I Am Sent to Teach You to Pray

Dear children! The Most High has sent me to you to teach you prayer. Prayer opens hearts and gives hope, and faith is born and strengthened. Little children, with love I am calling you: return to God, because God is love and your hope. You do not have a future if you do not decide for God; and that is why I am with you to guide you to decide for conversion and life, and not for death. Thank you for having responded to my call.

From Countdown to the Kingdom:

In 2017, the Commission established by Pope Benedict XVI to conclude decades-long investigations into the alleged phenomena of Medjugorje, produced their results: 

…[on] the first seven presumed [apparitions] between June 24 and July 3, 1981, and all that happened later […] Members and experts came out with 13 votes [out of 15] in favor of recognizing the supernatural nature of the first visions. —May 17th, 2017; National Catholic Register

Similar to other approved apparitions (such as Betania), only the first initial instances were approved by an ecclesiastical commission. This is no surprise in the case of Medjugorje since the apparitions are presently ongoing. 

One of the common criticisms of detractors of Our Lady of Medjugorje’s messages is that they are “banal.” It’s presumed, it seems, that every apparition must “sound” like Fatima or another approved revelation. But there is no rationale for such an assertion. Why, for instance, do each of the books of the Bible — considered to all be inspired by the same Divine Source — each have their own flavor or emphasis? It’s because God is revealing something different, something unique through each author.

So too, there are many flowers in God’s garden of prophets. With each seer or mystic through whom the Lord conveys a “word”, a new fragrance, a new color is emitted for the benefit of the faithful. Or think of God’s prophetic word to the Church as though it is a pure Light that then passes through the prism of time and space. It breaks into a myriad of colors — with each messenger reflecting a certain hue, warmth, or nuance, according to the circumstances of that time. 

In the above message today from Our Lady of Medjugorje, we are given the raison d’être for these apparitions, which began on the Feast of John the Baptist in 1981: 

Dear children! The Most High has sent me to you to teach you prayer.

Indeed, if you examine the messages from Our Lady in this Baltic region, although there are no doubt warnings and apocalyptic elements, the main focus — unlike Fatima, for instance — is upon developing the interior life of the Christian. Our Lady focuses on prayer, particularly “prayer of the heart”; upon fasting, frequent Confession, reception of the Eucharist, and meditating upon Scripture. These exhortations are indeed somewhat basic to Christianity — but how many people do them? The answer, we can plainly see in our increasingly vacating parishes, is few — very few. 

In fact, if all of us followed this message above faithfully every day, indeed “without ceasing” as Paul exhorted us,^[1] then our lives would be transformed. Many of the sins we struggle with would be conquered. Fear would be driven from our hearts and courage, love, and the power of the Holy Spirit would take its place. We would grow in Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding. We would find ourselves amidst the storms of life, indeed, even the Great Storm that has assailed the world, as though we were standing on rock. Indeed, of these messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje, I’m sure Our Lord is repeating to us once again:

Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matt 7:24-25)

In fact, I would go as far as to say that, of all the messages here on Countdown to the Kingdom, these from Our Lady of Medjugorje constitute the very foundation of everything else she is saying around the world. Miss this important prophetic call to authentic interior conversion — and you will find yourself on very sandy ground indeed. 

Bishop Stanley Ott of Baton Rouge, LA.: “Holy Father, what do you think of Medjugorje?” [John Paul II] kept eating his soup and responded: “Medjugorje? Medjugorje? Medjugorje? Only good things are happening at Medjugorje.  People are praying there.  People are going to Confession. People are adoring the Eucharist, and people are turning to God.  And, only good things seem to be happening at Medjugorje.” —As relayed by Archbishop Harry Joseph Flynn of St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota; medjugorje.hr, October 24th, 2006

—Mark Mallett is the author of The Now Word, The Final Confrontation, and a co-founder of Countdown to the Kingdom

Related Reading

Medjugorje – What You May Not Know…

Medjugorje and the Smoking Guns…

On Medjugorje