"Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God's love. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation.
As in last month’s message, Our Lady emphasizes that Lent is a time of grace in this month’s message as well. This is because Lent is a time that helps us return to God the Father, who awaits us with infinite mercy and love. The parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ in Luke 15 teaches us just how deep God the Father’s mercy and love are. To deepen our understanding of Lent as a time of grace, let us meditate on this parable.
There was a father who had two sons. The younger son asked his father to give him his share of the inheritance that would come to him. The father graciously granted his request. The younger son gathered all his wealth and left his father's house. He went to a distant country and squandered his wealth in wild living. When he had spent everything, he began to work for a man in that country, but he still suffered hunger, and no one gave him anything to eat. Finally, coming to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants."' So he got up and went to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then he called his servants and ordered them to prepare a feast.
All the stories in the Bible are beautiful and moving, but this parable is particularly so. Through this parable, Jesus clearly reveals to us what God the Father is like. Like the father in the parable, the God we believe in listens to our requests and respects our free will. Even if we stray from Him and fall into sin, He never ceases to worry about us and show us compassion. Just as the father in the parable saw his son from afar and, filled with compassion, ran to him, God is always concerned for us and always awaits our return to Him.
Lent is a time to realize the love and compassion of God the Father. It is a time to recognize that God’s grace continues to be with us. How can we become aware that God’s love, compassion, and grace continue to be with us? The parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ shows us the way. When the younger son lost everything, he reflected on the evil he had done and the sins he had committed. He realized that the misery he was experiencing was the result of his wrong choices and actions. He acknowledged that he had sinned against heaven and against his father. Then he turned back to his father’s house, seeking forgiveness and mercy. This is the true image of a repentant person.
For the past 26 years and 8 months, the theme that has been continually emphasized in the messages given by Our Lady in Medjugorje is repentance. The Queen of Peace constantly invites us to repent of our sins, like the younger son in the parable, and return to God the Father. To help us turn our hearts back to God, Our Lady once again encourages us to pray in this month’s message. Prayer helps us to see our lives and hearts through God’s eyes and realize His infinite love and mercy.
Our Lady also calls us to renounce. To understand this more deeply, we need to revisit last month’s message. In last month’s message, Our Lady said, “You, little children, are free to choose good or evil… Renounce sin and choose eternal life.” The renunciation that Our Lady asks of us is precisely the renunciation of all evil and sin. What is it that leads us to evil and sin in this modern, affluent world? It is our attachment to material things and selfishness. Our Lady has repeatedly urged us to detach ourselves from material things, saying, “Dear children! You are absorbed with material things, but in the material you lose everything that God wishes to give you... Don't be absorbed with material things” (April 17, 1986). “Little children, you are still attached to earthly things and little to spiritual life... You cannot be converted, little children, if you do not abandon sins and do not decide for love towards God and neighbor” (January 25, 2002). “Dear children! I invite you to decide again to love God above all else. In this time when due to the spirit of consumerism one forgets what it means to love and to cherish true values, I invite you again, little children, to put God in the first place in your life. Do not let Satan attract you through material things but, little children, decide for God who is freedom and love. Choose life and not death of the soul, little children, and in this time when you meditate upon the suffering and death of Jesus I invite you to decide for life which blossomed through the Resurrection, and that your life may be renewed today through conversion that shall lead you to eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call” (March 25, 1996).
In the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son,’ the younger son thought that material things would bring happiness to his life. But instead of happiness, he fell into sin and misery. Realizing that only his father could bring him true happiness, he turned back to his father’s house. We need material things to live, but only the minimum necessary to sustain life. To teach us this, Our Lady encourages us to fast. Fasting frees us from attachment to material things and makes us yearn only for God, teaching us that what we truly need in our lives is not material wealth but God.
The Apostle Paul said, “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” (Rom 5:20) Indeed, for those who, like the younger son, cleanse their past, cut off sin, and turn back to the Father’s house, God’s grace is abundantly poured out. God, who “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45), desires that none of His children be excluded from salvation or fall into destruction but live in His grace and love. Therefore, Our Lady invites us to pray for all those who still do not know God’s love with the following words:
May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God's love. Thank you for having responded to my call.
All the people of this world, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or religion, are children of God. Our Lady, the Mother of all nations, desires that all her children in this world come to know God’s love, repent, and return to the Father’s house. She asks us to pray for all those who still do not know God’s love. To pray for all those who still do not know God’s love, we must first have love for them in our hearts. We must be like the father in the parable who longed for his sinful son’s return with love and compassion, rather than like the older son, who resented his brother’s return to the father’s house.
Our Lady knows that our prayers for those who still do not know God’s love will surely have an effect, which is why she asks us to pray for them. Just as the tearful prayers of St. Monica for her son, Augustine, who was in sin, were answered, so too will our prayers for someone’s conversion be answered. If there is someone in our family who is in sin or does not know God’s love, we should pray for them. We must firmly believe that the prayers of intercession we offer from our hearts will surely be answered, for “nothing is impossible with God” (Lk 1:37.) The quantity of our prayers is not the issue. Even if it is a very small amount, if we pray fervently from our hearts, that prayer will move heaven.
We cannot deny that many of our prayers are related to ourselves. Of course, it is necessary to pray for ourselves. However, we must first pray for others beyond ourselves. Therefore, Our Lady says, “May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God's love.” These words, which call us to fill our days with prayers for others, especially for those who still do not know God’s love, instead of prayers for ourselves, help us escape from spiritual selfishness. The heart of a person who can think of others before themselves, even in prayer, is filled with the love of God, who laid down His life for humanity.
Let us pray. God the Father, I am the prodigal son who has returned. I am the son who left Your embrace, became attached to material things, and committed various sins, causing You pain. Now, I confess all my sins and wrongdoings. Like the younger son, I confess to You, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against You. I am no longer worthy to be called Your son; make me like one of Your hired servants.’ Father God, who is always waiting for me, I now turn back to You. Just as You saw the returning son from afar and ran to embrace and kiss him, please accept and embrace me as I place my trust completely in You. Now, I also pray for Your other prodigal children. In accordance with Our Lady's request, I pray for all those who still do not know Your love. Please grant them the grace to repent and return to Your house. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
