Our Lady's Main Messages
By: Vicka Ivankovic
Obtained from the Pilgrims' Peace Center, Peaceletter 12/95
Our Lady's main messages are prayer, conversion, fasting, penance, and peace. Our Lady recommends us to pray every day, all three parts of the rosary -- joyful, sorowful, and glorious mysteries. She is also asking us to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays on bread and water. But the most important thing that she is asking from us is to have firm faith. When Our Lady asks us to pray, she doesn't mean that she wants us to pronounce the words mechanically. On the contrary, she wants us, from day to day, to open up our hearts so that prayer could become a real joy for all of us.
Our Lady is trying to teach is how to pray with our heart. She says, "Before you start your prayer, try to put away all those thoughts that are disturbing you while you pray. Then start your prayer by praying one Our Father. As you are praying that, you have to be aware that you are praying to your Father who is great and who is in Heaven -- your Father who is full of enormous love and who loves us so much. In that moment, you are to present to Him all your needs, all your desires, and all your problems." We are to pray that His will be done, not ours. Then let Him do the best for us. Tomorrow, we'll be praying more. After one Our Father, we'll pray the Hail Mary, being aware that we are praying to our Mother, who is very great -- the Mother that we are able to see with the eyes of our heart -- our Mother who is always very near us and who loves us so much. The day after tomorrow, we'll be praying more -- we'll be praying the Glory Be. We will be glorifying our Father and we should be grateful for everything that He is giving us -- for the good things and the bad things the same. We should pray for the grace that we are able to accept everything that he is giving to us in the same way so, from day to day, we are to open up our hearts. We should meditate and think about every word that we are pronouncing. We should try to see the real importance of those words and try to live them.
Our Lady was trying to show us the importance of prayer using one very beautiful example. She said, "All of you in your families would have one flower pot. And as you are giving that plant a few drops of water every day, very soon you will see that plant is growing and you'll have a beautiful flower -- a rose, for example. It is the same way with our hearts. If we put into our heart a few words of prayer every day, we will see that our heart will be growing and developing in the same way as that plant was. But if we do not water that plant for a couple of days, we will see that that plant is dying, like it never existed before." Our lady says, very often, it happens to us that when the prayer time comes, we are trying to find different excuses saying that we can't do it today, we'll do it tomorrow; and then, when tomorrow comes, we say well, we can't do it today, we'll do it tomorrow. . So, little by little, we are putting prayer away from us and that will create a way for all those bad influences to affect us. Our Lady says, "The same way that plant cannot live without water, we are not able to live without God's graces." Our Lady says prayer of the heart is something that you are not able to study how to do -- you must live that and take one step further every day.
Our Lady is asking us to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays; but all the sick ones, when they are asked to fast, it doesn't mean that they are required to fast on bread and water. They can give up something that they like the most. But, very often, all those healthy ones are trying to say that, when they fast, they get dizzy or they get sick or a headache. It is very important to try to have a strong faith. When you fast out of love for Our Lady, nothing will happen to you.
Our Lady is calling us to complete conversion and she says, "Dear children, all of you, when you have problems, when you are in troubles and difficulties, all of you would think that Jesus and I are far from you. On the contrary, we are also very near to you but you are to open your hearts so that you would be able to realize how much we love you."
She is also giving us her blessing and she's praying for all of us. She has repeated so many times that she would be especially pleased if we would renew the prayer of the rosary in our families and communities, so that parents will pray with the children and children with the parents. In that way, Satan will not be able to do us any harm. Our Lady is emphasizing, all the time, that Satan is very powerful and very strong and that he wants to disturb us and stop us in everything that we are trying to do. That is why she is asking us to increase our prayers so that we will be able to keep Satan away by our prayers. In that way, Satan would be harmless. She said the best way to do that is with the rosary in our hands. The best weapon against Satan is the rosary. She recommends to us to wear something blessed all the time -- a small cross, a medal or just some small sign that we belong to Jesus. That will help us to defend against Satan.
She is also recommending to us to put the Holy Mass in the very first place. She says that is most important and the holiest moment. In that moment, the living Jesus is coming to us and we are receiving Him in our hearts. That is why Our Lady is asking us to be especially prepared for that moment so that we could receive Him with love and dignity.
She also recommends monthly confession, but she also says we can do it even more often if we feel so. But she also says, "Do not take confession in a way that you just go to your priest, confess your sins and continue the same way of life." On the contrary, we should change ourselves and become a new person after confession. We should also ask our priest for advice so that we could go one step further in faith every day.
In a special way, Our Lady is very concerned about all the young people in the world. She says they are in a very serious and difficult situation. And we can only help them with our prayers and with our love. She says, "Dear young people, whatever the modern world offers you is so temporary. And, looking at that, you can see that Satan is taking advantage of every free moment for himself. Now, Satan is doing that mostly through you young. He wants to destroy your families." She also says, "Dear children, this time is a time for great graces." She would like us to renew her messages and she would like us to start living these messages with our hearts. She would like us to be carriers of her peace. She wants us to pray for peace in the world. But, first of all, Our Lady is asking from us to pray for peace in our own hearts, and for peace in our families and communities. Then, once we have that kind of peace, we should pray for peace for the world. Our Lady says, "If you are praying for peace in the world and you do not have peace in your heart, that prayer has no value."
This past year was dedicated to youth, but Our lady is asking us to dedicate this year to youth and the family together. She is asking us to increase our prayers, especially now. She repeats that she is in great need of our prayers and she would like us to pray for the realization of her and God's plans.
She would like us to take the Bible every day. She wants us to read a few lines and try to live those words. She is also asking us to pray for the Holy Father, for all Bishops and Priests, and for all our Church, because our Church is in great need of our prayers. In a special way, she is asking us to pray for one of her plans that is supposed to be realized. She is repeating that she is praying for peace, but she is asking us to pray for that same intention and to help her with our prayers.
Vicka was asked to describe Our Lady, and this was her response:
Before Our Lady comes, I am able to see a special kind of light that flashes three times. That is a sign to me that Our Lady is coming. She is dressed in a gray gown, with a white veil. She has a crown of stars, blue eyes, dark hair, rosy cheeks and she is floating on a small, gray cloud. She doesn't touch the ground. On special feast days like Christmas, Easter, Our Lady's birthday, and so forth, she comes dressed in a golden gown. For every Christmas, Our Lady is coming with the baby Jesus in her arms. Only once, on Good Friday, a few years ago, she came with Jesus as a grown up man. He was all wounded, his clothes were torn apart and he had a crown of thorns. Our Lady said that she came to show us visionaries how much Jesus suffered for all of us. For every birthday, Our Lady comes and wishes us a happy birthday -- we wish her a happy birthday. We hug and kiss each other and we can see each other in a normal way, just as I can see anyone else.
Vicka has seen Heaven, hell and purgatory. This is her description of the experience:
One afternoon, I was with Jakov at his home and Our Lady came, telling us that she was going to take us to show us Heaven, hell and purgatory. Jakov was very little at the time and he thought we would not come back so he said, 'Dear, Our Lady, Why don't you take only Vicka because she has seven other brothers and sisters and I am the only child of my parents.' But Our Lady just smiled and didn't say anything. Before we left, we were wondering how long the journey was going to take, whether we would go up, or down, or how many days we would be traveling. But Our Lady just took Jakov's left hand and my right hand and we went up. We could see the walls just moving aside, giving us enough space to go through. It took us just a moment, and we found ourselves in heaven. Heaven is one, huge endless space. There is a special kind of light that does not exist on earth at all. We saw people dressed in gray, yellow, and pink gowns. They were walking, praying and singing together. And they all looked the same. No one was too skinny or too heavy. We were able to see small angels circling around. There is a special kind of joy in Heaven. I have never experienced anything like that at any other time. Our Lady told us to see how overjoyed were all the people who were in Heaven. Purgatory is also one huge space, but we were not able to see people. We could only see darkness -- an ashy color. We were able to feel the physical suffering of the people. They were shivering, and struggling. Our Lady said we need to pray for those people so that they can get out of Purgatory. As for hell, there is one huge fire in the middle. First, we were shown people in normal condition before they were caught by that fire. Then as they are being caught by that fire, they become the shape of animals, like they have never been humans before. As they are falling deeper into the fire, they yell against God even more. Our Lady says that, for all those who are in hell it was their choice, their decision to get there. Our Lady says for all those who are living here on earth who are living against God's commands, even ehre they are living in a kind of hell so when they are there, they are continuing just the same life as before. Our Lady says that there are so many who live here on the earth who believe that when this life is finished, everything is finished, but Our Lady says, if you think so, you are very wrong, because we are just passers by on the earth.
