Ivan Speaks about Family Prayer
By June Klins
On April 26, 2008, Ivan Dragicevic spoke in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I was blessed to have been present for his talk and the apparition of Our Lady. Although I have heard Ivan speak many times, I took notes anyway since there was no video or audio recording permitted, and there is always something I need to hear again. When I looked over my notes, I noticed that Ivan seemed to emphasize a central theme of family prayer.
Ivan said, “Prayer has evaporated from the family. Parents don’t have time for one another any more.” He lamented that there is too much infidelity in marriage and so many broken families. Too many young people live away from their families and the morals have gone down. He said to the parents, “Open yourselves to your children,” and to the children, he said, “Open yourselves to your parents.”
Ivan continued, “Prayer must return to families. Many times we are asked why there are no vocations to the priesthood. It is because there is no family prayer. If we pray in families there will be vocations, there will be fruits…If we return to prayer, our families will be healed. Our Lady said that our world today is spiritually ill. We cannot have bodily healing without spiritual healing. She brings ‘heavenly medication’ for our sores and wounds. She comes to us because She is concerned about our salvation.”
Ivan said that Our Lady does not come to criticize us or tell us about the end of the world or the Second Coming of Jesus. She comes to bring hope to our families and to our Church. “The family must be a chapel where we start praying. Christ’s words must be lived in the family itself. The world has a future only if it turns back to God. We are pilgrims traveling on this Earth.”
Then Ivan spoke about the concrete things Our Lady asks us to do. “Our Lady calls for monthly Confession, Adoration, reading the Bible in the family and praying the Rosary in the family. The Bible should be spiritual food for our lives.”
Ivan decried, “If you could see Our Lady for one second, I don’t think your life would be interesting any more.” He said the most important message of Our Lady is prayer from the heart. He advised, “Do not look at your watch when praying or answer the phone when you are praying.”
He also mentioned that Our Lady would like us to form prayer groups, but we are not doing it. She wants us to pray for three hours a day, and that includes Mass, Bible reading, praying the Rosary, family prayer, helping others by good deeds. Ivan said, “How selfish we can get when it comes to prayer… to pray better is a grace given to those who pray more. When someone loves something they always make time for it.”
Ivan went on to describe the apparition that evening and that Our Lady came with 3 angels. There was no public message that evening because we had just gotten a public message through Marija the day before.
Editor’s note: The full text of Ivan’s talk in South Bend, IN, on March 19, 2009, can be heard on the website www.marytv.tv. For those without internet access, you can contact us for a free audio cassette of a talk given by Ivan in Ohio in 2004.
By June Klins
On April 26, 2008, Ivan Dragicevic spoke in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I was blessed to have been present for his talk and the apparition of Our Lady. Although I have heard Ivan speak many times, I took notes anyway since there was no video or audio recording permitted, and there is always something I need to hear again. When I looked over my notes, I noticed that Ivan seemed to emphasize a central theme of family prayer.
Ivan said, “Prayer has evaporated from the family. Parents don’t have time for one another any more.” He lamented that there is too much infidelity in marriage and so many broken families. Too many young people live away from their families and the morals have gone down. He said to the parents, “Open yourselves to your children,” and to the children, he said, “Open yourselves to your parents.”
Ivan continued, “Prayer must return to families. Many times we are asked why there are no vocations to the priesthood. It is because there is no family prayer. If we pray in families there will be vocations, there will be fruits…If we return to prayer, our families will be healed. Our Lady said that our world today is spiritually ill. We cannot have bodily healing without spiritual healing. She brings ‘heavenly medication’ for our sores and wounds. She comes to us because She is concerned about our salvation.”
Ivan said that Our Lady does not come to criticize us or tell us about the end of the world or the Second Coming of Jesus. She comes to bring hope to our families and to our Church. “The family must be a chapel where we start praying. Christ’s words must be lived in the family itself. The world has a future only if it turns back to God. We are pilgrims traveling on this Earth.”
Then Ivan spoke about the concrete things Our Lady asks us to do. “Our Lady calls for monthly Confession, Adoration, reading the Bible in the family and praying the Rosary in the family. The Bible should be spiritual food for our lives.”
Ivan decried, “If you could see Our Lady for one second, I don’t think your life would be interesting any more.” He said the most important message of Our Lady is prayer from the heart. He advised, “Do not look at your watch when praying or answer the phone when you are praying.”
He also mentioned that Our Lady would like us to form prayer groups, but we are not doing it. She wants us to pray for three hours a day, and that includes Mass, Bible reading, praying the Rosary, family prayer, helping others by good deeds. Ivan said, “How selfish we can get when it comes to prayer… to pray better is a grace given to those who pray more. When someone loves something they always make time for it.”
Ivan went on to describe the apparition that evening and that Our Lady came with 3 angels. There was no public message that evening because we had just gotten a public message through Marija the day before.
Editor’s note: The full text of Ivan’s talk in South Bend, IN, on March 19, 2009, can be heard on the website www.marytv.tv. For those without internet access, you can contact us for a free audio cassette of a talk given by Ivan in Ohio in 2004.
Last edited by Our-Lady-Of-Victory on Sat May 30, 2009 12:02 am; edited 1 time in total