My prayer is with you for peace (Fr. Marinko Shakota)

Message of the Mother of God, Queen of Peace, August 25, 2024

“Dear children! Today My prayer is with you for peace. Good and evil are fighting and want to dominate the world and people’s hearts. Be people of hope, prayer and great trust in God the Creator, to whom all things are possible. May peace prevail in you and around you, little children. I bless you with My Motherly Blessing, so that you, little children, will be a joy to everyone you meet. Thank you for responding to My call.”

1. “Today my prayer is with you for peace.”

Someone will say: it is necessary to do something, to make efforts for peace, and not to pray. The truth is that something needs to be done. But the Mother of God also prays. And She wants us to pray for peace with Her.Why is it important to pray for peace? When we ask God for peace, we rely not only on our own strength, but also on God. Because we know that our strength and efforts are not enough. God wants us to pray, because in this way we count on Him, we connect with Him. If we do not pray, then we remain alone, with only our weak human powers.Of course we should strive for peace among us humans, but only with God can we achieve it fully. The end of war leads to peace, but true peace is much more. War can be stopped, and it is very important to try to stop it. For example, now in Ukraine or in the Middle East. But even when it is over, the war may continue in people’s hearts. In addition, love begins already in prayer, the opposite of which is indifference. Perhaps at first we were a little interested in wars, victims and people suffering in Ukraine or the Middle East, and then very quickly got used to everything, became indifferent and we are no longer interested in what is happening there. And there are so many people suffering! When we pray for peace in the mentioned lands, love is born in us. We wish those people well, we want peace to prevail. If our love is strong, it will motivate us to do more for peace in these regions. And of course there are ways…

2. “Good and evil are fighting and want to dominate the world and people’s hearts.”

There is good, there is also evil. Both exist in the world and in people’s hearts. Both good and evil are at war. God’s will is for good to win this battle, and evil’s will is for evil to win. We Christians, and believers in general, are accused of having caused wars and conflicts between people and nations. This is true.But their wrong conclusion is that faith is to blame. It is not the fault of the faith, but that we Christians have failed, that we have failed to let good prevail. It is not the fault of Jesus, but the absence of Jesus in us. Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” Where was Jesus among the Christians when they were killing each other and the Jews during World Wars I and II? Here the Christians were miles away from Jesus. This is the reason. Therefore, it is important that the Mother of God in this message talks about the struggle and uses the word “to rule”. Actually, even we Christians are not saved from the struggle between good and evil. And we have good and evil. And we may feel jealous. We too can suffer. We too can be angry with others. Sometimes we also can’t stand someone, sometimes we don’t want to meet or hear from someone or even hate them. We too can find it difficult to forgive. It’s all possible.Can and exactly how can we, Christians, be different from non-believers? Is it that we will never have envy or hatred, or that we will never be intolerant of others? No, it’s impossible. Although we are believers, we remain human. But we can be different from unbelievers if we are dominated by good and not by evil, by love rather than envy or hatred, by acceptance of others rather than rejection and hostility.That’s why we pray because we know we can’t do it on our own. Only with the Lord will we succeed. That is why it is important to pray for love, because when love reigns in us, then goodness reigns.

3. “Be people of hope, prayer and great trust in God the Creator, to Whom all things are possible.”

Mary speaks these words from her experience. Actually, the angel Gabriel did not tell her: “Mary, you will be the mother of God, so you will be freed from all trials, worries and crosses.” No, he told her: “Mary, the Lord is with you! Don’t be afraid!” (See: Lk. 1, 28-30). Maria agreed and said: “Let it be to me!”After that, her life was not easy at all. In addition, it was full of trials and crosses. But Mary did not go through such a life alone, but with the Lord, in hope and prayer and great trust in God the Creator. And she experienced what the angel had already told her, that with God all things are possible. This is what Maria wants for us. It does not promise us a problem-free life. He does not invite us to isolate ourselves from the world, but wants us to be people of hope, prayer and great trust in God in this world. Mother could not wish us anything better than this: to be capable and ready for life’s paths, for often difficult challenges, and we are capable if we are “armed” with hope, prayer and strong faith in God. Then we have nothing to fear. Then we too will feel how truly all things are possible for God.

4. “Let there be peace in you and around you, little children.”

And again the Mother of God uses the word “reigns”. This is very important, because in this way he wants to tell us that we, Christians, will not be spared either unrest or crosses. We follow Jesus, but we are human, we are weak, we fall, we make mistakes, we cause trouble among people, and we suffer because of the trouble others have caused. But it is important that peace prevails in us and around us, in order to overcome unrest, to defeat evil.It is almost impossible that unrest does not appear in us and in our families, but we must not allow unrest, evil to reign, but do everything so that peace and love reign to defeat evil. Let us never forget that the first step towards this goal is always prayer. And it is a prayer for peace in us, in our hearts. Not in others, but in us, in me. Our prayer is not: “Give him or her, Lord, love for me,” but: “Give me, Lord, love for a person who cannot stand me or whom I cannot stand.”My mother Bernardica (everyone called her Nada) told me about her experience shortly before she died. It was like a kind of testament. Some people created problems for her, because of which she suffered a lot. I decided to go on foot – as a vow to St. Anthony on Gumats. On Gumatsa, she prayed like this: “God, turn my enemies into my friends!” She says that since then she has had peace and has never carried such a burden in her soul. Conclusion: When my heart changes, when love and peace reign in it, everything changes. Then people, problems, and crosses look different. Then the enemies “turn around”, turn into friends. Yes, it is possible. For us humans, this is often not the case, but with the Lord all things are possible.

5. “I bless you with My Motherly blessing, so that you, little children, may be a joy to everyone you meet.”

The Mother of God blesses us. She does this because she is a mother, and a mother wants the best for her child. Every mother should bless her child every day, make a cross on her forehead and say: “My dear child, may God bless you!” But the Mother of God blesses us for another reason: She wants us to be a joy to all the people we meet in our everyday life. Here we understand the meaning of the Mother’s blessing: a blessing to make us able to achieve what She asks of us. Why does the Mother of God want us to be joy for others? Who will be the joy for people if not us Christians? Who will be the joy for those who worry about whether they will have enough material goods to survive but us Christians? Or for those who do not believe? Is it for those whose loved ones have died? Is it for those whose joy has disappeared because they are in conflict with someone? Is it for those who have sinned grievously? Is it for those who are unhappy with life or feel unhappy? Or for those who think that they have made a mistake with a vocation that has not been realized?Jesus brought joy to people with His birth and love for us. And Mary brings us joy with her revelations and maternal love. By inviting us to be a joy to the people we meet, Mary wants us to continue doing what Jesus and She do for us. That is why Jesus and Mary want to be joy to the people we meet. But they want it through us.