MEDJUGORJE: “PUT MY SON FIRST” The Queen of Peace
“Dear children, as a mother, I am coming to you and showing you how much God, your Father, loves you. You, my children, where are you? What is in the first place in your heart? What is preventing you from putting my Son in the first place? Permit, my children, God’s blessing to descend upon you. May God’s peace penetrate you. The peace that my Son gives, only He” (Message of September 2, 2005).
The strongest expression of this Message is this: put my Son first. It is clear that all the Messages of the Queen of Peace are Christological, that is, they are all aimed at nourishing our faith in Jesus Christ. In the Messages to Mirjana, Our Lady often uses Trinitarian terminology to indicate the divinity of Jesus Christ; furthermore, she emphasizes the crisis of faith of our time, which is the denial that Christ is the Son of God. The dissolution of faith in Jesus Christ is typical of our time, and it is symptomatic that, for example, Pope Benedict XVI, when he was elected, dedicated the first three years of his pontificate to writing the book Jesus of Nazareth , which is certainly one of the most modern and cultured, and in a certain sense, most charismatic, works of a spiritual nature. It is not just theology; I would say that these three volumes actually edify the interior life because Benedict XVI understood that the true crisis of faith of our time concerns precisely the divinity of Jesus Christ. It’s also thought-provoking that Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey was to Nicaea, accompanied by representatives of other faith denominations, specifically to make the Profession of Faith common to all Catholics in the divinity of Jesus Christ, namely, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man. Herein lies the difference between Christianity and all other religions: Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Today, however, this affirmation is crumbling because modern man wants to put himself in the place of God. In this context of mass apostasy, in which humanity celebrates itself and thus denies salvation through Jesus Christ, the Messages to Mirjana fit in, particularly because of the way in which the divinity of Jesus Christ is affirmed.
In this Message, Our Lady once again presents herself to us as Mother. Mary’s motherhood is universal; it concerns not only Catholics, but all men; we are all children of God, in act or in potentiality. However, the Church says that through ways known to God, that is, through ways known to the Holy Spirit, salvation can come to every man through the heart. Never forget this universal aspect of salvation. The Church has never said that those who belong to other religions go to hell, never. The Church says that Christ’s salvation is universal; it is offered to all men through known ways, which are those of preaching, and through unknown ways, which are those known only to God. God speaks to the heart, but the offer of salvation is made to all men, and their destiny depends on this response; therefore, it is possible to find Catholics in hell and some of those of other religions in heaven precisely because they are people who have prayed as much as they could, have followed their conscience as much as they could.
Even in the Gospel, at the end, there’s the centurion who believes, looking at the Crucifix, and says, “Truly this was the Son of God,” not to mention the figure of the good thief. Salvation is a truly extraordinary mystery, but the most severe judgment will be passed on those who, having had faith, later deny it.
In this Message, Our Lady says that with her presence among us she demonstrates her love, but she asks us where we are and how we have responded to her call. After more than forty years, we can say that Our Lady is here, that she has shown us through her presence, her Messages, how much the Heavenly Father loves us. But how have we responded? It is an examination of conscience to which Our Lady calls us, in fact she subsequently asks: “What is first in your heart?” Now, at this point we should do an examination of conscience: what is in my heart? What are the loves of my heart? Is Jesus in my heart, his love, his light, his peace, his joy? Do I seek him? Do I speak with him, listen to his voice, let myself be taken by the hand, place myself under his protection, bear witness to his presence, put his Commandments into practice? Is Mary, my Mother, in my heart, who has been here for so long to enlighten me with her Messages, to take me by the hand, to guide me? Is there Heaven in my heart?
Our Lady asks us what comes first in our hearts. Let us accept this question without hiding, without justification. Let us think about how much God loves us and examine ourselves in the light of his love. How small our love is, how calculating, how wavering, how at the mercy of the false loves that prevail. What comes first in our hearts? This is a question Our Lady asks us. What prevents us from putting her Son first? False loves, false attachments, our ego with all its ramifications, all its greed, all its impure desires, all its desire to prevail, to impose itself. Our ego prevents Jesus from putting himself first. Therefore, if we want Jesus to grow in us, our ego must diminish, that is, the hunger of the flesh that desires honor, that desires glory, that desires to eat the world, to be nourished by the world.
So, all this causes our hunger for the absolute to slowly diminish and then die out. What prevents us from putting Jesus first? Perhaps there is some grave sin we have committed and to which we are prisoners; some situation of hatred, some situation of impurity, some situation of selfishness, of impiety, because when we choose the path of sin we also become blasphemers. Well, the first step is to turn to God so that his mercy may descend upon us. When we are dominated by evil, the first thing we must do is say: “Lord, deliver me from evil. I have this grave illness which is my selfishness; you are my doctor, heal me.” We must die to ourselves so that Christ may grow in us. Here, very simply, is Christian asceticism in all its beauty, in all its grandeur.
Our Lady then says: “Allow, my children, God’s blessing to descend upon you.” His blessing, his love, are the medicine that heals us. This, however, requires the humility of prayer, placing ourselves before God, opening our hearts in humility, and asking God to heal us. The physician of this worldliness that disfigures us is the Lord; let us ask that his blessing descend upon us. Let us approach the Sacrament of Penance, pray before the Cross, that God may heal our wounds, so that as God’s grace descends into our hearts and prevails, we may experience his peace, which does not remain as something external, but permeates us so that we become men of peace. We are of doves, not of serpents.
“The peace that only My Son gives” —here, in practice, spiritual warfare is proposed in its entirety. Let us clear away our overbearing ego with all its ramifications, let Christ grow within us so that He may take possession of us, and with Him His peace, His joy, His love. Thus, we become blessed people who bless the world. We are saved people who save the world. We are luminous people who illuminate the world. This is how our salvation and that of others comes about.
This is the spiritual battle we must wage every day so that God may grow within us, so that his peace may grow within us. The greatest treasure is God’s love, which is available to everyone, at every moment of our day. Let’s go to church more, let’s place ourselves before the Blessed Sacrament, and we will leave with peace in our hearts.
