OUR LADY OF MEDJUGORJE’S MESSAGE OF AUGUST 25, 2009

“Dear children! Today I call you anew to conversion. Little children, you are not holy enough and you do not radiate holiness to others, therefore pray, pray, pray and work on your personal conversion, so that you may be a sign of God’s love to others. I am with you and am leading you towards eternity, for which every heart must yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Pray, Pray, Pray and Work on Your Personal Conversion

A. I Call You Anew to Conversion.

1.Conversion means that the way we are doing things is not quite correct, to regret our sad predicament, and to change some things so that we hurry to get back on the right road. Basically, it comes down to the way we are praying and relating to God. It may mean we are not praying with our whole heart, there is not enough feeling in our prayer, we do not pray in a child-like manner, we do not throw ourselves into prayer and pray earnestly, we do not pray confidently with a firm faith and total trust, or some such.

2. The Call, we must remind ourselves, comes from God Himself. “The Father is calling you through me,” Our Lady says (10-25-87). And what is that call? “God calls you to convert and to return to the way of truth and salvation.” (9-25-98) The “way of truth” is the fact that the Father loves each one of us immeasurably and calls us to a life of deep, personal intimacy with Him in this life, so that we can live with Him forever. And that is our “salvation.” The Call indicates that there is  something wanting on our part.

B. You Are Not Holy Enough.

1. Holiness….means to be like God, and “God is Love.” (I John 4)

a. We are said to be holy when we “love God with all our mind, all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves.” We can love God with “all our mind” by thinking of Him always and thinking his thoughts; “with all our heart” by always desiring to be with Him no matter what we are doing; “with all our soul” by seeking to accomplish His Will at every moment; “with all our strength” by marshalling all our forces, energies, and concentration to give Him full honor and service.

b. We are said to be holy when we walk in His presence and seek to be united  with Him continually through prayer, i.e. by praying always, united with Jesus, following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, for the accomplishment of God’s Will.

2. Living in Holiness.

a. Our Lady has a pointed message in this regard: “Dear Children! Today again I am calling you to pray with your whole heart and day by day to change your life. Especially, dear children, I am calling you by your prayers and sacrifices that you begin to live in holiness, because I desire that each one of you who has been to this fountain of grace will come to Paradise with the special gift which you shall give me and this is holiness. Therefore, dear children, pray and daily change your life to become holy. I shall be with you.” (11-13-86)

b. What strikes me is: “I shall be with you.” Our Mother wants to lead and guide us step by step in our prayer so that we pray the way she prays and that we offer little sacrifices that she will point out through the day.

C. Practice. Our Lady gives these points for us to review….

1. “Decide for God every day.” “Start living in God’s love. When you get up in the morning “open yourself to God as the flower that opens itself to the rays of the morning sun.” (4-25-96)

2. “Put your life in God’s hands.”

“God only wants your complete surrender.”

“Have more faith and trust in God Who loves you immeasurably.” (8-25-96)

3. “Each evening, make your examination of conscience, but only to give thanks for   everything God’s love offers us at Medjugorje.” (12-25-85)

4.“When God is in the first place, you will seek the Will of God in all you do.”

“Conversion will then become a daily duty you will do with joy.” (4-25-96)

5. “Through (constant) prayer, you will be able to live your conversion.” (6-   25-96)

-Rev. Robert Hughes, S.M.