March 5, 2021 Reflection – Having recourse to Mary!
Having recourse to Mary! March 5, 2021 First Friday Dear Family of Mary! “…Little children, believe and live this time of grace in faith and with faith; and my Immaculate Heart does not leave any of you in peacelessness if you have recourse to me…” (February 25, 2021) Our Lady will give us her peace in every situation, if we turn to her. If we look to her and trustingly ask her to help us, she will show us the way and give us her deep and abiding peace, the peace of her Son. I want to share a story that Frano Zubac shared on the most recent Jesus Rosary. It is about how Our Lady prepared him for a difficult year in the Jugoslav army, and not only gave him peace, but allowed that peace to flow to the other soldiers. It is incredible and will give us all hope in these difficult days. Our Lady will not leave us, and her presence is our peace. Franjo Zubac – Jesus Rosary, 03/03/21 I am inspired to share with you something that happened to me in 1985 and 1986. I am going to talk to you about the Jugoslav army. I always wondered why every evening when I would come to the Church in Medjugorje, I would be stopped by the Communist Militia and they would write my name, my surname, etc. into their black book. And every evening, again and again, it happened. I wondered to myself what will come of this. One night, a young policeman called me out of my car and said to me, “Do you really want to live in this country?” And I said, “Yes, of course.” He said, “Well, your name is every day in the black book.” And I said, “Well what can I do?” And he said, “Well, think about it.” And I was puzzled. I knew there was opposition everywhere. Everywhere you would go if you mentioned Medjugorje or they would know you are from this area, then you are disliked person. If you go to Sarajevo, if you go to Mostar, or you go around the university… But at that time we had started prayer at the Church and then we stared the prayer group. Our Lady started the prayer group through Jelena (1983). At the end of 1985 I was called to the Jugoslav Army. Every young man was obliged to go into the army for one year. So they called me, and the last day they gave us the camp where we were to go for one year. Almost everyone was sent nearby, but the commander said to me, smiling, “I will have to give you more money than anybody else for your ticket…” It meant my journey was going to be longer! The other boys would be nearby so on the weekend they could come home. But they shipped me to Macedonia. It took two days and one night by train. It meant “bye, bye”. You can’t come back home. That was my reward. So I came to the camp at night, in Macedonia, and the first thing that they searched for was a Bible in my pack. I brought a notebook with a black cover and they said, there it is! And they opened it, and nothing was written there. But I would like to share something precious with you. Before I left for the army, I received a message from Our Lady. A personal message through Jelena who was in our prayer group. I didn’t expect it. I hadn’t talked about anything. Jelena just came up with a little piece of paper on which she wrote this message. She said that Our Lady had sent a message to me. And Our Lady said to me: I will be always with you. Don’t be afraid. You won’t be able to go to church for Holy Mass for one year. You won’t be able to read the Bible. But I will be with you. And only when you go to bed or when you are on your own you can say your prayers.” It happened exactly that way. Nothing was different. So when they checked for the Bible in the “intake” building of the camp, the army men came and searched for a Bible and such things, because a lot of information had been sent about me months earlier. It was the information the police had gathered all those years about my going to church very night, about how I supported Medjugorje. All my characteristics had been sent. The Yugoslavian officials were searching everyone’s information to find out about us. So when I entered the camp, I was so happy. There were young boys from all over the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia…all the same age. I was quite happy. But then they started the political classes, including their indoctrination about religion. They said that the constitution of Yugoslavia allowed all religions. But the Communists were on top. There were about 100 of us in the classroom. And the officer said, “Is there anyone here who believes in God?” And I stood up, along with one friend from Split. Goodness me. When we stood up, the people screamed at us. “You believe in God???” I looked at the boy who was in the bunk above me, and said, “You said last night you celebrate your feast day!” And he said, “Yes, but you shouldn’t say this in front of the officers.” I said, “Why not?” So that is what happened the first time I witnessed. So we learn here (in Medjugorje) how to pray, how to carry peace in your heart, how to share your peace with others. But in the camp, you can’t go to church, to Holy Mass to recharge your batteries. You can’t read the Bible. You have to obey the officer and do whatever he tells you. How to fight, how to kill. It was unbelievable. It felt like I fell from heaven into a monkey’s nest. The significance? Every Monday morning the thousands of soldiers in the camp would be standing at attention, and the colonel would stand before us with a microphone and give a political talk. So every Monday the top of the Communist party, the General and the Colonel, would talk about the counter revolution, about the enemy abroad, and the enemy within, and fascism and nationalism, and he mentioned Fr. Jozo, even though he said his name wrong. (He only read it and couldn’t pronounce his name). He also mentioned the Gospa from Bosnia. Our Lady was in Hercegovina, but they didn’t know this either. Gospa from Bosnia and Fr. Jozo…. It was trying. You had to stand still for more than half an hour and listen to them. The main culprits were Fr. Jozo and Our Lady from Bosnia. I wondered why he spoke about Fr. Jozo and Gospa. Gospa came to Medjugorje, and the first message was “God exists!” And all their ideology, Marxism and Leninism, is “God does not exist.” So they were really strongly attacked by the apparition of Our Lady. He said this with anger! Their ideology had been attacked by her one statement;” God exists.” They made me present the teaching of their political theory in front of the class. I would present everything as “Marx said that. Lennon said that.” They would ask me if I agreed, and I would just say, that is what they said! After one year, since I was quite skilled in the mine fields, bridges, etc. they gave me 10 days off early. How to share the fruit of prayer with people who were Godless? What can I share. I couldn’t talk about the Gospel or God? But I could share peace from my heart with them. I had good friendship with all the men in the camp. I was friendly and kind. We remember each other as friends. Because I see in all of them friends…I see in them brothers. Same God, Same Father. But the real experience with Godless people for one year taught me so much. Ivan (visionary) also had to go for one year. But he went to Slovenia. I asked him when he returned if he was ok. And he said yes, the officer knew about him and didn’t give him a hard time. Many people who come to Medjugorje experience prayer, fasting, conversion. Then they go home. But they say that when they go home, they lose the peace and prayer. They say they have to come back to Medjugorje. So they come back to recharge their battery and then go home. I have been thinking about that. Losing it and gaining it back. I see it is the natural way. The way we spread the peace and love to our brothers, without talking about it, we can do that. They recognize the peace in our hearts. And peace in our personality. And that peace goes to that person. It is very hard, but it works. So the way that Our Lady wants us to gain peace, is by praying for peace, because peace is the greatest gift to us from God. It cannot come from other people. Peace is only a gift from God to our heart. And we share that peace to others. So Our Lady wants us to pray for peace. She came with the title, Queen of Peace. So we will pray now for peace in our heart so we can share it with all those people who don’t believe in God, those who are far away from God. But we can share with them peace! Peace from our heart…. Jesus Rosary, 3/3/21 https://marytv.tv/jesus-rosary/ “…Little children, believe and live this time of grace in faith and with faith; and my Immaculate Heart does not leave any of you in peacelessness if you have recourse to me…” (February 25, 2021) St. Joseph, help us to have recourse to Mary, so that we can receive her peace and share it with others. Dear St. Joseph, foster father of us all, we love you! You so faithfully stayed by the side of Mary when she gave Jesus to the world. Help us now in our turn stay faithfully by her side as she gives Him to us anew… She told us in this message: “Dear children! Today I call you to pray and fast for my intentions, because Satan wants to destroy my plan. Here I began with this parish and invited the entire world. Many have responded, but there is an enormous number of those who do not want to hear or accept my call. Therefore, you who have said ‘yes’, be strong and resolute. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (August 25, 2011) Dear St. Joseph, you were always strong and resolute – in Bethlehem, in Egypt, and in Nazareth. You never wavered from the side of Mary. Help us to be strong and resolute and to never waver from her side. “My children, be my apostles who have not lived in vain. Do not forget that you will come before the Heavenly Father and tell Him about yourself. Be ready!” (April 2, 2013) Dear St. Joseph, help us to be faithful to the call of Our Lady and to witness to her presence in these days. St. Joseph, pray for us!! In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2021 PS. I highly recommend the Video series, “Jesus Rosary” with Frano Zubac found in our Video Library. Frano shares his memories of the first days of the apparitions, the situation in the Hercegovina when Our Lady first appeared, and how her presence changed everything! The archive can be found here: https://marytv.tv/jesus-rosary/ PPS. Denis and I have recorded the Spiritual Warfare Prayers and posted them on the Mary TV website so you can pray them along with us! Here is the link: https://marytv.tv/spiritual-warfare-prayers/