Medjugiorje: “United to Mary it is possible to go beyond time and space.”…Sr. Stefania Consoli’s powerful words are like a song that sticks with the head for the day and into the night that helps you rest.

Beyond all possible thoughts and imagination. Beyond all possible capabilities and merits. Beyond all possible plans. Such is Mary’s presence at Medjugorje. She is present, beyond all possible human logic; beyond all possible will to keep or ignore her; beyond all possible human law and reasoning.
For nearly 25 years the Blessed Virgin has been visiting Medjugorje to visit her children who still belong to time and space, to help them cross the frontier; now, here on earth.

HOW? Prayer: continuous and free of all schemes. Sacrifice: loving and generous. Holy Mass: fully participated and celebrated with life. The Word:lived in a continuous liturgy, that makes of us living gospels. All this, together with an unconditioned acceptance of the Mother, makes us citizens of Heaven even though our feet are on the ground; and it helps us to be sincere witnesses of the kingdom that awaits us beyond the frontiers of death, but which is already here in our midst… or rather, inside of us.

Mary came to remind us; she came to renew in us the news that She herself had accepted from the angel that day in which the Word became flesh in her womb; the news of God becoming one of us to lead us back to Himself, to pull us out of the world of corruptibility that degrades our nature, and to show us how to raise ourselves to a dimension where we are immune to all forms of corruption.
But to understand we must above all allow Mary to enter our life – really and naturally. It is no longer time for mere devotions towards formulae or images, even if our sophisticated world wants us to believe that only what we see and own is true. So that we are not deceived we must allow the invisible to transpire – the invisible of what our inner gaze has accepted and acknowledged as true.

WHAT OUGHT WE DO? It’s as easy as breathing; because Mary is like fresh air. Mary’s “fresh pureness” reassures the soul, gives new oxygen to the spirit, and gives new vigour to tired limbs. Her fresh-ness invigorates the blood, giving new desire to live, to be, and to rejoice.

All this can be seized when at Medjugorje our feet quickly climb over the stones of the hill where Mary appeared 25 years ago: Podbrdo, which I like to call Mother’s Hill. If you listen carefully, in the silence of your heart, you will hear her breathing, ever so lightly, as she caresses and embraces you; and you will feel her motherly kiss.

She will speak to you, to make you feel her invisible yet absolutely real presence. And when you descend from the hill you will say in your heart: “Mary is here. I met her; for she called me, awaited me, and embraced me.”

And what ought we do when back home after visiting this place of grace? Back home, back in our little worlds made up of relationships, duties, commitments and timetables, Mary should transpire from our soul! After having absorbed her, her presence should overflow into the air, so that others may perceive and breathe in her perfume, and be pervaded by her, and filled with her. As fresh air through an open window, the Blessed Virgin will renew them. Then, the invisible will become visible. The Eternal One will break through time and break down the frontiers.

WITH MARY THERE IS AMPLE SPACE. It takes courage; courage to adventure through her Heart, without fearing the lack of limits that man normally creates round himself. We are used to structures, to tracks, to the narrow laws of human customs that we build out of fear of the unknown that we cannot control. United to Mary it is possible to go beyond time and space, where our beings dilate as much as God allows. Then, we will enjoy every fullness that our soul is capable of.
Mary is present, but she does not let herself be captured. She gives herself, but she does not let herself be possessed, or used. Like Jesus, she is a pilgrim on the way to Palestine.
The Queen of Peace has been with us for nearly 25 years to lead us in this time which is treacherous, but also precious for our souls. And she leads us with all the grace that fills her, wrenching from God extra time to teach us, console us, confirm us and exhort us.

SHE HAS SAID MUCH WITH HER MESSAGES. And she has prayed much more, also loved more, and most likely suffered as she looks down on her children who are so often distracted, closed, indifferent, or even unwilling. I think the time has come for an honest and realistic summing up, to understand with greater clarity the project that God wants to realize through Medjugorje: that is, to responsibly grasp the situation and decide to respond ever more sincerely to the calls of Mary, a Mother who never forgets to thank us for “having responded to her call.”