Fr. Jozo's Reflection on the February Message

Message of February 25, 2006 "Dear children! In this Lenten time of grace, I call you to open your hearts to the gifts that God desires to give you. Do not be closed, but with prayer and renunciation say yes to God and He will give to you in abundance. As in springtime the earth opens to the seed and yields a hundredfold, so also your heavenly Father will give to you in abundance. I am with you and love you, little children, with a tender love. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Dear brothers and sisters, my most valued prayer family,
This word and message is especially for us at this Lenten time. Like the Church, Our Lady calls the Lenten time a time of grace. This is not only because it is Lent, but also because of her presence which is a grace for all of us. The Bible often speaks about a time of grace, as does Jesus in His sermons and teachings, and the Church in its documents, through its proclamation and through the lives of its Saints. This time always inspired Christians to respond more intensely to their Christian vocation. These times, if we look at them on a calendar in the Church year, are Advent, Lent, and prior to Pentecost. These are times of intense prayer, sacrifice, fasting, charity, and works of mercy. They are especially times of a more intense Sacramental life.
Today, on Ash Wednesday, with a sign of ashes on our forehead, we began Lent. To come from dust and to return to dust are Biblical boundaries of every man. Between these two boundaries, man is called to bear fruit. He is called to build his life into the unending and eternal love. Man is the greatest of all creation and the most sinful of all beings. Being created in the image of God, it is he in particular who has a chance and a call to be and to do immortal works. Christ as the God-man by His example showed how we are to pass through this world and time by doing only good. Despite his frailness, man is called to be strong. Despite his sinfulness, he is called to be holy. Despite his passing nature, he is called to be immortal. It is worthwhile to gaze at Jesus and the Church and to decide to do what is good, holy, and merciful. We must open our hearts to these great gifts and graces of God, as the Queen of Peace tells us. These gifts do not just hang in the air. They do not float about as lost or rejected things. Instead, God gives them as gifts to those who are open. God wants to give them to me because without them, I am poor and unhappy. Imagine a person without peace, without joy, without faith, without hope, without love, and without goodness. An image of such a destroyed person is frightening. God does not want man to be such, and Our Lady calls us to open ourselves to the gifts which God, as the merciful Father, desires to give us. To be closed is the greatest misfortune that can happen to man. To lose trust in God and His goodness is the greatest humiliation. The greatest distance from God is not sin but despair, mistrust and a lack of belief in His goodness. The greatest poverty is not ignorance, but to lose the gift of faith and love.
Prayer and renunciation, and fasting and sacrifice are gifts of grace which the old person within us accepts to remove the garment of every curse and misfortune – as the Prodigal son, to receive the new garment of a son of God. How great is Lent when it succeeds to awaken within us the penitential works with love. These works heal and conquer our sinful nature by opening the door of hope and awakening a new life within us. Our Lady uses a most beautiful image from everyday life. She uses a comparison of the earth, the garden, and the seed. It is springtime. During these days we are all in our gardens and on our fields. They need to be opened by being ploughed. Their face needs to be turned over. They must be cleansed from the weeds and nurtured. Finally, then it comes time to sow the seed. One bean seed will bear a plant with dozens of pods of new fruit. One grain of corn will yield a stalk and new ears of corn with so many new grains. In the same way our Heavenly Father will place His gifts and graces in the hearts that are prepared, that are nurtured with prayer and moistened by the Word of God; the hearts that are cultivated by sacrifices and penance. Our Lady speaks about abundance. In this time of malnourished families and toxic values of freedom, entertainment, pleasure, moral crises and ruins, we stand before a challenge. We need to nurture everyone. We need to give and offer to everyone and especially to those who are convinced that on the way of conversion and faith there is no peace, joy, success, or friendship. By our fruit we can feed the hungry. With the clear water of grace we can give to the thirsty to drink.
My dearest, again we are called to fasting, prayer, renunciation, and works of mercy and love. Let us do this with new enthusiasm in this holy time, because there is no other way. Just as the fruit of the earth could not come through various theories and aids, but from the earth and the seed, so the grace comes through the Church that prays, fasts, and lives holiness. Be proud and grateful that once again we are able to see how the Queen of Peace counts on us. Once again we have heard that we are needed by her and important for the renewal and conversion of the world and the Church. This month we will pray for the following intentions:
1. For all the Christian families to renew family prayer, fasting, and the reading of the Sacred Scripture this Lent. For them to actively partake in Lenten devotions and especially the Way of the Cross.
2. For all of the sick, to offer their illnesses to the Lord and to daily give their contribution for the conversion of youth.
3. That this Lenten time of grace may be the springtime of the Church among all nations. We especially pray for all the pilgrims who visited Medjugorje or will come on a pilgrimage to the Queen of Peace in this 25th Jubilee year “ that they may find the necessary grace and especially the grace of conversion.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is so much that I would like to transmit to your hearts in this holy time. I decided to offer my fasting, prayer, and all sacrifices to the Lord for each one of you, and especially for those of you who are sick and helpless and therefore all the more similar to Our Lord. Be enthusiastic, because there is no sacrifice that does not bear fruit. There is no prayer that is not heard. There is no devotion that cannot strengthen us. Be examples to others in everything.
I greet you wholeheartedly and wait for you at our Annual Meeting this year.
Yours sincerely, Fra Jozo Zovko, O.F.M.