Dear children,

 In this joyful time of expectation of my Son, I desire that all the days of your earthly life may be a joyful

expectation of my Son.  I am calling you to holiness.  I call you to be my apostles of holiness so that, through you, the Good News may illuminate all those whom you will meet.  Fast and pray, and I will be with you.

Thank you!

St. Paul-Minneapolis, USA, a Testimony: „In Medjugorje, people are turning to God”

Some years ago when I was first a bishop in Louisiana, it must have been 1988, I was making my first "ad limina" visit to the Holy Father in Rome. The other bishops of Louisiana were with me and, as what the custom of John Paul II, we were invited in to enjoy a lunch with him.  There were eight of us at the table with him. Soup was being served.  Bishop Stanley Ott of Baton Rouge, La., who has since gone to God, asked the Holy Father: "Holy Father, what do you think of Medjugorje?"

The Holy Father kept eating his soup and responded: "Medjugorje? Medjugorje? Medjugorje? Only good things are happening at Medjugorje.  People are praying there.  People are going to Confession. People are adoring the Eucharist, and people are turning to God.  And, only good things seem to be happening at Medjugorje."

That seemed to have ended the discussion and we went on to another topic.  But, I will long remember the very skillfully cautious response of our Holy Father.

“Dear children! In this Lenten time, I call you to interior renunciation. The way to this leads you through love, fasting, prayer and good works. Only with total interior renunciation will you recognize God’s love and the signs of the time in which you live. You will be witnesses of these signs and will begin to speak about them. I desire to bring you to this. Thank you for having responded to me.“