MIRACLES OF JESUS

Medjugorje's Risen Christ Statue with a miraculous healing liquid oozing from below the right knee

Jesus of Nazareth is probably the most important person in the history of the human race and the greatest miracle worker who has ever lived. His ministry began with His baptism on the banks of the Jordan River when he was approximately 30 years of age and ended with His Last Supper in Jerusalem. At the beginning of His earthly ministry, He delivered the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7), performed miracles and recruited a team of disciples. He healed  many people with all kinds of diseases, cast out evil spirits, and raised a dead girl. As he traveled around the region of Galilee, Jesus encountered multitudes who followed Him because they have witnessed his miracles.

The first miracle of Jesus, the miracle of the virgin birth, was a sign from God - the bequeathing of His only son to mankind through the Immaculate Conception. His last miracle, the resurrection, was a sign of God's love and great power. It was a sign from heaven that all those who died in Christ will be resurrected at His second coming. Between these two miracles, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), Jesus has performed more than 35 miracles. Only the "miracle of the five loaves and two fish" or the feeding of the 5000 by multiplying the five loaves of bread and two fish, is recorded in all the four Gospels. Three Gospels reported on a leper being cured, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, the healing of a group of demon-possessed people, the calming of the storm, demons cast out and sent into a herd of swine, the healing of the paralysed man, the raising of Jairus's daughter, the healing of  the hemorrhaging woman, the healing of the man with a shriveled hand, the walking on water, a boy with epilepsy and a blind man being cured. Matthew and Luke both have accounts of a centurion's servant being healed whilst Matthew and Mark both write of the Canaanite woman's daughter's recovery, as well as the feeding of the 4000 and the withering of a fig tree after being cursed. Mark and Luke both tell of the spirit of an unclean devil being cast out in the synagogue.

The three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are also known as the synoptic Gospels because they share a similar approach to the life story of Jesus with lots of details and descriptions in common. The term "synoptic" is derived from the Greek word, syn-optic, which means "seen together" (syn can be translated as "together," and optic as "seen"). The synoptic Gospels tell the same basic story about Jesus. Matthew and Luke tell the story of Jesus from his birth to his resurrection while Mark begins with the story of the adult Jesus. In all three Gospels, the life story of Jesus is told as a series of events in almost the same order. Theologians believe that Matthew and Luke made direct use of the Gospel of Mark (written about 70AD), as their primary source of information when their accounts were written around 80 to 90 AD. 

The fourth gospel, John, tends to stand alone as it is unique from the synoptic gospels. Written around 90-110AD, it is so unique that 90% of its materials cannot be found in the synoptic Gospels. Also known as the spiritual Gospel, the Gospel of John does not include many of the stories told in the synoptic Gospels. There are not many miracles in the Gospel of John. In this Gospel, Jesus is said to have performed eight  miracles but they are more spectacular than the ones in the other three Gospels. Going beyond the life story of Jesus, the Gospel of John contemplates the miracle of His existence as the divine Son of God. As stated in John 1:14:

And the word was made flesh

and dwelt among us,

and we have seen His glory:

The glory of an only son coming

from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

Below is a complete list of the miracles performed by Jesus according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

               

                             

THE MIRACLES OF JESUS CHART

Miracles of Jesus	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
Healing of physical and mental illnesses
the leper	8:1-4	1:40-45	5:12-14
the centurion’s servant	8:5-13		7:1-10
Peter’s mother-in-law	8:14-15	1:29-31	4:38-39
many who were demon-possessed	8:16-17	1:32-34	4:40-41
two Gadarenes possessed by demons	8:28-34	5:1-20	8:26-39
paralyzed man	9:1-8	2:1-12	5:17-26
woman who had suffered from hemorrhages	9:20-22	5:25-34	8:43-48
two blind men	9:27-31
a possessed mute	9:32-34
man with a shriveled hand	12:9-14	3:1-6	6:6-11
a blind and mute possessed man	12:22-23		11:14
Canaanite woman’s daughter	15:21-28	7:24-30
the possessed boy	17:14-20	9:14-29	9:37-43
two blind men at Jericho	20:29-34	10:46-52	18:35-43
a demoniac		1:23-28	4:33-37
deaf and mute man	.	7:31-37
blind man at Bethsaida		8:22-26
badly stooped woman possessed by a spirit			13:10-17
man who suffered from dropsy			14:1-6
ten lepers			17:11-19
Malchus’s ear			22:50-51
royal official’s son at Capernaum				4:46-54
sick man at the pool of Bethesda				5:1-15
the man born blind				9:1-41
Authority over the Forces of Nature
calming the violent  storm on the lake	8:23-27	4:35-41	8:22-25
walking on the water	14:22-33	6:45-52		6:16-21
feeding 5000 people	14:13-21	6:34-44	9:10-17	6:1-15
feeding 4000 people	15:32-39	8:1-13
coin in the fish’s mouth	17:24-27
fig-tree withered up	21:18-22	11:12-14
the miraculous catch of fish			5:1-11
water turned into wine				2:1-11
another miraculous catch of fish				21:1-14
Raising the dead
the daughter of Jairus	9:18-26	5:21-43	8:40-56
the widow’s son			7:11-17
Lazarus				11:1-44

You may also like to read THE MIRACLES OF MEDJUGORJE; THE WONDERS OF LOURDES: 150 MIRACULOUS STORIES; and LOURDES: MIRACLES AND THE MIRACULOUSLY HEALED. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.

References:

1.  Reid, Debra K. & Manser, Martin. (2010). The Compact Guide to the Bible. Oxford: Lion Hudson plc.
2.  The Mysteries of Miracles. Time Life Books.
3.  Miracles: The Presence of God in Our Lives. LIFE Books.
4.  The New American Bible. New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

SAINT PIO OF PIETRELCINA

Picture: A friar bends over the coffin of Padre Pio

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, was an Italian priest, a mystic, stigmatist, and saint of the Roman Catholic Church. His original name was Francesco Forgione and he was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, on 25 May 1887. He was the fourth of eight children and his parents, Grazio and Maria, were deeply religious peasant farmers. At the age of five, he already knew that he belonged to God and had decided to devote his entire life to God. Throughout his childhood, he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies and spoke with Jesus and Mary. When he was 15, he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Morcone, Italy, and was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Benevento, Italy, on 10 August 1910, by Monsignor Paolo Schinosi. 

Although Padre Pio started to experience the first symptoms of the stigmata in 1910, it was not until 1918 that the stigmas became visible and there was mysterious bleeding on his hands, feet and side. His wounds were bleeding profusely that the Vatican had to send its senior exorcist to look into the matter. Pio had received stigmata, wounds in his hands, feet and side like those found on Christ's body after the crucifixion, and had tried unsuccessfully to cover the wounds and hide them.

Padre Pio could not have anticipated the antagonism he met within the Church when his secret was revealed. Many churchmen claimed that he faked his stigmata and accused him of sexual misconduct, but believers flocked to his friary to ask for his blessings and forgiveness. In the 1920s, the Vatican imposed increasingly harsh restrictions on Padre Pio's priestly duties to reduce publicity about him to the extent that he was almost hidden away from the public and only allowed to celebrate Mass in private. He had limited access to the people and was banned from exercising his responsibilities and duties of a priest until Pope Pius XI ended the ban in 1933. According to Pope Pius XI, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." After Pope Pius XI lifted all the restrictions on his priestly duties, life was somewhat better for Padre Pio, but the spiteful attacks against him continued. Some fellow clergy were drawn to him while others found him disgusting and even called him "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath." However, despite all the slander and injustice against him, Padre Pio remained humble, patient and dedicated as he only wanted "to be a poor friar who prays."

Padre Pio's had lived a life of prayer, holiness and sacrifice. His teachings were simple and direct and his parishioners were deeply impressed by him. He recommended meditation twice daily - once in the morning to prepare for the day and once in the evening to reflect. He also recommended weekly confession which, he said, was comparable to the weekly house cleaning. His motto was "Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."

For years, Padre Pio had wanted to build a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo. His dream finally came true when the Capuchins built, in the friary grounds, a House for the Relief of Suffering, a hospital that was founded for the purpose of healing the bodies and souls of the sick and suffering. Known as the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, it was inaugurated on 5 May 1956. Pope Pius XII had repeatedly requested Padre Pio to form prayer groups for the hospital. Apart from the Padre Pio prayer groups, the saint also spent long hours praying and meditating on the Way of the Cross. According to him, "In books we seek God, in prayer we meet him. It is prayer, this united strength of all good souls, that moves the world, that renew consciences, that supports the Casa."

Even though Padre Pio's health deteriorated in 1959, he began broadcasting his spiritual thoughts on national radio and his sermons had truly reinforced the fact that. "Prayer is the best weapon we possess. It is the key that opens the heart of God." The saint also emphasized that we should "speak to Jesus not only with our lips, but with our heart" and that we must pray with all our soul because God does not want empty prayers. His words of faith have always been an inspiration for prayer groups around the world and, to date, there are more than 3000 Padre Pio prayer groups worldwide.

Because of his supernatural gift of perception, deep compassion and down-to-earth advice, Padre Pio became an extremely popular confessor. It is said that he had the ability to read hearts and could tell his penitents all the sins they have tried to conceal and afraid to confess. However, after exposing their secrets, he always assured them that God would forgive them as long as they would repent and live a virtuous life. Padre Pio's fame spread far and wide and people from all over the world came to see him to make confessions to him. The queues outside his confessional were always so long that the superiors of his monastery had to impose the rule that those who wanted to make confessions had to make a reservation first.

Padre Pio had an invisible crown of thorns. Only the wounds on his hands could be seen as the wounds on his right shoulder, the lance wound and nail wounds in his feet were covered by his clothing and slippers. He had to wear fingerless gloves to cover the stigmata and absorb blood on his hands. Despite his fame and wondrous gifts from God, he remained a simple and humble friar who lived the Passion of Christ and spent his entire life in his friary. He seldom left the monastery and had never traveled far from San Giovanni Rotondo. The most distant place he had ever traveled was to Rome in 1917.

In 1947, a young Polish priest who was doing his doctoral studies at the Pontificium Athenaeum Internationale Angelicum in Rome (now known as the Pontifical Unversity of Saint Thomas Aquinas, PUST) traveled to Southern Italy to meet Padre Pio at his monastery. Padre Pio heard the priest's confession and prophesied that one day this young man would "become pope". The young priest was Father Karol Wojtyla. He was elected as pope on 16 October 1978 and took the pontifical name of John Paul II. Aged 58, he was the youngest pope of the 20th Century.

Padre Pio lived with his stigmata for fifty years. He passed away peacefully on 23 September 1968 at age 81 and was buried at San Giovanni Rotondo. More than 100,000 people attended his funeral. He was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on 2 May 1999 and canonized on 16 June 2002. Around 300000 people attended his canonization ceremony at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. Despite his canonization, the affectionate name for this Capuchin friar and beloved saint is still Padre Pio.

The miraculous cure of a 7-year-old boy, Matteo Pio Colella, who was suffering from acute fulminant meningitis, was the miracle that paved the way for Padre Pio's canonization. When Colella went into a coma in the hospital, his mother prayed for his recovery at Padre Pio's tomb. According to Colella, he saw Padre Pio in his dream and the friar told him that he would be cured. Like Lazarus, the boy was resurrected and came back to life.  

Padre Pio's feast day is celebrated on 23 September. He is revered by countless people around the world as one of the greatest miracle working saints of the twentieth century. Tens of thousands of people claimed that they were healed of serious and / or deadly illnesses through the intercession of Padre Pio. Today, this mystic monk has become internationally famous and perhaps even as popular as Jesus. Every year, around 8 million pilgrims visit the Shrine of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, the second most popular Catholic Shrine in the world.

You may also like to read ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA and Prayer to St. Anthony and the Miraculous Letter Delivery. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.


References:
1. Paul, Tessa. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Saints. Hermes House.
2. Craughwell, Thomas J. (2016). Heaven Help Us. Chartwell Books.
3. Miracles: The Presence of God in Our Lives, Life Books.

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA

The altar of St. Anthony in my house

St. Anthony of Padua (or Lisbon) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and a Franciscan friar. His original name was Fernando de Bulhoes and he was born on 15 August 1195 to a wealthy and socially prominent family in Lisbon, Portugal. He received his education at the Cathedral School of Saint Mary near his home and entered the Augustinian Abbey at the age of 15. Fernando was gifted with an excellent memory and had the capability to understand and synthesize complex theological matters. He studied theology and Latin at the Holy Cross Monastery in Coimbra and became a friar of the Franciscan order in 1220, taking the name Anthony in honor of St. Anthony the Great and was later sent as a missionary preacher to Italy. He also taught theology in several universities in Italy and France. Because of his vision of the young Jesus in 1231, he is usually shown in pictures and statues with the Christ child.

Stout and overweight, it seemed improbable that Anthony could radiate holiness. However, when people heard him preach, they were impressed by his eloquent words and filled with the wonders of his faith. He was so full of goodness and so well-known that many cities and towns in Europe competed for his presence. Many miracles have also been attributed to this popular saint. Those who wish to find lost or stolen articles pray to St. Anthony. It is said that a novice at his monastery decided to leave the community and he took Anthony's psalter with him. When the saint prayed for its return, the psalter thief was moved to return the psalter to Anthony and rejoined the order.

Anthony once traveled as a guest preacher to Rimini, a city on the Adriatic Coast, in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region. A merchant named Bonillo, one of the town's most outspoken and notoriously known citizens, mocked and ridiculed the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence, which states that the consecrated Host is truly the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. Anthony tried to make Bonillo understand that the Real Presence was not a fable but the saint's arguments failed to convince Bonillo.

Several days later, Anthony carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets in a solemn procession. All those who were present, except Bonillo, knelt when the Host passed. The heretic was busy feeding his donkey and ignored the procession that passed his way. However, as St. Anthony and the Blessed Sacrament was approaching him, Bonillo's donkey went down on its knees and bowed its head to the ground. Bonillo was converted on the very spot by his donkey's miraculous act of adoration. Because of the Eucharistic miracle of Rimini, St. Anthony of Padua is known as the protector of donkeys, mules, and asses.

Anthony once travelled to the city of Rimini to preach to a community of heretics. When they refused to listen to him, ignored him and derided him, Anthony walked to the banks of the Brenta River and began to address the fish in the river. He was such a powerful preacher that thousands of fish swam to the surface of the water and arranged themselves neatly in rows to listen to him.

While Anthony was traveling with a fellow Franciscan, a poor woman invited them to spend the night at her house. Her one and only luxury was a small barrel of wine, and her precious possessions were two glass wine goblets. To celebrate the occasion, the woman brought out her wine glasses and filled them with wine. Anthony's companion accidentally dropped and broke his glass. In her haste to serve them, the poor woman did not realize that she has forgotten to turn off the tap to the wine barrel. Seeing how distressed she was, Anthony began to pray, and to the astonishment of the woman, the wineglass was put back together and made whole, the tap turned off, and the empty barrel was filled anew with wine right up to the brim.

One day, a young man of Padua, named Leonardo, had a nasty argument with his mother and kicked her in a fit of anger and frustration. Feeling repentant, he immediately went to the church where St. Anthony was hearing confessions and confessed what he had done to his mother. "The foot that strikes your mother deserves to be cut off," muttered Anthony. Even though he did not intend his words to be taken literally, the young man ran home, grabbed a hatchet, and chopped off his own foot. When Anthony found out what Leonardo had done, he went to Leonardo's bedroom, held the severed foot close to the leg and prayed, and almost instantly the foot was miraculously reattached to the leg. That is why St. Anthony is also known as the patron of amputees. 

Anthony died from edema in the suburb of Arcella on his way to Padua in 1231, at the age of 35, and was buried in Santa Maria Mater Domini, a church in Santa Croce in Venice, Italy. He was made a saint on 30 May 1932 in Spoleto (a city in Italy) by Pope Gregory IX. When his body was exhumed to be reburied in a new basilica in 1263, it was discovered that his tongue remained incorrupt and looked like it was still alive even though his body had completely decomposed. On 16 January 1946, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. 

St. Anthony is the patron saint for both Padua and Portugal and his feast day is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church on 13 June, which was the day of his death. Today, St. Anthony's holy tongue and his jaw bone are displayed in special gold reliquaries in the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in northern Italy. The rest of his remains have been transferred to a tomb in a separate chapel, the Chapel of St. Anthony.

You may also like to read Prayer to St. Anthony and the Miraculous Letter Delivery. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.

Bibliography:

1. Paul, Tessa. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Saints. Hermes House.
2. Craughwell, Thomas J. (2016). Heaven Help Us. Chartwell Books.

Prayer to St. Anthony and the Miraculous Letter Delivery

The Vision of St. Anthony of Padua by Giovanni Battista Pittoni

St. Anthony of Padua was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan order, the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. For almost 800 years, he has been one of the most well-known miracle-working saints. He performed so many miracles during his lifetime, and so many more through his intercession immediately after his death, that he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX eleven months after his death. That was the fastest canonization in the history of the Church. Beatified and canonized on 30 May 1232, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946. His Feast Day is celebrated on 13th June. As the patron saint of lost or stolen items, he is venerated all over the world. Above is a painting of St. Anthony by the Italian painter, Giovanni Battista Pittoni, completed in August 1730. This painting is now in the San Diego Museum of Art, a fine arts museum in California (You can click here to read more about the miracles of St. Anthony).

St. Anthony is my patron saint and I have been praying for his intercession for as long as I can remember. In this article, I would like to share the miracle that I have experienced recently through the intercession of St. Anthony. I was a lecturer in a tertiary institution in the state of Pahang from April 2015 to February 2018. In December 2017, I applied to be transferred back to a school in Kuala Lumpur because I really couldn't adapt to life in that state. It was also very tiring for me to travel to and from Kuala Lumpur every weekend. One week before Christmas, I was told that my transfer was approved and that I would receive my letter of approval through the Education Ministry. The letter was posted to me and I received it on 5 January 2018. Following the letter of approval, it would take some time for placement and this would also require approval from the Education Ministry. On 2 February 2018, I was told that the placement / transfer letter would be sent to me after the officer-in-charge has signed it but he was not around at that moment. My heart sank as this would mean that I would have to pack my bags and return to Pahang on the third day of Chinese New Year. This would also mean that I might have to stay in Pahang until March as it would take some time for the letter to reach me by post. That weekend, when I went back to Kuala Lumpur, I prayed to St. Anthony and put the letter which I received from the Education Ministry (on Jan 5th.) under his picture on my altar. On this letter, I wrote the letters S.A.G. Guess what happened? On 8 February 2018, the clerk told me that my transfer letter was faxed to her that morning! That was really good news for me - on 14 February 2018, I was so happy to say "Goodbye Pahang, Hello Kuala Lumpur" and of course I had a wonderful Chinese New Year (Chinese New Year fell on 16 February 2018). Was this a miracle or merely a coincidence? Sometimes, we just cannot deny the fact that Heaven does help us. Why did I write the letters S.A.G. on the letter before I put it under St. Anthony's picture? Please read the story below.

In the year 1729, Antonio Dante, a Spanish merchant, left Spain for South America on a business venture in Lima, Peru. His wife did not follow him but remained in Spain. She wrote many letters to him but there was no reply from him even after months of waiting. As she was worried about her husband and almost running out of money, she wrote a letter to her husband and brought it to the Church of St. Francis in Oviedo where there was a large statue of St. Anthony. She placed the letter in the hand of St. Anthony's statue and prayed to St. Anthony for his intercession to deliver the letter to her husband.

When she returned to church the next day, she saw a letter in the hand of St. Anthony's statue but it was not the one that she has written. As she was trying to remove the letter, 300 golden coins fell from the sleeve of the statue. And to her astonishment, the letter was from her husband. The letter, which was dated 23^rd July 1729, is as follows:

"My dearest wife, For some time I have been expecting a letter from you, and I have been greatly troubled and concerned at not hearing from you. But at last your letter has come, and given me joy. It was a Father of the Order of St. Francis who brought it to me. You complain that I have left your letters unanswered. I assure you that when I did not receive any from you I believed you must be dead, and so you may imagine my happiness at the arrival of your letter. I answer you now by the same religious Father, and send you three hundred golden crowns, which should suffice for your support until my approaching return.

In the hope of soon being with you, I pray God for you, and I commend myself to my dear patron St. Anthony, and ardently desire that you may continue to send me tidings of yourself.

Your most affectionate,
Antonio Dante

It should be noted that the letter was originally written in Spanish and has been preserved in the Church of St. Francis in Oviedo until today. It has since become common practice in some parts of the world to write the letters S.A.G. (St. Anthony Guide) on envelopes and parcels before posting for their safe delivery. To me, it was not just safe delivery but fast and miraculous delivery. Thank you, St. Anthony.

You may also like to read WHAT IS SO WRONG ABOUT PRAYING TO THE SAINTS?; THE MIRACLES OF MEDJUGORJE and LOURDES: MIRACLES AND THE MIRACULOUSLY HEALED. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.

References:
1. Paul, Tessa. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Saints. Hermes House.
2. Craughwell, Thomas J. (2016). Heaven Help Us. Chartwell Books.

Celebrating My Blog’s 10th Anniversary: 10 Years with Blogspot.com

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur - so how do I look like after 10 years?

Today marks the 10th birthday of my blogspot.com -  I started this blog 10 years ago with the intention to write about Lourdes and Medjugorje. At that time, my mind was completely preoccupied with these two sacred places that all I wanted to do was to write about them. After some time, I began to realize that if I were to focus on this blog, I would never get started with my Ph.D. thesis. I had no choice but to give up writing until after I have completed my Ph.D. thesis. Time flies and today, 10 years later, I have already completed my thesis - in fact I have graduated in the year 2017. I wanted to start writing again then but was so busy with my work that I could not find any time to write at all. As a lecturer in a tertiary institution in Pahang, I worked from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and had to spend my weekends travelling to and from Kuala Lumpur. Replacement classes were common - sometimes until 10.00 p.m. at night. I am thankful that I am now back in Kuala Lumpur and need not waste time travelling anymore. Perhaps it's time I start writing again - although ten years later but it is always better to be late than never, right?

To my readers who have been with me since I started this blog, I would like to thank you for your comments, encouragement, support, and most of all for being with me all these years even though I did not write much. I promise to write again and I hope that you will enjoy reading my articles.

To those who have recently discovered my blog, I would like to thank you for taking the trouble to read my articles. Do visit this blog again as I will continue to publish lots of new articles in the near future.

Today is a very special day as I couldn't help feeling that the spirit of Lourdes and Medjugorje is back again. I could still remember very clearly how and why I started this blog on this day ten years ago. Ten years is a long time and many things have happened in this last decade - that's the reason why I will have a lot of things to write about for days to come.

Why Lourdes and Medjugorje? How did they inspire me to start this blog? What do they have to do with the meaning and purpose of life?

As what Antonio Bernardo says, "Lourdes is like a great mirror. For better or worse, it forces us to look inside ourselves." It is when we look inside ourselves that we discover our purpose, vision, mission, goals, motivation, values and beliefs. Gesbron, who was converted to Chrstianity in Lourdes, wrote:

"I say above all to Christians do not go to Lourdes as tourists or spectators. You do not have the right. Go to Lourdes because for more than a hundred years in this place millions of people have suffered, prayed, loved, understood. Above all they have committed themselves. For this reason Lourdes has become one of the most important places for all humanity." 

How right he is! In the past, Lourdes has been invaded on numerous occasions and its inhabitants subjected to violent persecution but despite the bloody wars, they have remained steadfast and faithful to God. Originally a sleepy market town, Lourdes has now become a major Roman Catholic pilgrimage site where many miraculous healings have happened. However, Lourdes is not just about miracles, tourism and fun. It is about faith and self-discovery. Through THE MESSAGE OF LOURDES, we learn our lessons of life and hence become better versions of ourselves. And I hope to share my lessons of life with my readers.

Similarly, the Medjugorje events have a crucial role to play in the fulfilmlent of our needs. Medjugorje is a place where faith is strengthened and hope is revived. It is a place of spiritual renewal and true conversion where we reconcile ourselves with God and the Church. In Medjugorje, we can discover the real meaning of peace and return to prayer and fasting thus renewing ourselves in Christ. The messages of Medjugorje are pure and simple. Our Lady's tireless call to peace, prayer, penance and conversion reminds us of the eternal truths of the Gospel. As our faith is intensified and hope is revived when we live Her messages, we will find the true meaning of the Gospel. During Her apparition to the visionaries, Our Lady identified herself as the "Queen of Peace". In this holy place of peace, we can present our requests to God and the peace of God will guard over our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:6-7). According to Father Branko Rados:

"Peace is not to be found because we are looking for it on the wrong place. We forget that peace is a fruit of our heart and that the only field where it can flourish is in our hearts. It is found in the most inner depths of person's being. Our peace is in God, in the King of peace - Jesus Christ. The message of Medjugorje is the message of peace, which can be attained only through prayer, fasting and personal conversion. That is also the essence of Our lady's messages which simultaneously enlighten Christ's evangelic message: "I am the Way, the Truth and Life" (Jn 14:6) and "Follow me for I am the light of the world" (Jn 8:12)." 

"Peace I leave with you and my peace I give you. Do not be distressed and do not be fearful" (John 14:27). Peace can only be found deep within our hearts, minds, and souls through prayers, fasting and conversion. And Medjugorje is the best place on Earth to look for peace. When we have found peace within ourselves and are ready to take up our cross and follow Jesus, we have discovered the true meaning and purpose of life.

Thanks for reading. You may also like to read How Abraham Lincoln Inspired Me to Pursue My Ph.D. and Prayer to St. Anthony and the Miraculous Letter Delivery. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.

References:

1.  Lourdes & Bernadette by Antonio Bernardo. Publisher "il Calamo", p.8.

2.  MEDJUGORJE, Information Center "MIR" Medjugorje, p.9.