38
8, May 1996

Today no matter which way we turn, technology is all around us. If we want to live in modern times, we simply cannot avoid it. this means it is a problem for us! Or maybe it isn't?

Our Lady often speaks about our heart. She desires that everything in it be in order. In a word, as our heart is, so we are also.

Starting from this position we will easily answer whether technology is our problem or whether it is not. It will be difficult for the one who is concerned about the purity of his heart to fall into any kind of error. And it is a mistake to say that one cannot live without technology. So it is also the same kind of mistake to see everything in that technology. The truth lies in the middle. We have to use technology, but never allow it to use us.

We cannot reject the world in which we live. It is up to us to accept it as it is and overcome all of its detours. We are sent to this world so that in it we would be the kind of witnesses that God and Our Lady desire of us.

Number of Holy Communions and Concelebrants

During the month of April at the Shrine of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Medjugorje, 72,000 Holy Communions were distributed and there were 1,548 concelebrations at Holy Mass by priests from the homeland and abroad or an average of 53 daily.

Mass for the deceased

On April 20, 1996, the feast day of St. George, the patron saint of this county, 700 faithful from the central Bosnian town of Vitez came on pilgrimage to the Queen of Peace in Medjugorje. At the shrine of Medjugorje, they celebrated Holy Mass for their deceased defenders and town folk. In the course of the war, that is, about 700 people in that town lost their life.

Prayer seminars

In addition to the already customary courses of prayer and fasting during Advent and Lent in the "Domus Pacis" House of Prayer, other kinds of seminars were also conducted.

"Help", the organization for aid to abandoned and threatened children from the area of Split, regularly organizes spiritual renewal in Medjugorje for the children in their care. So it was also this past month. The Medjugorje Franciscans organize and conduct the seminars for them and their leaders.

In the same house, the Franciscan Sisters are holding seminars for young girls of different age levels. In the course of this year seminars were held in which girls from all the parishes of Hercegovina participated. Every month the Franciscans also organize seminars for mass servers and youth of different age levels.

Promotion of Fr. Slavko Barbaric's books

At the new Franciscan monastery in Zagreb a promotion was held on April 18, 1996 for the seven books of Fr. Slavko on the theme of "Pray with the Heart". All of Fr. Slavko's books have been translated into about 20 languages and some of them have reached a million copies. They are the fruit of his long standing labor with pilgrims in Medjugorje. In the presence of a great number of the cultured and the active public in the city of Zagreb, Don Zivko Kustic, Fr. Josip Srdanovic and Dr. Ivan Kordic spoke about the works of Fr. Slavko Barbaric.

Friends of Talented Youth Fund

The Friends of Talented Youth Fund is a humanitarian association with its base in Medjugorje. Its purpose is to enable talented young people, who have limited financial capacities, to acquire a university education. Therefore, at the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb on April 19, 1996 that fund was introduced to the public of the capital city of Croatia. For the occasion, an auction was held for the sale of paintings by excellent masters of contemporary Croatian artists. The proceeds obtained at the auction are intended for the schooling of young students, members of the fore mentioned association.

The International Music Festival "Medjugorje '96"

A music spectacle entitled "Message of Peace to the World from Medjugorje" will be held June 21, 1996, in the framework of the international music festival "Medjugorje'96" and of the fifteenth anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions in the parish of Medjugorje.

At the concert there will take place the premier performance of the work "Missa de Tempore in Aevum" by the Italian composer Flavio Colusso. Participating along with Jose Carrerra will be: the Soprano Cecilia Gasdia, twelve choirs from twelve countries from all the continents, four actors to read texts from the Gospel, and the Symphony Orchestra of Croatian Radio and Television. The concert will be directed by Mr. Vjekoslav Sutej, one of the most prestigious conductors of the younger generation in the world.

Ticket sales will be conducted by "Globtour - Medjugorje" travel agency starting May 16, 1996. All necessary information may be obtained by telephone at + 387-88-651-393 and by tel/fax +387-88-650-393.

"Mediugorie - convertam-se sem demora!", Servos da Rainha, Brasilia, Brasil, 160 pp

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Last Modified 05/08/96