(Medjugorje photo taken Saturday September 24, 2011, 6:35 PM) - Little homemade crosses on Cross Mountain, left as a remembrance of one’s prayers. These represent every heart. Everyone has their own cross to carry.
1. Begin a 54-day Rosary Novena. The intention for your novena would be for Our Lady’s intentions for whatever your concern would be. If the problem is marriage, then your intention would be for Our Lady’s intentions for your marriage, etc. A Friend of Medjugorje tells us that this time is in Our Lady’s hands. Her intentions are the greatest intentions we can pray for. Whatever we would need, is covered by praying for Her intentions. Our Lady knows best what we need. A Friend of Medjugorje saw this very clearly, when Our Lady gave a message on he and his wife’s wedding anniversary, January 18, 1989. He had prayed in his heart for Our Lady to speak to him about their marriage. Our Lady said through Marija:
“Pray for my intentions.”
This made it very clear in his heart that Our Lady’s intentions were the most important intention. You might want to pray for a certain thing, yet, Our Lady may know that something else is needed instead. The 54-day Rosary Novena is a free download here, or you can order it online here.
2. Begin a fast. A Friend of Medjugorje began to pray 9-day bread and water fasts many years ago. He saw that when a situation was not being moved, this act of mortification would begin to move things. A Friend of Medjugorje tells us that many people have made their own life difficult. Our Lady has to untangle many things. Prayer and fasting will begin to move these things. See here for more about the 9-day bread and water fast.
3. Pick a message of Our Lady every day. In the early years, a Friend of Medjugorje began to read in Our Lady’s messages, that She was telling us, She wanted to guide us. Her words were the means to do so. A Friend of Medjugorje began to pick a message of Our Lady, randomly every day. He began to see that Our Lady would speak to whatever was going on in his life. Further, he saw that sometimes Our Lady would give him a daily message that he did not understand, yet, before the day was finished, something would happen that would make him see why Our Lady gave him those words. This is a practice which the Caritas Community picked up from him and does, every day. A Friend of Medjugorje gives a word of warning: Whatever Our Lady tells you, do. She cannot speak to you if you do not listen to what She has to say. If Our Lady says to pray for a certain thing, then do that. Her words will be your daily spiritual direction during the days of your novena. If you have a copy of a Friend of Medjugorje’s book, Words from Heaven you can do this, or you can use the Random Message feature on the site, free.
4. Let God do His work. Let Our Lady move. Our Lady once said on April 17, 1986:
“Pray. Fast. Let God act!”
A Friend of Medjugorje has said that he has seen many situations get ruined because people want to “help” God. Stay out of His way. Again, using the example of a marriage, if one spouse starts to move in the right direction, do not ruin it by preaching to them. In his experience, a Friend of Medjugorje tells us that each person, a spouse, a child, a boss, or even a financial situation, has to move itself, as God does His work. One only has to get out of God’s way. Going back to what was stated above, many have created their own problems. Now is not the time to create more. The problem may not be your spouse or child. The problem may be you.
5. Add acts of charity, sacrifices and prayers. Go to Mass or adoration when your life’s committments allow you. A Friend of Medjugorje often gives the example of the man who hates taking out the garbage every day. Then after conversion, he starts to do it joyfully. The family then seeing this, wants to know what happened to him to make him this way. It is an opportunity to witness with one’s life. Adding acts of charity will do this, making not only a family member convert, but also ourselves.
6. Pray the Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary every day. A Friend of Medjugorje says that if we want God to help us, we need to belong to Him. These prayers were given by Our Lady in Medjugorje, to Jelena, the inner locutionist. There were several versions of this prayer available. After a number of years, in 2001, a Friend of Medjugorje went to Jelena and asked her to re-translate the prayers from Croatian to English, so we would have a more accurate version. These prayers should be prayed every day. You can download the Consecration Prayers to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary here.
The above formula is a normal response we would give for anyone, in any kind of situation. This has not been read in a book. This is what a Friend of Medjugorje has had to live through, through trial and error, making mistakes, correcting his own heart, and God giving a formula for what works. There is power to this because it has been lived. We also add below, the important spiritual reading that is necessary for personal conversion. Delve into these free downloads below. They will teach you more that what can be said here, in words.
