Ever wonder why in the messages of Medjugorje from our Lady she almost constantly asks for prayer and fasting. I think that people often get a bit tired of hearing the same message over and over hoping for something new wondering why she keeps repeating the same thing when we know this one already. Just by doing a quick search of her messages for "pray" I came up with 1,337 different messages. It was while reading the Poem of the Man God that I first came across something which started to make me think differently about prayer. It's where Jesus brought the twelve apostles to a place to pray and fast for their formation as apostles. Here is his explanation for doing so.
"I have brought you here to speak to your spirits, to nourish your spirits, to make you spiritual. I shall not speak many words. I have told you so many in approximately one year that I have been with you! Enough of that. If I should have to change you by means of words, I would have to keep you ten years... one hundred years, and you would still be imperfect. It is now time that I make use of you. And to make use of you, I must form you. I will have recourse to the great medicine, to the great weapon: to prayer. I have always prayed for you. But now I want you to pray by yourselves. I will not yet teach you My prayer. But I will tell you how to pray and what prayer is. It is the conversation of sons with the Father, of spirits with the Spirit, an open, warm, trustful, quiet and frank conversation. Prayer is everything: it is confession, knowledge of ourselves, repentance, a promise to ourselves and to God, a request to God, all done at the feet of the Father. And it cannot be done in a turmoil, among distractions, unless one is a giant in prayer. And even giants suffer from the clash with the noise of the world in their time of prayer. You are no giants, but pygmies. You are but infants in your spirits. You are deficient in your spirits. You will reach here the age of spiritual reason. The rest will come later.
The Gospel as Revealed to Me, by Maria Valtorta, pg. 34. (Formally known as the Poem of the Man God.)So a couple of things I've noticed here; even being in the presence of Jesus for a year and hearing him speak and teach it was not enough by itself to effect a dramatic change in the apostles and their prayer mainly consisted of opening themselves up to conversation with God. They did not pray the "Our Father" he does go on to say that they would gather together three times a day "...to pray with the old words of Israel and to break our bread, then each of you will go back to his grotto, in front of God and of his soul..." pg. 35, but mostly their prayer was a form of meditation without route recitation. This started an exploration on the subject and the power of prayer for me which has gone on now for some time. Here is what I've found in the Volumes.
Jesus enlightened Luisa that vocal prayer maintained a correspondence with God but only combined with interior meditation does it draw God to an intimate conversation with the soul.
Since He was still not coming, I kept saying: ‘My good Jesus, do not make me wait so long. This morning I don’t feel like getting upset and looking for You so much, to the point of tiring myself. Come once and for all, quickly quickly – as simple as that.’ And in seeing that He was not coming, I kept saying: ‘It shows that You want me to get tired and even reach the point of getting upset; otherwise You do not come.’
While I was saying this and other nonsense, He came and told me: “Would you be able to tell Me what it is that maintains the correspondence between the soul and God?” And I, but always through a light that came from Him, said: ‘Prayer’. And Jesus, approving of my answer, added: “But what is it that draws God to intimate conversation with the soul?” I did not know what to answer, but immediately the light moved in my intellect, and I said: ‘If vocal prayer serves to maintain the correspondence, certainly interior meditation must serve as nourishment in order to maintain the conversation between God and the soul.’
Vol. 3, September 1, 1900Furthermore it is in the ongoing effort of the soul to remain in continuous prayer that draws the Divinity to intimate conversation with the soul manifesting now one thing and now another to her expanding her knowledge of God.
“What I recommend to you is a spirit of continuous prayer. The continuous effort of the soul to converse with Me, whether with her heart, or with her mind, with her mouth, or even with a simple intention - renders her so beautiful in my sight, that the notes of her heart harmonize with the notes of my Heart. I feel so drawn to converse with this soul, that I manifest to her not only the works ad extra [external] of my Humanity, but I keep manifesting to her something of the works ad intra [interior] which the Divinity did in my Humanity. Not only this, but the beauty that a spirit of continuous prayer makes her acquire is so great, that the devil is as though struck by lightning, and remains frustrated in the snares He lays in order to harm this soul.”
Vol. 4, July 28, 1902 Luisa was also requested by Mary to pray and here she receives a lesson from her on the most effective prayers to move the Heart of Jesus.
I felt the Queen Mama near me, and She told me: “My daughter, pray.” And I: ‘My Mama, let us pray together, for by myself I don’t know how to pray.’ And She added:
“The most powerful prayers over the Heart of my Son, and those which move Him the most, are for the creature to clothe herself with everything He Himself did and suffered, since He gave everything as gift to the creature. Therefore, my daughter, surround your head with the thorns of Jesus, bead your eyes with His tears, impregnate your tongue with His bitterness, clothe your soul with His Blood, adorn yourself with His wounds, pierce your hands and feet with His nails, and like another Christ present yourself before His Divine Majesty. This sight will move Him in such a way that He will not be able to deny anything to the soul who is clothed with His own insignia. But – oh! how little do creatures know how to make use of the gifts which my Son gave them! These were my prayers upon earth, and these are my prayers in Heaven.”
Vol. 11, June 15, 1916 So prayers which renew the sacrifice of our Lord before God are the most effective in moving the Heart of Jesus. But also prayer must be done in an attitude of humility or it will not even be listened to by God.
No prayer is listened to by my ears, and moves my Heart to compassion, if it is not perfumed by the fragrance of humility.
Vol. 3, January 12, 1900
I seemed to see Him in such great suffering as to arouse compassion. Throwing Himself into my arms, He said to me: “My daughter, break the fury of my Justice, otherwise….” At that moment, I seemed to see divine Justice, armed with swords, with darts of fire, such as to strike terror; and also the fortitude with which She can act. All frightened, I said: ‘How can I break your fury if I see You so strong as to be able to annihilate heaven and earth in one simple instant?’ And He: “Yet, a suffering soul and a most humble prayer make Me lose all my strength, and render Me so weak as to let Myself be bound by that soul as she pleases.”
Vol. 4, October 17, 1900Even though Jesus said that prayer "...cannot be done in a turmoil, among distractions, unless one is a giant in prayer..." he also says that there will be times when the distractions and disturbances will be too great to recollect oneself in prayer. But this is where humility comes into play again. Jesus says that one should accept these disturbances confessing that one deserves these pains and then offer them up to God as a sacrifice which will then draw down new graces and charisms and will drive the devil away.
Don’t you know that I am Spirit of Peace, and the first thing I recommend is that you do not disturb the peace of the heart? When in prayer you are not able to recollect yourself, I do not want you to think of this or that – of how it is, or how it is not – because in doing so, you yourself call the distraction. Instead, when you find yourself in that state, the first thing to do is to humble yourself, confessing that you deserve those pains, and placing yourself in the arms of the executioner, like a humble little lamb that licks his hand while he kills it. The same for you: while seeing yourself beaten, disheartened and alone, you will resign yourself to my holy dispositions, you will thank Me with all your heart, you will kiss my hand that strikes you, recognizing yourself unworthy of those pains. Then, you will offer to Me that bitterness, anguish and tedium, praying Me to accept them as a sacrifice of praise, of satisfaction for your sins, and of reparation for the offenses that they give Me. If you do so, your prayer will ascend before my throne as most fragrant incense; it will wound my Heart, and you will draw new graces and new charisms upon you. In seeing you humble and resigned, all plunged into your nothingness, the devil will not have the power to get close. And here is how, where you thought you were losing, you will make great gains.”
Vol. 1 The soul experiences that it cannot do anything without Jesus and that everything it does is all due to him. Jesus, the true spiritual director, teaches the soul what to do in various situations.
Vol. 1 The soul experiences that it cannot do anything without Jesus and that everything it does is all due to him. Jesus, the true spiritual director, teaches the soul what to do in various situations.
And how often have I experienced and I've heard others say that Jesus often seems to like to wait until the last moment. More so Jesus tells Luisa that for all the things that he wants to give to us it is necessary that we "earn" these things through a set number of prayers, acts, pains and sighs. If the set number is not complete he can not give. So although it often seems like the last moment before we are answered it is more so Him waiting for the set number of acts and prayers on our part before He can answer us. Just as it says in the Bible:
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke11: 5-10
So Jesus reaffirms in the Volumes:
“My daughter, continue on – do not want to stop. You must know that everything has been determined by the Supreme Being – prayers, acts, pains, sighs, which the creature must do in order to obtain that which We Ourselves want to give her, and which she longs to receive. So, if these are not performed, the longed for Sun does not rise from Us in the midst of the long night of the human will, to form the day of the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat. This is why many times it happens that many acts and prayers are done, and nothing is obtained; but then, because of another little sigh and prayer, one obtains what he so much longed for. Was it perhaps the last act to obtain the deed of grace? Ah, no! It was the continuation of all the acts and prayers; and if one sees that he obtains through that last act, it is because that one was needed to complete the number established by Us.
Vol. 24, May 20, 1928
Vol. 24, May 20, 1928
Now just as it says above that when one wants to receive they must preform a set number of prayers and acts to obtain that divine gift in the case of a universal good which is to be given to many so too are there a set number of acts and prayers which must be done by a set number of people. These prayers and holy desires dispose people to a holier life, a more spiritual life just as Jesus used "the great medicine, the great weapon" of prayer to transform the apostles. As it was for the Kingdom of the Redemption so is it for the Kingdom of His Divine Fiat.
Now, my daughter, the Kingdom of Redemption and the Kingdom of my Divine Fiat hold hands, and since It is also a universal good, such that, if they want so, all can enter into It, it is necessary that many know the news about It, and that It be conceived in the minds, in the words, in the works and hearts of many, so that, through prayers, desires, and a holier life, they may dispose themselves to receive the Kingdom of my Divine Will into their midst. If the news is not divulged, my manifestations will not act as trumpeters, nor will the knowledges about my Divine Fiat fly from mouth to mouth, forming the conception of It in the minds, prayers, sighs and desires of creatures. My Divine Volition will not make Its triumphant entrance, coming to reign upon earth.
Vol. 25, January 13, 1929And here we have the reason for Mary's incessant call to prayer in the messages of Medjugorje. She needs us to be transformed into a holier life through prayer and fasting in order to bring about the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart. And what greater Triumph is there for Mary than to see the full and complete Reign of the Kingdom of her Son, of the Divine Fiat, the Divine Word living and reigning within each and every creature on earth hence bringing about the full Kingdom upon the earth.
"Dear children, do not be of a hard heart towards the mercy of God, which has been pouring out upon you for so much of your time. In this special time of prayer, permit me to transform your hearts that you may help me to have my Son resurrect in all hearts, and that my heart may triumph. Thank you."
Our Lady's message for April 2, 2007Fiat
