Our Lady's Little Stone: The Holy Bible

The statue of Our Lady at Apparition Hill, which commemorates Her first apparition to the visionaries. 

Today's post on the "Holy Bible" is the last in a series of posts I have been publishing on Our Lady's "little stones," the spiritual weapons that she has given us for our earthly pilgrimage.

The analogy of the "little stones" is in reference to the battle of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) in which God gave little stones to David to hurl at and defeat Goliath. Our Lady has also given us Her "little stones" in our battle to hurl at our enemy, Satan.

If we want to be successful in our battle and defeat the Evil One, we must employ the spiritual weapons that Our Lady had recommended.

If this is the first time you have read anything on Medjugorje and Our Lady's "little stones," the subject matter refers to the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Herzegovina (officially Bosnia and Herzegovina) that began on June 24, 1981. Our Lady appeared to six children who have become the six visionaries of Medjugorje. All six are alive, in their mid 40's and continue to receive apparitions from Our Lady.

Today, Medjugorje has become the spiritual center of world where so many fruits are harvested at this spiritual orchard: vocations to the priesthood and religious life, spiritual, emotional, physical and psychological healing, conversions, answers found to life questions, miracles of all types, where confessions are heard daily, where there are daily recitations of the entire Rosary, several daily Mass celebrations and a host of ministries, all of which spot light how God and Our Lady's love and graces are overflowing in Medjugorje.

If you are new to the Medjugorje apparitions, you might also be wondering why Our Lady has been appearing for all these years. The answer is simple.  Our Lady Queen of Peace, as she introduced herself to the children, loves us (all her children) and wants to help us. Here is an excerpt from one of Medjugorje.com's articles in which Ivan Dragicevic (one of the visionaries) in his August 31, 2009, talk to pilgrims, expressed the following: 

The second thing that I would like to tell you is, Mother is coming to us as the Mother of the Church, and She comes here in order to help us. She comes to us because She wants to console us, and to encourage us. She is coming here because She wants to give us that divine medicine, She wants to cure all our pains. She comes to us, because She wants to take our hands, and She wants to bring us towards peace, towards Her Son. Only in Her Son is our peace. Our Lady says, “Dear children, today, more than ever,” as you know, today’s world, mankind goes through a great crisis, and maybe the largest crisis in today’s world is that crisis of believing in God, having faith in God.

So what exactly is Our Lady telling us about the Holy Bible? Our Lady is asking us for the Bible to be included in our families. This is what has been communicated to the six visionaries. Today's post also quotes Mirjana Soldo who stated that when Our Lady had given her the message about the Bible, Our Lady did not explain it. Like everyone one of us, Mirjana has to pray about the messages to understand them. Specifically with respect to the message of the Bible, Mirjana expressed her understanding as follows:

...You see, when Our Lady gives me the message, She doesn’t explain the message to me. It is the same like every single one of you, I also have to pray in order to understand through my prayer what God desires to tell me through that message. So when Our Lady talks about the Bible, I think that we all have a Bible in our homes, but Our Lady has a desire for us to open it, to read a few sentences every day, it doesn’t matter how much, but that the Bible is really present, and not to have it as a souvenir that we never touched. Our Lady says all the answers to your questions are in the Bible...

Our Lady's "little stone" of the Holy Bible, is a message that is clear and simple to follow. The only question that remains is, are we going to live Our Lady's messages and welcome the teachings of Christ in our families?  If we say "yes" to that question, we will by our life example, show that we belong to Our Lady and follow Christ in our daily lives.

Much in the same way that the other four "little stones," demand our time and effort for their daily employment, so too must we do likewise with the daily reading of the Bible. Even if it is for a few minutes, the reading will have significance in our lives and help us on our faith journey. Below are a few messages from Our Lady on the importance of reading the BIble each day:

• October 18, 1984: "Dear children! Today I call on you to read the Bible every day in your homes and let it be in a visible place so as always to encourage you to read it and to pray. Thank you for having responded to my call." 
• June 25,1991: "Dear children! Today on this great day which you have given to me, I desire to bless all of you and to say: these days while I am with you are days of grace. I desire to teach you and help you to walk the way of holiness. There are many people who do not desire to understand my messages and to accept with seriousness what I am saying. But you I therefore call and ask that by your lives and by your daily living you witness my presence. If you pray, God will help you to discover the true reason for my coming. Therefore, little children, pray and read the Sacred Scriptures so that through my coming you discover the message in Sacred Scripture for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." 
• August 25, 1993: "Dear children! I want you to understand that I am your Mother, that I want to help you and call you to prayer. Only by prayer can you understand and accept my messages and practice them in your life. Read Sacred Scripture, live it, and pray to understand the signs of the times. This is a special time, therefore, I am with you to draw you close to my heart and the heart of my Son, Jesus. Dear little children, I want you to be children of the light and not of the darkness. Therefore, live what I am telling you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
• September 25, 1999: "Dear children! Today again I call you to become carriers of my peace. In a special way, now when it is being said that God is far away, He has truly never been nearer to you. I call you to renew prayer in your families by reading the Sacred Scripture and to experience joy in meeting with God who infinitely loves His creatures. Thank you for having responded to my call."
• April 25, 2005: "Dear children! Also today, I call you to renew prayer in your families. By prayer and the reading of Sacred Scripture, may the Holy Spirit, who will renew you, enter into your families. In this way, you will become teachers of the faith in your family. By prayer and your love, the world will set out on a better way and love will begin to rule in the world. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Let us not neglect to include the Bible in our personal and family life. Spending quiet time dedicated to reading scripture brings us to an encounter with God. Our Bible reading will become a time where answers to questions are given and new lessons are learned. With each reading of the Bible, we will be further rooted in Christ's teachings, and thus, better understand how to live our lives as individuals, within our families and with those who we communicate and come into contact with.

Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.