Pray with the heart, Fr Slavko Barbarić (review)

He knew… every corner of Medjugorje, every prayer and every longing. Fr Slavko knew all that very well, how to put his knowledge into the words, nicely and modestly. Just like autumn rain, those words occasionally tap faster and sometimes slowly. The beauty of the rain can not always be experienced. Sometimes it happens that we pass by and passing under the drops we leave not enchanted by the beauty of the blessings. Fr Slavko’s words are a real blessing, Our Lady’s gift to us, through him. Just as we conveyed Our Lady’s messages in the last book’s review to be a vessels, which transmit the gifts, now through this book we can find a way to shape our vessel. In this book, Fr. Slavko introduces us with prayer, how to pray in Medjugorje? How to pray the rosary? How to pray at adoration? How to pray the way of the cross? How to prepare for holy confession? How to pray morning and evening prayers? This book contains beautiful meditative prayers and personal questions for each of us. 

Let’s start with the introduction written by Jakov Bubalo. Many thanks to him.

"Our time is a time of prayer. The people of our time, who are always in a hurry, do stop to pray after all. They do so because they feel an instinctive need to talk to God, to tell Him what they are unable to tell someone else, not even their dearest friends, because they know that God is the closest and most intimate friend a person can have. Therefore, dear reader, if you want to be close to and more intimate with our greatest friend, Jesus Christ, THEN STOP AND REFLECT ON THIS BOOK. It will teach you in a simple way to love God and your neighbour.” Then continues: “ We have read many books about prayer. This book is a prayer. This book does not deal with how we should pray, but prays, as every Christian should pray – from heart to heart, from soul to soul, from the painful cry of a wretched man to the merciful response of the God-man.”

At the beginning we mentioned a rain but Jakov in this chapter mentiones rivers and streams of grace and wonders:”Shall we bypass them?” then answers: “Of course, we are not going to allow something like that! This wonderful book, written by a spiritual scientist, Fr Slavko Barbarić, speaks in a wonderful and simple way of the beauty of Christian spirituality. Whoever reads this book, will be spiritually enriched.”

A preface begins with the following words: ”When you come to Medjugorje…” and while reading the book we feel us  there, even if we are not standing at the Apparition hill or Križevac at that moment. Leading us through the words: ”Dear pilgrim” and direct us to the road to Križevac and then to Apparittion hill just as he imagined and had done with thousand of pilgrims for years. He continues to guide the reader through Our Lady’s messages from which these prayers were made of. Somewhere at the end he wrote this chapter: “When you return home”… and again ended with the words ”dear pilgrim” and wrote: “Yes, one has to return home(…) At home, you have your own Cross Mountain, your own cross and your own suffering. You left it at home and it is waiting for you. But have no fear. Križevac is not more difficult to climb than your Cross Mountain back home, but it became undrestandable and accessible for many since, by the will of God, the lower hill, the Apparition Hill, became a place a place of intense communion with God through Mary. Therefore, although your Cross Mountain back home - often built with troubles and sufferings for which you are neither responsible nor to blame - is standing and waiting for you, build a smaller hill next to it, build your own Apparition Hill, your own Mount Tabor…"

If You are courage to find out more of these beautiful fragments and prayers You may buy the book in the link below:

Pray with the heart, Fr Slavko Barbarić