The bombing of Iraq resumed this week. I thought of us being close to
Christmas and how the angels sang on that first Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men of good will.”
In one of Our Lady’s messages from Medjugorje, she said that people long for
peace in a world where there is no peace. Perhaps more than ever, at this time, Our Lady’s
words ring true.
In 1988, Our Lady told Father Gobbi that in ten years, it would all be “over
with.” That means by 1998
One thing I do feel strongly about, and I hope I am wrong, is that the
bombing of Iraq could be the beginning of an escalation of bombing and suffering by the involvement of
other countries.
When I was a child in grade school, I was told the story of Our Lady’s
appearances in Fatima. I was taught that Our Lady said that if we do not pray the rosary and make
sacrifices for sinners, there would be a third world war and whole nations would be destroyed. She also
said that war is a punishment for sin. (The Lord knows that our world is more sinful than ever
and that it cannot continue in this way of darkness without God permitting us to suffer greatly, due to
our own sins, or without God directly intervening to “wake this world up.”)
When hearing this, as a child, I wondered then if a third world war might
involve China. After all, they have the largest number of people within a nation, a strong army that is
veritably disciplined.
Could the bombing of Iraq bring other countries into the fray? I think it
could and in light of the fact that China and Russia have both condemned the action of the United States
in bombing Iraq, I would not be surprised, if in some way, they (and especially the Chinese), will be
involved and that a third world war could develop.
We live pretty complacently, don’t we? We feel very distant from any
suffering like that endured by innocent people of Iraq. We don’t think that kind of suffering would ever
“hurt” us. Perhaps we have developed a movie mentality. That is, the violence we see in movies have
somehow hardened us to the real violence in our world.
I don’t know! I hope I’m wrong.
In the bombing of Iraq, it is possible that we do not begin to know how much
we’ve “bit off.” Maybe far more than we can chew.
In the last week prior to Christmas, it is a sad thing that I write this kind
of article. The word Our Lady of Medjugorje has said most to us is: “PRAY!” If we aren’t doing enough
of that, WE MUST START. Forget all that Christmas shopping. Give your family and friends the
gift of Masses and prayer!
Not enough for you? Maybe the day is coming soon enough when we will BEG
people to pray for us and the material things of this world won’t begin to have the
importance to us that they do now.
DEAR GOD, AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO US, GIVE US THE GRACE TO LOVE
EACH OTHER AS YOU LOVE US.
God bless us, everyone!