The following is taken from Mirjana’s book, My Heart will Triumph.
As our teacher in “the school of love,” the Blessed Mother gives us a curriculum through her messages. Her “lessons” aim to help us come to know God’s love. These include the “five stones” identified by Fr. Jozo: prayer, fasting, Holy Mass, confession, and the Bible. Our Lady doesn’t demand that we embrace these things. Instead, she encourages us, and she presents a map that will lead us on the path to love. Through her messages, she reminds us that the means for living Heaven on Earth—and after Earth—are at our fingertips, available freely to everyone. “Many false truths are being offered to you,” she said on January 2, 2015. “You will overcome them with a heart cleansed by fasting, prayer, penance and the Gospel.” (359-60).
1st stone: Prayer
Everything begins with prayer, and Our Lady emphasizes its value in almost every message she gives me during the apparitions. “Only a pure heart, filled with prayer and compassion, can feel the love of my Son.” (December 2, 2005) “Dear children, my motherly heart begs you to accept prayer, because it is your salvation! Pray, pray, pray, my children.” (January 2, 2005) “By your surrender and prayer, ennoble your body and perfect your soul.” (April 2, 2010) “Pray that you can be apostles of the divine light in this time of darkness and hopelessness. This is a time of your trial. With a rosary in hand and love in the heart set out with me.” (March 2, 2012)
“Dear children, proper prayer comes from the depth of your heart, from your suffering, from your joy, from your seeking the forgiveness of sins.” (February 2, 2011)
A short prayer from the heart is more powerful than a long one comprised of words with no feeling. God speaks to us through love, so love is the language He understands. Having seen Our Lady over 700 times since 1981, I never get bored while praying the rosary because I can envision her every time I say a Hail Mary. Still, I remember being a little girl and feeling impatient whenever Grandma Jela led the evening prayers. It’s not always easy to focus, but Our Lady says that nothing unites a family better than praying the rosary together. If your thoughts begin to wander when you are praying, then put the rosary aside and speak directly to Our Lady as a child talks to his mother. Tell her why you can’t be still. Tell her what’s burdening you. Give her whatever you have in your heart and she will give you what’s in hers—the peace of God. After having to hide my faith from the communists, I still pray the rosary on my fingers. Even when I have a rosary, I usually end up giving it to someone I meet, and if I’m asked to lead the rosary in a group, I prefer to use my fingers because I’m afraid of miscounting the beads.
“Praying the rosary after seeing Our Lady was a profound experience. Every time I said a Hail Mary, I could envision her—her beautiful face, her expressions of pain and joy—and I could feel her in my heart. When I was a child, praying the rosary felt like it would never end, but now it was always over too soon. It was impossible to think of it as merely a repetitive prayer any more” (113).
“A prayer only needs to be done with heart. It’s simple. We shouldn’t think Our Lady wants something from us that we can’t do or don’t know how to do. First, we should feel God as our father who is always near us and who loves us. Only when we feel this way can we pray. We should start every single day with a prayer, before going to school, work, whatever. Parents should pray with their children. Ask for God’s help throughout the day and thank Him for every little blessing you receive. Everything comes from God.” (246).
But even now, people often ask me how they should prepare for the time of the secrets. Should they stock their basements with food? Move to the countryside and live off the land? Buy a weapon to protect themselves? I tell them, “Yes, you should get a weapon, and you should use it often.” I show them my rosary. “This is the only weapon you’ll ever need. But it only works if you use it.” In one of her earliest messages, Our Lady told us, “Prayer and fasting can stop wars and change the laws of nature.” She was not speaking figuratively; prayer is more effective at creating change than anything we can do alone. The rosary is an especially powerful prayer. (148).
Fasting
Our Lady almost always mentions prayer when she speaks of fasting. The two are linked. Fasting should always be accompanied by prayer. “It’s important to know that when we pray and fast, it is to open ourselves to God and to what God gives us,” said Fr. Slavko. “Often when people pray and fast, it becomes an exchange of action. We pray and fast, then wait to get something back. When we do not get what we are praying or fasting for, then we stop praying. It is important to remain open to receive everything that God wants to give us. Graces come when we remain open through prayer and fasting.” The fasting Our Lady invites us to is meant to open our hearts. When I fast, I prove to myself that I’m the boss of my own body. Even though it seems like a small sacrifice, I’m showing God that I will do anything for Him. Fasting also strengthens my prayer. “The great love of God sends me to lead you to salvation. Give me your simple hearts, purified by fasting and prayer. Only in the simplicity of your hearts is your salvation.” (September 2, 2007) “Today I call you with prayer and fasting to clear the path in which my Son will enter into your hearts.” (June 2, 2010).
“Do not resist hope and peace. Along with your prayer and fasting, by His cross, my Son will cast away the darkness that wants to surround you and come to rule over you. He will give you the strength for a new life.” (March 2, 2013) “My children, pray and fast that you may be able to recognize all of this which I am seeking of you.” (December 2, 2013) “I desire that by fasting and prayer you obtain from the Heavenly Father the cognition of what is natural and holy—Divine.” (February 2, 2014) Our Lady asks us to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. The best form of fasting, she says, is on bread and water. In this way, we forgo the pleasure of food and drink without depriving our bodies of sustenance. Fr. Stanko Ćosić, a young priest serving in Međugorje, says, “You can only taste the flavor of bread and water in the desert.”
“when Our Lady asked everyone to fast on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays, she included additional things when she said it to me, such as the importance of praying while fasting, and how pleasing it was to God when we made small sacrifices. (125).
3rd Stone: Confession
Our Lady asks us to confess our sins at least once a month, and for Catholics, of course, she means through the Sacrament of Reconciliation with a priest. “My children, only a pure heart, unburdened by sin, can open itself, and only honest eyes can see the way by which I desire to lead you.” (December 2, 2011) “Dear children! In the great love of God, I come to you today to lead you on the way of humility and meekness. The first station on that way, my children, is confession. Reject your arrogance and kneel down before my Son.” (July 2, 2007) “…I desire to help you to be free of the dirtiness of the past and to begin to live anew and differently. I am calling you to resurrect in my Son. Along with confession of sins, renounce everything that has distanced you from my Son and that has made your life empty and unsuccessful.” (May 2, 2011)
Our Lady said that there isn’t a man in the world who doesn’t need to go to confession at least once a month. When I relate this to pilgrims, I always smile and add, “Notice that she didn’t mention women. Our Lady knows that we have enough crosses to bear!” When Jakov hears me say that, he says, “Yes, it’s true that men should go to confession monthly, but women need to go every day!” A heartfelt confession cleanses you from past transgressions, lifts the weight of sin from your shoulders, and allows God to fill you with His peace. “A pearl that falls in mud is still a pearl,” says Fr. Stanko Ćosić, “but you can only see its beauty after you clean it off. So it is with our souls in confession.”
On July 2, 2012, Our Lady said, “I am praying that the light of the love of my Son may illuminate you, so that you may triumph over weaknesses and come out of misery.” If prayer is not already a joy for you, then start slowly. If you force yourself, you are more likely to succumb to weakness, get discouraged, and give up. Faith should be nurtured like a delicate flower and given time to grow. Our Lady taught us by example. The first thing she asked from us was to pray the Apostle’s Creed and seven Our Father prayers, Hail Mary prayers, and Glory Be prayers every day. Later, she asked us to pray one rosary and to fast every Friday. When we finally got used to that, she asked us to add another rosary, and later a third rosary, and to also fast on Wednesdays. I always joke that I hope she will stop at this, but in truth prayer has become a joy for me. By starting slowly and doing everything from the heart, anyone can attain the treasure that Our Lady tries to lead us to. Hers is a gentle call. She never makes demands.
4th Stone: Mass
During the apparitions, sometimes Our Lady tells me things besides the message. I often remember it later when I pray. She once said something which touched me deeply. I had the feeling that it was something of great importance, but I’ve never shared it until now. “I was the first Tabernacle,” she said. “The Holy Body grew within me first.” From the beginning of the apparitions, Our Lady emphasized the importance of Mass. She told us that if we ever found ourselves having to choose between attending Mass or seeing her in the apparition, we should always choose Mass. “May the Mass, the most exalted and most powerful act of your prayer, be the center of your spiritual life.” (August 2, 2008) “…In the Eucharist my Son gives Himself to you anew.” (April 2, 2015) “I am calling you for the Eucharist to be the life of your soul.” (August 2, 2014)
When I receive Communion, I feel that my God and I are one. I feel as if I’ve become his keeper, that He lives in me. When I kneel and pray afterwards, I ask Him to stay with me as long as possible so that I can continue to feel the love and fullness that only He can give.
5th Stone: Reading the Bible
Our Lady asks us to return the Word of God to our homes. Do not let it sit in a dusty corner like a decoration, but put it in a place of honor where it will be seen and touched. “With a simple heart accept His word and live it. If you live His word, you will pray. If you live His word, you will love with a merciful love; you will love each other.” (August 2, 2015) “My children, to live my Son means to live the Gospel.” (December 2, 2014) She did not specify how much of the Bible we should read every day, but a few sentences are better than nothing. The most important thing is to open it regularly.
After my apparitions began, reading the Bible became a new experience. Coming to know someone who was actually mentioned in the Gospels brought the events to life for me. Personally, I preferred to read the New Testament over the Old. I had trouble reconciling the image of God as angry and jealous—as He is sometimes portrayed in the earlier books—with the God of mercy that I had come to know through my apparitions. When I was a little girl, catechism class depicted God as an angry judge. The Blessed Mother taught me differently—that God is our father who loves us very much, and who, through love, is always trying to help us change. In fact, that’s why He sent the Blessed Mother to us. Everything happening in Međugorje is a result of God’s love. 202.
As St. John Paul II famously said, “Be not afraid!” The Bible clearly tells us that God will triumph, so instead of worrying about the future, there’s really only one question we need to ask ourselves: Whose side am I on? (205)
Prodigal Catholic 