This book is the third 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 July to December 1985.
Not all chapters of this book are yet included
I shall read out and explain yesterday's message. "Dear children, I am thanking you today for all your prayers. Pray even more, so that satan will be driven away from this place. Dear children, satan's plan has failed. Pray for the fulfilment of all that God is planning in this parish. I thank the youth here most especially, for the sacrifices they have offered. Thank you for responding to my call."
In these words one can feel the Mother, the Mother who is always hoping that Her children will do well. A Mother - I would say - who is optimistic even when saying, 'You have not done well, or you have forgotton' and then, at the end, saying, "Thank you for listening, for having responded to my call."
A theologian who was here, when he heard these things for the first time said, 'In the text Our Lady reprimands us, then She says, "I thank you for responding to my call" ; it is impossible, Father, this is a contradiction.' I replied, 'Be careful, in the words of a mother you can always find contradictions. The moment she reproaches, she also invites and gives at the same time.' On a pedagogical level one can say - there is no contradiction. Obviously one could argue - how can one thank and say, 'You have not responded.' ? But She wants to educate us. And this, it seems to me, is a very important thing. Our Lady is showing herself to be a Mother, a friend of the visionaries. They meet, they talk, they touch Her, they see Her in three dimensions. She leads them and through them She also leads us.
She is close. One loses one's fears. She is here and we have become used to it.
This is the structure of the messages where Our Lady shows herself as Mother, as Teacher, as someone who knows how to talk, and by talking, how to educate. In these messages She thanks people for all their prayers. It is nice to hear that. I do not know who has been praying - anyway Our Lady sees, hears and thanks.
And from this point of view, we must look again and even wonder how - according to this message - She thanks our hearts with this 'thank you.' But if in my heart, your heart, there is still resentment, if there is anguish, if there is fear or something else, perhaps we have become blind with all that have, that has been given to us as a gift. ...
Therefore, if Our Lady thanks us, we really have to ask ourselves - does our heart know how to thank ? If it does not, especially if someone says, 'To thank, what for ?' it is a true sign that we have become blind.
But look how the Mother says, "Thank you" and, at the same time : "Pray even more."
Just like a mother saying to her son, 'You have been very good today', and at the same time she says, 'I hope, however, that tomorrow you will be better still.'
Our Lady does the same. Then we must pray even more when She says, "So that satan may be driven away from this place."
Judging by all messages, mainly of July and August of this year (1985), it seems to me that in every message She has spoken of satan as someone who wants to destroy, who wants to hurt us, who wants to take away from us peace or reconciliation.
In a message of August, I believe, She said, "Pray that you may hear my call" and beware, satan wants to stop it. I am saying this and repeating this for your own benefit - it seems to me that satan's primary task is to stop us from hearing the call, because Our Lady has the word ready for us, for our consolation, for our healing, for our comfort. But if satan succeeds in preventing us from hearing these words, we stay where we are and do not move on. If satan, in fact, prevents us from listening to these events of Medjugorje, then he has stopped many an ear from hearing the message.
For example, how many people have been thinking or still are thinking today of hallucinations ? Of all those who have come here, of all the doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, none of them has stated that they are hallucinations. Only those living far away from us say this.
I ask you to be careful when you hear the message. If you have any problems in your life, perhaps you will ask yourself, 'Where is the Lord, why has He foresaken me ?' This does not come from the good Spirit, it is certainly not coming from the Holy Spirit who counsels us. It is coming from another spirit. If we bear resentment in our hearts, if we say, 'I do not wish to be reconciled, I do not wish to forgive because I am offended', I am telling you to beware because these things do not come from a good spirit. Therefore, Our Lady says, "Pray that he may be driven away."
It is very important that he should be far away from this place, because here Our Lord is speaking and He wants to find our hearts and move us onwards. And the one thing that gives us hope is when She says, "Dear children, Satan's plan has failed."
We hope and we know that Our Lord has won. The Kingdom of the Lord is the kingdom of peace, love, of reconciliation. The Lord Jesus has conquered the kingdom of satan with His Cross. But satan still remains active.
We were told the same thing by Jelena, yesterday. Our Lady was full of joy and said, "Satan's plan has failed." But Jelena said that towards the end of the vision Our Lady's face had once again become serious and She said, "Beware, satan will not abandon the fight." Obviously this is quite clear.
But in January Our Lady said that, with fervent prayer and love, one can disarm him with no difficulty at all. I shall explain the last message a little and you shall see how much there is to be said. Yet another appeal - pray for the fulfilment of all God is planning in this parish. We do not know what the Lord is planning but, according to what has been expressed by the visionaries, it is something great. Not just for this parish, but for the whole world. For instance, a great sign and other things which we shall see, have been announced. Surely a great plan.
I had a talk with Jelena this afternoon, Jelena being the girl who receives the locutio interna ; she receives various visions and she was telling me that in one vision she saw satan offering Our Lord all his kingdom in order to win here in Medjugorje. Is this clear to you ? Satan is, therefore, offering the Lord all the other kingdom to hinder fulfilment of the plans.
I asked her, 'Jelena, how is that ?' 'Look - she replied - the way I understand it is this - many have received a new hope in Medjugorje. If satan were to succeed in destroying this plan, everyone, or at least many, would lose this hope.'
According to the theologians and the priests, if someone wonders, 'How can the Lord deal with satan like this, or satan with Our Lord ?' This is certainly a biblical account. In the book of Job we also find similar things, in which satan facing the Lord's throne says, 'give me Job, your servant and I shall show you that he will not be faithful to you.' And then the Lord told satan to test him.
Ultimately, this is true: satan fights against peace, against love, against reconciliation with all possible means and if Our Lady did say in a message, "Satan has now become stronger and acts in a stronger way because we have discovered him", this is also very important to know. Anyone who has been in the army will know that the best tactic is if the enemy on the other side starts thinking that the others do not want to fight, because then they let themselves go.
She said, "We have discovered him and now he is getting a lot stronger, he is getting angry ..."
So we just do not know what the Lord is planning for this Parish and for the whole world.
After fifty one months from the first apparition one can see the urgency of conversion, of faith and also of peace. One can also see that Our Lord has a great plan. We have seen that whenever in trouble, Medjugorje has always received fresh impulse and help, even from men themselves.
One can therefore see that Our Lord guides us through all the troubles, through all trials. But He can only guide us if He has found - and still finds - people who will listen to Him, people who pray, people who fast. And so it is very important to see how each one of us who takes up prayer and fasting, by so doing helps the Lord, and at the same time, helps himself as well.
Because everything that God plans through Our Mother can only be for our own good. Our Lady then especially thanks the youth for the sacrifices they have offered. I do not know who, at this moment in time, is feeling young and hears this word "thank you" and is accepting it as if addressed to himself ; in any case I can say two things - many young people of this Parish and of the entire world certainly pray a lot and make sacrifices. If Our Lady is thanking the youth, I really think She is addressing Herself to the young of age ..
This is very important. Who is young ? Young is he who is open, who allows himself to be moved on, who says, 'I can, I will try, I want to start again.' If you are 60, 70 or 90 say, 'I want to start afresh', then you are young. And if a youngster of 20 says, 'I cannot take it any more, I cannot find any sense in my life, I do not want to study ...' he is old, even though he is 20.
So surely, when Our Lady says, "I thank the youth", She is thanking all those who have replied in prayer, in fasting and in faith, those who have allowed themselves to be made responsible for peace in this world.
(Fr. Slavko Barbaric - 6th September 1985)
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