August 19, 2019 A.D.
In Our Lady’s August 2, 2019, message through Mirjana, She said:
“Everything beautiful, painful and joyful that happens to you—all of this makes you grow spiritually…”
Growing spiritually requires all of the experiences of life: joys, beauty and pain.
August 1, 2019 – Pilgrims pray the Stations of the Cross, climbing Cross Mountain in Medjugorje.
In order to grow spiritually, one has to understand how to take every experience of life and make use of them for spiritual growth. Medjugorje visionary Ivanka shares more about how Our Lady walked with them in helping to endure life:
We, people in the world, are aware of the fact that Heaven is open to us every single day, but we simply have to act. When everything goes well in life, we do not know God, but when the cross happens then we say, “God where are you?” He is always with us, but it is just important that we open our hearts. In the first days, Our Lady invited us to prayer on a daily basis, prayer of the Creed and then seven times Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. Then later on She invited us to add one Rosary a day as well. Then one day a week to fast on bread and water on Friday. Later on She invited us to add a second Rosary each day. Then to add the second day of the week to fast. And at the end, the third part of the Rosary as well. Because Our Lady said with prayer and fasting we are capable even to stop the war. And all the problems and difficulties we may face, we will be able to endure easier with prayer and fasting.
– Medjugorje Visionary Ivanka
from Talk given on March 18, 2010
Ivanka tells us that in order to grow spiritually, it requires action on our part. The action required, is opening our hearts to God. Then problems and difficulties, though they may not be understood, will at least be able to be endured, and in joyful things, God will not be forgotten. As a Friend of Medjugorje shared in his own walk of turning away from many things the world offers and giving up his business to follow Our Lady completely, this path was taken, one step at a time. Our Lady did not show him everything at once, but through prayer and fasting, he remained open to Her desires, and ready to take the next step, whether painful or joyful. But, in the end, a Friend of Medjugorje says that the beauty he has experienced by following Our Lady with openness, could not be traded for anything in the world.
Medjugorje.com
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