t be sad. Sadness is a tool of the devil to keep us down. Don t give into sadness. Be joyful. Laugh. The devil hates laughter. Love and laugh! The Mother is with us, and stays with us, and leads us to Jesus who is our peace. JANUARY 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 humanity. This time, this period of grace, is for CONVERSION 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. If you want to receive The Spirit of Medjugorje monthly newsletter, please fill out the form below and return to: P.O. Box 6614, Erie, PA If you are able to send a donation to help spread Mary s messages, it would be greatly appreciated. We request that you renew your subscription annually to remain on our mailing list. May God bless you. Please check one: New Renew Distribute Adoration Newsletters Issue #1 or Issue #2 (please circle) (# of newsletters) Name Street Address MARY IS CALLING YOU and a DEEPENING OF FAITH. After the visible sign, those still living will have little time for conversion. Father Jozo Zovko, who was the pastor of St. James when the apparitions began, has spoken about what he calls the weapons or the the five stones of Our Lady. They are: prayer with the heart, especially the Rosary; Eucharist; Holy Bible; monthly Confession; and fasting. The publisher recognizes and accepts that the final authority regarding the apparitions at Medjugorje rest with the Holy See in Rome. 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 $.71 postage on it. Sponsor a subscription for someone in a foreign country (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. 32, NO.1