Reflection on the Message of October 25, 2004

MAY JESUS BE IN THE HEART OF YOUR FAMILY

"Dear children! This is a time of grace for the family and, therefore, I call you to renew prayer. May Jesus be in the heart of your family. In prayer, learn to love everything that is holy. Imitate the lives of saints so that they may be an incentive and teachers on the way of holiness. May every family become a witness of love in this world without prayer and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of October 25, 2004

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In this message, our Heavenly Mother is addressing the families. Nobody else has such an experience and such virtues of the family life. Mary was a girl, promised in marriage and married to Joseph, virgin and mother, Mother of the Son of God and widow after the death of Joseph. She knew and experienced all the joys and all the sorrows of family life, exaltations and anguishes, fears and death, until the most painful tragedy of her crucified Son. She experienced the glory of Easter with her risen Son and finally the heavenly crown. She began as a humble servant and she finished as Queen of Heaven.

For her, this celestial glory is not a title of honour: she is coming, she is appearing, she is taking care of us, her children, who are still on the way towards the final goal and the glorification. She is speaking to us, she is inviting us, she is advising us and teaching us. The words of Mary are clear and simple and they relate to our everyday life, our relations in the family, where human life is generated and educated. Mary, our Mother, is concerned about families, parents and children. No one is closer to their children than the parents. Their love of the children urges them to accomplish their first and most important duty: the education of the children. This duty takes precedence over all the professional and official occupations, over any career and social advancement. Saint Paul says: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (Tim 5,8) Mary is our model of education and of the family life. In her heart, she is carrying the treasure, which she wants to transmit to us. The Gospel says to us: “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (Lk 2,19) The same Gospel repeats that she “kept all these sayings in her heart.” (Lk 2,51) In Mary, we find the splendid treasure of the wisdom of God which wants to be given to us and to our families. Seen from outside, the human education that Mary gave was so ordinary that nobody in Nazareth could expect that her Son was the Messiah, that he was God. From outside, Mary was as ordinary as her messages, which contain the divine life that is offered to us. Seen from inside, the education that Mary gave was extraordinary in what is ordinary, perfect in every way and behaviour, because she was aware of the fact that she was humanly educating the Most Holy One. For such an education, it was necessary to have a perfect heart and a harmonious soul, which did not lack to the Immaculate full of grace.

Mary calls us to holiness. Holiness is what is extraordinary in the ordinary human life. It is well known that it is not so much the specialized teaching and knowledge, but the exemplary behaviour of the parents that educate the children. We find specialists in pedagogy who failed to educate their own offspring, as well as illiterate mothers who offered a splendid education to their children. A mother educates more through her being and her goodness than through her specialized knowledge.

Mary invites us to renew the prayer; the prayer will renew our hearts and our families. Jesus is standing at the door and he wishes to enter and eat with us. The family, which prays, will be able to hear when he is knocking. Let us not allow to anything else but Jesus to be at the centre of our families.

Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic
Medjugorje 26.10.2004