This book is the second of the four volumes of sermons and discourses given by Fr. Slavko Barbaric and Fr. Tomislav Vlasic during 1984 - 1987 in Medjugorje, and contains discourses given from January to June 1985.
30 Chapters of this book are now completed
I can say very little about Medjugorje at the moment. Father Slavko will give you more exact information.
I can give you some reflections and tell you what I have felt. it is difficult to speak to you now, to the people who have come here for the first time and to those who want to understand deeply. Most of the pilgrims and most of those who have come to Medjugorje know the messages : peace, conversion, fasting, sacramental life. But all this is nothing but words unless one knows the way that leads to it all. I can say that few, very few, know the messages that will lead us to a deep understanding. Only those who live close to Medjugorje, really close in spirit, can follow the messages. This is why I said to the pilgrims : we live in peace at Medjugorje while the people around Medjugorje are discussing the events. What characterizes the present momentis a progression on a hierarchal-ecclesiastical level on one side, and on a deeper one on the other.
You know what is happening at a hierarchal level, I am sure you know better than I do. You know the facts. There is no need to repeat them. I would like to stress only what is happening at a spiritual level. At least what I have experienced.
To begin with, we have experienced the presence of the evil one. For two months we were warned by Our Lady of the works of satan. Right at the beginning of the year She told us "satan works under cover. Be careful" and then She gave us the necessary means to overcome him and drive him away . In this way, before each trial, She warned us and told us something.
This experience was not only mental, we really have encountered satan as a living proof, a present being. And in this way several people have been upset and tempted. Some people, for example, have felt a strong urge to spit and to curse Jesus before drawing close to the Sacraments. Several people have been physically attacked and tried.
I am speaking of this because I have had some trials too, of which I can testify personally. It was the experience of an encounter with satan who acts on the spot to prevent you from doing your work. For us here, these temptations are a positive fact, because they show how satan is upset and wants to attack.
According to me, as we go deeper in the Church, along the path of conversion, these temptations are stronger. However the people who are walking along this path are also stronger to overcome him.
We have received concrete messages regarding this matter as to how to take a stand in front of satan. Once Our Lady told us : "Fervent prayer, humility and love of your neighbour, will not allow satan to come near you". So if you live your prayers deeply, with humility and with love, satan cannot even come near you. In this message Our Lady tells us how we ought to act and shows us the road that will lead us to peace.
At the beginning of Lent I liked the message. I asked several questions. Among these was the question on fasting. But the answer was different. Our Lady answered more or less like this : "Honesty, love, humility and sincerity will bring you to me". As you see She stressed the interior value of spiritual life and also of fasting.
When I asked a question regarding the numerous discussions and things written about Medjugorje : what shall we do ? She always repeated : "Look, now I am in every family, in every house. I am every where because I love. Do likewise. The world lives on love". So you see, when we go down to the level of love and do everything with love, we can move every person beyond what scholars can do, but they too can be moved by this love lived by simple folk. So you see that along this path which Our Lady follows, in particular with the Parish and with the prayer groups, these messages become a reality in people.
And along the path of the group we have discovered the depth of these messages. As we move along in our spiritual life subtle messages are given which can be understood only if there is profound silence and profound peace.
To help you along this path I will tell you what Our Lady told us in the group last Saturday. She made us repeat a hymn three times. She told us "Excuse me for making you repeat but I want you to sing with your hearts. Really you should do everything with your hearts."
And afterwards She taught us, She made us understand that at the beginning of each prayer people must be ready to pray. Many people pray a great deal but are always at the beginning, they do not move forward. So in order to begin praying one must do everything that is possible : if there are sins, one must remove them otherwise it is impossible to pray. If there are any worries one must hand them over to Jesus.
"You should not worry about your sins when you pray ; sins must be left behind" : namely sins must be put away at the beginning of prayer. You must enter prayer without carrying any burdens, you must unload them so that you may enter your prayer.
As we recited the Rosary of Jesus Christ we recited several mysteries , while She taught us. At the end She interrupted us and said : "Well done, now go and pray." For, it is clear ..... we can discover this message in our daily practice : we recite prayers, yet we are always at the beginning. There is no change. When prayer is over, we are still the same.
In a message at the beginning of Lent, on the First Saturday following Ash Wednesday, Our Lady said : "Look, you can receive a grace in an instant, in a month, in ten years, it depends on you. I do not need one hundred, two hundred Our Father's - it is better to pray just one, but to pray in order to find God."
These messages take us to the depths. She does not say that there is no need to pray a great deal, but She wants to stress the quality of prayer. And we really must enter our prayers before praying, we must enter in the spirit of any work before starting it. I myself have seen how I cannot celebrate Mass without this preparation. I feel I cannot do it. And each day I realise that this preparation requires a great effort so that I can be with Jesus.
(Fr. Tomislav Vlasic, 9th March 1985)