In the message of May, Our Lady gives thanks for each one of us and in this message, she thanks for every sacrifice and prayer that we have offered for her intentions. Many times, Our Lady has told us, “I need your prayers and sacrifices… Dear children, help me so that I can help you.” To the measure that we give ourselves to the One who is without sin, to that measure does she give herself to us. It is a living relationship of giving and surrendering.

In the eyes of Our Lady and of God, we are important and precious. She accepts us and loves us as we are. There are many messages in which she affirms this to us. One of the deepest needs of the human heart is the need to be accepted. Every human being longs to be valued. Every human being longs to be accepted the way he or she is. Nothing influences a person more negatively than the experience of not being fully accepted. If we are not accepted, something within us breaks, we are robbed of something and we are hurt.

An unwanted child is damaged from the very beginning of its being. A student who does not feel accepted by the teacher will not study. A person who feels that he or she is not accepted by colleagues at work will suffer all kinds of difficulties. A life without acceptance is a life in which the most fundamental human need is not fulfilled. There is experiential truth, and that means that the one who knows that he is fully accepted by God can also fully accept himself. When we experience that God loves and accepts us, in spite of all our weaknesses and failures, then we can accept ourselves.

One man said, “For years I have been nervous, anxious, depressed, selfish. And everyone was telling me I had to change. I reproached them, and even agreed with them. I wanted to change, but I just couldn’t, even though I tried. The hardest part for me was that my closest friend, as well as others, encouraged me to change. I felt powerless. And one day he said to me: “Don’t change. I love you just the way you are.”

Those words were a melody to my ears, “Don’t change, don’t change, I love you just the way you are.” I was set free. I began to live. And suddenly I was changed. I know now that I couldn’t really change until I met the One who loves me, whether changed or not.

God truly loves and accepts us through the Mother of His Son. Here in Medjugorje, the voice and call to holiness and love has been echoing for 41 years, opening our hearts to do with love what Our Lady calls us to do.

Our Lady needs our hearts to open and believe. We need to have the experience of being loved so that in love we can make sacrifices and offer prayers for her intentions. She sees how much evil is at work in the world. Mother sees how Satan seduces people, brings division, starts wars and sows hatred.

But in the end, God and all who persevere on the path that Our Lady leads us will prevail. Her motherly heart will triumph in the end.

Let us pray: Our Lady, you have told us so many times: I am your mother, I love you, I am with you, do not be afraid. To you, Our Lady, we offer all the wounded, the burdened and all those who suffer the consequences of evil and war. We want to persevere on the path of prayer, sacrifice and renunciation to which you have been calling us all these years. Thank you, Mary, for your motherly patience and perseverance. We desire to draw closer to you through prayer. Bring us closer to your Son Jesus. You, who know best our ways, which you have also walked on this earth. You who have experienced what sorrow means, comfort all those who mourn. You, O Mother Mary, whose heart was pierced by the sword of pain, comfort all the sorrowful and wounded. Do not forsake us and grant us perseverance on the path of holiness where we may experience the fullness of joy and the meaning of life. Amen.

By Father Ljubo Kurtović, OFM