Our Lady appeared in Medjugorje with the same message and call that we hear today, “Dear children, pray with me for peace.” And after more than 41 years, Her message is still relevant today. Peace is at risk in hearts and nations. War, hatred and the killing of people are signs that the evil spiritual force, Satan, is at work. Only by spiritual means can we fight evil and wickedness. Only prayer, fasting, repentance, sacrifice, and crying out to God are effective against evil. This is what Our Lady keeps calling us to do, and God’s Word confirms it to us, that prayer, fasting and repentance can stop war, hatred and disasters.

   War and hatred cannot be stopped by weapons alone. If someone has stronger weapons and defeats the enemy, that is only a material and not a real victory. Because hatred will remain in the enemy and sooner or later will reignite, so peace will never be achieved. Because the peace that Jesus Christ promised is the peace that comes from a transformed heart, from a converted enemy, an enemy who has been transformed into a friend. Only God can change the heart. God needs our prayers, He needs our hearts transformed by prayer, fasting and repentance so that He can pour the power and grace of conversion through these hearts.

   God needs you so that He can save others. God needs your prayer, your heart, so that He can come into this world and touch others.

   We may seem powerless before the power and abundance of hatred, evil and wars going on in the world and around us. Let us not be discouraged. God needed one human heart, the heart of Mary of Nazareth, to say yes to him so that he could come to us and bring us his salvation.

   I read a story about Mother Teresa in the book titled Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A personal portrait that written by her close friend Fr. Leo Maasburg.

A journalist once tried to provoke her saying, “Mother, you are 70 years old! When you die, the world will go back to what it was before. What is it that has changed after all this hard work? Mother Teresa, you should take a rest! It’s not worth putting in all this effort’.”

Without any sign of impatience, she smiled and replied: “You see, I never thought I could change the world! I simply tried to be a drop of clean water that could reflect God’s love. Don’t you think that’s something?’

The journalist was speechless and the Mother was surrounded by silence. Mother Teresa then turned to the journalist and added: ‘Try to be a drop of clean water yourself, then there will be two of us. Are you married?’ ‘Yes, Mother’ ‘Tell your wife too, so that then there will be three of us. Do you have children?’ ‘I have three children, Mother.’ ‘Then tell your children too and there will be six of us.’

   Let us not be discouraged. Let us listen to our heavenly Mother Mary, who sees best the spiritual condition of our world. She also sees all the hearts that are open to Her invitations, and therefore She says to us, “You are my hope.”

   Let us be that little drop of water in the ocean, as Mother Teresa says, because without that drop the ocean would be poorer if you did not contribute to it.

Let u spray: Our Lady, you see best our spiritual condition, our hearts and this world which is lost without God. You come to us from the glory of the Heavenly Father. Your gaze penetrates and sees all that we lack, just as you were the first to notice the lack of wine at the wedding of Cana. You see even today that there is no peace. You see how modern man has turned away from God and is rushing to his own destruction. Pray with us, Our Lady, as you prayed with the Apostles at the birth of the Church. We thank you for your encouragements and messages calling us to return to God, the source of peace, meaning and life. Thank you for every heart that opens and thanks to which there is still hope for this world. You, Mary, full of grace, pray with us and for us, especially for those who experience difficult moments of war, hatred and killing. May the Lord grant peace to all hearts filled with restlessness and hatred. Amen.