Echo of Medjugorje 230

8/12/2019 Echo of Medjugorje 230

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Fr. Angelo Mutti

founder Echo of Medjugorje

Message of 25 November 2013:

Dear Children, Today I call you toprayer. Open wide the door to yourhearts, my children; open them upwide to prayer, to prayer with theheart; and then the Most High will beable to work within your freedom andyour conversion will begin. Your faithwill become strong and you will beable to say with all your heart: MyGod and my everything!. You will

comprehend, my children, that hereon the earth everything passes. Thankyou for responding to my call.

My God and my Everything!

Suspended between Heaven and earth,man carries within himself something ofGod's "DNA"; intangible yet real. Beingthe dominant figure in creation makesman oscillate between the two poles ofpossession and service, often preferringthe first, without finding - perhaps withouttrying to find - a way that brings the twotogether.

But does this way exist? The history ofmankind tells us that it does, even if justa period of time between war and peace.Christian Revelation tells us that it does.God is in us if we really want his presence,and it is this Presence that restores creation."Whatsoever you shall ask the Father inmy name, that will I do: that the Fathermay be glorified in the Son", says the Lord."If you love me, keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he shall giveyou another Paraclete, that he may abidewith you forever. ... He who keeps mycommandments is he who loves me. Hewho loves me will be loved by my Father,and I too shall love him and I will makemyself known to him... (cf. Jn 14:13-23)

"Open wide the door to your hearts,my children; open them up wide to prayer,to prayer with the heart; and then theMost High will be able to work withinyour freedom and your conversion will

begin," says Our Lady. Open them up wideis to surrender our heart over to God inprayer, and allow him to work within ourfreedom without harming our freedom.

"My God and my everything": maythese words accompany us throughout theday! N.Q.

January-February 2014- Edited by: Eco di Maria, Via Cremona, 28 - 46100 Mantova (Italia) - Year 30,no. 1/2

Poste Italiane s.p.a. - Sped. in A. P. - D.L. 353/2003 (conv. in L. 27/02/2004 n 46) art. 1, comma 2, DCB Mantova 230

(Comments to messages by Nuccio Quattrocchi)

Message to Mirjana,2nd November 2013

Pray to know how to love!

Dear Children, I call you again ina motherly way to love; to continuallypray for the gift of love; to love theHeavenly Father above all else. Whenyou love Him, you will love yourselfand your neighbour. These thingscannot be separated. The HeavenlyFather is in each person. He loves eachperson and He calls each person by hisname.

Therefore, my children, through

prayer hearken to the will of theHeavenly Father. Converse withhim. Have a personal relationshipwith the Father, and this will makethe relationship amongst you - youas a community of my children, myapostles - even deeper. As a motherI desire that, through your love forthe Heavenly Father, you might raiseabove earthly vanities and help othersto gradually come to know and toapproach the Heavenly Father. Mychildren: pray, pray, pray for the gift

of love because love is my Son.Pray for your shepherds that they

may always have love for you as mySon had and showed by giving his lifefor your salvation. Thank you.

CHRISTMAS 2013

Message to Mirjana

25 December 2013:

Dear Children, I bring you theKing of Peace that He may give youHis peace. You, my children: pray,pray, pray! The fruit of prayer will beseen on the faces of those who havedecided for God and for His Kingdom.I, with my Son Jesus, bless you all with

the blessing of peace. Thank you forresponding to my call.

The Blessing of Peace!

The Birth of Jesus in the world (Lk2:8-14) is communicated by the angelto the shepherds and the proclamationis underlined by the celestial choir thatsings: "Glory to God in the highest andon earth peace to people of good will."

With the birth of the Saviour, Heaven

and earth are no longer separated, andthe glory of Heaven is united to peaceon earth. Jesus is the King of peace, andMary, through whom he is brought intothe world, brings him to us again. AndJesus, King of peace, gives us his peace."I bring you the King of peace so thathe can give you his peace,"Mary tellsus.

And what ought we do?"My children:pray, pray, pray!" we are urged. Perhapswe are used to praying at times of need,

and we tend to forget this basic elementin our spiritual and material life. Ourblessed Mother reminds us that we mustpray all the time.

Today is Christmas; so let us turnand fix our gaze on Jesus Christ, for inhim alone can we overcome everythingthat oppresses and divides us. Thisisn't estrangement, but it is allowingoneself to be lifted up to Him so we candraw from Him peace and forgivenessfor ourselves and for others. Mary isoffering her Son to us once again; solet us receive Jesus into our heartsand lives, without reserve, withouthesitation, without calculation andwithout fear. And we will receive hisPeace; the peace that he gives, that healone can give. N.Q.


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Evangelii GaudiumThe Joy of the Gospel fills the heart

On the 26th November Pope Francispublished his first Apostolic Exhortation,called Evangelii gaudium. Following is asynthesis.

Te joy o the Gospel fills the heart andlie when you encounter Jesus, says thePope, whose intention is to encourage us to

embark upon a new chapter o evangelizationmarked by this joy.

Let us be permanently in a stateof mission (25) - Pope Francis stronglyappeals to all baptised to bring the loveo Jesus to others; to "recover the originalreshness o the Gospel", which requires "apastoral and missionary conversion", andan awareness that the "ecclesial structures"are not hampering the Church's missionarycall. And he says o himsel that as Pope hemust be: "open to suggestions which canhelp make the exercise o my ministry moreaithul to the meaning which Jesus Christ

wished to give it and to the present needs oevangelization."

Te Eucharist is not a prize for theperfect (47) - A sign o the acceptance oGod is that "Churches everywhere haveopen doors", so that those who seek him arenot met by "the coldness o a closed door",adding that even the gates to "the Sacramentsshould not be closed" or any whatsoeverreason. Tus, the Eucharist is "not a prizeor the perect, but a powerful medicineand nourishment for the weak". Te Popeexpresses his preerence or a Church that is"wounded and dirty because she has beenout on the streets, rather than a Church thatis worried about being the centre..." addingthat we ought to be disturbed by the act thatso many brethren live without the riendshipo Jesus.

God save us from a wordly Church!(97) - "Te Christian ideal will always be asummons to overcome suspicion, habitualmistrust, ear o losing our privacy, all thedeensive attitudes which todays worldimposes on us. (...) God save us rom aworldly Church with superficial spiritual andpastoral trappings! Tis stifling worldliness

can only be healed by breathing inthe pureair o the Holy Spirit who rees us rom sel-centredness..." While warning us against a"sterile pessimism", the Pope urges us to be asign o hope: "Te Son o God, by becomingflesh, summoned us to the revolution oftenderness."

On the need to avoid a spirituality ofwell-being: Genuine orms o religiosity"entail a personal relationship, not withvague spiritual energies or powers, butwith God, with Christ, with Mary, with thesaints," which are devotions that have a ace,capable o ostering relationships and not

just enabling escapism."Whom can we evangelize when our ownbehaviour is wrong? (c. 100) - Te Popeappeals to church communities not to letthemselves become prey o envy and jealousy:How many warstake place within the peopleo God and in our different communities!Whom do we want to evangelize i we behave

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this way? and he urges us to ask the Lord tohelp us understand his law o love. "Howmuch good it does us to love one another,in spite of everything. Yes, in spite oeverything! St. Pauls exhortation is directedto each o us: Do not be overcome by evil,but overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21)...At least let us say to the Lord: 'Lord, I amangry with this person, with that person.I pray to you or him, or her'. o pray fora person with whom I am irritated is abeautiful step forward in love, and an act oevangelization. Let us do it today!"

No to desk-bound theology (133) -Underlying popular piety, as a ruit o theinculturated Gospel, is an active evangelizingpower which we must not underestimate: todo so would be to ail to recognize the worko the Holy Spirit. Instead, we are called topromote and strengthen it in order to deepenthe never-ending process o inculturation.Expressions o popular piety have much toteach us!

When an economy kills - Te Popedenounces the present economic system."Just as the commandment 'Tou shalt notkill' sets a clear limit in order to saeguardthe value o human lie, today we also haveto say thou shalt not to an economy ofexclusion and inequality.Such an economykills (53). oday everything comes underthe laws o competition and the survivalo the fittest, where the powerful feedupon the powerless. As a consequence,masses o people find themselves excludedand marginalized: without work, withoutpossibilities. Human beings are themselvesconsidered consumer goods to be usedand discarded. We have created a throwaway culture which is now spreading; assomething new based on exclusion, wherethose excluded are no longer the exploited orthe outcast, but are the lefovers.

He denounces the "attacks on religiousreedom" and "new situations of persecutiono Christians," which he says is ofen ruit oa "wide-spread relativistic indifference".

Te family "is suffering a deep culturalcrisis", and he confirmed the need or "theindispensable contribution of marriage tosociety" emphasizing that "the individualismo our postmodern and globalized era avoursa liestyle which weakens the developmentand stability o personal relationships anddistorts amily bonds." (65)

On Politics: "Tough ofen denigrated,it remains a lofy vocation and one o thehighest orms o charity, inasmuch as it seeksthe common good. (...) I ask God to give usmore politicians capable o sincere dialoguewho really care about the poor... adding thatany community which does not help the

poor to live with dignity will end up allingin on itsel.

On human life: Te Pope invites usto take care o the most vulnerable: "thehomeless, the addicted, reugees, indigenouspeoples, the elderly (increasingly isolatedand abandoned) and migrants." (210)

On victims of human trafficking: Ionly we could hear Gods cry!: Where is yourbrother? (Gen 4:9), who is enslaved; whomyou are killing each day in clandestine

warehouses, in rings o prostitution, inchildren used or begging, in exploitingundocumented labour? Te inamousnetwork o crime is now well establishedin our cities, and many have blood on theirhands as a result o their comortable andsilent complicity... Doubly poor are thosewomen who endure situations o exclusion,mistreatment and violence" (212).

On the unborn: "Te Church wishesto care with particular love and concernor unborn children, who are the mostdeenceless and innocent among us." Wecannot expect that the Church change its

position on this issue - he pointed out - orit is not progressive to think one can solveproblems by eliminating human lie.

Font: www.vatican.va/

If the heart is like a market place

On 7 Jan. 2014 Pope Franciscomparedman's heart to a market place where one canind everything, inviting us to discern whatgoes on in the heart, so to discern the wayo Christ rom the way o the antichrist.

A fundamental attitude to keep if we

desire remaining in the Lord is to "knowwhats happening in the heart!, with thewarning: Do not to trust every spirit, buttest the spiritsso we can discern whethersomething helps us remain in the Lord ortakes us away rom Him. Our heart - he says- always has desires, cravings, thoughts;but are they rom the Lord or do some othem remove us rom the Lord? hats whywe must testwhat we think and desire:est the spirits to see i they really comerom God, because many alse prophetshave come into the world... Do your desiresand thoughts bring you to the Lord, or lead

you away rom Him! A Christian is onewho knows to keep watch over his heart...What is the criterion to determine if

something comes rom Christ or rom theantichrist? Every spirit that acknowledgesJesus Christ come in the lesh belongsto God, and every spirit that does notacknowledge Jesus does not belong toGod, but is the spirit o the antichrist. orecognize that the Word is come in the leshmeans to acknowledge that Jesus Christ,being God, emptied Himsel, and humbledHimsel even to death on the Cross:

his is the path of Jesus Christ:

abasement, humility, humiliation. I athought or desire takes you along the roado humility and abasement, o service toothers, it is rom Jesus. But i it brings youto the road o suiciency, o vanity, o pride,along the path o an abstract thought, it isnot rom Jesus.

[Radiovaticana.va/]


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In the messageof 2nd January2014, Our blessedMother beginsby calling every-one to becomer e s p o n s i b l e :"Dear Children,

to be my apostlesand to be able tohelp all thosewho are in thedarkness thatthey may cometo know the light of my Son's love, youmust have pure and humble hearts."

he expression, "my apostles"is not newand is relected in many o Our Lady's callswhen she asks us to be her "witnesses", to be"bearers o peace", her "hands stretched outto this world", however in the last two yearsthe speciic word "apostle" has been usedwith surprising requency and especiallyin the messages on the 2nd o March, June,October and November o 2012, and 8 timesso ar since 2013 and the start o 2014.

his means that there is something witha priority status in the use o this word. Itis a desire o our Blessed Mother that weare being asked to make our own. As apart o this "great plan of God unfoldingin Medjugorje" (25.06.2007) there areparticular concepts that Our Lady repeats atparticular moments that are important andnecessary or us to perceive and receive.

he word "apostle" means "sent",and the Gospel makes it clear where theprerogative lies. Jesus "summoned thosewhom he wanted and they came to him.He appointed twelve (whom he namedapostles) that they might be with himand he might send them forth to preach"(Mk 3:13-14). So beore being sent orth topreach, the Apostles were irst summonedto stay with Jesus.

In his book, "Jesus o Nazareth",Benedict XVIpoints out that this "stayingwith the Lord" is undamental or thesuccessive mission o the apostles becausethey must learn and know the Lord not onlyrom the outside as others might see Him,but so they can become witnesses o hismystery and be in communion with Him.

"Staying with" Jesus is necessary becausethe "twelve have to learn to stay with Himin a way that allows them to be with Himeven i they go to the ends o the world."

We thereore see how the word"apostle" implies, first of all, being calledby God- since no one can appoint himselapostle - and that secondly, it is impliedthat an apostle would "stay with God"who has made the call, so we can be sentorth to proclaim and to witness somethingthat comes rom God. he Church makesit very clear also when she says in theCatechism: "Christ, sent by the Father, is thesource of the Church's whole apostolate; thusthe fruitfulness of apostolate for ordainedministers as well as for lay people clearlydepends on their vital union with Christ"(CCC 863-864).

So under this light we see how OurLady - when speaking to her "apostles"- is addressing those who have acceptedand replied to her call; which impliesthose who have "stayed" with her. he last

13 messages in which she uses the word"apostle", between March 2012 and January2014, we see particular elements whichidentify the apostle. First o all, there is theawareness of being chosen, o having beencalled: "[God] chose me, and I, togetherwith Him, choose you so that you mightbe apostles o his love and o his will. Mychildren, great is the responsibility uponyou" (2 June 2012). "My children, I gatheryou as my apostles and I teach you how tolet others know o my Son's love; how tobring to them the Good News; to my Son"(2 Oct. 2013).

hus, the call is to "stay" or "be with",and there are inner conditions to this"being with" Our Lady and with our LordJesus. Our Lady herself has dictated theseconditions, or virtues, o the apostles towhom she entrusts tasks. "I need apostleswith pure hearts" (2 Oct. 2012). "Be humbleand kind to everyone"(2 April 2013).

It is "through reconciliation with theHeavenly Father, and through asting andprayer, that there can arise apostles o God'slove; apostles who will reely and lovinglyspread God's love to all my children;

apostles who will spread a trusting lovein the Heavenly Father and who will openthe gates o Heaven" (2 July 2013). "I needapostles who are humble, and who with anopen heart can accept the word o God and

MY APOSTLES help others, so that with the word oGod they may comprehend the meaning otheir lie. o be able to do this, my children,you must - through prayer and asting -listen with the heart and learn to subjectyourselves" (2 Sept. 2013). "To be myapostles, you must have pure and humblehearts"(2 Jan. 2014).

Union with the Lord Jesus is aundamental condition or every type oapostle, and as Our Lady teaches, this

requires humility, a pure heart, prayerand fasting.

In particular, an authentic prayer lifeis essential for an "apostle". "hroughprayer hearken to the will o the HeavenlyFather. Converse with him. Have a personalrelationship with the Father, and this willmake the relationship amongst you - you asa community o my children, my apostles- even deeper. As a mother I desire that,through the love or the Heavenly Father,you might raise above earthly vanities andhelp others to gradually come to know and

to approach the Heavenly Father" (2 Nov.2013)So before being a "missionary" able to

help others to "know the Father", we mustpray with the heart to learn to hear andheed the Father's will, in an authentic andproound relationship with God.

he Dogmatic Consitution, LumenGentium, tells us that Christ called thewelve, reuniting them, and orming them"ater the manner o a college or a stablegroup, over which He placed Peter, whowas chosen rom among them" (no. 19).hestrength to testify and to proclaim the

salvation comes from this unity amongstthe apostles:"I in them and you in me, thatthey may be brought to perection as one,that the world may know that you sent me"(Jn 17:23).

For this reason, Mary's call to be"her apostles" cannot be separated fromanother of her great desires - which sheexpressed in the message o the 2nd January2014: "It is this that my motherly heart

yearns after: that through my Son all myChildren might be united as one."

Marco Vignati, Comunit Casa di Maria, Roma

"For LOVE is not really about fittingin and being friendly and getting along; itis willing the good of the other as other. Itis truly wanting what is best for another

person and then concretely doing somethingabout it. And this means that real love canbe as tough as nails or as disagreeable asa slap in the face, indeed, in Dostoevsky's

phrase, something "harsh and dreadful."Compelling an addict to get help, orquestioning a dysfunctional style of life,or calling someone to real conversion allinvolve the willing of the good of the other- and none will cause people to characterize

you as a nice guy. This is why, by the way, theGod who is love is not a kindly Santa Clauswho magically makes troubles disappear."

Excerpted from an article by Fr. RobertBarron

Annual apparition to Jakov Colo on Christmas day, 25 December 2013:

"My children, today in a special way, Jesus desires dwelling in each of your hearts and sharing withyou your every joy and every pain. Therefore, my children, today in a special way, look into your

hearts and ask yourselves if your hearts were flooded with peace and joy for the birth of Jesus. Mychildren, do not live in the darkness; aspire towards the light and towards Gods salvation.

Children, decide for Jesus and give Him your life and your hearts, for it is only this way that theMost High can work in you and through you."


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Mantua, January 2014

Resp. Ing. Lanzani - Tip. DIPRO (Roncade TV)

Echo fully relies on Readersdonations.

Our prayers and heartfelt thanks toall who are instruments of

providence for Echo, enabling us tocontinue to help our blessed Mother

reach out to her children.

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Message to Mirjana 2nd Dec. 2013

Dear Children, With a motherlylove and a motherly patience I look atyour ceaseless wandering and how youare lost. That is why I am with you. Idesire helping you to first find and cometo know yourselves, so that then you areable to understand and acknowledgeall that does not permit you to knowthe Heavenly Father's love honestly and

wholeheartedly. My children, the Fatheris known through the cross. Therefore, donot reject the cross. With my help striveto comprehend and accept it. When youare able to accept the cross you will alsounderstand the love of the HeavenlyFather; you will walk with my Son andwith me; you will stand out from thosewho have not come to know the HeavenlyFather's love; from those who listen toHim but do not understand Him; fromthose who do not walk with Him, whohave not come to know Him. I desire foryou to know the truth of my Son and tobe my apostles; so that, as children ofGod, you may rise above the human wayof thinking and always and in everythingseek anew God's way of thinking.

My children, pray and fast that youare able to recognize all of this which Iask of you. Pray for your shepherds andlong to come to know the love of yourHeavenly Father, in union with them.Thank you.

Diagnosis and Cure: Mary typicallypoints things out to us with the love and

care o a mother. And today we are beingshown how terribly serious we do ail.We wander around aimlessly, but alwaystowards the abyss, even without realisingit. he glitter o the city lights, the imageso well-being and o wealth that reach usthrough our television screens, are like adrug or us all. Fiction seduces the youngand the old; creating voids within, even tothe point o stealing the soul!

If this is the diagnosis, what is thecure? he cure is long and diicult, evenimpossible without God's help. his is whyMary has been with us or so long. "his

is the time o ulillment. he kingdom oGod is at hand. Repent, and believe in thegospel" (Mk 1:15), says Jesus at the outseto his mission. But today, ater nearly twothousand years, does this still make sense?Peter responds: "Do not ignore this one

fact, beloved, that with the Lord one dayis like a thousand years and a thousand

years like one day," immediately adding:"The Lord does not delay his promise ... buthe is patient with you, not wishing that anyshould perish but that all should come torepentance"(2Pt 3:8-9).

With motherly love and patience, stilltoday Mary urges us to be aware o ourdignity as God's children. I we ollow thesuggestions she gives us, they are able tochange the quality o our lives; and mighteven shorten the time o expectation o theLord's return to the world. Come, Lord

Jesus! Marna tha! N.Q.

MARY IS WITH US

Said Pope Francis: "In our personalhistory too, there are both bright anddark moments, lights and shadows. Ifwe love God and our neighbours, we walkin the light; but if our heart is closed, ifwe are dominated by pride, deceit, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us and

around us." Hesaidthis in his homily tothe faithful at the Midnight Mass in theBasilica of St. Peter's (Christmas 2013).

[Liturgically speaking] we have nowentered the Ordinary Time. Also in thisOrdinary Time of the Church's liturgy,there are times of light and of darkness,of trial and of consolation, of sufferingand of joy. Mary, with her motherlylove, comes to us daily and untiringly, toencourage us, sustain us and to teach usto pray. With her we can make it throughthe difficulties of these times and any that

are to come.With Jesus and Mary, I bless you!

THE POWER OF THESACRAMENTS!

Just as life is transmitted fromone generation to the next, so too,from generation to generation is gracetransmitted through BAPTISM; and withthis grace Christians are like a river thatirrigates the earth and spreads to theworld the blessing of God.

From the time when the disciples

went out to baptise there is a chain in thetransmission of the faith through Baptism.Each of us is a link in that chain... in thatriver that irrigates. Such is the grace ofGod, and such is our faith which we musttransmit to our children so that they, oncegrown up, can transmit it to their children.Baptism makes us missionary disciples.Baptism gives us the Grace to help ustransmit the faith.

On the subject of the importance ofBaptismfor the People of God, the historyof the Christian community in JAPANisexemplary.

It suffered severe persecution at thestart of the 17th century. There were manymartyrs, members of the clergy wereexpelled and thousands of faithful killed.No priests was left in Japan, they were allexpelled. Then the community retreatedinto hiding, keeping the faith and prayerin seclusion. And when a child was born,the father or mother baptized him or her,because the faithful can baptize in certaincircumstances.

When, after roughly two and a halfcenturies, 250 years later, missionariesreturned to Japan, thousands of Christians

stepped out into the open and the Churchwas able to flourish again. They survivedby the grace of Baptism! This is profound:the People of God transmits the faith,baptizes her children and goes forward.

And they maintained, even in secret,a strong communal spirit, because theirBaptism had made of them one single bodyin Christ: they were isolated and hidden,but they were always members of thePeople of God, members of the Church.Let us learn a great deal from this history!

Pope Francisat the General Audience,Wed. 15 January 2014[www.vatican.va]

Virtues are formed by prayer.

Prayer preserves temperance.Prayer suppresses anger. Prayerprevents emotions of pride andenvy. Prayer draws into the soulthe Holy Spirit, and raises manto Heaven. (St. Ephraem of Syria)

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Echo of Medjugorje 230