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Reflection on the Message of March 25, 2007 FASTING AND RENUNCIATION WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER IN FAITH "Dear children! I desire to thank you from my heart for your Lenten renunciations. I desire to inspire you to continue to live fasting with an open heart. By fasting and renunciation, little children, you will be stronger in faith. In God you will find true peace through daily prayer. I am with you and I am not tired. I desire to take you all with me to Heaven, therefore, decide daily for holiness. Thank you for having responded to my call." Message of March 25, 2007 As a mother, Mary, the Queen of Peace, thanks us for our Lenten renunciations. Mother Mary thanks us because she loves us. Only a heart filled with love can be a grateful heart. We should be thanking her for her encouragement, her call and love, her interceding with her son Jesus for us. She calls us because it is her desire that we continue to live fasting. She speaks to us about it and calls us to fast and make renunciations for ourselves and because of us, for our happiness and joy. "By fasting and renunciation, little children you will be stronger in faith", – Heavenly Mother says to us. Fasting and renunciation are necessary in order for us to earn God's mercy. Our renunciation is like a bowl into which God pours His mercy. Blessed Mother Teresa said: "We need to be emptied before God can fill us". Fasting and renunciation are our part of the job in faith. Saint Augustine teaches us: "God created us without our aid; but he did not choose to save us without our aid." In Lent we should practise self-renunciation and do penance as if our salvation depends solely on us, but pray as if our salvation and everything else depends solely on God. Praying without self-renunciation is just like stopping halfway. It is as if you were rowing in a boat tied to the shore. We shall never move until the boat is untied. We cannot empty our body of sins nor eliminate sins from the world we live in. But we can die to sin and then He no longer has authority over us. Renunciation is dying to sin. When Our Lady speaks to us about renunciation, she does not have in mind the mere physical penance and renunciation, but the spiritual side of it. The mere physical penance and fasting are not enough. They may lead us to arrogance, pharisaism and formalism. They may make us want to display our strength, not to subdue our will to God's will. Therefore in one of her messages Our Lady says to us: "Little children, fasting has become a custom which no one wants to stop. Fast with the heart." Fasting and love are indivisible. One cannot fast without love, nor can one love without fasting in its broadest sense. Prayer is also our answer to God's love. That is why fasting and prayer are inseparable. Fasting without prayer is a mere slimming diet. By fasting without prayer we in fact just revolve around ourselves. Fasting turns all our spiritual forces and powers of the heart, all of our inner being towards God. Our Lent should not finish with Easter. Setting our mind on fasting and living it means to struggle for freedom. It will not mean much if we renounce some of our bad habits only during the time of Lent, whereas we continue pursuing them afterwards. If this is the case, our renunciation can become self-deceit. One may indulge in arrogance and self-sufficiency and say to oneself: "I am strong, I can do that. " Lent then becomes just another break of this habit, while there has been no change in the man himself. Fasting and renunciation is not proving your strength, but subduing your will to God's will. The best and the most fruitful renunciation is denying one's own self. Even Jesus will say: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself." The Virgin Mary comes and speaks to us not to steal something from us or to deprive us of our joys of life. She comes because she wants us to be happy, normal and free in God. Let us thank Mary from the bottom of our hearts because she has not become weary with us. Let us not become tired of everyday responding to the call of our Heavenly Mother. Ljubo Kurtovic
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Razmiljanje uz zadnju Poruka, 25. ožujka 2007 POSTOM I ODRICANJEM BIT CETE JACI U VJERI "Draga djeco! Želim vam zahvaliti od srca na vašim korizmenim odricanjima. Želim vas potaknuti da otvorena srca i nadalje živite post. Postom i odricanjem, djecice, bit cete jaci u vjeri. U Bogu cete naci pravi mir, preko svakodnevne molitve. Ja sam s vama i nisam umorna. Želim vas sve povesti sa mnom u raj, zato se svakodnevno odlucite za svetost. Hvala vam što ste se odazvali mome pozivu." Poruka, 25. ožujk 2007. Marija, Kraljica Mira kao majka zahvaljuje nam na korizmenim odricanjima. Majka Marija nam zahvaljuje jer ljubi. Samo srce ispunjeno ljubavlju jest zahvalno srce. Mi bi trebali zahvaliti njoj što nas potice, poziva, ljubi i zagovara za nas kod svoga Sina Isusa. Ona nas poziva sa željom da nastavimo odricanje i živimo post. Govori nam i poziva nas na post i odricanje za nas i zbog nas, za našu srecu i radost. "Postom i odricanjem, djecice, bit cete jaci u vjeri." – govori nam nebeska Majka. Post i odricanje su nužni uvjeti kako bismo zadobili Božju milost. Naše odricanje je poput posude u koju Bog sipa svoju milost. Blažena Majka Terezija kaže: „Potrebno se isprazniti da bi nas Bog mogao ispuniti.“ Post i odricanje su naš dio posla u vjeri. Bog nas je stvorio bez nas ali nas bez nas nece spasiti – rece sveti Augustin. U korizmi bismo se trebali odricati i ciniti pokoru kao da spas samo o nama ovisi i opet tako moliti kao da naš spas i sve drugo ovisi samo o Bogu. Moliti a ne odricati se isto je što i stati na pola puta. To je isto kao da veslate u jednoj ladi privezanoj za obalu. Necemo se pomaknuti nikada dok ne odvežemo ladu. Mi ne možemo izbaciti grijeh iz svoga tijela i iz svijeta u kojem živimo. Ali mi možemo umrijeti i umirati grijehu i tada on nema više nikakve vlasti nad nama. Odricanje je umiranje grijehu. Kad nam Gospa govori o odricanju onda ne misli samo na tjelesnu pokoru i odricanje nego i na duhovnu pokoru i odricanje. Samo tjelesna pokora i post nisu dovoljni i mogu nas odvesti u oholost, farizejizam i formalizam. Može nas odvesti u dokazivanje svoje snage a ne u podlaganje svoje volje Božjoj volji. Zato nam u jednoj od svojih poruka Gospa kaže: „Draga djeco, post vam je postao obicaj koji nitko ne želi prekinuti. Postite srcem.“ Post i ljubav su neodvojivi. Ne može se postiti bez ljubavi, niti se može ljubiti bez posta, shvacenog u najširem smislu. Molitva je takoder naš odgovor na Božju ljubav. Zato je post neodvojiv od molitve. Post bez molitve je obicna dijeta za mršavljenje. Post bez molitve je zapravo jedno kruženje oko samih sebe. Post okrece sve naše duhovne sile i snage srca, svu našu nutrinu prema Bogu. Naša korizma ne bi trebala završiti s Uskrsom. Odluciti se i živjeti post znaci boriti se za slobodu. Nece imati puno smisla ako se odricemo samo u vrijeme korizme nekih poroka, a nakon korizme ih nastavimo. Tada naše odricanje može postati samozavaravanje. Covjek se može naci u oholosti i samodopadnosti i reci sebi: „Ja sam jak, ja to mogu.“ Tada korizma postane samo jedna pauza u toj ovisnosti, a u covjeku se ništa nije promijenilo. Post i odricanje nije dokazivanje svoje snage nego podvrgavanje svoje volje Božjoj volji. Najplodonosnije i najbolje odricanje jest odricanje od samoga sebe. I Isus ce nam reci: „Hoce li tko za mnom, neka se odrekne samoga sebe“ (Mk 8, 34). Djevica Marija nam dolazi i govori ne zato da nam nešto ukrade i liši nas životnih radosti nego želi da budemo sretni, normalni i slobodni u Bogu. Zahvalimo Mariji od srca jer se nije umorila s nama. Nemojmo se ni mi umoriti svakodnevno odgovoriti na poziv nebeske Majke Marije. Fra Ljubo Kurtovic