In light of todays Gospel reading, it is by no coincidence that Our Lady made her first appearance to the visionaries in Medjugorje on June 24, 1981. The Church marks June 24 as the solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (718) states that John is Elijah [who] must come. The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of [making] ready a people prepared for the Lord. And like John the Baptist, Our Lady of Medjugorje comes to deliver an urgent call to conversion. I would like to share with you an excerpt from Fr. Rene Laurentin and Professor Rene LeJeunes book titled, Messages and Teachings of Mary at Medjugorje. I hope the following excerpt helps to shed some light on Our Ladys urgent call to conversion: CONVERSION The Biblical and ecclesiastical tradition, initiated by Marys pastoral at Medjugorje, calls everyone to conversion. Mary has: come to convert and to reconcile the whole world (June 26, 1981). She confirms this, a year later, with particular solemnity: I have come to call the world to conversion for the last time. (May 2, 1982). These words express the urgency to return to God. In her message of April 25, 1983, entirely devoted to conversion, and which resounds as an anguishing appeal, Mary uses the words conversion, convert twelve times. Dont wait for the sign in order to convert, that will be too late, she adds. What exactly does to convert mean? In the Bible it relates to a change of direction, a turning around on the road which one has taken. This change implies repentance, a change in the mentality we have bred, on the road to sin. God does not cease to call Israel to return to Him. John the Baptist, proclaiming the immenence of the reign of God, calls mankind to conversion. He enunciates the two conditions which they must fulfill in order to attain it - recognize their sins, and change their lives. Then he baptizes them with water. And when the Kingdom of God is revealed in Jesus, conversion is at one and the same time, more radically new and simple. In order to convert, it is to Him that one must go. His person becomes the expression of the change of direction. It is to God, that one returns in Jesus. In Him one receives the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11). To convert to Jesus is to find the freshness of youth, the simplicity and the transparency of the child. (Mt. 18:3) One turns away from the way of sin, where there is nothing but chaos, torment, and perversity, in order to borrow that which culminates in perfect joy, which no one can ever take away. (Jn. 16:22-24). Like John the Baptist, Mary cries for the urgency of conversion. For John the Baptist, there was urgency because Jesus was going to appear, in the presence of men. Mary becomes insistent, because she knows Gods plan for mankind today: This is a time of grace and conversion. Use it well, she says. (Oct. 25, 1985). If God grants special graces, the reason is that there is real urgency. Humanity is placed at a very important turning point in its history. God has a plan for mankind. Mankind is free to accept it or to reject it. If this plan fails, the reason for the rejection is because of the hardening of hearts, given to sin. For lack of conversion, Gods plan is at a stalemate, not without deadly consequences. Just as conversion leads to the joy of Christ, likewise, obstinacy in sin leads to individual and collective catastrophe. The seers had the vision and the realization of the first secret; a spectacle of desolation which brought tears to their eyes. (Oct. 25, 1985). The catastrophe is not inescapable. Mary has taught the young seers personal responsibility. She unveils for them, the power of their prayers: I need your prayers and your penitence. (April 25, 1983). Their prayers - our prayers - reinforce Marys prayer. I do not dispose of all the crisis, she says with humility, I receive from God whatever I obtain through prayer. (Aug. 31, 1982). She does not cease to appeal to prayer. One must, on his own, storm Heaven in prayer. United with fasting, it possesses an extraordinary power: Fasting and prayer can prevent wars and natural catastrophies. (July 21, 1982). It is not surprising, under these conditions, that the young seers were converted; that they adopted the spirit of prayer, and that they gave themselves up to penitence and to fasting. And with them, was a large segment of the parish of Medjugorje, along with large numbers of souls throughout the whole world.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 17:09:50 +0000
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