The Spirituality of Our Lady’s Ranch

The Way of Life: Inspirations

The entire work of Our Lady’s Ranch was initiated and is continually inspired by its Founder, Jesus Christ.  This tree of good fruit is rooted in the familial bonds of the Holy Trinity, as manifested in the life of the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Every founding principle, objective, and guideline of this enterprise stems from Jesus, who continues to direct this work through our Blessed Mother Mary.  She inspires us and guides us with her previous and ongoing messages of Medjugorje. *Her messages do not replace our Bible, rather lead us to the Bible as Our Lady leads us to her Son, Jesus, by teaching us how to more fully live His spiritual way of life – His way of love.

*All of the messages that are highlighted on this site are taken from the book, “Words from Heaven,” a compilation of the messages of our Blessed Mother Mary, who has been appearing in Medjugorje, Bosnia daily for over 40 years. It is produced by St. James Publishing, copyright 2000.  The dates shown indicate the day Our Lady gave the message to one or more of the six visionaries. The publisher realizes and accepts that the final authority regarding the Medjugorje Apparitions rests with the Holy See of Rome. They willingly submit to that judgment, and so do we.

Our Lady guides us to Jesus through her “School of Holiness,” and she asks us to lead others on this path that she calls, A Way of Salvation…

“Little children, I desire that through your lives you are witnesses, that you are my extended hands, my instruments.  Get as many hearts as you can close to my heart and lead them to God, to A Way of Salvation.”   (May 31, 1995 – emphasis added)

Through her apparitions of Medjugorje, Our Lady comes to the world as the “Queen of Peace,” asking us, inviting us, imploring us to live in peace and to share it with others.

“I call you always to bring harmony and Peace”  (July 31, 1986).

So in response to her call, we are developing a place for her, “Our Lady’s Ranch,” where residents can freely live in God’s peace.

“Live peace in your heart and in your surroundings so that all recognize peace, which does not come from you but from God”  (December 25, 1988).

It is a place where visitors can experience a deep encounter with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

“Let everything that you do and everybody that you meet be an encounter with God” (November 20,1988).

Our Lady’s Ranch has been formed as a “Lifestyle for the Healing and Restoration of Families,” to restore peace to the world one family at a time.  In order to establish peace in each family, it must begin in each individual, and so it must begin in prayer.

“Dear children!  I call you, little children, to pray without ceasing.  If you pray, you are closer to God and He will lead you on the way of peace and salvation.  That is why I call you today to give peace to others.  Only in God is there true peace.  Open your hearts and become those who give a gift of peace and others will discover peace in you and through you and in this way you will witness God’s peace and love which He gives you.  Thank you for having responded to my call.  (January 26, 2000)

So in order to bring us to peace, Our Lady brings us to the King of Peace… For the way of peace is the way of Christ. “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6).

The way of Christ is the way of love. “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).

The way of love is the way of peace. “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace” (John 16:33).

In order to live Christ’s message fully, we need an environment that is conducive to love.  Love needs to be at the center of life, that peace may flow to it and from it, embodied in the love of God. “For Love comes from God”  (1 John 4:7).

Thus, for an individual or a family to truly promote love, they must have God in the center. “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him”  (1 John 4:16).

For God to live in the center of our lives, we must center our lives in prayer.  Through prayer and in prayer we grow towards God, desiring union with Him.  God lives in perfect peace, so our times of prayer are the times of our deepest peace.  When we center our lives in prayer, we center our lives in God and experience the greatest peace in the most constant fashion.  When our prayer becomes constant our life becomes prayer.  Then our peace becomes constant – in union with God. “Let prayer be life for you”  (August 25,1995).

The Way of Life: Beginning

1. Gospel Values

• We earnestly strive to live a Christ-centered life so we read his Words, reflect on them, and practice them every day.

• “Read the Bible every day.” (Medjugorje, Oct. 18, 1984)

2. Prayer

• Individual Meditation

• Verbal Family Prayers

• Spiritual Reading

• Mass & Confession

• Making a Daily Routine

3. Gift

• We receive everyone and everything in the spirit of “Gift,” for all is truly a gift from our Father in Heaven.

4. Relationships

• In the end, we won’t remember the money we made or the things we bought — We will remember the experiences we enjoyed and the people we loved.

5. Obedience to Relationships

• “If anyone asks you to go with him one mile, go with him for two.” (Mathew 5:41)

6. Grace of the Moment

• Grace is favor — the free and undeserved help that God gives us.

• Every moment contains grace - sometimes tears, sometimes laughter, sometimes power, and sometimes peace; but always grace - given to anyone and everyone who desires it.

7. Obedience to the Church

• Pastor, Bishop, Pope.

• “Pray very much for the bishop and those who hold positions in the church.” (Medjugorje, Jun. 16, 1983)

8. Sacrifice

• Offer up everything - the easy and the difficult - for the glory of God and the Salvation of Souls.

9. Culture

• The world is drifting toward a “mono-culture.”

• We found roots in our “Catholic Culture.”

10. Traditions

• All Saints Day: instead of dressing up as ghosts for Halloween, we dress as our favorite Saint and enjoy a day of games and treats with friends.

• The Feast Day of St. Nicholas: on December 6th every year, the kids put out their shoes in front of the fire after our evening Rosary. In the morning, their shoe is filled with treats from Good Ol’ Saint Nick.

• The Last Supper: The meal of The Last Supper has become a very important tradition for us as we return to our roots with lamb, hummus, and unleavened bread, trying to imitate what Christ and the Disciples would have eaten that night.

• Easter Basket: every Easter it’s dad’s job to hide the Easter Baskets that Mom packed. It’s only through the riddles that he writes that the kids can find them!

11. The Sabbath

• “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.” (Exodus 20: 8-10)

12. Simplicity 

• Play in the dirt, cook at home, and enjoy what you have.

13. Time Together

• Praying, working, eating, playing, and resting together.

14. Love, Forgiveness, & Joy

• We are learning to love as Jesus loves, with our whole mind, heart, soul, and strength.

15. Security

• We put our trust in the Lord, as opposed to money, materials, or people.

16. The Spirit of Poverty

• It is important for us to recognize that all things first belong to God.

17. The Spirit of Chastity

• No suggestive behavior or dirty jokes, no flirty language or movies/songs that would be inappropriate for children.

• We try to model ourselves after Our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Maria Goretti.

18. Freedom

• True freedom is saying “yes” to God.

19. Electronic Games, Computers, & Television

• Eliminating video games promotes creativity and imagination

• Monitoring internet use protects purity

• When it comes to movies, ask yourself if it will bring you closer to God; yes/no, why?

20. Only God

• Every person or thing that enters Our Lady’s Ranch must be in or of God, or it must not enter.

21. Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco

• Hard alcohol is discouraged, but Beer and Wine are enjoyed socially within reason.

• An occasional cigar or pipe may be enjoyed socially. Cigarettes and Vapes are discouraged and don’t have a place for those committed to a Christ-centered life.

22. Settling Disputes

• The order of the family as ordained by God brings harmony and peace. Holy fatherhood and holy motherhood move in obedience to one another, with respect and trust in each other’s love. The mother trusts that God is guiding the father in providence, and the father is ready to lay down his life for the mother. The father makes any final decisions needed for the household, but with a prudence that is so sensitive to the inspirations and intuitions of the mother that no self-interest remains, and his authority is not perceived, being overshadowed by extraordinary humility, kindness, and compassion.

23. Attitude

• Always serve with a joyful heart!

24. Discipline

• Personal Discipline, punctuality, and personal prayer

25. Order

• We take care of the things that God has blessed us with.

• We keep our living spaces clean and orderly.

26. Health

• The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit - We seek Health and Wellness of Mind, Body, and Soul

27. Nature

• “The Lord, God then took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it.” (Genesis 2:15)

The Way of Life: Advanced

30. Fasting

• “Through fasting and prayer one can stop wars, one can suspend the laws of nature...” (Medjugorje, July 21, 1982).