все страницы за месяц Март, 2008

I was overjoyed to hear these incredible insights about Lent that Vicka shared with a pilgrim recently:

"Many times we see Lent as a time when we make sacrifices and practice self-denial by giving up coffee, alcohol, chocolate, cigarettes, TV, or whatever we are overly attached to. But we must renounce those things out of love for Jesus and Mary, and be careful not to do it for our own glory. Often we wait for the end of the forty days, only to drink again, to watch TV again, etc. This is not the right way to live Lent!

A series of artworks depicting scenes from the book of Exodus with a beautiful soundtrack by a Messianic Jewish band called Katuv. See www.mirmedjugorje.org and www.katuvmusic.com

Recently, a group of students from the University of Notre Dame in the USA spent their Spring Break in Medjugorje. While there, they met a priest from Canada, Fr. Mike, who was able to spend time with them sharing his experiences and encouraging them. One night, he shared with them his testimony and a special message :

He was ordained at the age of 26, and six months later he was involved in a terrible automobile accident. Upon impact, he found himself below a tunnel of light that he knew was the portal to heaven. He experienced in that moment great joy, and a completeness he had never known. He was going to meet Jesus, and he was filled with peace. But then he became aware that he was being asked to return to his life on earth, that his work was not over. He said he was returning with an incredible desire to tell everyone he met that life is short, that God is real, and that we must not waste a moment on anything less than God. He then woke up in the hospital.

Apparition of Our Lady in Medjugorje for Mirjana, 2. March 2008

A series of Christian artworks by Elizabeth Wang with a brilliant soundtrack by Paul Lisney called Send me a dream. See imagesofheaven.org/Index/Lisney.html and www.mirmedjugorje.org

Excerpt taken from book Letters to Marc About Jesus by Henri Nouwen:

Now I´d like to tell you one or two things about her, not just because I happen to be here but because, all along, I´ve been wanting to write to you about Jesus as the hidden God.
I don´t think you´ll ever be able to penetrate the mystery of God´s revelation in Jesus until it strikes you that the major part of Jesus´life was hidden and that even the “public” years remained invisible as far as most people were concerned. Whereas the way of the world is to insist on publicity, celebrity, popularity and getting maximum exposure, God prefer to work in secret. You must have the nerve to let that mystery of God´s secrecy, God´s anonymity, sink deeply into your consciousness because, otherwise, you´re continually looking in the wrong direction. In God´s sight, the things that really matter seldom take place in public.

She died the year Our Lady’s apparitions at Medjugorje began. She loved the Blessed Virgin, and inspired by her, she adhered to the divine will in a radical way, even when God’s plan asked of her a degree of immolation beyond human capacity. She bore Christ’s wounds, and she let herself be consumed for the salvation of souls.

Video of our aid convoys to Bosnia (including Medjugorje) during the war (1993) and the song Angels by Tami Leah and Anna see www.mirmedjugorje.org and www.itrustjesus.com

Visiting Vicka recently I was ushered into her house and mixed in with a small group of Italians who were listening intently to Vicka's words. She answered their questions and spoke to them from the heart, which gave me an opportunity to again witness her incredible wisdom. After all, that is her trademark (ask anyone from the village): wisdom grounded in solid common sense! When I came she was speaking to several Italian families who were deeply suffering in their family life. Naturally Vicka responded to their distress by expressing a few observations on family life today:

A video of the Schoenstatt shrine in Manchester UK with the song 'sanctuary' by Paul Lisney see www.mirmedjugorje.org and imagesofheaven.org/Index/Lisney.html

In the Vecernji list of March 21, 2008, Ivan Tolj published an interview with Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Archbishop of Sarajevo.

Question: the recently published interview with the Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of the Holy See, that the case Medjugorje should be re-examined, inspired various speculations. Has the Bishop’s Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina discussed this matter, and is it true that Medjugorje shall be officially examined once again?

Cardinal Puljic’s answer: „Our BC has not discussed this matter, because the phenomenon of Medjugorje does not come within our competence. At the moment when the Holy See takes the decision and gives a task, we shall think about what to do. This is why it is not necessary to speculate, unless concrete instructions come. After the work of the Commission, the BC has already decided to accompany the phenomenon pastorally. This is nothing new, but the implementation of the first decision of the BC about the phenomenon Medjugorje.”

Pics of St (Padre) Pio and a song/poem called The Priest by Paul Lisney see imagesofheaven.org/Index/Lisney.html and www.mirmedjugorje.org