Mother, lead us to peace / Fr. Slavko Barbarić
Reflections on the Monthly messages of Our Lady in Medjugorje - 1990 to 1994
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
In this book you will find Our Lady’s messages given in Medjugorje from July 1990 to December 1994, and the reflections that Fr. Slavko Barbarić gave on them. Were you to ask yourself why he has chosen this particular span of time, you will see that in the message of July 1990, Our Lady used the word PEACE seven times. When she gave us that message, there was no way for us to know that this could be related to the situation in the world at that particular moment.
However, only several days later Iraq invaded Kuwait, and another few days later, on 17 August 1990, serious tensions started also in Croatia, when the first barricades went up. Only in reading the messages in hindsight does one really come to realise how Mary was accompanying us and telling us everything, but also how we were blind and deaf.
Often people ask: Did Mary say anything about the war? Now we can say that she did. When we look at her words now, we see that she said what every mother would say when her child gets into a car: Watch out and drive carefully! She does not speak of an accident, but she says whatever is necessary for the accident not to happen. If an accident actually happens, one can say that she spoke about it, and that, in some way or another, she took into account the possibility of it. You will also notice that in both December messages of 1990 and 1994, Our Lady pronounced the word PEACE seven times. Shortly after the December 1990 message, the American alliance took back Kuwait and defeated Iraq.
The Author Speaks
In these messages, Mary gives us new impulses and awakens our hopes. She speaks as someone who knows the situation, someone who knows us and who loves us, someone who never leaves us and who thanks us for our fidelity. She also emphasises that she cannot help us if we do not respond to her call.
Mary gives us these messages with great love, and I wish to share with you these messages and my reflections with much love as well. If we accept them in our hearts with love, they will bear good fruits in our lives. So please accept them, and they will bear good fruits for all of us. May these messages and these reflections give you some substantial nourishment on your path to God. Should you experience your own situations of war, may they help you to stay on the right path. Should you meet someone who lives in situations of conflict, then you, who will have read and meditated on these messages, will be able to help him.
It is a most certainly unique situation in the world that Mary, the Mother of God and the Queen of Peace, warns of a possible war ten years in advance and accompanies the faithful all through it. However, she did not come to speak about war, but rather to tell us that, even if war happens, peace is possible.
God knows us, He knows our history, the history of the Church and of the whole world, and He is not indifferent. He speaks to us in these times through Mary, who is the Queen of the Prophets, who is a prophet herself and speaks as a prophet. We hope to find some day peace again.
Publisher: ICMM
Author: Fr Slavko Barbarić
Language: English
Review: Lidija Paris / Fr. Leon Pereira OP
Edited in 2024
