I invite you to conversion
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:03 am
Fr. Slavko's Reflections on the message of
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FEBRUARY 25, 1996: "Dear Children, today I invite you to conversion. This is the most important message that I have given you here. Little children, I wish that each of you become a carrier of my messages. I invite you, little children, to live my messages that I have given you over these years. This is a time of grace. Especially now, when the Church also is calling you to prayer and conversion. I also, little children, invite you to live my messages that I have given you during the time since I have appeared here. Thank you for having responded to my call."
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I invite you to conversion. This is the most important message
Let us again think that the main Marian goal is peace. Peace is the grace that God can and wants to give us, but only if we open ourselves to this grace. One opens oneself to this grace when one prays, fasts, believes and lets oneself be led by God; and when one wants to take the path to God or with Mary to God, then one can always describe this path as the path of conversion. This message is an impulse for us all again to think about conversion, about the meaning of conversion and about the different dimensions of conversion, but even more so that we pray for the grace of conversion and that we then live our conversion.
The reason for our conversion is God's love and mercy. When we are called upon by God to convert, it only means that God gives us the chance to depart from our wrong paths and to turn upon new ones. Was God to lose patience with us, then we would not have the opportunity to convert. So let us very consciously thank God that He again is giving us this opportunity!
From our side conversion first of all means that we leave behind the wrong paths, that we free ourselves from the negative, from sin and from all that is evil, and especially from all dependencies through which we destroy ourselves. This dimension of conversion, that we very consciously fight against all sins in our lives, is very important. In order for us to free ourselves from all sin and all that is evil, we must begin to pray and to fast so that we gain the inner strength to free ourselves from it.
The other dimension of conversion, a very important factor is our spiritual path. Is the positive growth in that we develop the gifts in us that God gave us or the gifts that God gave us to create the conditions for growth. There are, thank God, many people who in taking Mary's path to God, have distanced themselves from sin and all that is evil, and who therefore find themselves on the path to peace. These people sometimes encounter the difficulty of not knowing what they should confess when they feel that they are no longer sinning and no longer doing anything negative. Still it is always very important that conversion not only means turning away sin but, that it also entails an inner growth. This growth knows no boundaries! So even when we know of no sin that we are carrying, we are still called upon to convert. The growth in inner peace, in love, in trust, in mercy, in truth is also included in the description of conversion. We should give more attention to this inner peace and growth, then we should to the fight against the evil...
So not only turning away from sin, but growth in the positive should be our path. The condition for peace that Mary is teaching us here is love for life. Only when we grow positively in this love for life will we then also see exactly what opportunities have been given to us to become active in the good. Conversion is a dynamic situation in our hearts, and when we convert we should ask ourselves whether we are really working on our hearts as Mary once called upon us to "work on your hearts as you work in your fields." The best seed cannot bring fruit in an unprepared soil. Again we must very clearly emphasize that it can happen that we pray, perhaps even fast, go to Mass, but still that we do not wish to convert. Our prayer and fasting should come from as well as lead to the dynamic of conversion, otherwise it can really happen that Christians do small things all their lives but still do not change their lives....
God, our Father, we thank You for Your love and mercy that make our conversion possible. We thank You for Your patience with us and for Your will for us to again renew our decision to start anew with You. We beseech You, send into our hearts the Holy Spirit so that we will decide for You, so that we, in Your name, can, as Your Son, Jesus Christ did, resist and turn away all sin: that we can also wish not only to live by bread but also by every word that comes out of Your mouth: that we never tempt You but that we always serve You and adore You as the only True God. Cleanse our hearts and our souls so that we can grow in love toward each other, and in this time especially also grow in love toward the poor, Father, we beseech You, bless the Pope, all Bishops and Priests, and all those who spread Your word so that they in this time can experience conversion in their lives, and then can also spread the message of conversion to Your people. Mary, along with you and in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask the Father that your path with us may continue, so that we can have peace. We ask along with you that we, our families, the Communities, the Parishes, the entire Church and thus the whole world may become carriers of your messages. We thank you Mary, that you make us aware that you, as Mother of the Church, also want us to go on our path with the Church. Protect us on this path O Mary! And through your intercession may the Lord bless the entire Church and the entire world. God, Our Father, for this we pray in the name of Jesus, Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.
Fr. Slavko, Medjugorje
February 27, 1996
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FEBRUARY 25, 1996: "Dear Children, today I invite you to conversion. This is the most important message that I have given you here. Little children, I wish that each of you become a carrier of my messages. I invite you, little children, to live my messages that I have given you over these years. This is a time of grace. Especially now, when the Church also is calling you to prayer and conversion. I also, little children, invite you to live my messages that I have given you during the time since I have appeared here. Thank you for having responded to my call."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I invite you to conversion. This is the most important message
Let us again think that the main Marian goal is peace. Peace is the grace that God can and wants to give us, but only if we open ourselves to this grace. One opens oneself to this grace when one prays, fasts, believes and lets oneself be led by God; and when one wants to take the path to God or with Mary to God, then one can always describe this path as the path of conversion. This message is an impulse for us all again to think about conversion, about the meaning of conversion and about the different dimensions of conversion, but even more so that we pray for the grace of conversion and that we then live our conversion.
The reason for our conversion is God's love and mercy. When we are called upon by God to convert, it only means that God gives us the chance to depart from our wrong paths and to turn upon new ones. Was God to lose patience with us, then we would not have the opportunity to convert. So let us very consciously thank God that He again is giving us this opportunity!
From our side conversion first of all means that we leave behind the wrong paths, that we free ourselves from the negative, from sin and from all that is evil, and especially from all dependencies through which we destroy ourselves. This dimension of conversion, that we very consciously fight against all sins in our lives, is very important. In order for us to free ourselves from all sin and all that is evil, we must begin to pray and to fast so that we gain the inner strength to free ourselves from it.
The other dimension of conversion, a very important factor is our spiritual path. Is the positive growth in that we develop the gifts in us that God gave us or the gifts that God gave us to create the conditions for growth. There are, thank God, many people who in taking Mary's path to God, have distanced themselves from sin and all that is evil, and who therefore find themselves on the path to peace. These people sometimes encounter the difficulty of not knowing what they should confess when they feel that they are no longer sinning and no longer doing anything negative. Still it is always very important that conversion not only means turning away sin but, that it also entails an inner growth. This growth knows no boundaries! So even when we know of no sin that we are carrying, we are still called upon to convert. The growth in inner peace, in love, in trust, in mercy, in truth is also included in the description of conversion. We should give more attention to this inner peace and growth, then we should to the fight against the evil...
So not only turning away from sin, but growth in the positive should be our path. The condition for peace that Mary is teaching us here is love for life. Only when we grow positively in this love for life will we then also see exactly what opportunities have been given to us to become active in the good. Conversion is a dynamic situation in our hearts, and when we convert we should ask ourselves whether we are really working on our hearts as Mary once called upon us to "work on your hearts as you work in your fields." The best seed cannot bring fruit in an unprepared soil. Again we must very clearly emphasize that it can happen that we pray, perhaps even fast, go to Mass, but still that we do not wish to convert. Our prayer and fasting should come from as well as lead to the dynamic of conversion, otherwise it can really happen that Christians do small things all their lives but still do not change their lives....
God, our Father, we thank You for Your love and mercy that make our conversion possible. We thank You for Your patience with us and for Your will for us to again renew our decision to start anew with You. We beseech You, send into our hearts the Holy Spirit so that we will decide for You, so that we, in Your name, can, as Your Son, Jesus Christ did, resist and turn away all sin: that we can also wish not only to live by bread but also by every word that comes out of Your mouth: that we never tempt You but that we always serve You and adore You as the only True God. Cleanse our hearts and our souls so that we can grow in love toward each other, and in this time especially also grow in love toward the poor, Father, we beseech You, bless the Pope, all Bishops and Priests, and all those who spread Your word so that they in this time can experience conversion in their lives, and then can also spread the message of conversion to Your people. Mary, along with you and in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask the Father that your path with us may continue, so that we can have peace. We ask along with you that we, our families, the Communities, the Parishes, the entire Church and thus the whole world may become carriers of your messages. We thank you Mary, that you make us aware that you, as Mother of the Church, also want us to go on our path with the Church. Protect us on this path O Mary! And through your intercession may the Lord bless the entire Church and the entire world. God, Our Father, for this we pray in the name of Jesus, Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.
Fr. Slavko, Medjugorje
February 27, 1996