WEBVTT

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[Music]

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Here, the faith was not free.

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We were allowed to go
to Holy Mass on Sundays.

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And, that was it.
That was what we could do.

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The rest of religious life
was taking place at home.

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Our parents taught us to pray.

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We prayed Holy Rosary
every evening together.

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But, they did not talk about
the faith, much.

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Because, they were afraid.

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As kids, we cannot speak about it
in school.

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If so, they could have problems.

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That is why I had never heard about
Lourdes, or Fatima.

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I didn't know that Our Lady
could come here to earth

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in such a way.

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I thought she is up in Heaven,
and we pray.

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When Ivanka told me
that she thought

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Our Lady is up on the hill,

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I was kind of rude.
I had a rude response.

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I told her, "Right. She hasn't got
better things to do?"

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"And she came to the two of us?"

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And I left her there, and I wanted
to return to the village.

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But, when I got to the first houses,

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I felt this call within me.

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I had to return back.
When I got there,

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I saw Ivanka standing
at the very same spot.

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She told me, "Look now, please."

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I saw a woman 
in a long, greyish gown,

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who was holding a baby
in her arms.

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Everything was really strange.

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Because, no one went to the hill.

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Especially not a person 
in a long gown

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with a baby in their arms.

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At that very moment,
I felt all possible emotions

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that we are able to feel.

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Pride. Beauty. Incomprehension.

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Fear.

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And, what was the most
intense emotion

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was the need to flee this place.

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I ran back home.

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When I got home, 
I found my grandmother

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and I told her, right away:

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"Granny, I think I saw Our Lady
up on the hill."

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She told me "Take the Holy Rosary.
Go to your room, and pray."

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"Leave Our Lady where she is."

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I didn't have the strength 
to explain everything to Granny.

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I just wanted to be alone, in prayer.

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That was the only way I had peace.

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The following day, 
I was helping my uncles,

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like every day before that.

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But, when the time came
that I saw Our Lady the day before,

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I felt this calling, again.

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I told my uncle that I had to go
to the hill

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because something has been 
calling me.

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When we got there,

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nearly half the village
was there, already.

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Someone came with 
every visionary.

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We saw Our Lady
at the very same place.

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This time, she was not
carrying a baby in her arms.

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On that day, 25 June 1981,

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was the first day we got to hear her.

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She introduced herself.

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She told us, "My dear children.
Do not be afraid.

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I am the Queen of Peace."

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That is how our daily
apparitions started.

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For a short while, we had the apparitions
at the hill.

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As I said earlier,
it was a time of communism.

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Shortly afterward,
police came, with dogs.

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They surrounded the hill.

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Everyone there, eventually
ended up in prison.

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In those first days,
Our Lady showed some miracles.

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Nearly everyone from the village
saw something.

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For example, there were two
miraculous healings, right away.

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Then, the cross on Cross Mountain
was disappearing, with

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Our Lady appearing
on that spot, instead,

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dressed in white.

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The local people saw this.

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I will give you an example
what the situation was like.

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We, who had been 
brought up in communism,

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had learned how to be silent.

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The fewer words you say,
the better for you.

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So, when the cross was disappearing
at Cross Mountain,

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everyone was silent.
They just looked at it.

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One young man was 25 at that time.

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He was unable to remain silent,
because of the emotions he felt.

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He said, "Look! There is no cross!
Our Lady is there, instead!"

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He was sentenced to prison
for six months.

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That was the situation
at that time.

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The word "Mir" was written
in the sky.

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"Mir" means "Peace."

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At that time, Father Jozo
was our parish priest.

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When the police came to him,
to tell him to close the church,

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because Holy Mass was
now forbidden,

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Father Jozo said,
"I saw with my own eyes,

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that the word Mir 
is written on the sky.

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I cannot close the church.

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Do with me as you will."

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He ended up in prison.

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But the local people
had seen all of that.

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Knowing us as children,

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they trusted us,
and they helped us.

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We had an apparition
every evening at a different spot.

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I had daily apparitions like that,
until Christmas, 1982.

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That is when Our Lady
entrusted me with the 10th Secret.

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She told me I would no longer
have daily apparitions.

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She told me it would be
once a year.

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Every 18th of March,
as long as I live.

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She also said I would have
extraordinary apparitions.

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Those apparitions started
on 2nd August, 1987.

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Those are ongoing
until this day.

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I don't know how long
I will have them.

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Those apparitions are also
a prayer for unbelievers.

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Our Lady never calls them that.

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Because if you say about someone,
"You're an unbeliever,"

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you judged and condemned him.

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Our Lady never does that.

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She says "the ones that have 
not yet discovered the love of God."

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She is asking our help.

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When she says, "our help,"

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she does not mean the six of us,
the six visionaries.

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She means the help of everyone
who feels she is their mother.

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She says we can change unbelievers,

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with our prayers, and by our example.

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She asks that we put prayers for them
as a priority in our daily prayers.

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Most of the ugly things which happen
in this world,

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comes from them.

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That is why Our Lady says,

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"When you pray for them,
you pray for yourself, and your future."

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In addition to prayers, she asks
for our example.

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She doesn't want us to preach.

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She asks us to speak with our own lives,

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so unbelievers can witness in us,
God, and the love of God.

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I kindly request you consider this
In the most serious way.

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If you could see the tears of Our Lady
just once,

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the tears she cries for unbelievers,

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I am sure you would pray
with all your heart.

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She says this is the time
of great decision.

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She says it is up to us,
who say we are children of God,

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that there is a great
responsibility upon us.

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When she asks prayers
for unbelievers,

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she would like us to try that
in her way.

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That would be,
the way I understood it:

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First, feel love for them.

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Feel they are our 
brothers and sisters

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who were not as lucky
as we were,

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to feel the love of God.

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When we feel that way,
we will be able to pray for them.

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Never judge, never condemn,
never criticize.

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Simply love them.

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Pray for them.

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And, give your own example.

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Our example tells a lot.

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We all have unbelievers,

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in our house, somewhere nearby,
at our workplace,

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and that unbeliever looks at us,
and at our life.

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We must ask ourselves whether
the love of God,

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is what they see in us.

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I will give you a nice example.

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One evening, when I went
to Holy Mass in Medjugorje,

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our church was crowded.

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I am unable to stand up very long.

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I saw a small space on one of the pews.

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I sat down.

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Our brothers and sisters
from Italy were there.

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When I sat down,

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they began to yell and complain.

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You know how temperamental
our brothers and sisters

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from Italy are.

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They all said, "Get up!
This is our bench!"

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"We got here, first!"

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So many words
in just one moment.

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I got up, and I was silent.

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One lady approached me.

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She recognized me.

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She told them that I am
one of the visionaries.

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They gave me the whole bench
just for myself.

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[Laughter]

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The reason I tell you this:

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What do you think would happen

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if I was an unbeliever?

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And I was entering the church
for the first time?

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And inside, are the ones who claim
they know the love of God?

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And they behaved toward me
in such a way?

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Would I ever enter the church again?

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And whose responsibility
would that be?

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That is something that
Our Lady tries to say.

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We can all learn
to speak nicely.

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But, Our Lady
wants our lives to speak, instead.

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That with our example, 
it can be shown

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that we are trying to live
the love of God.

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In these apparitions 
of Medjugorje,

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the most important
message of Our Lady

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is the Holy Mass.

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But, not solely on Sundays.

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When we were children,

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at the beginning of
the apparitions,

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she said on one occasion,

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"If you have to choose

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between an apparition
or Holy Mass,

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you should choose Holy Mass.

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Always.

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Because during Holy Mass,

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my Son is present, with you."

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Throughout all the years
of apparitions of Our Lady,

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Our Lady never said,

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"Pray and I will give."

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She always says,

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"Pray, so I can pray,
and ask my Son for you."

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Jesus is always in the first place.

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Many pilgrims,
when they come to Medjugorje,

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think that we visionaries
are important.

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That it is enough
to say something to us,

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that God listens to us
more than to others,

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but that thinking is wrong.

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Because, for Our Lady
as a mother,

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there are no privileged ones.

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For her, we are all
her dear children.

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She chose us,

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to speak the messages to us.

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But, she chose every single
one of you.

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That is something she said
in one of the January 2nd messages.

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She said, "Dear children,