“Dear children! My heart is joyful because through these years I see your love and openness to my call. Today I am calling all of you: pray with me for peace and freedom, because Satan is strong and by his deception, wants to lead away all the more hearts from my motherly heart. That is why decide for God so that it may be good for you on the earth which God gave you. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (June 25, 2021)
F.L. Well Marija the June 25 message as usually gives us a lot of hope, and this is full of joy but also full of encouragement to us because our Mother tells us that she sees our love and our openness.
M. It is a beautiful message that we all waited for with so much joy. We have reached the fortieth year, our Lady has been with us for a long time, it has been all a bit special. We felt Heaven in these days especially yesterday and today we really prayed day and night, the hills are crowed with pilgrims, it was a surprise that no one expected. Croatians but also people from all over the world responded this way; far fewer groups from Italy. We missed them. Few organized groups, the bravest ones, we can tell that Italians are not in Medjugorje.
F.L. Yes Marija, however, I know the Italians who got here did it on their own because practically the Ministry of Health does not allow trips to Bosnia until July 31. It allows them in Croatia but starting from August I believe that there will be a larger presence of Italians.
M. Medjugorje is back in the splendor of the past years. It seems that there were more than 400 priests alone on the altar without counting all those who day and night are confessing non-stop, in fact for the youth festival we are getting organized. Let’s say it looks like they might arrive high caliber preachers not to mention names.
F.L. Yes, oh well but still our Lady is more than the “Highest Office”, there is nobody like her and I have seen many pictures and a full esplanade behind the church that reminded me the youth festival and even more
M. We are experiencing a moment of Pentecost after this Covid, for example the director of Radio Maria NY was here broadcasting the extraordinary event.This morning I woke up at 4.30 and like every day during these past nine days we climbed the apparition hill which was full of people who arrived today and joined us; even now that I am looking out the window and I can see lights and many pilgrims.
F.L. Do you think this is hope for the whole world too?
M. I was looking at today’s message, Our Lady is telling us for the umpteenth time to pray for peace and freedom because Satan is strong and I think these three words are the core of the whole message. She says her heart is joyful and so are we in these days because Our Lady is still with us. The provincial friar, tonight in his sermon, told us to pray so that Our Lady will remain with us for many more years and that this is only the beginning. We have to move forward and walk with Her in gratitude to God for all that she is giving us.
F.L. Listen Marija, I have an important question to ask you. I went to see all the messages of these forty years that Our Lady has given to you officially for the Parish, but only nine times Our Lady used the word freedom – always merely referring to inner freedom, freedom before God. This time it seems to me that the word freedom has an even greater value because, like peace, it refers not only to the heart but also to the family and social peace. So, the word freedom combined with peace tells me that Our Lady refers to our outer freedom. My interpretation is this: Satan certainly takes away our inner freedom with sins but now with this “one way of thinking”, with the control of the mass media, with the totalitarian states, he wants to take away religious freedom, freedom of worship, freedom of the Church, freedom of teaching, freedom for parents to teach the faith. Doesn’t it seem to you that there is a broader meaning for the word freedom.
M. I have experienced communism and so for me, in these times of covid when we read newspapers (here in Medjugorje a little less) it seems that a spirit of dictatorship is taking hold in many countries like Argentina which is closed at the borders and no one can enter or exit. People who wanted to come to Medjugorje for this Fortieth Anniversary sent me messages but I wasn’t able to help them at all. There is this diabolical dictatorship. Our Lady says: “pray with me for peace and freedom because Satan is strong and with his deceptions he wants to lead away all the more hearts as possible.” I also believe that in this moment as you said Father Livio, the word “Freedom” is used wrongly in order to take real freedom away from us through these satanic plans under the pretext of “not offending the sensibilities of others”. They therefore say that “we do not offend anyone” but if I wear a chain with a cross, if I want to bear witness to my faith, I am forbidden to talk about my religion. This is why I believe Our Lady is building a new world through us. This morning a man dressed in sheepskin arrived at my house playing Scottish music, with an instrument (I can’t think of the name..)
F.L. Bagpipe!
M. Yes, he arrived singing and playing songs (Gospa Mjka Moja, and other local songs). He is of Polish origin, brought his wife with him and beautiful flowers because you must know that in these days I have never seen so many flowers and roses that pilgrims brought to Our Lady. A great number of pilgrims arrived here throughout the years and so many wonderful things happened, so many hearts were touched by Our Lady and by the good Lord, and lives started anew.
F.L. And in any case Our Lady also warns us against Satan. She said a few months ago that he “seduces souls” meaning he really wants to distance us from her. Marija, do you say that prayer is enough or discernment is also needed, fasting is needed, sacraments, in other words should we arm ourselves against this pressure that Satan operates throughout the world and be very careful to watch over the door of our hearts?
M. Here in Medjugorje we think that despite this awful virus there is a lot of confusion, so many hearts have fallen into distress, many people have gotten lost, but at the same time a great number are coming back to life. We used to have time to stop and relax and pray. I believe now Our Lady wants to start again in a stronger way, she will not stop appearing, rejoicing with us and she is preparing a major plan, much more important than we think. She says many times: “God allowed me to be with you” and today: “Decide for God so that it may be good”. Nowadays there are so many psychic and moral diseases; brain and head issues, there are no longer people who believe in providence. Our Mother is telling us: “Don’t worry about life being good on this earth which God gave you”. God gave us this Earth and He wants us to be well. God does not want us suffer, God heals, God gives joy, He is Risen, and for this reason we too must believe that the Risen One walks with us, that Christ is not a dead but he rose with the same joy as they felt it when Jesus was among them. We must always think that Jesus is among us, and his Mother also walks with us.
F.L. Marjia I wanted to say that I have read the Croatian message and in the last sentence there is this beautiful expression: “on the earth which God gave you” while in the Italian translation is missing.It’s true Father Livio we did not translate it because today being a special day we are all a bit tired but now since I am able to see the entire message I have to say yes it is correct to add it to the Italian transcription.
F.L. Yes I got it from the Parish, in any case I said it because we have to make this small correction. Yes, all right. I’ll make the correction just like you suggested it.
F.L. Yes yes! Marija listen was our Lady dressed in gold today? Our Lady was clad in gold and she was very joyful, she not only gave the message but also spoke to us and asked for various things. Together with a bishop who arrived from Ukraine where at this moment there is a war and who was next to me at the time of the apparition, we asked for help to Our Lady and she prayed in Aramaic, her mother tongue. Every time she prays we do not know what she says but it is an intense prayer and we believe that there will be a sign for peace in Ukraine and in many other places where uncertainties, clouds of war and hatred prevail. We asked the Queen of Peace to reign in our hearts, in our families and in the whole world. Our Lady told us that she accepted our prayers with so much joy and she will present them to Her Son Jesus.
F.L. However, it is not the first time that Our Lady has spoken Aramaic, but was it precisely that language that she spoke when she was here on Earth.
M. Yes, Our Lady once said that this is her mother tongue.
F.L. This is awesome but she speaks to you in Croatian.
M. Our Lady speaks to us in Croatian otherwise we would not be able to understand her. At the moment of the apparition, Father Livio and even today in a special way with Our Lady smiling, we felt so joyful, this cannot be described in words, we felt Heaven and this Paradise we want to transmit to all Radio Maria’s shipmates; that joy we felt tonight, that peace in our hearts that we experienced with Our Lady, that safety of being at peace with God and with ourselves because we are in God’s hands. Our Lady herself is wrapping us with her mantle and protecting us, that same safety that a child has on her mother’s lap. We were yearning for Heaven even if the time has not yet come to go with Her because she still has some plan to carry out with us.
F.L. Yes she still has so many souls to save, I think.
M. Every time when the moment of the apparition comes we want to tell Her: “Take us with you, it’s too awesome and we no longer want to be away from you. But then we have to come back here. She captures us when she comes from that glimpse of Heaven, wraps us in Her mantle and while we are dreaming, we wonder if this grace is real, if it’s true that Our Lady appears to us, if it is true that she gives us all these beautiful messages. We truly feel an immense joy inside our hearts and every time we keep on repeating to ourselves: “The Lord is great, He is merciful, He is good, He gives us and shares his Mother with us; we won’t be able to thank Him enough.
F.L. However, it is already the third or fourth time that Our Lady says to you we can also be happy here on Earth despite the fact that we have to face our crosses, struggles and pain; but “if you have joy in your heart this is already a taste of Heaven” as she has once said.
M. Yes exactly, with her presence Our Lady brings us Heaven because she sees all that is ahead of us while we see with earthly eyes. She looks at us with Heavenly eyes, a gaze of Eternity where she wants to lead all of us and for this reason also today I don’t know how many times we prayed our entrustment and consecration prayer so that we can get closer and closer to Her Immaculate Heart also through Her own words: “You are my outstretched hands in this world” or: “I found true faith and this is why I am here”. This is something that fills us with joy because the Lord has chosen us and wants to share with us the presence of his Mother also through our Parish here in Medjugorje. In these days going up the hill I saw so many people with tears in their eyes and even tonight in the sacristy, on the altar after Holy Mass I experienced much gratitude to God for all He is doing through us. We felt this gratitude during these nine days of novena with professional choirs from the parish, many instruments, youngsters, elder men and women offering their time, their punctuality, everything prepared with joy and to be proud of. My voice is now feeble, we have been talking and praying since this morning with people who keep on coming here and despite my suffering, I spoke with Vicka who is not well, Mirjana is not doing well either, Ivanka did not feel like going to the altar because she was too emotional and her legs were trembling so that at the thought she almost fainted. Last night during the novena when I had to pray the Magnificat at a certain point I had to stop and asked Ivan to take over for me. Tonight, I was overwhelmed with emotion when we saw so many people singing, praying on their knees, going up the hill, and I felt like I had gone back to the early years of apparitions but with a larger number of people. We were positively shocked when we spoke to a group of Croatians who now live in Australia which has become their homeland. They took a pilgrimage walking through a local desert, all sweaty but happy and aware of making a sacrifice by praying for the intentions of Our Lady. Other people from Brazil, from America have told us that they are spiritually with us, together through Catholic radio stations such as Radio Maria are broadcasting the message of Our Lady with our scheduled programs.
F.L. And in any case Medjugorje has been completely without pilgrims for many months due to the pandemic and it has been a kind of Lent, whereas now it’s Easter time, a prophecy about new times this.
M. Precisely, it seems to me that Our Lady did not want to give so much importance to this message despite its importance and although she was full of joy, she never stops but keeps on staying with us in this awesome experience when she says: “God allows me to be among you”.
F.L. When Vicka was hosted on Radio Maria she told us Our Mother will be together with one of you three seers such as Marija or Vicka or Ivan during all the ten secrets length. In any case at least with the persons who have received the tenth secret. Our Lady will appear until the end of your lives therefore, I don’t know how to say it, but no one can say that these apparitions are at the beginning, but for sure they still have a lot of time ahead of them. Am I wrong?
M. Father Livio I must say that even though it’s been forty years now, some thoughts come into my head such as “who knows maybe Our Lady will no longer appear.” But tonight, when I saw her, I said: “Even if she no longer appears I am happy because by her presence she has been giving us so much joy that a whole life is not enough to thank her”
Pilgrims by looking at us are wondering how we can keep up with these stressing rhythms. This morning I went to bed at a quarter past one and got up at half past four; tonight I’m sure I won’t go to sleep before midnight. This is our schedule. Poor people who made sacrifices to come here and probably this is their only opportunity, they come sick, desperate, asking for prayers, many sell their goods, even their house in order to make the journey to come to Medjugorje. My house is open to people that come from the surrounding areas as well. Everything has its importance for Our Lady from small gestures such as bringing a bouquet of flowers up the hill, watering them especially during the month of May. Everything is great in the eyes of God, who sees this sensitivity in our hearts and our Mother transforms us and turns us into little saints.
F.L. In the end, the little saints are the biggest ones . Thank you so much Marjia I was touched, the joy you have is right inside your heart and it shows. You have also passed it to all of us. Anyhow it is really true Medjugorje is eternally young, like the eternal youth of Mary who never fades away after forty years. It feels like the first times, I am really happy that you were able to communicate this message to us, that Our Lady is an inexhaustible source of peace and joy, thanks again for having transmitted this message to us.
M. I read an online interview given by Archbishop Hoser who is not actually in Medjugorje. He got sick after having received the vaccine jab and is now recovering. He said that as soon as the pilgrims go back to their homes they have little nostalgia and he used a nice word referring to it and asserted that it is not an addiction but a desire that our Lady delivers in our hearts because she is here. As you said, we are able to find her youth despite being more than two thousand years old. Tonight, she showed us all her youth, beauty and joy in the expression of her eyes, of her mouth, even that little nose she has and the veil over her head gave me so much tenderness, it was so real, her dignity was beautiful, her sweetness that it’s impossible to describe. Her presence among us can never be forgotten and even if she will never appear to me again starting from tomorrow, I will cry out with all my strength my “Thank you Lord for having sent her among us”.
F.L. And in any case Marjia, as Mother of God she participates in the Glory of her Son, and we too will be like Her because she told us: “My children when you come to Heaven and there will be the resurrection of the flesh you will also be in my image”, that is also our destiny. We must think as Our Lady said in her previous message: “You rightfully walk with the Risen Christ towards Heaven which will be your goal”.
M. Exactly, but for now Our Lady is calling us to be joyful, to be love, prayer for freedom and peace because she always tells us to be her extended hands and we can do this in our own little way. Every year on the twenty-fourth of June we start walking for about eighteen kilometers in the morning and pray for peace; instead this afternoon from Citluk with Father Miro who gathered a lot of pilgrims from Celzego, singing and praying. Today as we ended the novena the temperature reached almost forty degrees. The procession started at half past four from the apparition hill toward the church and despite the heat we didn’t stop, overwhelmed by our own joy and enthusiasm no one was able to take it away from us. Thanks to God and to Our Lady.
F.L. Yes Marjia thank you for your beautiful testimony, the enthusiasm and joy of living with Mary that you have transmitted to us. Now let’s conclude with the prayer of the Magnificat to praise and thank the Lord for these great graces He has been given us.
