"Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray even more, until you feel the holiness of forgiveness in your heart. There must be holiness in the families, little children, because there is no future for the world without love and holiness – because in holiness and joy, you give yourselves to God the Creator who loves you with immeasurable love. This is why He sends me to you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Dear children! Today, I am calling you to pray even more until you feel the holiness of forgiveness in your heart.
Jesus told His apostles, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Lk 17:3-5). Why did the apostles suddenly ask Jesus to increase their faith when He spoke about forgiveness? They realized from their experience that they couldn’t forgive their wrongdoers by their own strength. They also knew that they could only truly forgive with God’s power, so they asked Jesus to increase their faith.
Faith is not something we create on our own; it is an act of fully entrusting ourselves to God's will and omnipotence. So how can our faith grow? How can the Lord increase our faith? There is only one way: prayer. Through prayer, our hearts open to the Lord, and He gives us the gift of faith. It is not something we can develop on our own, but a gift from God that grows within us when we pray and open our hearts to Him.
Forgiveness is holy because God, in His holiness, forgives human sin. It is holy because it reconciles us with God and makes us one with Him. Forgiveness opens the path for sinners to become saints, and through forgiveness among people, reconciliation, love, and peace are restored. To feel the holiness of forgiveness in our hearts, our hearts must change. Pride, hatred, and envy must disappear from within us. How is this possible? Through prayer. If we still do not feel the holiness of forgiveness in our hearts, it means that our prayers are insufficient. That is why Our Lady says, “Dear children! Today, I am calling you to pray even more until you feel the holiness of forgiveness in your heart.”
There must be holiness in the families, little children, because there is no future for the world without love and holiness – because in holiness and joy, you give yourselves to God the Creator who loves you with immeasurable love. This is why He sends me to you. Thank you for having responded to my call.
As our Mother, Our Lady is concerned about our future and the future of the world. She tells us that the future of the world depends on the presence of love and holiness in the world, particularly within families. Holiness in families is essential because most people are born, raised, and shaped within families, regardless of their form or circumstances. The family is the first place where humans experience life, and if they do not experience love and holiness there, the world will lack love and holiness. Therefore, holiness must first be nurtured within families, where loving and holy individuals—saints—are formed, so that love and holiness can fill the world.
How can there be holiness in families? God must dwell there. How can we invite God into our families? By praying together, reading and reflecting on the Bible, living according to His Word, and attending Sunday Mass to receive the Eucharist as a family, we allow God to enter our homes, bringing holiness. Additionally, we should decorate our homes with religious items, such as crucifixes, images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Divine Mercy images, and statues of saints, to remind us of holiness. Just as a church is a place of holiness, our homes, as small churches, should also become places where holiness is felt. In this context, the following message from Our Lady becomes meaningful: "Dear children! Today I call on you to read the Bible every day in your homes and let it be in a visible place so as always to encourage you to read it and to pray. Thank you for having responded to my call" (October 18, 1984).
Our future and the future of the world do not depend on our abilities, wealth, military power, or advanced technology. Only when we embrace love and holiness, the essence and source of which is God, will there be a future. In other words, when we invite God, the embodiment of love and holiness, into our hearts and lives, and live in love and holiness, we and the world will have a future.
We already know through scripture, homilies, spiritual teachings, and Catholic media that God loves us infinitely. The problem, however, is that while we understand this intellectually, we often do not feel it in our hearts. Why? Because we have not yet formed a personal and intimate relationship with God. In other words, we have not fully opened our hearts to Him, nor have we grasped the depth of His heart.
How can we build a personal relationship with God and unite our hearts with His? Prayer is the key—sincere, heartfelt prayer. Through prayer, we come to understand who God is and how much He loves us. When we truly realize that God loves us unconditionally and infinitely, we experience conversion. Those who pray with all their heart undergo conversion, become holy, and live joyfully. Once this happens, we cannot help but offer ourselves to the Creator God, who loves us immeasurably.
However, this transformation is not something we can achieve on our own. We need God’s help and grace. God, in His love for us, sends Our Lady to awaken us from our spiritual slumber. The apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje are a great grace for us. To fully receive this grace and awaken from spiritual unconsciousness, we must take Our Lady’s messages seriously and respond faithfully to her call.
The Lord says, “Arise! Shine, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you” (Is 60:1).
