“Dear children, Today I am calling you: return to God, return to prayer, so that you may become carriers of peace. Pray, little children, for peace that is in danger; and may prayer begin to flow anew from your hearts and from your families, so that, in joy, you may feel the voice of Jesus in your hearts: 'Peace be with you.' Be, little children, carriers of peace and prayer for all those who do not pray. I am with you and I pray for you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (With Ecclesiastical approval)

Dear children, Today I am calling you: return to God, return to prayer, so that you may become carriers of peace.

In this month’s message, Our Lady calls us to return to God, return to prayer, and become bearers of peace. Why does Our Lady tell us to return to God and to prayer? To find the answer, we need to reflect deeply on where we are at this moment. Are we close to God? Are we praying?

Of course, the answer will be different for each person. Yet the very fact that Our Lady is calling us to return to God and to prayer means that, in her eyes, most of us are still far from God and are not praying enough. Therefore, even if we think that we are already close to God and pray a great deal, we should resolve to draw still closer to God and to pray more than we do now. Every day we need to direct our steps toward God and strive to pray more fervently today than we did yesterday.

God is the source of peace and is Peace itself. Therefore, when we return to God, we are immersed in His peace, and our hearts become filled with that peace. Peace is also a fruit of prayer. When we return to prayer, the fruit of peace begins to grow in our hearts, and the peace within us can then be shared with others.

Our Lady desires that we first experience peace in our own hearts and then carry that peace to others. But this does not happen by itself. First of all, we must return to God. To return to God means to be converted. Only a person who is converted can truly return to God. A person who turns away from sin, frees himself from attachment to the world and worldly things, loves God above all else, changes his life according to God’s Word, places God at the center of his life, and strives always to live according to His will and His commandments—this is a person who is truly converted.

Pray, little children, for peace that is in danger; and may prayer begin to flow anew from your hearts and from your families, so that, in joy, you may feel the voice of Jesus in your hearts: 'Peace be with you.'

"Dear children! By your own peace I am calling you to help others to see and begin to seek peace. You, dear children, are at peace and not able to comprehend lack of peace. Therefore, I am calling you, so that by your prayer and your life you help to destroy everything that is evil in people and uncover the deception that Satan makes use of. You pray that the truth prevails in all hearts. Thank you for having responded to my call." (September 25, 1986)

As Our Lady tells us in the message above, because we are enjoying peace at present, we may not fully realize how much peace is being undermined and endangered around us and throughout the world. However, simply because we do not see it with our own eyes or experience it ourselves does not mean that the whole world is at peace. What we are able to see and perceive is very limited.

Our Lady, who sees the whole world beyond the limitations of time and space, tells us to pray for peace that is in danger. Therefore, we need to pray not only for our own peace but also for the peace of our neighbors, our communities, our nations, and the whole world. Wherever peace is in danger, we should pray especially that it may be protected and preserved.

“Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19). These were the first words spoken by the risen Jesus when He appeared among the disciples, who had locked all the doors for fear of the Jews. Why had the disciples locked themselves in out of fear? They were afraid that those who had brought about the crucifixion of Jesus might seize them and put them to death as well. Burdened also by guilt for having abandoned and betrayed Jesus, their Teacher and Lord, and terrified by the possibility of what might happen to them, they remained behind tightly locked doors.

Overwhelmed by fear, terror, and anxiety, the disciples could not escape from that situation by their own strength. It was then that the risen Jesus appeared to them. He did not reproach them at all for having betrayed and abandoned Him. Instead, He simply said, “Peace be with you!” and showed them His hands and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Our Lady desires that the voice of Jesus saying, “Peace be with you!” resound also in our hearts, the hearts of His disciples today, and that we experience His words deep within us. Jesus continues to say to us, “Peace be with you!” in order to heal the wounds caused by our betrayal of Him and our disobedience to His Word, and to free us from all fear, guilt, terror, and anxiety. Our Lady wants us to recognize and hear the voice of Jesus speaking these words to us.

By our own strength, we cannot heal the wounds and guilt caused by our sins and betrayals, nor can we free ourselves from fear, anxiety, and terror. Only Jesus, who is risen and is always alive among us, can set us free from all these things and heal us completely. Therefore, prayer must begin to flow anew from our hearts and from our families, so that the voice of Jesus saying, “Peace be with you!” may resound within our hearts and we may experience His peace.

The room where the disciples had locked the doors for fear of the Jews was the same Upper Room where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper and instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood. It was also the place where Our Lady, the Apostles, and the whole Church gathered in prayer and the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Later, it became the place where the Apostles celebrated the Eucharist and guided the Church. The Upper Room shows us clearly that when Jesus, Our Lady, and the Holy Spirit were present with the disciples, there was no fear or terror, but rather prayer and peace.

Our hearts and our families must become the new Upper Room of today. In that Upper Room, both individually and together as families, let us gather with Our Lady each day and ask Jesus to send us the Holy Spirit. Let us pray with greater fervor so that prayer may begin to flow anew from our hearts and from our families. When we pray in this way, we can become bearers of peace and prayer, especially for all those who do not pray.

Be, little children, carriers of peace and prayer for all those who do not pray. I am with you and I pray for you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call.

What a grace it is to receive Our Lady’s invitation to become bearers of peace and prayer for all those who do not pray. Who are we that we should be called to carry out such a sublime mission?

We ourselves still do not live peace perfectly, and our prayer is still insufficient. Yet Our Lady calls us, as we are, to become bearers of peace and prayer for all those who do not pray. This mission, however, cannot be accomplished by our own strength. That is why Our Lady is with us and prays for us before her Son Jesus.

Our Lady’s presence, her prayer and intercession, together with our wholehearted cooperation with her, enable us to become apostles who carry peace and prayer to all those who do not pray.