This message was given on Holy Thursday, 1984
The Pleading of our Sorrowful Mother -
"Dear Children! Sympathise with me! Pray, pray, pray!"
These few words can tell us more than any long message. On the eve of Good Friday, we sense the heart-rending cry of our Blessed Mother to her children not to be lukewarm and indifferent. 'Have you no feelings for me?', "Why can't you accept me and my love for you?' -- she might say to us, not just to the people of Medjugorje. Perhaps there are times when we are showing indifference towards God's loving plan for us and there is the good Mother, anxious on our behalf, trying desperately to warm our hearts towards her and towards Jesus her Son. Have you still got barriers in you which prevent you from opening yourself to Mary, the Mother of Sorrows?
Our Blessed Lady's simple request 'Pray, pray, pray' is very meaningful, too. About a year before, through Jelena Vasilj again, she explained the meaning of these words.
"When I say 'Pray, pray, pray!' I don't mean only increase the hours of prayer, but increase the desire to pray and to be in contact with God, to be in a continuous prayerful state of mind."
Have we such desire in our hearts? Perhaps that is what we are lacking. So, let us pray for the gift of prayer, even if we cannot ask for it properly. The Holy Spirit will come to our aid, as St. Paul assures us (Romans 8:26).