Sitting here behind the church of St. James in Medjugorje, after Holy Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, with about 42,000 fellow pilgrims, I have the overwhelming sense the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has begun. God is saving the world through Medjugorje; one by one as we come here to pray, begin the process of conversion and return home to live and share the messages, we become part of God’s plan of salvation. What a wonderful gift! 

How do I put into words my experiences over the past few days? Well in all honesty I cannot. It is not the beauty of the place we see with our eyes that makes Medjugorje so special but the joy and love of God we feel inside our souls that makes it so incredible. As I have said so many times before: the veil between heaven and earth is very thin in Medjugorje but this week, I think that veil was lifted completely! Experiencing complete oneness with God is the ultimate fulfillment for a human being on earth. There are many entertainments and pleasures the world tries to offer us to satisfy our minds and bodies but nothing comes close to the feeling of pure ecstasy when we experience the love of God deep within. 

Our pilgrimage started with a meet and greet dinner for our group of 33 pilgrims. Sadly, due to weather in Washington DC, some pilgrims did not arrive until the following day. One huge gift for me was that the majority of our pilgrims were visiting Medjugorje for the first time. We also had four beautiful families with girls aged from 14 years to 25 years old. What an incredible week they were about to experience! The next most noticeable thing to mention was the heat. Actually, heat is an understatement. The temperatures for the week were predicted to reach 102 on most afternoons. And it did!

What has God planned for your life? Since God loved each one of us into creation, He had a perfect plan for our lives. He envisioned a “definite” life for us that would ultimately bring us to Him in Paradise. His planned life for us offers us opportunities to love Him and to love those around us, refining us to become perfect in Him. Remember: "We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ." God’s life for us offers us both joys and disappointments as we are given chances to grow spiritually and turn away from our sins. 

Sadly, we learn to make our own choices from a young age and most of us never live our complete lives as God composed for us. We trudge from day to day, making decisions for our own future without ever consulting with Him. We often fall into mistake after mistake and then raise our heads to heaven and ask God to help us through one situation or another, frequently ones of our own making. 

Yet, have we ever wondered what path God did lay out for us when He created us? Perhaps we havefollowed that path or perhaps we have strayed and God has had to adapt His plan, catching us in different places along the way and pulling us back to Him. Our lives take many twists and turns and before we know it, we are closing in on the end of our journey.

As we all know, Americans are currently experiencing more division, frustration and anger than perhaps ever before. Family members and friends are positioned against each other and emotions and fears are running high.

Commenting on the current state of America, Christian leader Franklin Graham said he has never seen such hatred in the country and added that we are in a "spiritual crisis" because so much of the country has turned its back on God. 

"I don’t think I have ever seen the level of hatred we are seeing around us today," said Rev. Graham. "It’s chilling. Where does this hate come from? It comes from the human heart."
"America has a spiritual crisis," said Graham.  "We have turned our back on our Creator, the Author of our freedom, and the One who has bestowed on us the bounty of this land that we enjoy."
"As you look around, just because other people’s hearts are filled with hate, don’t let hate fill yours," he said.  "Let God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, give you the strength, the joy, the fulfillment, and the peace that only He can. Jesus Himself instructs us to love our enemies, and the Bible challenges us."

Check out a recent podcast I did on Miracle at Medjugorje with Shannon Gieselman: It was another great opportunity to share about Medjugorje. Thank you Shannon.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PODCAST!

Do you find yourself yearning for God? Has your desire to go to Mass and to receive the Eucharist grown stronger of late? Is God beginning to fill your thoughts throughout your entire day? If your answer to one or more of these questions is “yes”, then God is calling you into a deeper and more fulfilling relationship with Him. Answer His call by filling your day with time spent quietly reflecting on the Lord. Spend time talking with Him but also listening to what He is asking of you, perhaps go to Eucharistic Adoration and sit in His Eucharistic presence. 

Jesus yearns to be in union with souls. “I desire to unite Myself with human souls; My great delight is to unite Myself with souls. Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul…” (Jesus to St Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, diary entry 1385.)

The gifts God has to offer us are far greater than our human understanding. To reach that oneness with God through prayer, is one of the most powerful experiences we can have while on Earth and is a forbearer for what we are going to experience in Paradise with Him. 

With the recent beatification of Carlo Acutis, I have had “sainthood” in the forefront of my mind. What issainthood and how can follow in the footsteps of Blessed Carlo and become saints? What leads someone to become a saint and others to lead an “ordinary life”? 

After reading a considerable amount of information on the boy-saint, I have determined he did nothing extraordinary, nothing we cannot do ourselves. He simply lived his short life, filling with faith, hope and charity. These three virtues are considered the theological virtues of our church and when lived to the fullest, with much love, they embody sainthood. God freely gives us these ‘gifts of grace’ and it is up to us to accept and use them. These are the virtues by which man relates to God Himself.

We should aim high in our Christian faith. Sainthood is complete selflessness and desire for the Lord. It is an emptying of oneself and longing to be filled with Jesus. During a recent mass, I began praying, “Create in me an ever-increasing desire for you O Lord.” I find I have been repeating this phrase often over the past few weeks.

On September 3rd, 2020,Christine Rossi, host of Radio Maria’s “A Light in the World”, interviewed Judith Weible.

Judith runs Weible Columns, a non-profit founded by her late husband Wayne Weible in 1989. This monthly newspaper was created to bring the message of Medjugorje to America. Wayne was a hero of Medjugorje and a loyal friend of 206 Tours, traveling with us for over 20 years. He championed Our Lady of Medjugorje, Queen of Peace with a dedication and passion that changed the lives of so many people. Judith has dedicated her life to carrying on Wayne’s mission.

Christine introduces Judith as an “experienced pilgrim, traveler, and leader”. For over a decade, Judith has been on over 25 Pilgrimages with 206 Tours. During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Judith like so many pilgrims has been unable to visit Medjugorje. In this difficult and restrictive period, pilgrims have found solace in prayer, specifically prayer for peace, as they wait to return to Medjugorje.

Recently I have found myself sighing and muttering under my breath, “What is the world coming to?” 

Where can we find hope in our society and our country today? After experiencing several long months of lockdown and its devastating effects, we now have to endure images of destruction and looting in so many of our cities in which we live, work and love. It’s disheartening, even for the strongest of hearts. 

How can we evaluate all this unrest on a spiritual level? What conclusions can we draw? Has God abandoned us or is He working more powerfully than ever in all this chaos? Of course, the answer is, God is always with us and even more closely when we are suffering. However, all of these anxieties and questions are normal right now, but remember, there is always hope. 

Since the arrival of the Coronavirus, I have hesitated to write an opinion piece on the subject. I needed time absorb the affect such a pandemic has had on the world before commenting. At this time, I wish to comment as a Catholic, a medical provider, address people’s fear and offer a ray of hope.

Firstly, as a Roman Catholic, the one resounding sentence that comes to the front of my mind is a quote from Padre Pio:

“The earth could exist more easily without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” - Padre Pio