Answering the call

Recently I had the privilege of traveling to a small village in Bosnia-Herzegovina called Medjugorje. Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims travel to this village. Why, you ask? Because over 40 years ago 6 children claimed to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary appear to them. She continues to appear to three of the six to this day. You can read all about it here.

I have to admit I knew very little about Medjugorje prior to scheduling my trip. In all my years as a Catholic, I hadn’t heard of it until just several years ago. All I knew at that time was the flyer hanging on the door at the back of the church was calling out to me. I immediately went home and sent an email requesting more information. If I remember correctly, I think I reached out just in time because the deadline was the following week.

I’m not writing this to give a detailed history of Medjugorje. You can get that from the link I’ve shared above. I will say, be mindful of the things you read online and where they come from. There are many sites out there which contain false information about the place and the visionaries. The reason I write is to share what I learned and encountered while there in the hopes that it will inspire you to pray more and consider visiting this beautiful place.

While there our group had the opportunity to stay with one of the visionaries and participate in a question and answer period. We also had an opportunity to listen to the parish chaplain, a religious sister and a convert speak. They all shared the messages of Mary summarized in what they called The 5 Stones:

1. Pray – the rosary every day. Not just one but all the mysteries – the joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous.
2. Attend mass as often as possible.
3. Confession often – at least once a month
4. Read Scripture daily; and
5. Fast – on bread and water, if possible on Wednesday and Friday. If bread and water is too much to ask, then fast from something – maybe one meal, meat, television, technology, social media, etc.

Listening to all the speakers at Medjugorje confirmed the sense of urgency I recently began to feel about the need for intercessory prayer. I’m so grateful I answered the call. Most of us often pray prayers of petition. But this pilgrimage drove home the importance of praying for things outside ourselves and our personal “world.” We have to begin to pray fervently for the whole world. In particular, our Catholic Church, our priests, deacons and nuns, our youth, the family unit and world peace. As a matter of fact, I’ve begun to pray a chaplet for peace, in addition to the rosary – another one of the messages received by the visionaries. The chaplet for peace consists of one Apostle’s Creed, 7 Our Fathers, 7 Hail Marys and 7 Glory Bes.

I have to share how inspiring it was to witness the faith of the locals in Medjugorje. Other than those who worked in the evening, it seemed like everyone participated in the 3 hour evening program of the parish. The evening program ran every night and consisted of confessions, the rosary, mass, adoration and veneration. The church building was packed to standing room only and often times there were people outside participating as well. It was commonplace to see people walking down the road during the day praying the rosary. Every taxi had a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror. Everyone was living the messages of the Blessed Mother and the peace of the place was palpable because of it.

I encourage you to take the time to read more about the history of Medjugorje and I hope you’ll implement the 5 Stones into your daily prayer routine. Whether you believe the Blessed Mother is appearing in Medjugorje or not, the power of prayer is undeniable. Will you join me in prayer? This world needs warriors! Will you answer the call? God bless you!

It’s hard to believe twelve days have passed! Not only did I have so much fun with audio divina but I had so many epiphanies while listening.

This experience has taught me a few things. First, there’s no limit to what we can use to stimulate spiritual growth and ignite our prayer life. Use music, movies, books, pictures. Use them everywhere – at home, in the car, at work during break. Second, we CAN pray without ceasing and NOT be overwhelmed by it. Lastly, I have a new appreciation for my little Jeep. I realized yesterday, as I prayed the rosary and listened to evening prayer and Christmas music, that it’s a mobile chapel. It’s my place away from home and outside of church where I can be alone, undistracted and inspired to tears! Thanks be to God for THAT epiphany!

So today, on the 12th day of Christmas and last day of audio divina, I share Born in Me, the song that brought me to tears in my mobile chapel last night. I cried tears of joy just thinking about how awesome our Lord is and how close He really is to us!

The tiniest spark grew into a flame that erased the dark! THAT’s was spoke to me! The reason for hope! But not only that – it reminded me of our faith journey. What starts out “small”, a little spark, can be fanned into a flame. Ponder what that means. Flame, fire, Spirit, hot, engulfing! I encourage you to fan the flame – use everything at your disposal- music, movies, literature, pictures- to grow closer to God! He does not disappoint! God bless you!