Medjugorje reflection: Only time spent in prayer is spent really well 

I believe that, at the end of our life, we shall regret all the lost time, and only the time spent in prayer will be the treasure we shall take with us, Father Ljubo Kurtović reflects on the Virgin Mary’s latest Medjugorje message. Calling depression a sign of God’s absence he warns about seeking miracles coming from the outside, instead to give room for God’s miracle inside us. 

(c) Spirit Daily  

By Jakob Marschner in Bosnia-Hercegovina  

MEDJUGORJE – Reinforcing the Virgin Mary’s latest call to pray the Rosary, Father Ljubo Kurtović of Medjugorje reflects on the Virgin’s latest message by saying that only time spent in prayer is spent really well. He thereby follows the spirit of the Virgin Mary’s two latest Medjugorje messages both of whom deal with priorities in life.  

“We know how easily we neglect prayer, with how much difficulty we choose prayer, how easily thousands of obligations, duties, meetings, things apparently more important, replace prayer; but when we do pray, we always have the same experience: how good we feel when we are with God, and that time spent with God is the only time really well used in our life,” the assistant pastor of Medjugorje writes before going further with this point: 

“I believe that, at the end of our life, we shall regret all the lost time, and only the time spent in prayer will be the treasure we shall take with us. This treasure, we gain it here, on the earth; it is here that the decision about our life and our eternity is made. After death, nothing essential will happen; here on earth we pronounce our Yes or No to God, our Yes to life or to death,” writes Father Ljubo whose thoughts on the afterlife are thereby in line with insights expressed by Medjugorje visionary Vicka Ivanković: 

“Our Blessed Mother has told us that here on Earth we make the choice of going to Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. After death we continue to live that which we chose to live on the Earth. In fact, we all know how we live. On the Earth, though, many choose to go to Purgatory –  that means that they are not totally decided for God. Other people choose to do everything against God and His will. These people choose to live in Hell and after their death they continue to live the Hell which they lived on the Earth,” Vicka said on All Saints Day 1999.  

Concluding like the visionary, who in this interview told of her great desire for Paradise and how she tries “with all my heart” to go to Heaven, Father Ljubo aims to point the only way which will also solve the problem of priorities in life:  

“Let us not allow anything to be in front of God, not even our own life. When God is at the first place, all the rest takes naturally its right place,” he writes. 

Addressing the Virgin Mary’s advice to pray the Rosary when doubts have set in of the meaning of life, Father Ljubo also takes on the topic of depression which he sees as a sign of God’s absence:  

“It can happen in our lives that everything becomes void, meaningless, that we do not find any pleasure in anything, that we do not really rejoice in anything anymore. This is a sign that we do not know and do not see the meaning of our life. These are signs that our soul has been neglected, that it is hungry and thirsty for God and His love. This is the sign that we have lost or forgotten our roots and the source of our life,” Medjugorje’s assistant pastor reflects.  

“Let us not stop at the sign, but let us go in the direction the sign indicates, where it orients us. Let us approach her, who is in the glory, which awaits us all. Our Lady desires us to go, to walk, and not to stand, waiting for a miracle, which should happen outside of us." 

“The miracle can and has to happen within us. God is not somewhere in an inaccessible light but He dwells – so alive – within us: we only have to break through to Him. We have to overcome so many resistances within us and around us. We are chained by our anguish, our fears, our worries about tomorrow, we are afraid of what the others will think or say about us, and we do not ask ourselves what God thinks about us, what He wants and desires from us,” Father Ljubo Kurtović comments on the Virgin’s words on miracles and meaning of life, a message which says in its entirety:  

“Dear children! Also today, I call you to prayer. Little children, prayer works miracles. When you are tired and sick and you do not know the meaning of your life, take the Rosary and pray; pray until prayer becomes for you a joyful meeting with your Saviour. I am with you, little children, and I intercede and pray for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”