JANUARY 25, 1996: “Dear Children, today I invite you to decide for peace. Pray to God that He will give you true peace. Live peace in your hearts and you will understand, dear children, that peace is God’s gift. Dear children, without love you cannot live peace. The fruit of peace is love and the fruit of love is forgiveness. I am with you and I am inviting all of you, little children, to first forgive in the family and then you will be able to forgive others. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Before we begin with our thoughts about this message, let me, dear readers, remind you of the Christmas message. Last month we were called to unite ourselves with Jesus and to decide for Him. Jesus became Child and Bread and, in that way, did everything Himself to become united with us. Now it is for us, in the evangelical sense, to become children and bread ourselves. For us remains the great assignment, in the manner of John the Baptist, to become ever smaller so that Jesus can, all the time, grow ever bigger in us. Jesus is the Light, the Way, the Truth, Mercy, Peace and Love. The more we unite ourselves with Him, the more we will be filled with Light, with Peace, with Truth and with Love. May our path with Mary direct us there.

As I already said, our path with Mary leads us to Jesus and to an even deeper unity with Him. For this reason this first message of the year is again very important. Mary has come to help us on the path to Jesus — Jesus who is Peace and who can give peace.

Today I Invite You To Decide For Peace

Without our own decision for peace, peace cannot be given to us. This decision for peace immediately has tangible results. To clarify perhaps, let us think of a student who decides for getting good grades in his studies. In such a decision a constant flow of studying is also included, for otherwise the decision for good grades no longer has a reason or purpose. So, dear reader, if you now wish to make the decision for peace, you too should become aware that this decision primarily includes the love, the forgiveness, the humility and the courage to offer one’s hand to all others. Let us again refer to Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical, Gospel of Life. There he calls upon us all to respect, to serve and to love every life. When we become conscious of these conditions, then we will also understand why peace has not yet become a reality. We are all aware of how often our decisions are frail ones. Mary knows this and so she tells us what else we need to do, and that is to…

Pray That God Gives You True Peace

If we decide for peace, then this one more condition must be added to the other conditions. God is always ready to work along with our decisions, always ready to take our decisions seriously and always ready to start with us from the beginning again. This is the reason that Mary repeatedly calls us to peace. God is patient with every one of us, including those with whom we have already written off and ignored. In His love God is so very big toward us that He is more patient with us as even we are with ourselves. When we no longer have the courage to start anew and when we think that nothing will work anymore, He, on the other hand, never thinks in this way! In His love God is simply not to be challenged or tired. Mary calls us to…

Live Peace In Our Hearts and You Will Understand… That Peace Is The Gift of God

God’s love for us is the reason that He wishes to give us peace and He merely waits for our decision. If God did not love us, He would lose patience with us. It is also this way with us and ourselves, with us and others and with us and God. Without love, peace is simply impossible; and that is why our Lady continues with…

Without Love You Cannot Live Peace

Today there are so many people who attempt to create peace without love for God, without love for others and without love for their own lives. It is for this reason that there is so much terrible destruction of individuals, of families and of communities — destruction that all together has even put the existence of the whole world into serious doubt. At the beginning of the apparitions, Mary told the visionaries that her Son, Jesus, had sent her to help us. God loves what He created, and therefore He calls upon us to work along with Him. Our cooperation with Him is the condition without which nothing will work. St Augustine said “God created you without you, but He cannot save you without you.” Once we have decided for peace, we are in full cooperation with God, because it is His will that we have peace. As peace is impossible without love, so too is love, the fruit of peace. The good chain of good reactions goes on and on as Our Lady here tells us…

The Fruit of Peace Is Love and The Fruit of Love Is Forgiveness

One is the condition for the other. One cannot decide only partially for peace, just as one cannot decide only partially for God. To make a lasting decision, all conditions for it must also be accepted. Again, Mary, as mother and teacher, reminds us…

I Am With You

…and with her as guide, one must again start working at peace and do so decisively first and…

Before Anything Else Forgive In The Family And Then You Will Be Able To Forgive Others

All of us have had the experience that sometimes those who are most distant from us seem also to be those whom we forgive and whom we love more easily. This is a deception. Love first brings peace into the family and community, and only then can it spread out yet further. May it in this coming month begin again and spread out yet further with this message. Already before the next message Lent will have begun, and so this message also ought to serve as introduction and guide for us to enter into it.

God, our Father, we thank You that You love us and that in Your love You offer us peace. We beseech You, as Mary calls upon us to do, give us true peace that only You can give. Forgive us that we often expected peace from others and therefore remained without peace. Give all of us the strength to accept the conditions for peace. Give us Your Spirit that we with Mary, as Mary herself did, accept and live Your will. Free us from our weakness and from all fear and distrust, so that we, already today and today again, along with Mary can offer You our cooperation. Bless the visionaries, bless the Parish of Medjugorje, bless all pilgrims and bless the entire world. Oh Father, give us true peace that love will bring us, and give us love so that we can grow in forgiveness and reconciliation. We thank You. Bless us because You are the Father! Amen.

 
Fr. Slavko, Medjugorje
January 26, 1996

“Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jn 20, 29)

Christianne Claessens – the first witness of healing of woman from Switzerland Joelle Beuret – Devanthery in Medjugorje, in October 2010, as she describes the pilgrimage and all of the events. On Saturday, October 16, 2010, forty six people, mostly from the parish of St. Frances de Sales and St. Therese, began their private pilgrimage to Medjugorje. It was our twentieth private pilgrimage that was taking place at the time when we remembered twentieth anniversary of forming the prayer group of Queen of Peace. For our group, that was a wonderful opportunity to thank the Lord, since Mary took each one of us by our hand, and guided us despite all of the difficulties that we had throughout these last twenty years. Indeed, Satan cannot stand Virgin Mary and he therefore hates all of the prayer groups that she desires to be founded in every single parish. Through God’s grace, we remained faithful and we used to gather every Monday for prayer, meditation of Christ’s life, all accompanied with the messages that Mary gave and is still giving every month in Medjugorje. We spent two days in the bus praying and introducing ourselves to the events that were taking place in Medjugorje since 1981 up to today. It was Sunday evening, around 8 p.m. when we arrived to Medjugorje. On Monday, October 18, even though it was raining, with great joy in our hearts, we climbed the slippery pathway that leads to the Hill of Apparitions. We were all helping one another. Joelle, completely blind 50 years old woman was amongst pilgrims, together with her daughter Vinciane, as well as their modest and cheerful friend Claudia, who followed Joelle everywhere with such love and gentleness. Joelle was so happy, she seemed as she was floating over rocky pathways. As she arrived to the site of Apparitions, right under the Statue of Our Lady, she said beautiful prayer full of love and trust to Heavenly Mother. The whole group stayed for around twenty minutes in silence on the Hill, and descended together so they would meet again in the church around 5 p.m. for the evening prayer programme. That is where Joelle felt something strange, she felt as there was a hand choking her, and it was exactly once she had received Holy Communion, she heard some criticising voice telling her: “You wanted to have a child, you got your daughter. You asked for a job, you got one. It is enough now, are you finally going to shut up? When it is cold, you have nice, warm apartment, when you are hungry, you always have something to eat, when it is snows, you always have warm clothes, are you finally going to stop now and forever, it is really enough!” Joelle seemed to be very disturbed and she spoke to Fr. Fabian in that same evening. He told her that it is only God in the host and He wants us only good, and that could not be coming from God. He told her to pray to God, to pray to Him that she is able to fulfil His will. That seemed to calm her down. On the following day, October 19, we decided to pray the Way of the Cross, all the way to the top of the Cross Mountain. Elderly people and Joelle prayed the Way of the Cross with Fr. Olivier down in the valley, while the rest of the group in light rain, and in steeper and more difficult pathway than the previous day, climbed their way to the top of the mountain. We stopped and prayed before every station, we prayed long and for all of our intentions. Luc suggested to us that we unite ourselves in the prayer with that smaller group of our pilgrims who could not come and climb with us. In a special way that we present this Way of the Cross for Joelle, to pray special graces for her, why not even to pray for healing, for nothing is impossible to our God. It was very intensive Way of the Cross; it was a profound prayer in which we meditated upon Christ’s suffering that he presented for all of our sins. Prayer lasted from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Again, we all met in the church at 5 for evening prayer programme. That is where the great miracle took place. In the moment when Joelle received Holy Eucharist, she was able to see priest with his white alb. She was all surprised, she looked up and saw lamps, high ceiling of the church, stained glass windows… As if she was thrown out of her black covering, she was not feeling good at all, and she said to Claudia who stood next to her: “Please take me out of here, I am not feeling good.” As they walked out of the church, she said: “I can see the light!” They continued their way to the Sacristy and Fr. Olivier was on his way out, asking them: “What are two of you doing here?” Joelle only replied, saying: “I can see!” He was deeply touched with what happened and suggested to two of them to go back to the church, the third part of the Rosary was just finishing in the church. As people were coming out of the church, we all surrounded Joelle. Our priest, as a true and genuine sheppard suggested to her to thank the Lord, so they went together towards the steps in front of the main Alter, they knelt down and thanked God for that great gift he had just given to her. That gesture reminded us of the Gospel extract where Jesus healed ten lepers and only one came back to thank Him. Afterwards, we went towards the Statue of Our Lady so we would thank Her as well for Her intercession. At the end, we came back to our pension. Couple of women from Italy and some pilgrims from Plymouth told us that they were behind Joelle as she was receiving Holy Communion and they could all strongly smell the scent of roses radiating from her. Joelle told us how that scent followed her for days and she can still smell it. Vinciane, who was at the Mass, came back to pension in the mean time and did not know anything about the grace her mother had received. We also need to emphasise that Joelle had never seen her daughter since she had been blind for the last forty-two years. Fr. Olivier, full of joy, ran back to pension and invited all of the people to come down to the lobby because he wants to share good news with them. When Joelle came in, all of the pilgrims were already gathered. Joelle walked in, saw her daughter and told her: “You washed your hair?” Vinciane, without noticing anything different, just said: “I did”, and asked “Why is that that we all had to come down here?” Joelle said: “Can’t you see any change on me?” Vinciane looked again, and said: “No” “Look better”, her mom told her, and Vinciane shouted with joy: “You can see!” It was really a breathtaking moment. They ran to one another and remained in each other’s arms for about five minutes. Vinciane told us afterwards that she constantly prayed that her mom receives her sight back and she even said to Mary that she is not planning to leave until her mom is able to see again! What a wonderful faith! Mary hears weeps and cries of her children. The whole group was so happy and praised the Lord and His Mother with their prayer and song. Although it was already around 10 p.m., we all went towards the Blue Cross, together with Joelle, to the place where Our Lady appears regularly to Ivan and Mirjana. I cannot hide the profound joy we all feel, joy for having received such a precious sign that Mary gave to us for our twentieth anniversary of our prayer group. That is indeed a sign that she gives to us, Our Mother, sign that helps to us to persevere in the future. Mary is leading us, she is strengthening us, holding us by our hands, she loves us and she wants her messages to be spread through the prayer groups that we are to form. Whenever we go on pilgrimage to Medjugorje, we are going to Mary’s school and through that school she is going to lead us to Her Son Jesus. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mt 19,26) Christiane Claessens

Mary’s school: to do everything with the heart

1. To pray the Rosary every day

2. To read the Holy Bible at least 5 minutes every day

3. To confess once a month

4. Holy Mass every Sunday, and if possible throughout the weekdays

5. To fast on bread and water twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays This school of Mary is way to holiness.

 It is the golden essence of all prayer groups of Mary, Queen of Peace. Source:http://medjugorje.hr/en/

The journey to Medjugorje did not go well. It took two days for the group to arrive at a border crossing into Bosnia Herzegovina only to discover that the Swiss bus did not have the correct documents to travel into the country. The bus and the group moved on and tried another border crossing, but was met with the same decision by officials. The bus was not allowed to drive into Bosnia Herzegovina.

Fortunately, at the second crossing it was noticed that there was a local bus service operating a route to Medjugorje. So the party unloaded its luggage from the Swiss bus and waited at the stand for the next bus to arrive that would take them to Medjugorje. They finally reached the village that evening at 8.00pm.

The next day the group climbed Apparition Hill, including the blind woman Joëlle. It wasn’t an easy climb in the rain, but there was a great spirit of solidarity. Later in the evening, the group gathered again and attended the evening prayer programme at St James’ church. Joëlle became strangely unsettled after receiving the Eucharist at Mass but was put at ease by the pastor accompanying the Swiss group.

The following day, most of the group climbed Mt Krizevac, but for Joëlle and a few others, including the pastor, they prayed instead at the Way of the Cross that surrounds the statue of the Risen Christ. The main group on Krizevac prayed earnestly for the needs of Joëlle, and in the hope that she might recover her sight. Six hours later they came off the mountain in time to attend evening Mass at St James.

It was during this Mass that something remarkable happened. At the distribution of the Eucharist Joëlle raised her head and saw in front of her a priest wearing a white alb. She looked up and was able to see the lights in the church, its high ceiling and windows. The shock to Joëlle was so great that she started to feel unwell again and asked her friend to take her outside. When Joëlle made her exit she turned to Claudia and said, “I see the light!”

They continued walking around the outside of the church towards the sacristy area and met with Fr Oliver, a priest who had also traveled with the group to Medjugorje. When he was told what had happened he was deeply moved and immediately returned inside the church to pray the Glorious Mystery of the Rosary as is customary after the evening Mass in Medjugorje.

By then others had started to gather around Joëlle and Claudia, Fr Oliver returned and then suggested they all go back inside the church in thanksgiving. The group knelt at the foot of the steps to the altar to give thanks and praise for Joëlle’s wonderful healing, and were reminded of the Gospel passage when 10 lepers were healed but only one returned to give thanks.

Then the group moved on to the statue of Our Lady and continued praying before finally returning to their hostel.

Afterwards some pilgrims told how they were placed behind Joëlle when she received communion, and how they had experienced such a strong smell of roses at the time.

Fr Oliver had run ahead of the group back to the hostel and had invited everyone to come together in the main room because he had some good news to share. When Joëlle and Claudia eventually arrived back, the whole group was waiting for them.

Now throughout this healing experience, Joëlle’s daughter Vinciane had not been with her, but when her mother returned to the hostel Vinciane was waiting with the rest of the group, not knowing what had happened.

Joëlle then said to her daughter, “Vinciane, you have washed you hair?” Her daughter responded, “Yes, yes, but why have we been asked to gather in this room?” Her mother asked another question: “You see nothing strange about me?” “No” answered Vinciane. “Then look again!” said her mother.

“You can see!” exclaimed her astonished daughter. The two clasped and hugged each other in joy for five minutes. One can only imagine the emotion felt by mother and daughter and all around them at that time. And the praise and thanksgiving continued until the group decided to visit and pray at the Blue Cross, the place of so many of Our Lady’s apparitions.

Joëlle later gave more details about her healing. She said that it was on the first night after Mass that she was able to distinguish light, see people’s faces and their lips move. During the following days her vision gradually improved. She is now able to see her two brothers and parents after 42 years of being blind. She said it was her parents who taught her to love Jesus and Mary and she has never stopped praying to them. She said she is also grateful for the gift of Vinciane, her “torch”, as she describes her daughter.

After she regained her sight Joëlle was faced with many difficulties adjusting to her new world, especially at the sight of so many tall buildings and seeing so many people. This would often produce an adverse reaction in her and she would feel sick. But Joëlle said that with the grace of Jesus and Mary she will overcome the problems and challenges that her healing has brought. Now she can distinguish colours, houses, trees and vegetation, cars, people, the sun, and her cat! And although she is still under the care of an ophthalmologist, Joëlle said that she has firm faith that Jesus will complete the work he has started. Her daughter is now able to have her own room in their apartment and has said to her mother, “Peace lives in our apartment!”

A final word from Joëlle: “This healing has given me the body of an adult, but left me with the heart of a child..”

Source: http://crownofstars.blogspot.com/2010/12/sight-restored-at-medjugorje.html

Additional information by me: I arrived in Medjugorje on Nov 3, 2010, just after this miracle. Slavenka our tour guide was telling us about this miracle. She said that just after the miracle the church, St. James,  took them to the office and documented everything. She was then instructed to receive medical documentation when they returned home. St. James was taking all the right steps to assure this miracle did happen before they made the announcement of this truly beautiful miracle. Another side of the story is, Claudia was not going to stay at church but she felt drawn to stay with Joelle. Our Lady was guiding Claudia and she listened. Truly and an amazing story.
Peace and Love
Mary

“Dear children, you are not conscious of how God loves you with such a great love because He permits me to be with you so I can instruct you and help you to find the way of peace.” March 25, 1988

By God’s will I am here with you in this place…

I am with you because He, in His mercy, sends me…

Dear children, it is a grace that I am with you…

I am with you and place you all under my mantle…

Do not forget that I am with you…

I am with you and I intercede before my Son for each of you…

I am with you and bless you all with my motherly blessing of peace…

I am with you and am leading you towards eternity…

Do not be afraid, my children, I am here with you, I am next to you…

I am with you and your suffering is also mine…

I am with you and I desire to inspire you all…

I am with you and I encourage you with love…

I am with you and do not leave you alone…

I am with you and love you with immeasurable love…

I am with you to love and protect you…

I am with you and call all of you to complete conversion…

I will help you. I am with you…

I am with you and I am not tired…

I am with you to take you all to my Son…

I am with you and bless you all with my motherly blessing…

Your Saviour is here with you…

When God is with you, you have everything…

Pray, pray, pray and do not forget that I am with you…

I am with you and am teaching you little children…

I bless you and I repeat to you that I am with you to help you…

I am with you and I am waiting for you…

 I am with you and I desire to help you with my prayers…

I am with you and grateful to God for every moment spent with you…

I am with you and I wish to teach you to pray with the heart…

I am with you and I want you to believe me, that I love you…

On October 11, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI speaking of Europe and the West said  

In October of 1981  ”Our Lady”  the Queen of Peace at Medjugorje said “The West has made civilization progress, but without God, as if they were their own creators.”  

  The Pope’s remarkably similar sentiment of Our Lady’s warning back in 1981 was offered to the Catholic faithful on  Tuesday and it grew out of Pope Benedict’s alarm of the state of Christianity in Europe today. 

Pope Benedict XVI  revealed  his most significant  initiative yet to try and  revive Christianity by announcing the creation of a Vatican office for re-evangelizing Europe and other traditionally Christian regions where the faith is falling by the wayside. Benedict has made reviving Europe’s Christian roots a priority of his papacy and has concentrated his foreign travels on the continent.

Less than a year ago Cardinal Schonborn came to Washington D.C. to talk about “Christian roots” and the state of Christianity in Western countries as well saying  “Europe was now the least religious region in the world”.  Cardinal Schonborn suggested that  the creation of the European Union has been Christianity’s clear villain and called out the E.U for “ignoring its Christian roots”, failing to mention Christianity in its constitution, and referring to Christianity as a “foreign element”. Cardinal Schonborn did not mince any words when he said the Europen Union  was wrong when members of the  E.U. said European values were superior to Christian values.

He  attributed the fact that Europe is the least religious region in the world to the rise of the culture of consumerism and said the culture of consumerism has led to an alarming fall in birthrates and begs the question “Is Europe Dying”.

Haunting echo of a Medjugorje message 

In Tuesday’s decree, Pope Benedict XVI lamented that with  “tremendous scientific, social and cultural progress over the past century, parts of the world that once had strong Christian roots had grown to believe that they can exist without God’” “While some greeted this as a freedom, they soon realized the interior desert that is born when man — thinking himself the architect of his own nature and destiny — finds himself lacking that which is fundamental to everything,”

The Popes word’s strongly call to mind the words spoken by Our Lady of Medjugorje in  October of 1981.    The Queen Peace said then, to the six young visionaries of Medjugorje,  -  The Russian people will be the people who will glorify God the most. The West has made civilization progress, but without God, as if they were their own creators.”

Interestingly just two weeks ago the Holy See  petitioned the faithful to visit shrines and he talked of “Historic times”   He encouraged the faithful to pilgrim to holy sites saying “In these historic moments in which we are called, with greater force if possible, to evangelise our world, the riches offered to us by the pilgrimage to shrines should be highlighted. First of all, for its great ability to summon and bring together a growing number of pilgrims and religious tourists, some of whom are in complicated human and spiritual situations, somewhat distant from living the faith and with a weak ecclesial affiliation. Christ speaks to all of them with love and hope.”

Pope Benedict XVI is very concerned about the very roots of Christian belief in Western societies  and he seems to be in  a real hurry to reverse the course. Is he looking to Our Lady for help?  Perhaps the Catholic faithful and the world will know the answer to this question soon as the Vatican’s investigation of the apparitions at Medjugorje move swiftly towards a final resolution  

Editors note: