The following about Our Lady’s call to prayer is taken from the book, Words From Heaven, by a Friend of Medjugorje.

Medjugorje: First a Call to Prayer

Prayer, as you may know, is the most frequent message of Our Lady in Medjugorje. It is rare not to have the word “prayer” in a message. Prayer is so important. It is one of the four basic messages of Medjugorje. But this world doesn’t know that. Our Lady says:

October 2, 1986

“…You, dear children, are not able to understand how great the value of prayer is as long as you yourselves do not say: ‘now is the time for prayer, now nothing else is important to me, now not one person is important to me but God.’  Dear children, consecrate yourselves to prayer with a special love so that God will be able to render graces back to you…”

October 25, 1989 – and so many other times!

“…dear children, pray, pray, pray…”

Medjugorje is: Pray! Pray! Pray! Prayer must be a daily offering to God:

May 30, 1985

“…Let prayer, dear children, be your everyday food…”

Prayer is a powerful weapon:

July 21, 1982

“…Through fasting and prayer, one can stop wars one can suspend the laws of nature…”

March 28, 1985

“…In prayer you shall find . . . the way out of every situation that has no exit…”

Over and over Our Lady asks us to pray. She asks us to understand the value and nature of prayer. Prayer is the first step in our spiritual life and everything else depends upon that. Prayer has to become a way of life. We have to discover prayer. We have to be persistent in our prayers:

January 14, 1985

“…Be patient and persevere in prayer. Do not permit satan to take away your courage. He works very hard in the world. Be on your guard.”

Yes! Prayer is a fight against the powers of darkness, against satan:

August 8, 1985

“…advance against satan by means of prayer…put on the armor for battle and with the Rosary in your hand, defeat him!…”

The “armor for battle” is the strength of our prayers. Our Lady asked the prayer groups in Medjugorje to pray at least three hours a day. Why so many prayers?

September 13, 1984

“…You wonder why all these prayers? Look around you, dear children, and you will see how greatly sin has dominated the world. Pray, therefore, that Jesus conquers…”

What are the prayers we should pray? Our Lady asks for the four mysteries of the Rosary to be prayed every day, prayers to the Holy Spirit, prayers of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to Her Immaculate Heart, and, of course, the highest form of prayer, the Holy Mass. Prayer can change the very structures of our mentality. A real profound prayer life is a life of constant transformation. This is the key to everything Our Lady does in Medjugorje. The quality of prayer is important. We have to see prayer like a real encounter with the Living God. We should pray with a living faith. Prayer should be a joy:

June 12, 1986

“…today I call you to begin to pray the Rosary with a living faith. That way I will be able to help you. You, dear children, wish to obtain graces, but you are not praying. I am not able to help you because you do not want to get started. Dear children, I am calling you to pray the Rosary and that your Rosary be an obligation which you shall fulfill with joy. That way you shall understand the reason I am with you this long. I desire to teach you to pray…”

The apparitions of Medjugorje, the meaning of Our Lady’s presence: to teach us prayer. First, Medjugorje is a “school of prayer,” then a “school of holiness.” In this “school” Our Lady instructs us to “pray with the heart.” (August 11, 1984, and so many other times):

May 29, 1986

“…Without love, dear children, you can do nothing…”

Love is the “motor” of everything. Without love we are not really alive. Therefore, we cannot pray without love. The heart is the symbol of love. Pray with the heart means: put love in the first place when you pray. To pray with the heart must be a decision: I decide to set aside everything, to concentrate, and to persevere in a pure prayer. I decide to abandon myself to God. This is what we call prayer with the heart. Prayer must be something alive and active to be a joy. Praying with the heart also means “praying with joy.” There is no real spiritual life without joy:

March 20, 1986

“…Today I call you to approach prayer actively… Prayer will be your joy. If you make a start, it won’t be boring to you because you will be praying out of joy…”

But, the thing is we have to start, to decide for ourselves to pray. Then God will lead us. Just get started. Put prayer in your life:

August 25, 1995

“…Let prayer be life for you…”

This means let prayer be the activity which will bring real life in your lives, which will make you alive, really alive with the life of God Himself.

(End of excerpt from Words From Heaven ^®, by A Friend of Medjugorje.)

The Medjugorje visionaries have spoken much about prayer throughout the course of the apparitions. A small selection of quotes from the visionaries about prayer follows below.

Marija:

“We need to make the commitment to faithfully give time to God every day as a gift on our part. God so honors us, His children, that when we sincerely give time to Him as our gift to Him, He blesses the time and the intention, and He manifests Himself to us more and more. Little by little, in this way, by an act of the will, each of us can come close to God by prayer with the heart. All prayer of the heart begins with a serious act of the will by us. Then God takes over.”¹

“The Blessed Mother has said that every prayer said with the heart is acceptable and pleasing to God.”²

“The Blessed Mother has said that our work can become prayer…She says that if we offer our work with joy to the Eternal Father, then the work becomes a prayer. Prayer is communication. If we are joyfully giving our work, and God is receiving it – this is a form of communication. And since communication is prayer, then any work joyfully given is prayer…We can always offer our work. If it is something that gives us suffering or something that is difficult, we can offer our work as a sacrifice to God. So, instead of concentrating on whether it pleases us or not, we want to work as a gift. We want to do it better, because it is a gift that we are offering to God. And so, this sacrifice becomes our prayers and can help us to grow in holiness.”³

“Our Lady recommends that all people on earth pray the Rosary, no matter what their religion or what their belief.”⁴

When asked how should we pray, Marija answered:

“The form is not important, as long as you pray with the heart. At the beginning I did not always feel like praying, but you make up your own prayers and you warm up, like a child learning to walk.”⁵

Marija also said:

“… Our Lady insists very much on prayer. Many Christians, priests included, do many wonderful things for God but often forget the essential thing: prayer. Prayer, is for each of us, the prime spiritual nourishment so that our lives may be full of joy…from the beginning She has invited us to create Paradise on earth and especially in our families. Many people decide to pray, but make a ‘chaos’ of their lives. Our Lady desires from us life full of peace and love.”⁶ 

Vicka was asked if there were any special prayers Our Lady asks us to pray:

“The Blessed Mother pleads with us to renew the family Rosary. When the parents are praying for the children, and the children are praying for the parents, when they are gathered in love with the Rosary in their hands, the Blessed Mother says we can see why the Rosary is the chain that binds generations to eternal life. When families pray the Rosary, satan is helpless.”⁷

Ivan:

“If there is no peace in one member of the family, it reflects throughout the entire family. satan does not sleep. Prayer must become our weapon. Every prayer can chase satan away.”⁸

“May this prayer become our own rest, our own strength. May our prayer become our spiritual nourishment. May our prayer become our joy. God and Our Lady will like every prayer of ours as long as this prayer comes out of our hearts. Prayer is like a school, but it is a school that we have to attend and study every day. There are no ‘weekends’ in this particular school. Every day we must attend this school and also, in a special way, Our Lady wants us to bring the prayer back into our families. May every family of ours become a prayer group because renewal of family prayer is spiritual healing for our families and spiritual healing for the whole world. That is the only path that promises us benefits. That is the only path that promises us and the modern world a hope.”⁹

1. The Visions of the Children, Janice Connell, St. Martin’s Press,1992, pp. 136-137.
2. Queen of the Cosmos, Janice Connell, Paraclete Press, 1990, p.112
3. Ibid, pp, 117-118.
4. Ibid, p, 122
5. Words of the Harvesters Volume #21, August 1996.
6. Words of the Harvesters Volume #23, October 1996.
7. The Visions of the Children, Janice Connell, St. Martin’s Press, 1992, p. 107.
8. The Visions of the Children, Janice Connell, St. Martin’s Press, 1992, p. 141.
9. “Words of the Harvesters” Volume #32, September 1997.

The other three Basic Messages of Our Lady are explained in greater detail below: