About the Author
Fr Slavko Barbarić, OFM, was born near Medjugorje in 1946. He was ordained a priest in 1971. He studied philosophy and pastoral theology in Sarajevo and Schwaz (Austria) and obtained his master’s degree in 1973 in Graz, Austria. He gained his doctorate in religious education in 1982 in Freiburg, Germany.
Fr Slavko began working with the pilgrims in Medjugorje in January 1982. He conducted numerous retreats and tirelessly spoke about the events of Medjugorje all over the world. He wrote many articles for various publications and is the author of many books on the spirituality of Medjugorje. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.
Fr Slavko died on November 24, 2000, at 3.30 PM, on Mount Križevac (Cross Mountain) in Medjugorje, after having prayed the Stations of the Cross with the parishioners.
About This Book
To celebrate Holy Mass, to take part in the eucharistic sacrifice, means to be in the most beautiful school of life. In Holy Mass, we learn how to live and how to die, what to live for and what to die for. We receive friendship and love, which empower us to love without expecting human answers in return, to forgive when others do not forgive, to be merciful in this unmerciful world, and to give ourselves with love to both friends and foes. When we take part in the eucharistic sacrifice, we rise to a new life; we become the bread of life, the light and the way in this world full of poisonous food, darkness and wilderness. When we take part in the eucharistic sacrifice, we are healed in order to bring healing; we are sanctified in order to invite others to sanctification. We receive the mission to go and bear peace. This is why it is said: “Go in peace!”
When we take part in the eucharistic sacrifice, we – who are broken by evil and sin and bound by the chains of death – rise to a new life of joy and of fellowship with God and men. We come tired and we leave restored. We come as we are and we go as we could be, and we receive strength to become what we could be. When we take part in the eucharistic sacrifice, we become grateful eucharistic people that are, in loving simplicity, ready to cooperate with God and with men in the creation of a new world.
The Author Speaks
This book is also the fruit of the experience that I had as a priest in Medjugorje. On the one hand, I have seen the inexhaustible spiritual inspiration that comes from eucharistic celebrations, for which I had to prepare myself in prayer and meditation, and on the other hand I have realised what a danger stalks many priests, religious and believers: if they do not prepare themselves for Holy Mass and if they are not giving thanks after Mass, they may completely miss the encounter with Christ. For them, Holy Mass can become just a daily or a weekly chore that has to be done.
Dear reader and believer, my desire for this booklet is to help you to become aware of what Mary, Mother of the living Eucharist, wants to teach us: to grow permanently in devoted love as we drink at the inexhaustible source of the eucharistic love of God, which is the only love that can make us a people of peace – and peace is possible only where and when people become able to give their lives unconditionally for others, as Christ the High Priest is doing. The Eucharist means to be able to accept the divine gift and to give oneself in a divine way.
Themes
The Holy Bible Prepares Us for the Eucharist
Our Lady’s Messages and Teachings
Preparing for Mass
Celebrate Mass With Your Heart!
Let Your Life Be a Mass
Fasting and the Eucharist
Confession and the Eucharist
Prayers before and after Mass
Eucharistic Hymns
Publisher: ICMM
Author: Fr Slavko Barbarić
Language: English
Original language: Croatian
Translation / Review: Lidija Paris / Fr Leon Pereira O.P.
Edited in 2018
Size: 195 x 120
180 pages
