Dr. fra Mario Knezović
PROPOVIJED
BLAGDAN BL. IVANA MERZA
10. svibnja 2023.
Župa bl. Ivana Merza, Zagreb – Špansko
Nastojat u biti što glasniji kako bi vi pod kišobranima uz kapi i rosu kiše mogli čuti, razumjeti i na uho i što još važnije primiti srcem. Jedan naš fratar mudar i učen kad bi govorio o stanju svijeta sve bi nekako završavao jednom svojom izrekom koja je glasila u jednoj pučkoj misli, a zapravo velikoj stvarnosti i činjenici. Kaže on, živimo u vremenu gdje laž obiđe cijeli svijet, a istina još ni obuću nije obula. On bi rekao opanke. Laž je obišla cijeli svijet, a istina se tek obuva. Ona je spora, htio je reći.
Mi, braćo i sestre, ako itko, naš narod i naša Crkva smo oblijepljeni različitim etiketama, stereotipima. Nekako nas se stalno želi etiketirati. Ne da nas se obilježi, nego da nas se diskvalificira kao autentične ljude, vjernike. Tako ćete često čuti, pa čak i od nekih koji se hoće nazvati i teološkim analitičarima, kažu da je Crkva u Hrvatskoj i Bosni i Hercegovini previše kleronacionalistička, da ne kažem da pridjevaju često i s onim ‘klerofašistička’. Da oni imaju imalo znanja o ovome čovjeku, svecu, premda je službeno blaženik, Ivanu Merzu, onda njihova teza ne stoji ili bi im ovaj fratar stari kazao kako im teorija ‘ne pije vode.’.
Mi smo se danas ovdje i po kiši okupili slaviti blagdan jednoga vjernika laika. Nije ni klerik nego vjernik iz običnog puka, rekli bismo. Nije ni Hrvat ni po majci ni po ocu. Otac mu Nijemac, majka Židovka. Po toj mjeri ovih lijevo-liberalno, crveno-partijskih analitičara nije mu onda mjesto u Crkvi u Hrvata jer nije to Hrvat. Mi se danas, ne samo divimo, nego i nasljedujemo primjer ovog blaženika po krvi Nijemca i po krvi Židova. Zato što je kroz njega u biti tekla jedna krv, a to je krv Isusa Krista, jer se sjedinjavao u otajstvu Euharistije s Isusom na najmističnije načine. Toliko ćemo napisa pronaći kako sa slatkoćom ushita ovaj blaženik govori o otajstvo tijela i krvi Isusa Krista. Kaže ‘to kad uzmem ja imam osjećaj da nikakve boli, nikakve patnje, nikakve kušnje, nikakve sumnje, ma ništa me ne može više nadvladati u moje žile uđe otajstvo moga Boga po tijelu i krvi Isusovoj’. E to je naš blaženik, braćo moja i sestre. Mi bismo rekli točno model, ako se o tome može tako govoriti. Model ili prototip blaženika koji je potreban današnjem, ovom našem suvremenom vremenu. Živimo u floskulama. Slušamo razne izvještaje kako su vjernici većinom oni koji su zatucani, iz ruralnih sredina, manje obrazovani i nisu vidjeli svijeta. Opet ih demantira Blaženik. Bio je jedan od najvećih intelektualaca, znanstvenika, koji je živio na našim područjima. Poliglot, koji je govorio osam ili devet svjetskih jezika u tom vremenu. Čovjek znanja, umjetnosti. Školovao se na pariškoj Sorbonni, a i danas ih tamo rijetko imamo.
Vidite braćo moja i sestre, kako mi kršćani bivamo stalno izloženi etiketama koje nemaju svoje utemeljenje u argumentima niti u istini. Nego laž obilazi cijeli svijet, a mi danas ovdje, vama kažem, žurnije malo: Obuću svoju stavite na noge kako bi mogli biti kao apostoli, a Ivan Merz je apostolat naglašavao: poći ovim svijetom naviještati Isusa Krista raspetoga, jedinog Spasitelja svijeta. To je zadatak koji je shvatio, razumio i u djelo proveo naš uzornik i blaženik Ivan Merz. Sve je počelo nekako dublje baš u danima njegovog školovanja, baš kad mnoge druge zahvati taj mamon scijentizma i znanja kad se rodi taština u veličinama, diplomama, titulama, predznacima, imenima i nazivima. On ulazi u otajstvo Boga. Čak se malo i njegova majka „zabrinula“ i ona piše svom sinu pismo. ‘Sine moj što se to s tobom događa? Samo si mi u molitvi, u otajstvu itd.’. Sačuvano je to pismo i imamo ga prigodu čitati osobito o tom vremenu kad se vodio postupak beatifikacije za Blaženika. On je svojoj rođenoj majci Židovki pisao ovako: ‘Mama, mama moj život se vrti oko Isusa Krista i držim se istinitosti vjere. Nisam se ja majko moja izgubio, ja sam se konačno pronašao!’. Nekako me ovo nuka danas razmisliti, braćo i sestre, o našem vremenu.
Sretnemo i mi svećenici, govorim iz iskustva, kada neki mladić ili djevojka „malo više pohađaju crkvu“, a onda se roditelji zabrinu jer ovo naše pogano, grešno i preljubničko okruženje kao da želi reći ‘ma nije nešto u redu s njim, nije u redu sa njom’. Ali dok ispunjavaju lokale, noćne disko klubove, ispijaju tko zna kakve koktele koji ih omame na blud i nemoral, to kao da nije problem današnjim roditeljima i majkama te ne pišu pisma svom djetetu: ‘Gdje si? Što činiš i što radiš?’. Vidite, braćo i sestre, a Blaženik naš Ivan Merz je potanko vodio svoj dnevnik. To je odlika mnogih drugih svetaca, mističarki. Imamo i onaj lijepi spis Povijest jedne duše, od svete Male Terezije i tako dalje. On u svom dnevniku zapisuje, ne da bi ostavio uspomene nama danas ovdje, pa da ga se sjećamo u nekakvoj njegovoj komemoraciji imena i znanja, nego on piše svoj dnevnik kako bi svaki dan popravljao svoj život i suobličavao ga jedinoj slici koja postoji i koja je najljepša na svijetu. To je lice Isusa Krista i to popljuvana, krvlju oblivena. To je zapisivao, svoja mistična iskustva. Nije se kao mi danas možda kitio objavama na društvenim mrežama gdje smo pohodili neku popularnu destinaciju, što smo pojeli, gdje smo se malo izazovno, gotovo pornografski obukli da nas ovaj svijet svojim požudnim očiju guta. Ne, nije on išao tim putem njega je zanimala ona stvar koju nam je Isus ostavio u zadaću. A znadeš li dragi kršćanski puče što je tvoja i moja zadaća? Budite, kaže, sveti, budite sveti, savršeni. Ništa manje od toga. On je to činio zato je mogao braniti Crkvu. Ne deklarativno, nego životom. I on govori da je najveća stvar koja postoji na svijetu Crkva, a u Crkvi euharistija, a u euharistiji pretvorba. Zato danas s radošću možemo ovdje vidjeti vaša lica, ali s bolom ćemo konstatirati da mnogi danas, nazovi vjernici, misle da mogu živjeti svoje kršćanstvo bez Crkve da mogu preživjeti duhovno bez euharistije. Evo Blaženik kaže: ‘Nije moguće čovječe! Najveće blago je Crkva, potom u njoj je euharistija, sveta misa. Isus je rekao ‘Ovo činite meni na spomen.’. Nije to izmišljotina svećenika za oltarom ili bilo kojih teoloških smjerova ili domišljaja. Isus uzima kruh razlama ga i kaže ‘Ovo činite meni na spomen.’. To znači, kršćanine, ti si bez mise suha grana i lako će te odlomiti i najmanji povjetarac ovdje na zemlji. Lako će te pogubiti ona laž koja kruži na sve strane. A da nitko zbog nje ne odgovara i ne plaća cijenu. Vratimo se svetoj misi, vratimo se presvetom oltarskom sakramentu.
Sjetimo se naših baka i djedova. Ne znam kako je bilo u ovom kraju. Ali kod nas kada bi svećenik prolazio sa Presvetim usred polja dok su kopali njive, kleknuli bi djedovi, kleknule bi bake, kleknule bi majke jer prolazi presveti oltarski sakramenat i dizale bi ruke i molile ‘dušo Isusova posveti me, tijelo i krvi Kristova napoji me i spasi me.’. Zašto ne činimo to danas? Kad zvono zazvoni zašto ne dignemo ruke na molitvu Anđeo Gospodnji navijestio Mariji? Molite braćo moja i sestre. Ovaj grad neće spasiti ni politike ni usmjerenja niti će ga srušiti ni bilo kakvi Soroši niti bilo tko. Mi ćemo ga kršćani posvetiti svojom manjinskom molitvom, ali koja će po milosti Božjoj biti zalog obraćanja i onih najgrešnijih kao što se obratila i ona „moja osporavateljica“, da ne kažem progoniteljica u Banja Luci. Trebamo Isusa! Danas vidimo da se uglavnom laž u Katoličkoj crkvi propagira. Jeste li se ikad zapitali zašto? Evo, ja imam prilike držati obnove i u prostorima gdje žive anglikanci po Engleskoj. Nigdje nemate ni jedne riječi o nebulozama u njihovoj kvazi-crkvi. Nigdje se ne piše ništa posebno ni o protestantima, ni o metodistima, niti o kalvinistima, nego samo o katolicima. To je nama čast. Zašto? Jer tu sotona osjeća da je još ostalo sveto i presveto otajstvo i po rukama valjano zarađenih službenika Božjih dijeli se puku Božjem. Zato je Ivan Merz govorio da vidim Gospu, pazite ovo, a i svećenika koji nosi presvetu hostiju, ja bih poljubio ruku svećeniku, a onda bih tek prišao Gospi. To Blaženik reče. Blaženik svetosti, znanja, intelekta. Toliko školovan čovjek. Kao što je sveti Franjo govorio „ako bi susreo anđela i svećenika Božjega ja bih se poklonio svećeniku Božjem, ne Anđelu“. Ne zato što je u nama svećenicima posebna ljudskost jer smo i mi krhki slabi i naš se brod nekad nagne ili bude napuknut kao što je govorio papa pokojni Benedikt XVI. Nego zato što imamo mandat nositi vama Isusa Krista i ovakvi nesavršeni i slabi i klonuli i umorni. Pa često i otračani i ogovarani, ali nosimo Isusa. To je Blaženik propovijedao. Zato se danas na sve strane udara na Katoličku crkvu. Zato propaganda. Ti imaš dojam da su svi svećenici pedofili. Ličimo li mi vama na pedofile ovdje na oltaru? Susrećem tolike svećenike s divljenjem. Kao njihov kolega gledam na te ljude koji su dali cijele svoje živote, žrtvuju se. Ima župe gdje nema ni vjernika, ali čuvaju ognjišta. Čuvaju Crkvu i donose Boga i onima koji su u grobovima jer mole za njih.
Vidite, kad je onaj kardinal u Australiji Pell bio optužen za pedofiliju i kasnije, naravno, dokazalo se da je sve bila laž. To je to, laž koja obiđe cijeli svijet, a što je bilo s istinom kad je bilo rečeno da je nevin kao i mnogi drugi? Nigdje tih priopćenja. Čak i kad je umro, kako samo nije sram hrvatskih medija, stavili su naslov: ‘Umro kardinal koji je bio optužen za pedofiliju’. O tome sam čak napravio video. Umjesto da kažu: „Umro kardinal koji je patio pod lažnom optužnicom, koji je završio u zatvoru nevin kao kardinal i prvi čovjek Crkve u Australiji.“ O tome ni riječi. Zato sam vam sinoć rekao da protjerate taj sotonizam iz svojih kuća i svojih obitelji. Dajte im ostavku. To vi možete učiniti. Nemojte ih čitati ni klikove im davati. Mi smo nekad odgovorni i krivi. Dajte im vi ostavku! Ali ne, mi ih hranimo svojom radoznalošću i znatiželjom, a oni i dalje pišu i na tom konju laži jašu. Istina nam treba. Zato našem vremenu treba model blaženika Ivana Merza? Baš takav! Treba nam čovjek vjere koji će povesti narod i ne očekujte ljudi moji da će se on pojaviti ni od kud. Ne, on mora biti izmoljen. Mi, Hrvati katolici, moramo izmoliti sebi čovjeka koji će nas povesti kao ono narod iz pustinje da sruši ovu zlatnu telad da sruši te mamone i laži, da sruši mrmljanje protiv Boga kao što su ljudi u pustinji mrmljali premda im je Bog hranu davao i samo nebo spustio k njima. To nam treba. Sve će drugo pasti.
Veliki ateist Anthony Flew koji je bio ateistički vođa, njihov predsjednik. Kaže on da kad je u znanosti došao do vrha „samo sam spoznao jedno – da postoji Bog“. On kao vođa ateizma, nevjernika, Anthony Flew, obraća se. Postaje Božji apostol. Zato Ivan Merz daje poruku našem narodu: „Želimo li postati nosioci velike katoličke misli tada moraju sve naše katoličke organizacije neprestano naglašavati duboki i intenzivni religiozni život. Jedini je preduvjet da se odgoje veliki pojedinci koji će svojim životom realizirati svoje velike ideje.“ Jedino dubokim intenzivnim životom, a to se ne može bez Božje milosti. I Mojsije je bio posustao pa mu je narod držao ruke, kako njegove tako i svoje na molitvu, te je tada svako zlo bilo svladano. Sva su ih mora prestala ih gutati. Zato mi moramo duboko intenzivnu vjeru živjeti kako bi se obratili.
Još želim reći dvije stvari. Maloprije spomenuh Gospu da ne biste neki vi skrupulozni razumje to kako ovo fra Mario reče da je važniji svećenik od Gospe. Mi u opranim mozgovima počesto zaključujemo krivo. Ne zato što bi htjeli nego zato što su frekvencije naših mozgova nariktani na krive postavke. Merz je štovao neizmjerno Gospu, kao naravno i ja. Rekao je „kad vam je teško uzmite Gospinu krunicu, ona će vas utješiti i dati vam snage da sve mirno nosite.“ Gdje su nam krunice? Krunica nije suvenir, krunica je uistinu put razmatranja otajstva života Isusa Krista sa Marijom i po Mariji. Per Mariam ad Jesum. Po Mariji do Isusa. Toliki u Međugorju to osjećaju, u Mariji Bistrici, u drugim svetištima naše majke Marije. Molite krunicu! Ovo je Blaženik izgovorio puno godina prije nego nas je naš veliki drugi Blaženik, a u svim našim srcima svetac, blaženi kardinal Alojzije Stepinac poučio: ‘Kad vam uzmu sve i sve vam uzmu iz ruku, ostaje vam ruke. Imate dovoljno sklopite ih na molitvu!“ I zato mi je znakovito da u ovom gradu Zagrebu, na poljani u Zagrebu, slave se svete mise u župama blaženika Ivana Merza i blaženika Stepinca, gdje nisu eto raspoloživi da im se gradi hram Božji. Ma i ne treba nam! Prije je svaki vrt bio Crkva jer su ljudi molili i klečali. Klečat ćemo braćo moja i sestre i po trgovima i na krovovima. Zašto? Zato što nas se progoni. Protjerali su nas iz institucija, protjerali nas iz učilišta, iz medija. U vremenu pandemije su nas protjerivali iz crkve. Sad nam ne daju ni na trgu da se molimo. Ma na tom trgu se dila droga, na tom trgu se bludniči, na tom trgu se svodničke priče pričaju, na tom trgu su pijanke, na tom trgu su koncerti različitih sadržaja, sumnjivih poruka. Sve može na trgu samo smeta molitva! Zašto? Jer se sotona protivi. Znam ja da među njima tamo nisu savršeni. Pa ni mi ovdje nismo savršeni. Molimo za grešne, molimo za zalutale. Nemojmo tako gledati. Zato trebamo uvijek, svugdje i svagda moliti. I blaženik je naglašavao svetu čistoću. I ako se pitate zašto smo kao narod malo potonuli u mrak? Zato što je pornografija preuzela prevlast u mnogim srcima, a ne Presveti oltarski sakramenat. Na svakom koraku blud i sablazan. Nitko se ne javlja od onih koji brane dostojanstvo djece da će se sablazniti djeca, da ih treba zaštititi. Ne! Pornografija se bestijalno reklamira i na sva zvona se stavlja, a ono što je čestito, čedno, sveto pobožno, to kažu da je staromodno. Ma neka smo staromodni, ali smo vječni u Bogu. Zato draga mladosti, ja sam ponosan na vas, ja puno s mladima radim i ovdje treba reći što se malo naglašava. Puno danas imamo mladosti, puno više nego što nam se čini imamo mladih koji žive čestito i kršćanski se spremaju za čestit brak na valjan način. Bore se sa svojom požudom, čuvaju se bluda. Bore se. Možda nekad i padnu, ali se bore i ustaju. Zato naglašavajte takve. Puno mladih koje vjenčavam ulaze čisti kao suza u brak. Divnih je tu iskustava. Blaženik nas i na to poziva. Pa neka nam to bude apostolat da uistinu njega, čovjeka i društvene i znanstvene i kulturne i umjetničke veličine, slijedimo. Te da izmolimo danas nama, našoj Crkvi, blaženike, svece poput Ivana Merza. Amen.
Radi mnogih upita o ovoj nadahnutoj propovijedi fra Marija Knezovića i želje Christana iz klape Samoana da ona bude dostupna i svjetskoj javnosti u nastavku je donosimo na engleskom jeziku.
Fr. Mario Knezović
SERMON
SOLEMNITY OF BLESSED IVAN MERZ
May 10, 2023
Ivan Merz Parish, Zagreb – Špansko
I will try to be as loud as possible so that you under the umbrellas with the drops and dew of the rain could hear, understand with by hearing and, what is more important, receive with the heart. One of our wise and learned friars, when he spoke about the state of the world, would somehow end everything with one of his sayings, which was based on a popular thought, but actually a great reality and fact. He says, we live in a time where lie travel the whole world, and the truth has not even put on shoes yet. The lie has traveled all over the world, and the truth is just beginning to emerge. She’s slow, he wanted to say.
We, brothers and sisters, if anyone, our people and our church are plastered with different labels, stereotypes. Somehow world always want to label us. Not to mark us, but to disqualify us as authentic people, believers. So you will often hear, and even from some who want to call themselves theological analysts, that the Church in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is too clero-nationalist, not to mention that they often add the adjective ‘clero-fascist’. If they had any knowledge about this man, the saint, although he is officially blessed, Ivan Merz, then their thesis does not stand or this old friar would have told them that ‘doesn’t hold water’.
We are gathered here today, even in the rain, to celebrate the feast of a lay believer. He is not even a cleric, but a believer from the ordinary people, we would say. He is not a Croat either by mother or father. His father is German, his mother is Jewish. According to these left-liberal, red-party analysts, he has no place in the Croatian Church because he is not a Croat. Today, we not only admire, but also follow the example of this blessed man of German and Jewish blood. Because essentially one blood flowed through him, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ, because he was united in the mystery of the Eucharist with Jesus in the most mystical ways. We will find so many writings in which this blessed man speaks with the sweetness of ecstasy about the mystery of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. He says ‘when I take it, I have the feeling that no pain, no suffering, no trials, no doubts, nothing can overcome me anymore, the mystery of my God enters my veins through the body and blood of Jesus’. And that is our blessed one, my brothers and sisters. We would say exactly the model, if you can talk about it that way. The model or prototype of the blessed that is needed today, in our modern times. We live in platitudes. We hear various reports that the believers are mostly those who are depressed, from rural areas, less educated and have not seen the world. Blessed Ivan denies them again. He was one of the greatest intellectuals, scientists, who lived in our area. A polyglot, who spoke eight or nine world languages at that time. A man of knowledge, man of art. He was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris, and even today we rarely have them there.
You see, my brothers and sisters, how we Christians are constantly exposed to labels that have no basis in arguments or truth. Rather, the lie is going around the whole world, and we are here today, I say to you, in a little more haste: Put your shoes on your feet so that you can be like the apostles, and Ivan Merz emphasized the apostolate, to go through this world to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified, the only Savior of the world. This is a task that was realized, understood and put into practice by our role model and blessed Ivan Merz. Everything started somehow deeper right in the days of his schooling, just when many others get caught up in that hangover of scientism and knowledge when vanity is born in prestige, diplomas, titles, omens, names and designations. He enters into the mystery of God. Even his mother was a little “worried” and she wrote her son a letter. ‘My son, what is happening to you? You are only in your prayers, in the mystery of Christ, etc.’. That letter has been preserved and we have the opportunity to read it, especially about that time when the beatification process for the Blessed Ivan was being conducted. He wrote to his Jewish mother like this: ‘Mom, mom, my life revolves around Jesus Christ and I stick to the truth of my faith. I didn’t get lost, my mother, I finally found myself!’. Somehow this makes me think today, brothers and sisters, about our time.
We priests also meet, I speak from experience, when some young man or woman “attends church a little more”, and then the parents get worried because this pagan, sinful and adulterous environment of ours seems to want to say “there is something wrong with him, there is something wrong with her”. But while they fill up the local night clubs, drink who knows what kind of cocktails that intoxicate them into fornication and immorality, it seems that this is not a problem for today’s parents and mothers, and they do not write letters to their children: ‘Where are you? What do you do and what do you do?’. You see, brothers and sisters, our Blessed Ivan Merz kept a detailed diary. This is the characteristic of many other saints, mystics. We also have that beautiful book Story of a Soul, by St. Theresa of Lisieux and so on. He writes in his diary, not to leave memories for us here today, so that we remember him in some kind of commemoration of his name and knowledge, but he writes his diary in order to improve his life every day and shape it into the only image that exists and which is the most beautiful in the world. It is the face of Jesus Christ, and it is spat on, covered in blood. This is what he wrote down, his mystical experiences. He wasn’t like us today, perhaps flaunting posts on social media where we have visited some popular destination, what we ate, where we dressed a little defiantly, almost pornographically, so that this world swallows us up with its lustful eyes. No, he didn’t go that way, he was interested in the thing that Jesus left for us to do. And do you know, dear Christians, what is your task and mine? Be, he says, holy, be holy, perfect. Nothing less than that. He did it and that is why he could defend the Church. Not declaratively, but with his whole life. And he says that the greatest thing that exists in the world is the Church, and in the Church the Eucharist, and in the Eucharist conversion. That’s why today we can see your faces here with joy, but we will state with pain that many people today, believers, think that they can live their Christianity without the Church, that they can survive spiritually without the Eucharist. Here blessed Ivan says: ‘It’s not possible, man! The greatest treasure is the Church, then there is the Eucharist, the Holy Mass. Jesus said ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’. It is not the invention of priests at the altar or any theological trends or imaginations. Jesus takes the bread, breaks it and says ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ This means, dear Christians, you are a dry branch without Mass and will be easily broken by even the slightest breeze here on earth. You will be easily executed by that lie that circulates everywhere. Without anyone being held accountable and paying the price for it. Let’s return to the Holy Mass, let’s return to the Holy Altar Sacrament.
Let’s remember our grandparents. I don’t know how it was in this area. But in our country, when the priest would pass by with the Most Holy One in the middle of the field while they were digging the fields, grandfathers would kneel, grandmothers would kneel, mothers would kneel because the Most Holy Altar Sacrament was passing and they would raise their hands and pray ‘Soul of Jesus, sanctify me, body and blood of Christ save me.’ Why don’t we do it today? When the bell rings why don’t we raise our hands to pray the Angel of the Lord announced to Mary? Pray my brothers and sisters. This city will not be saved by policies or orientations, nor will it be brought down by any Soros or anyone. We Christians will consecrate it with our minority prayer, but which, by the grace of God, will be a pledge of conversion even of the most sinful ones, as “my challenger” also converted, I could say my persecutor in Banja Luka. We need Jesus! Today we see that mostly lies are propagated about Catholic Church. Have you ever wondered why? Here, I have the opportunity to hold renewals in places where Anglicans live in England. Nowhere do you have a single word about nebulae in their quasi-church. Nothing special is written anywhere, neither about Protestants, nor about Methodists, nor about Calvinists, but only about Catholics. It is our honor. Why? Because there Satan feels that there is still a holy and most holy mystery left, and it is distributed to the people of God through the hands of properly earned servants of God. That’s why Ivan Merz used to say that if I see Our Lady, watch this, and also the priest who carries the most holy host, I would kiss the priest’s hand, and then I would only approach Our Lady. That’s what blessed Ivan said. Blessed, sanctity, blessed in knowledge, in intellect. Such an educated man. As St. Francis said, “If I met an angel and a priest of God, I would bow down to the priest of God, not to the Angel.” Not because there is a special humanity in us priests, because we are also fragile and weak and our ship sometimes tilts or is cracked, as the late Pope Benedict XVI said, but because we have the mandate to carry Jesus Christ to you, even those who are imperfect and weak and faint and tired. Well, we are often slandered and gossiped about, but we carry Jesus. That’s what blessed Ivan preached. That is why today the Catholic Church is attacked from all sides. That’s why propaganda. You have the impression that all priests are pedophiles. Do we look like pedophiles here at the altar? I meet so many priests with admiration. As their colleague, I look at these people who have given their whole lives, make sacrifices. There are parishes where there are no believers, but they keep the hearths. They guard the Church and bring God to those who are in the graves because they pray for them.
You see, when that cardinal in Australia Pell was accused and later of course it was proven that it was all a lie. That’s it, a lie that goes around the whole world, and what happened to the truth when it was said that he was innocent like many others? Nowhere in those announcements. Even when he died, as the Croatian media have no shame, they put the headline: ‘The cardinal who was accused of pedophilia died’. I even made a video about it. Instead of saying: “Died a cardinal who suffered under a false accusation, who ended up in prison as innocent as a cardinal and the first man of the Church in Australia.” Not a word about that. That’s why I told you last night to banish that satanism from your homes and your families. Give them resignation. You can do that. Do not read or click on them. Sometimes we are responsible and guilty. Give them your resignation! But no, we feed them with our curiosity, and they continue to write and ride that horse of lies. We need the truth. That is why our time needs the model of Blessed Ivan Merz. Just like that! We need a man of faith who will lead the people and don’t expect, my people, that he will appear from nowhere. No, we must pray for him to come. We, Croatian Catholics, must pray for a man who will lead us like those people from the desert to bring down these golden calves, to bring down these mammon and lies, to bring down the murmuring against God as the people in the desert murmured even though God gave them food and the sky itself descended to them. We need that. Everything else will fall.
The great atheist Anthony Flew who was their leader, their president. He says that when he reached the top in science “I only realized one thing – that there is a God”. He as the leader of atheism, the unbeliever, Anthony Flew, converted. He becomes God’s apostle. That is why Ivan Merz gives a message to our people: “If we want to become bearers of great Catholic thought, then all our Catholic organizations must constantly emphasize a deep and intense religious life.” The only prerequisite is to raise great individuals who will realize their great ideas with their lives.” Only with a deep, intense life, and that cannot be done without God’s grace. And Moses was weak, so the people held his hands, both his and their own, to pray, and then all evil was overcome. All the seas stopped swallowing them. That’s why we have to live a deeply intense faith in order to be converted.
I want to say two more things. A moment ago I mentioned Our Lady so that some of you scrupulous people would not misunderstood Friar Mario said that the priest is more important than Our Lady. We are brainwashed, often making the wrong conclusion. Not because we want to, but because the frequencies of our brains are tuned to the wrong settings. Merz worshiped Our Lady immeasurably, just like me, of course. He said “when it’s hard for you, take Our Lady’s rosary, it will comfort you and give you the strength to bear everything calmly.” Where are our rosaries? The rosary is not a souvenir, the rosary is truly a way to consider the mystery of the life of Jesus Christ with Mary and through Mary. Per Mariam ad Jesum. Through Mary to Jesus. So many in Međugorje feel it, in Marija Bistrica, in other sanctuaries of our mother Mary. Pray the rosary! The Blessed Ivan said this many years before our great second Blessed cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, and in all our hearts the saint, blessed cardinal Alojzije Stepinac taught us: ‘When they take everything from you and take everything from your hands, your hands remain. You have enough, fold them up for prayer!” And that is why it is significant to me that in this city of Zagreb, on the field in Zagreb, holy masses are celebrated in the parishes of Blessed Ivan Merz and Blessed Stepinac, where they are not available to build a temple of God for them. We don’t need it! Before, every garden was a Church because people prayed and knelt. We will kneel, my brothers and sisters, both in the squares and on the roofs. Why? Because we are being persecuted. They expelled us from institutions, expelled us from universities, from the media. During the pandemic, we were expelled from the church. Now they don’t even let us pray in the square. But on that square, drugs are sold, on that square there is fornication, on that square pimp stories are told, on that square there are drunken parties, on that square there are concerts of different content, with dubious messages. Everything is possible on the square, only prayer gets in the way. Why? Because Satan opposes it. I know that many of them are not perfect. Well, we are not perfect here either. We pray for sinners, we pray for the lost. Let’s not see it that way. That is why we should always, everywhere and always pray. And the blessed one emphasized holy purity. Do you wonder why we as a nation have sunk a bit into the dark? Because pornography has taken over in many hearts, and not the most holy sacrament of the altar. Fornication and scandal at every step. No one from those who defend the dignity of children says that children will be offended, that they should be protected. Not! Pornography is bestially advertised and put on all bells and whistles, and what is virtuous, chaste, holy and pious is said to be old-fashioned. We may be old-fashioned, but we are eternal in God. That’s why, dear youth, I am proud of you, I work a lot with young people, and here it is necessary to say something that is under-emphasized. We have a lot of youth today, much more than we think. Young people who live virtuously and Christianly are preparing for a virtuous marriage in a valid way. They fight their lust, they avoid fornication. They are fighting. Maybe sometimes they fall, but they fight and get up. So emphasize that. Many of the young people I marry enter marriage as clean as a tear. There are wonderful experiences there. The Blessed Ivan invites us to that too. So let it be our apostolate to truly follow him, a man of social, scientific, cultural and artistic greatness. And let’s pray today for us, for our Church, for blessed ones, saints like Ivan Merz. Amen.