by the visionaries after each encounter with Our Lady. This is her way of reassuring us that she is indeed the spiritual mother of the world.
We begin our experience of the power of prayer through the Medjugorje apparitions with Mary’s basic message to us, made clear from the first day:
Pray! Pray! Pray!
THREE
Her Teachings in the
“School of Prayer”
“Dear children, I have chosen this parish in a special way, and I wish to lead it. I am guarding it in love and I want everyone to be mine. Thank you for having responded tonight. I wish you always to be with me and my Son in ever greater numbers. I shall give a message to you every Thursday.”
(Message given March 1, 1984)
As if to underline the urgency of our times, Mary has been giving teaching messages meant for each one of us through the visionaries, daily, weekly, and monthly. During the first thirty-three months, the Blessed Mother taught the visionaries, the villagers, and the children of the world in her special Medjugorje “School of Prayer.”
At first, the “Teacher” came daily in a brilliance of three flashes of strange light, radiating joy and singular beauty, gaining our attention by interceding for us with a spectacular spiritual show of miracles and healings. Mary introduced basic spiritual tools—prayer, fasting, and penance—that those in Medjugorje would have to learn and use properly if the apparitions were to succeed. And indeed, its success very much depended on the reception of her students. They would be required to learn and to practice what they learned by words and actions, and to share it with others: their neighbors, at first, and later, the waves of pilgrims that would begin to come.
These were the kindergarten and lower grades of the School of Prayer. Mary’s teaching worked so well that the visionaries and villagers soon moved into the upper grades!
Mary began teaching with the message given on March 1, 1984, that she presented to the parish through the visionary Marija. On Thursday of that week she began, “Thank you for having responded to my call, dear children, for you in the parish to be converted. This is my wish. That way all who come here shall be able to convert!” This marked the start of a weekly mission initiated by Mary to personally teach the people of the village.
The weekly teachings by Mary to the parish continued the following week—“Dear children, in a special way this evening I am calling you during Lent to honor the wounds of my Son, which He received from the sins of this parish. Unite yourselves with my prayers for the parish that His sufferings may be bearable. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
March 29: “Dear children, in a special way this evening I am calling on you to have perseverance in times of trial. Consider how the Almighty is still suffering today on account of your sins. So when sufferings come, offer them up as a sacrifice to God. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
April 5: “Dear children, this evening I pray you especially to venerate the Heart of my Son, Jesus. Make reparation for the wound inflicted on the Heart of my Son. That Heart is offended by all kinds of sins. Thank you for coming this evening.”
April 12: “Dear children, today I beseech you to stop slandering and to pray for the unity of the parish, because my Son and I have a special plan for this parish. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
April 19 (Holy Thursday): “Dear children, sympathize with me! Pray, pray, pray!”
And then, a startling pause interrupted the teachings. After almost two months of weekly messages, attendance at St. James Church on Thursday evenings unbelievably had plummeted from standing room only to just half full. What had been a spectacular and dramatic event had quickly developed into a routine thing for many of the faithful. On Thursday, April 26, Marija prayed and waited; the people of the village waited. No apparition—no teaching message.
The people left the church disappointed and confused. Marija was also confused but said nothing about it over the following three days. On Monday, Marija finally asked, “Dear Madonna, why didn’t you give me a message for the parish on Thursday?” Our Lady responded: “I do not wish to force anyone to do that which he or she neither feels nor desires, even though I had special messages for the parish by which I wanted to awaken the faith of every believer. But only a really small number has accepted my Thursday messages. In the beginning there were quite a few. But it’s become a routine affair for them. And now recently some are asking for the message out of curiosity, and not out of faith and devotion to my Son and me.”
This last message shook people, and most realized what a special grace they had been given. It was like getting a D on a test! Our Lady did not appear or speak the next week, but on Thursday, May 10, she did—to a packed house. She said, “I am speaking to you and I wish to speak on. You just listen to my instructions!” With that, order was restored to the classroom! In addition, there was forgiveness by the teacher. On May 17, she gave this message: “Dear children, today I am very happy because there are many who want to consecrate themselves to me. Thank you. You have not made a mistake. My Son, Jesus Christ, wishes to bestow on you special graces through me. My Son is happy because of your dedication. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
The weekly Thursday evening messages would go on for a little more than two and a half years. Can you imagine? Here is the Blessed Virgin Mary, not only choosing their parish as an apparition site, not only choosing six of their young people to be visionaries and messengers to the world, but now giving weekly lessons of grace!
Graduation from the upper grades of the School of Prayer brought the villagers to a new level of understanding. This was a level that would include the entire world, truly anyone who would listen and try to live what she was teaching them. On January 7, 1987, Mary gave this message to Marija for the villagers: “Dear children, I want to thank you for your response to my messages, especially, dear children, thank you for all the suffering and prayers you have offered to me. Dear children, I want to give you messages from now on no longer every Thursday, but on the 25th of each month. The time has come when what my Lord wanted has been fulfilled. From now on, I will give you fewer messages; but I will be with you. Dear children, I beg you listen to my messages and to live them so that I can guide you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Then came the first of the monthly messages, on January 25, 1987: “Dear children, behold, also today I want to call you to start living a new life as of today. Dear children, I want you to comprehend that God has chosen each one of you, in order to use you in a great plan for the salvation of mankind. You are not able to comprehend how great your role is in God’s design. Therefore, dear children, pray so that in prayer you may be able to comprehend what God’s plan is in your regard. I am with you in order that you may be able to bring it about in all its fullness. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
All in the village could see that the first phase of this wondrous gift was completed, and they were moving on to a higher plane, one that would include every place in the world outside of their village.
The overall tone of the messages changed noticeably. They were longer and more detailed, and strongly emphasized prayer above all, like this one given April 25: “Dear children, today also I am calling you to prayer. You know, dear children, that God grants special graces in prayer. Therefore, seek and pray in order that you may be able to comprehend all that I am giving here. I call you, dear children, to prayer with the heart. You know that without prayer you cannot comprehend all that God is planning through each one of you. Therefore, pray!
