“Dear children, I am praying for you and encourage you to a new life, a life in joy and prayer. May the Holy Spirit fill you, little children, with joy so that you may be like a spring of pure and drinkable water; that you, little children, may be in God and with God missionaries of love and peace. Your life is short here on earth and that is why I am with you to lead you towards Heaven. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (With ecclesiastical approval)

Dear children, I am praying for you and encourage you to a new life, a life in joy and prayer. May the Holy Spirit fill you, little children, with joy so that you may be like a spring of pure and drinkable water; that you, little children, may be in God and with God missionaries of love and peace.

There is a hymn titled “Someone Is Praying for You.” Its title, lyrics, and melody are all deeply beautiful. Especially when it is sung quietly in meditation after Holy Communion, it can move the heart so profoundly that one may find tears flowing without even realizing it.

As the title suggests, knowing that someone is praying for us gives us great strength. When we find ourselves in situations beyond our own strength, realizing that someone is praying for us brings deep consolation and courage. This is because we believe that through their prayer, the power of God comes upon us.

In this month’s message, Our Lady tells us that she is praying for us. What a great consolation it is to know that she, who knows everything about us and understands the situation we are in, is praying for us. Because she loves us, she knows what we need and prays that it may be accomplished for us in the best possible way.

Then what is it that we need most at this moment? Through her words, “I encourage you to a new life, a life in joy and prayer,” we come to realize that what we truly need is joy and prayer. A life filled with heavenly joy—something the world cannot give, but only Jesus can—and a life sustained by prayer that keeps us in a constant, intimate relationship with Him: this alone is what we truly need. When Our Lady’s prayer and our sincere desire to live such a life come together, we begin to live this new life of joy and prayer.

Yet, above all, what is necessary is the grace of the Holy Spirit. Only when the Holy Spirit is with us can we truly live a life of joy and prayer. Saint Paul speaks of the fruits of the Spirit in this way: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal 5:22–23).

As we see here, joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit—it is given as a grace and a gift. Therefore, remembering that Our Lady is praying for us to live this new life of joy and prayer, we too must have a firm resolve to live it and earnestly pray to the Holy Spirit. We should fervently ask that He grant us the fruit of joy.

Prayer helps us remain in God and live with Him. It is the means by which we grow in love for God. As we pray, our desire to remain in Him and to be with Him deepens more and more. If we truly wish to remain always in God and with Him, we must never stop praying. Prayer alone unites us with God.

Only when we remain in God and with Him in joy and prayer can we become, as Our Lady desires, missionaries of love and peace. Yet even this is possible only with the help of the Holy Spirit. As Saint Paul teaches, love and peace are also fruits of the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit grants us these fruits as grace, we become missionaries filled with love and peace.

Therefore, we must earnestly ask the Holy Spirit to give us these fruits as gifts. A prayer offered with a sincere desire to become missionaries of love and peace will surely be answered. Let us ask with firm faith in the words of Jesus: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Lk 11:9–10).

Your life is short here on earth and that is why I am with you to lead you towards Heaven. Thank you for having responded to my call.

As Our Lady says, our life in this world is indeed short. The older we grow, the more deeply we realize this. Yet many people live as though they will remain in this world forever. This is so even as they see that all the generations before them have already passed away and continue to do so.

We too will one day leave this world. Therefore, we must once again gather our thoughts and say to ourselves: “Your life on this earth is short. Soon the day will come when you must leave it. This world is only a passing station; your true destination lies beyond, in Heaven. Long for that Heaven each day, and dedicate the rest of your life to preparing to enter it.”

And let us place our hands into the hands of Our Lady, who comes to us through Medjugorje in order to lead us to Heaven, where she is with Jesus. Let us earnestly ask her to take hold of our hands and guide us to our heavenly home.

Time is not abundant. Let us begin now—this very moment—to take Our Lady’s hand and prepare to enter Heaven.