From the book “The Visions of the Children” by Janice T. Connell:
JANICE T. CONNELL: How do we choose Jesus or His Mother Mary? Do you know?
MIRJANA DRAGIČEVIĆ-SOLDO: Well, the Blessed Mother says that to choose Jesus, we must be like Him.
JANICE: Otherwise we won’t be able to find Him to choose Him, will we?
MIRJANA: Many people call themselves believers. They speak the right words, they do the right things, but they lead pagan lives. A real Christian is Christified.
JANICE: What does that mean?
MIRJANA: A true Christian is like Jesus.
JANICE: Do you know what Jesus is like?
MIRJANA: Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the light for our life.
JANICE: Has the Blessed Mother taught you that?
MIRJANA: Yes. Each comes into the world with the covenant of God’s love in his heart. Each person hears God in the silence of his heart. Some hear better than others because they listen better.
JANICE: Marija [Pavlović-Lunetti] told me that the Blessed Mother has said that if Catholics lived their faith, the whole world would be Catholic.
MIRJANA: She has said that. Today many people have forgotten. Many people choose things that pass away. Many are unaware of truth, drunk on the pleasures of the world, blinded by the intellect, and crippled by selfishness.
JANICE: What about these people?
MIRJANA: The Blessed Mother says, “God makes all things well for those who trust Him.” That is why the Blessed Mother asks those who say they believe to live the life of Jesus on earth. Jesus shows us the path to paradise. His life is the pattern for believers to follow. If believers live that pattern, they will be faithful followers of the Gospel. Their lives will be examples that there is a God Who loves us and nurtures us and sustains us in all things. The Blessed Mother says it is prayer and our changed lives that free us. She mentions many times that prayer, fasting, choosing a life like Jesus lived, is so powerful that it can not only stop wars, but it can alter the natural laws….
JANICE: Mirjana, what does the Blessed Mother want?
MIRJANA: She is here to call the entire world back to God.
JANICE: What does our Blessed Mother ask?
MIRJANA: She says, “First of all I ask all of you for your help. Pray for yourselves and for others. Fast for yourselves and others. I ask nothing else. Just pray and fast.”
JANICE: She asks nothing else?
MIRJANA: For believers, prayer is our way of life. Those who pray should be living examples of God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s goodness for all those people who do not believe. It is the believer’s joy and peace and fullness that is the proof of God’s existence. Believers must be examples. The Blessed Mother has mentioned many times that all things are possible through prayer, even the avoidance of war.
JANICE: Many people pray a lot but still bad things happen. Do you know why that is?
MIRJANA: God’s Will is the only criterion that has value. Not my opinion. Whenever we pray, we should always say, “Let Your Will be done, not mine, dear God.” The Blessed Mother has shown us her Son, Jesus, during His Passion. He suffered much. Bad things happened to Him. He obeyed our Father’s Will.
JANICE: Do you know what our Father’s Will for Jesus was, Mirjana?
MIRJANA: The same Will that He has for us—to love Him with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
JANICE: How was the Crucifixion God’s Will? Do you know, Mirjana?
MIRJANA: Those who crucified Jesus were children of our Father. They did not know what they were doing. Jesus explained that to us from the Cross. They were blind to God’s presence in their lives. Jesus honored our Father, God the Creator and Sustainer of all people and places and things, by loving His Father’s children even as they crucified Him. He suffered and died in silence and obedience and love for all our Father’s children.
JANICE: Why did He accept such abuse?
MIRJANA: He took all sin upon Himself.
JANICE: Is it God’s Will to accept abuse from our brothers and sisters?
MIRJANA: It is not God’s Will that any of His children abuse one another. That is sin. Whenever abuse occurs, Satan is involved.
JANICE: God’s love is stronger than all the pain and even death, isn’t it, Mirjana?
MIRJANA: God’s love is eternal. He invites us to that same love.
JANICE: So, Mirjana, God is calling all of us to be great lovers?
MIRJANA: God is the great lover. We are the object of God’s love. The Blessed Mother says, “God is love.” And we can block His love. We can refuse it….
JANICE: Why do some people who seem to be doing God’s Will suffer so much? The Blessed Mother suffered terribly as she stood at the foot of the Cross.
MIRJANA: She was filled with God’s love, God’s peace, and God’s strength. There is love and peace in doing God’s Will even in the midst of the worst perceived suffering.
JANICE: How do you know that?
MIRJANA: The Blessed Mother has shared that with me. Every day, I pray for the light to see God’s Will and the strength to obey God’s Will.
JANICE: But do you always know and obey God’s Will?
MIRJANA: No. I am a sinner. When I fall, I know I have not prayed enough and I know I have not obeyed.
JANICE: What happens when you sin?
MIRJANA: I go to confession and I get some strength from the sacrament to help me avoid sin. The Blessed Mother says to pray always for God’s grace. She herself guards us with her angels.
JANICE: Ivanka [Ivanković-Elez] speaks often about the Blessed Mother as the Queen of Angels.
MIRJANA: She always comes with angels, but we must choose her help in order to experience her help.
JANICE: Why is that?
MIRJANA: The Blessed Mother is too humble to impose herself upon us. She only comes where she is invited….
JANICE: Have many people today forgotten about the justice of God?
MIRJANA: Since nothing can live in the sight of God but pure love, God’s justice cleanses. That’s why we have purgatory….
JANICE: Why did the Blessed Mother want to show you purgatory?
MIRJANA: She said so many people who die are quite abandoned by their loved ones. They cannot help themselves in purgatory. They are totally dependent on the prayers and sacrifices of the generous people on earth who remember them. Our Blessed Mother hopes her own children will help the souls in purgatory by prayer and fasting and various penances for the poor souls to make restitution for them.
JANICE: Mirjana, why do people of the earth have to make restitution for people who have died?
MIRJANA: Because those who have died no longer have free will as they had on earth. They no longer have a body. It’s no longer possible for them to make up for the things they did when they had their body that hurt and harmed themselves and others….
JANICE: Mirjana, do you know if suffering is part of God’s plan?
MIRJANA: Disobedience to God’s plan causes suffering.
JANICE: God intends paradise for all His children, doesn’t He?
MIRJANA: That is His Will. For those who love God, all things work together for good, even suffering.
JANICE: Mirjana, that takes great faith. The deeper the suffering, the more faith it takes.
MIRJANA: That’s why the Blessed Mother tells us to pray for strong faith. Our faith must be stronger than death. For those who know God’s love, who trust God’s love, there is only peace.
JANICE: What does it take to experience that peace? Do you know, Mirjana?
MIRJANA: Faith in God’s love, trust in God’s goodness, and love for His Will that is strong enough to obey His Will no matter what happens in a lifetime.
JANICE: Mirjana, how do we know God’s Will?
MIRJANA: The Blessed Mother says we can know God’s Will through faith, sacred Scripture, fervent prayer, sincere obedience to the Commandments, the Church, and lawful authority.
“Dear children! I am looking at you and thanking God for each of you, because He permits me to still be with you, to encourage you to holiness. Little children, peace is disturbed and Satan wants peacelessness. That is why, may your prayer be even stronger so that every unclean spirit of division and war may be stilled. Be builders of peace and carriers of joy of the Risen One in you and around you, for the good to win in every man. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
–Our Lady of Medjugorje, in private revelation given to Marija Pavlović-Lunetti, on May 25, 2022
