12/31/11

Our Lady's Apparition to Ivan Tonight


Ivan

December 30, 2011 A.D.

On a very cold evening tonight, December 30, 2011, thousands gathered on top of Apparition Mountain for Our Lady’s apparition to Ivan. The following translation of the message is an initial translation from the Italian to English, and is the substance of the message. This is not an accurate translation. A more accurate translation will be made available later:

“Dear children, the Mother blesses you with joy. Be carriers of my messages in this tired world. Welcome my messages with responsibility. Dear children, pray together with me for the plans that must be realized. Especially tonight, I call you to pray for unity of the Church and my priests. Dear children, pray, pray, pray. The Mother prays with you and intercedes before Her Son for each one of you. Thank you also today for having responded to my call, and for accepting my messages, and living my messages.”

Our Lady prayed for a while over each one of us, and blessed us with Her Special Motherly Blessing. Our Lady blessed the religious articles that were brought to be blessed. Then Our Lady prayed especially for you, the sick present here. Then Ivan recommended all our needs, and our intentions. In a special way, Ivan recommended all the sick. Then Our Lady extended Her hands and prayed over us. She then left in the illuminated sign of the cross, saying, “Go in peace, my dear children.”

A more accurate translation, will be posted in the following days.
medjugorje.com

12/30/11

Dear Family of Mary

The Duet family prays together on Podbrodo
(c)Mary TV 2010


December 30, 2011

Dear Family of Mary!

On this beautiful feast, we contemplate Jesus' life in His human family:

"When they [the Holy Family] had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him." (Luke 2: 39-40)
Jesus lived with His foster father and his mother, in Nazareth, like any other family. They ate together, slept together, worked together, and most assuredly prayed together. Their life was ordinary. But it was extraordinary too, because they lived a life centered of God. And it was blissful in the midst of the normal difficulties because they loved each other so deeply and perfectly. Love and prayer were the centerpieces of their family life, and so Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. Prayer and love grow incredible children!

Our Lady, the very Lady who visits us in Medjugorje, lived that life with Jesus. She knows the stresses and sacrifices of family life. She knows it all, and so her words to us about family in her messages from Medjugorje carry with them great authority. She is speaking from experience. Here are a few of the things she has said to us about family life:

"Dear children! I beseech you to start changing your life in the family. Let the family be a harmonious flower that I wish to give to Jesus. Dear children, let every family be active in prayer for I wish that the fruits in the family be seen one day. Only that way shall I give you all, like petals, as a gift to Jesus in fulfillment of God's plans. Thank you for having responded to my call." (May 1, 1986)

"Dear children! Today I invite you all to awaken your hearts to love. Go into nature and look how nature is awakening and it will be a help to you to open your hearts to the love of God, the Creator. I desire you to awaken love in your families so that where there is unrest and hatred, love will reign and when there is love in your hearts then there is also prayer. And, dear children, do not forget that I am with you and I am helping you with my prayer that God may give you the strength to love. I bless and love you with my motherly love. Thank you for having responded to my call." (April 25, 1993)

"Dear children! Today I invite you to prayer. Let prayer be life for you. A family cannot say that it is in peace if it does not pray. Therefore, let your morning begin with morning prayer, and the evening end with thanksgiving. Little children, I am with you, and I love you and I bless you and I wish for every one of you to be in my embrace. You cannot be in my embrace if you are not ready to pray every day. Thank you for having responded to my call." (August 25, 1995)

"Dear children! This is a time of grace for the family and, therefore, I call you to renew prayer. May Jesus be in the heart of your family. In prayer, learn to love everything that is holy. Imitate the lives of saints so that they may be an incentive and teachers on the way of holiness. May every family become a witness of love in this world without prayer and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call." (October 25, 2004)

"Today is a great day of joy and peace. Rejoice with me. Little children, in a special way, I call you to holiness in your families. I desire, little children, that each of your families be holy and that God's joy and peace, which God sends you today in a special way, may come to rule and dwell in your families. Little children, open your hearts today on this day of grace, decide for God and put Him in the first place in your family. I am your Mother. I love you and give you my Motherly Blessing." (December 25, 2006 Jakov)

God bless you all! Sunday is the great Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God!! Let's prepare for this feast by making our families more prayerful and filled with self-giving love!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
http://www.marytv.tv/MaryTV/

PS. I am adding the beautiful and powerful prayer of Fr. John Hampsch, C.M.F., "The Healing of the Family Tree". Our Lady wants us to bring our families to the Lord for healing and blessing. This prayer is a great beginning on the road to healing of the family.

~PRAYER FOR HEALING THE FAMILY TREE~

REV. JOHN H. HAMPSCH, C.M.F.

Heavenly Father, I come before you as your child, in great need of your help; I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask you to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders.

With your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of your divine Son, Jesus, and in the power of His Holy Spirit, I ask you, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage. By your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your precious Son, Jesus, I beg you to extend your blessing to me and to all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree.

I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the bloodlines in my family lineage. Set your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members' guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits.

In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever-deeper bonding with you, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to your Son, Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus' precious Name. Amen.
St. Joseph, Patron of family life, pray for us. Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.

THE PAIN AND PROMISE OF FAMILY



"The Child's father and mother were marveling at what was being said about Him." -Luke 2:33

Many people idealize the Holy Family. Because Jesus is God, Mary is immaculate, and Joseph is holy, their family relationships must have been almost perfect. However, that's not the picture the Bible gives us of the Holy Family. The only scene from Jesus' childhood that we are told about is when Mary and Joseph lost Jesus for three days. You can imagine the peasant couple frantically searching for their twelve-year-old Boy in the metropolis of Jerusalem. When they finally found Him in the Temple, they asked: "Son, why have You done this to us? You see that Your father and I have been searching for You in sorrow" (Lk 2:48). You can almost hear the pain and bewilderment in Mary's voice.

Most people can relate to this trauma more easily than to the holiness of the Holy Family. Many of us are likewise searching for members of our families. We're searching for lost loved ones and for lost love. In sorrow and in pain, we search for acceptance, respect, encouragement, or hope. We can understand the pain of a three-day separation or even of three days in the tomb.

God's Word to us on this Holy Family Sunday promises us that our searching and sorrowing will end when we find Jesus. Then we will find love and peace for us and our families.

Father, by Your grace I decide to forgive everyone, especially my family members, as You have forgiven me (Col 3:13).

12/29/11

Medjugorje Pulls in Crowds of Pilgrims


Uploaded by wish on Dec 27, 2011
24-Hour News 8 anchor Eric Halverson travels to Bosnia to experience the visions of Mirjana Soldo. She has been seeing visions of the Virgin Mary since she was a child on the mountainsides of Bosnia Herzegovina.

A Catholic Mom in Hawaii: Urgent Prayer Request for Father Rookey

Fr. Peter Rookey-a year ago

A Catholic Mom in Hawaii: Urgent Prayer Request for Father Rookey



~Requesting prayers for a "special" priest.~

12/27/11

Daily Grace Blogsite: St. Bridget 12 Year Prayer - The Seven Wounds of Jesus...


Daily Grace: St. Bridget 12 Year Prayer - The Seven Wounds of Jesus...: My dad has a great devotion to this beautiful novena that was given to St. Bridget of Sweden on the Passion and Death of Jesus. A few days ...

12/25/11

Our Lady's Message from Medjugorje of December 25, 2011



Dear children! Also today, in my arms I am carrying my Son Jesus to you, for Him to give you His peace. Pray, little children, and witness so that in every heart, not human but God's peace may prevail, which no one can destroy. It is that peace in the heart which God gives to those whom He loves. By your baptism you are all, in a special way called and loved, therefore witness and pray that you may be my extended hands to this world which yearns for God and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

At the last daily apparition to Jakov Colo in 1998, Our Lady told him that from then on he would have one apparition a year, every December 25th, on Christmas Day. This Christmas, Jakov's apparition began at 3:30 pm and lasted 11 minutes. Our Lady delivered the following message:

*"Dear children! Today, in a special way, I desire to take you to and give you over to my Son. Little children, open your hearts and permit Jesus to be born in you, because only in this way, little children, you yourselves will be able to experience your new birth and set out with Jesus in your hearts towards the way of salvation. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJn4sIH0GHA

12/24/11

Christmas in Medjugorje


May this Christmas be for you a day of joy and peace. May Jesus visit you in your families and may he be born in the hidden place of your heart!

~Silent Night - Medjugorje's Choir~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ND4K5zMjxg


Daily Grace: Divine Babe


Daily Grace: Divine Babe: "Let us put our hands in those of the Divine Babe. Let us say our Yes to his invitation "follow me" and we will be His. The way will be clear...

12/23/11

Emmanuel-God is with Us

Painting by Joan Grayson of
http://sacredartbyjoangrayson.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE_tuMpIOho

Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."
Emmanuel, God is with us  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE_tuMpIOho

12/22/11

Reflection: Hannah prayed for the gift of a child


“I prayed for this child… . Now I, in turn, give him to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:27-28)

Hannah had prayed fervently for the gift of a child, and God heard her prayer. Now she does something that seems difficult to understand: She leaves him with the priest Eli, offering him back to the Lord.

Why would Hannah give up a child she had so longed for? Be­cause she knew that she had given birth only because God had been gracious to her. She also understood that everything we have, everything we are, is a gift from God. Her of­fering of her son was the ultimate expression of her gratitude and love.

In only a few days, we will cel­ebrate the gift of the Christ child, God-made-man. God our Father sent his only Son to earth to be­come one of us. Like Hannah, he too gave up his only Son. Why would God do such a thing? It can only be understood through the lens of love. Only love would do such a thing.

How can we respond to such love? What will we say to our Fa­ther when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist? A simple “thank you” seems inadequate. But Hannah and another mother, Mary, can show us the way. We can freely give ourselves to the Lord.

It’s not easy to give our lives to the Lord. We may wonder: What will God ask me to do? Will I have to part with something I treasure? Just what will God do with this gift of self that I am giving to him?

Here is the best part of the Chris­tian life: When you give your life to the Lord, he takes it, fills it with his grace, and gives it back to you transformed. He makes your life overflow with love and joy, with peace and purpose. And as a result, you end up happier and more ful­filled than you ever were—even if you are called into a new and de­manding area of service, even as you take up the challenge to love your enemies and pray for those who per­secute you. That’s what the love of God can do!

So don’t hold back. Even if you’ve done it many times before, give your life to Jesus this Christ­mas. And watch to see how he gives it back to you.

“Jesus, take my life. Let it be yours completely.”
(Psalm) 1 Samuel 2:1,4-8; Luke 1:46-56
 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122211.cfm

Jesus, we Adore You

12/21/11

Signs and Wonders


* SIGNS AND WONDERS *

"Give new signs and work new wonders; show forth the splendor of Your right hand and arm." -Sirach 36:5

The writer of Sirach prayed for God to give new signs and new wonders. Micah prayed: "As in the days when You came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs" (Mi 7:15). The early Church prayed: Lord, "grant to Your servants, even as they speak Your words, complete assurance by stretching forth Your hand in cures and signs and wonders to be worked in the name of Jesus, Your holy Servant" (Acts 4:29-30).

Jesus promised that signs and wonders would accompany those who profess their faith (Mk 16:17). He also promised that we would do works greater by far than even His glorious works (Jn 14:12). Why? It's because whatever we ask for in His name He will do (Jn 14:12-14).

Therefore, we should ask the Lord to do signs and wonders in our lives and through us in the lives of others.

 "Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!" (Is 7:11) May the Lord "enlighten your innermost vision that you may know...the immeasurable scope of His power in us who believe" (Eph 1:18-19). His "power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine - to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end. Amen" (Eph 3:20-21).

12/20/11

A Healing: Testimony of Margarita Rodriguez who is sharing with us a Healing she received when Medjugorje visionary Ivan visited her parish.


A Healing: Testimony of Margarita Rodriguez

" This is a Testimony by Margarita Rodrigues, who is now sharing with us a Healing she received when Medjugorje visionary Ivan visited her parish.

I want to share with you some wonderful news of the day we had in our church Saint Brendan's the visit of Medjugorje visionary Ivan and the apparition of the Blessed Mother.

On that day Our Lady asked her Son Jesus to take care of me. My big problem is that I have been short of breath- and that is because of my operation which was back in 1987. The doctor had to remove half of my diaphragm and since then I have been very short of breath, but about a year ago I became much worst, and my right lung collapsed.

I went to a specialist a Doctor of Pulmonary disease and he sent me to do a Scan, and also a test to see how my oxygen level was. The test showed that I had less than 60% function in my lung. So I was really bad, with my shortness of breath, I have to sleep with 3 pillows to be able to sleep, and when I am doing my housework I do it, and then I have to rest.

The doctor told me I am sorry Margarita I can do nothing more to help you, you have to live with this condition the best way you can.

I accepted what the doctor told me and that was fine and then I offered to Our Lord the little I have to offer Him.

I said to Jesus, I offer the little that I have to You because You have suffered so much for us, and our sins and You continue your suffering for us..

When I went to my church to talk to Father Fernando Heria with my friend Mary Fernandez and her husband Manolo to discuss the preparation of the day IVAN was coming to Miami and the Apparition

of Our Blessed Mother. It was then that Father Fernando asked me to pray and lead the Rosary.
I said yes of course -and I was so happy- but then I was worried because of my acute shortness of breath and my cough.

I prayed very hard to Our Mother and Her Son Jesus to help me to pray well, as they both knew of my
big problem. I asked them to help me--(remember I asked you also to help me in your prayers)-- so I could pray well the Rosary on that special day in front of so many people about 1500 persons.
When I went to the podium I felt that I was in a cloud, a Peace so strong came
over me, I felt different and I prayed the Rosary so well. Then after the Apparition of Our Blessed
Mother I also prayed the Rosary of Medjugorje, The Creed and the 7 Our Father's, the 7 Hail Mary's and the 7 Glory be's.

That was on a Friday January 21,2011 but it wasn't until Sunday the 23rd that I realized that I was fine and that I didn't have any shortness of breath. I didn't tell my husband anything at that time! I wanted to be sure first. I started checking myself and I began doing things in the house and I felt fine, and when I went to bed that evening I said OK now I am going to do a big test.

I took the 3 pillows away that I always had to sleep on and I was perfect,- I was breathing perfectly- and then I said now the final test- the way I always like to sleep, FLAT completely, with my stomach in the
mattress and I slept perfectly all night. Since that day I continued sleeping that way with NO SHORTNESS OF BREATH.

I feel so good, and so happy. Yesterday afternoon I went to see my Doctor and I told him what happened and that I was feeling fine, and that I was no longer short of breath. He was so surprised and said to me when "Our Lord wants to do something for someone HE does it and HE did it for you Margarita."

So now I am beginning to tell about my healing and I wanted to share with you this beautiful news.
Margarita is from Miami Florida

12/19/11

Medjugorje Visit Cured Boy From 19 Tumors

Joshua  de Nicolo

Medjugorje Visit Cured Boy From 19 Tumors
by Jakob Marschner

 For eight months, 2 years old Joshua battled a last stage cancer that brought him through a transplantation, 80 chemotherapy cures, and 17 radiotherapy sessions. When nothing worked, his parents took their son to Medjugorje. Back home, tests showed 19 tumors and all bone metastases to be gone as the beginning of Joshua’s now complete recovery.....
http://www.medjugorjetoday.tv/4034/medjugorje-visit-cured-boy-from-cancer/

Medjugorje preparing for the coming of Jesus


~Medjugorje is preparing for Christmas~

Early Holy Masses at 6 a.m. are celebrated since November 28, and that is preparation for all of the parishioners for the feast of Birth of Jesus. Novena started on Thursday, December 15 with Rosary at 2 p.m. on Apparition Hill and will last until December 23rd. Radio station “Mir” Medjugorje is broadcasting early Holy Masses and that began on Friday, December 16th, 2011.

The evening prayer programme begins with Rosary at 5 p.m., Holy Mass at 6 p.m. and regular prayer programme follows afterwards. Confessions are available from 5.30 a.m. until 7.30 a.m., and during the evening prayer programme. In the last few weeks members of Cenacolo community are making a set for live Nativity Scene that will take place during Christmas season outside the church of Saint James.  medjugorje official
Melinda Dumitrescu - Emmanuel - Music from Medjugorje  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nseaAu6QoXk

12/18/11

Spirito Santo--Come Holy Spirit Fall Afresh on us


Melinda Dumitrescu - Spirito Santo - Music from Medjugorje

Hail, Favored One


Meditation: Luke 1:26-38
View NAB Reading at USCCB.org

“Hail, favored one!” (Luke 1:28)

Face-to-face with the mighty angel Gabriel, Mary was “greatly troubled” (Luke 1:29). Gabriel announced God’s plan for her to conceive through the Holy Spirit and bear a son who would inherit the throne of David and rule forever. And Mary, despite not having all the answers, was able to say: “May it be done to me according to your word” (1:38).

The words are so simple, so faith-filled, that we might miss out on what was behind them. By saying “yes” to the angel, Mary also said “no” to many things. She closed the door on an alternative life that had its own attractions: a life of quiet contemplation, out of the limelight, surrounded only by friends and fam­ily; a life of simple joys and everyday challenges. And yet with just a few words, she put aside all her dreams to embrace God’s dreams instead.

We can read this passage and marvel at Mary’s faith—and lament our lack of faith in comparison. But it’s important to see that when he greeted her, Gabriel called Mary full of grace, not full of faith. Mary’s “yes” to God was the result of the grace God had given her, not the result of her own willpower and forceful personality.

This is a key point for all of us. For in the final analysis, faith is not some­thing we drum up on our own. It’s a gift given to us by a gracious, gen­erous God. It’s a grace that he pours into us, a potent seed that is wait­ing to be plunged into the soil of our hearts. We may think we have weak faith, but the truth is God has given us all the faith we will ever need. We just have to learn how to yield to this great gift.

So what do you think? Can you say “YES” to God today? Yes, you can. God’s gift of grace guarantees it!
Father, thank you for the gift of faith. Knowing you is the greatest joy of my life.”

Melinda Dumitrescu - Voici que l'ange Gabriel   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXFOKQTYQQE&feature=related

12/17/11

Be Faith- Full


FAITH-FULL?- Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see." —Hebrews 11:1

Faith is an assurance. This confident assurance concerns what we hope for but can't see. We are saved by faith in Jesus (Eph 2:8). "All depends on faith" (Rm 4:16). Without faith, it's impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

The conquerors of the world are those who have faith that Jesus is the Son of God. When Jesus comes back a second and final time, He will be looking to see if there is any faith left on this earth.

Therefore, we definitely need faith. Faith is a gift from God. He gives us the gift of faith by giving us Himself. We accept the Gift of God Himself by totally giving our lives to Jesus. Then we can have a deep, personal relationship with the Father through the Son and in the Spirit. In this relationship, we develop a deep faith. If we resist the temptation to take control of our lives, if we don't try to provide all our needs ourselves, we will see God father us and deepen our faith in Him. If we take up the daily cross, we will believe ever more deeply in the crucified Jesus.

*If we let it be done unto us according to God's word (see Lk 1:38), we will develop faith in the Holy Spirit, Who teaches us to hear Him by hearing His word.

The purpose of life is to have faith, grow in faith, and walk by faith in God .

"The wind fell off and everything grew calm. Then He said to them, 'Why are you so terrified? Why are you lacking in faith?  —Mk 4:39-40

12/16/11

Fr. Jozo's reflection of Our Lady's Medjugorje message of January 25, 2009.

Fr. Jozo Zovko



Message of January 25, 2009
 “Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May prayer be for you like the seed that you will put in my heart, which I will give over to my Son Jesus for you, for the salvation of your souls. I desire, little children, for each of you to fall in love with eternal life which is your future, and for all worldly things to be a help for you to draw you closer to God the Creator. I am with you for this long because you are on the wrong path. Only with my help, little children, will you open your eyes. There are many of those who, by living my messages, comprehend that they are on the way of holiness towards eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call.

My dear brothers and sisters,

While my heart is hearkening to this message, it is raining outside. It has been raining for days and the rain is becoming oppressive, because the horizons are veiled with leaden clouds, which, firmly riveted to the cold winter sky, are tirelessly pouring down their winter load. Amidst the gurgle of the rain I hear Mother’s voice and Her repeated call to prayer. As an excellent teacher She leads us through the experience in the nature. Namely, when this rain stops and the spring sun shines up, and the earth dries up a bit, farmers and gardeners will go out into their fields and gardens. They will start cleaning them, preparing them for the spring sowing. Nourished and cultivated, the earth will open and receive the seed. It will give it all the conditions for it to spring up, to grow and bear fruit.
What is happening with our prayer!? Is it pouring, like this winter rain, onto the cold earth, jaded and tired with rain, which is unbearable not only to us but also to the earth it is flooding. Rivers and brooks react with floods, their beds being overfull.

No! Our prayer is pouring into the Most Pure Heart of our Mother and mediator of all graces. She bears our prayer to Jesus with love. Such prayer, like the sound seed, bears its fruit. A sower does not scatter around and does not throw his seed in vain. He does it with responsibility and with a great hope that he would reap abundantly. It is these fruits that we live on. Our salvation and the salvation of our souls is the ultimate purpose of our earthly life. Can a man be saved if he does not pray!? Can earth give fruit if it is not tilled, if it has not been sown!? Experience tells us that it is not possible.

To be in love with eternal life is not an illusion, it is not a false dream, something impossible, unreal. Already while sowing, the sower sees in his heart the ears of grain, ripe ears, which are the fruit of his sweat and of the earth he ennobles and to which he gives over his seed with love. Likewise a believer – who joins his hands in prayer, whom love calls to pour out his praises, his love, his deprecation to the Lord – does not waste his time, does not fool himself like a drug addict in search of a false sensation, but rather enjoys the vicinity and beauty of God with the greatest hope and peace, and wishes that this grace may never cease. He is like Peter on Mt Tabor while he was praying with Jesus. He spontaneously poured his joy out of the heart asking that they may for ever remain in that gracious vicinity: It is good that we are here, it is so nice here, let us move to live here…!

Likewise a praying man, living the togetherness with God, wants to be in His vicinity. All worldly things are in the service of our eternal goal. Everything is for us and we are for the Lord. We have to be vigilant all the time that we may not be seduced by any glare of earthly things and programs, goals and values. We must not stop in front of a creature and not see the Creator. On the contrary, everything has to serve us to come to the Lord and to serve Him. He is our God and our everything. Everything is inferior to Him and to His love.

*Think of all brothers and sisters who have chosen the wrong way! Our Lady who loves us, tells us without fear that we are on the wrong way, if anything has separated us from His love. Day after day in a motherly way she helps me open my eyes lest I should choose the way of error, the way of sin, the way of ruin. Jesus also speaks about a wide and easy road, in contrast to a narrow and steep one leading to the final goal. How important it is for me to have my eyes open! If a blind man guides a blind man, they will both fall into a pit – says Jesus. Our Queen of Peace sees and loves; She knows and intercedes for us all to direct us to the right and only path, and that is holiness, that is the way of peace, that is the way leading to Jesus.

How badly do I need your help, O Queen of Peace, so that my eyes may open: the eyes of the heart, the eyes of the spirit by which I recognize the other side of life and of worldly values.
Oh, how persevering I must be and daily live Your messages that my eyes may open!
How hard and scandalous it is to listen to the people who judge You, who do not even follow Jesus’ principles: “Look at the fruits. You will know the trees by their fruits, and distinguish between good and bad ones.” The man who does not pray, who does not fast, who does not listen to and read the Word of God – is such man in a position to judge You and Your messages!?

We are called and instructed in a special way by this message, too, what it means to live the messages of the Queen of Peace. Let us ponder this whole month on this message with the depth of the heart and love. We are called to prayer that flows out of our hearts like the living seed into the heart of the Virgin, and She presents it to Jesus, not against us, but for our salvation. Without Her mediation there is no salvation for us. Jesus included His Mother in the plan of salvation, and said to us: “Here is your Mother.” We need the Mother. Without Her we cannot vanquish our enemy, the Dragon with seven heads and ten horns, as St. John sees him in the Revelation.

*Why has She been with us so long!? Why are we on the wrong path? Which is the wrong path? Do you, as a member of our praying family, recognize and distinguish between the right and the wrong path?! We are in a world of false values. Imagine so many false teachers who shamelessly, through all media, teach you and call your children to immoral and permissive way of life. Look at these teachers and their calls to distractions in which they strip you and your family of human and Christian dignity and morals. Look at the teachers who show you the way of life where everything is permitted. Theirs is a way of life where there is no sin, no conscience. Is it possible that a man can build his future if he is brought up without God and His commandments, without the tenets of Christian faith?

We daily meet ruined people; we meet disappointed, humiliated, and frustrated people. How to help them? “Only with my help will you open their eyes”, said the Queen of Peace. Oh, what a lot of blind men we have in our midst!

My dear praying family, be extended hands to all who are seeking help. Be in prayer and fasting for all those who have fallen or gone astray. Be apostles and witnesses to those who are under the influence of false teachers. Be a hope to all who have been overpowered by the sin of addiction to drugs, alcohol, chance games, fornication, and by the sin of hatred. Be at least a small light to those on whom the darkness of evil and curse has fallen. I implore you to do more than before for your brothers and sisters, so that the following words of the Mother could be applied to us and to our praying family: “Thank you for having responded to my call.”

This month we are going to pray for the following intentions:

For all of us that it may bee seen and felt that our citizenship is in Heaven, that is, that each of us lives and works for eternity. That we may live and bear witness to our faith. That this-worldly may be in the service of the eternal and heavenly.

For all pilgrims who are confused by the controversial statements of irresponsible people about Međugorje and the messages, that they may persevere in seeking the Mother and find the necessary graces. For all the members of the New Commission that they may be led by the Holy Spirit and find out the whole truth, and impart it responsibly to the Church.

For all the visionaries and parishioners of Međugorje, that they may not stop being the chosen parish, who have the task to help and inspire by their life all those coming to Međugorje. For all priests, preachers and confessors that the Lord may give them His light, His peace, and the fatherly love for all sinners and pilgrims.

Dear brothers and sisters, through fasting and prayer abandon yourselves to the call of the Mother, and let Her word produce ample fruit in everybody. Praying for all of you, that you may persevere in the call and comprehend that we are on the way to holiness, is
Yours faithfully,
 Fra. Jozo Zovko
1-29-2009  Siroki Brijeg 

Lame Girl Cured During Apparition to Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic.

Silvia Busi, now 23, tells the story
 of her healing
and conversion in Medjugorje.
 Photo: Daniel Miot, guardacon.me


Lame girl was cured during apparition
by Jakob Marschner on Dec 16, 2011

All the medical tests were negative when Silvia Busi fell very ill at 16. Within days, the all-normal Italian girl found herself in a wheelchair, unable to move her legs. Nine months later Silvia’s illness disappeared as suddenly as it had come about, during an apparition to Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic.

 "The gift of faith is the biggest one I got, she says."

  http://www.medjugorjetoday.tv/3988/lame-girl-was-cured-during-apparition/

12/15/11

A Family On Our Route

Fr. Kevin Scallon & Sr. Briege Mc Kenna

A family on our route 

Recently, we rejoiced over Sr. Briege McKenna's presence at our home. She is that nun who, with Fr. Kevin Scallon, travels the world to make Jesus in the Eucharist loved and to use her gift of healing among others. Fr. Kevin, as well, has much to share with us...

One Christmas night, as he was on the road towards his nephew's house, he found himself stranded on the side of the road at 9:00pm. It was impossible to get his car started and he still had an hour drive ahead of him. There wasn't a soul in sight since he left Dublin. By the light of the Christmas moon he saw a cottage on the far side of the roaddirectly across from where he was parked.

There was a light burning in the window, so he decided to ask the people in the house for the use of their phone. He went through the little white wooden gate, up the path and knocked on the door. After a moment, a youngish man opened the door and greeted him warmly. Looking past him into the house the priest saw a young woman with a baby in her arms. She was holding the baby's little head close to her cheek. She smiled at the priest who asked the man if they had a phone. He replied very gently, "No we don't, but if you walk back to the town there is a man there who has a bicycle shop and he will let you use his phone. You can't miss the house. It's to the right of the supermarket." The priest thanked the couple and wished them a Happy Christmas. "Will the car be alright there?" he asked the man. "Oh yes, I'll see to that," he replied.

So, on that bright dry moonlit Christmas night the priest walked back to the town and found the bicycle shop. On the way he could not stop himself from thinking of his encounter with the couple and their baby, and especially by the strange aroma in the house. It was not an Irish smell. For some reason it reminded him of his recent visit to the Holy Land. And why was the house lit only by candles?

The owner of the bicycle shop opened the door, and listened as the priest recounted his predicament. He permitted him to call his nephew, and as he waited, the bicycle-man's wife offered him tea and Christmas cake which he gladly accepted. She talked about the weather, and how Christmas was so quiet this year, etc. Sure enough, the nephew arrived within the hour. They said goodbye to the couple and departed. They stopped at the priest's stricken vehicle to discover that the fan belt was missing. They returned the next day with a local mechanic to fetch the car.

 Having done the necessary repairs, the priest turned to pay a visit to the young family and headed for the little white gate. He could not find it. There was only the hedge, and beyond it, a simple green field with no house anywhere to be seen. On the return journey the nephew spoke the whole time. As for Fr. Kevin, he remained silent. It was the Feast of the Holy Family.

Dearest Gospa, may this Christmas be for us the best Christmas of our life! Please enter into our homes, in our rooms and in our hearts! Come and place in them the treasure of treasures, your Newborn Baby, and teach us to adore Him as you adore Him!
Sister Emmanuel + http://www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/

12/14/11

Praying with the Heart


Fr. Jozo Zovko


PRAYING WITH THE HEART  -  Fr. Jozo Zovko, o.f.m.

  In the first days of the apparitions, we really competed with each other, seeing who could pray more rosaries each day. That was unhealthy competition. Although Our Lady was exhorting us to pray not that way, but with our hearts, we did not understand what it meant to pray with the heart. That night she said to us, "This evening, before you start praying, you should all forgive one another." We thought, "That's something simple, we do that in every Holy Mass!" But by no means was it easy; it was quite an effort. It meant that everyone who had built up hostilities within his heart had to give them to God immediately with love and joy. I explained what Our Lady's request meant and asked all the faithful if they understood.

Everyone said yes, but no one did anything. We felt as if we were in a desert, and we were even a little afraid. Moreover, Our Lady would not allow us to pray until we had personally reconciled with each other - until we had forgiven each other from our hearts. A silence came over us; it seemed to last forever. We suffered a desert-like anguish, and it grew later and later.

Everyone felt very depressed. A fight was raging within us. Finally I suggested, "Let's pray the rosary, that we may become able to forgive." So we began praying what we call "the Psalter," all three groups of the mysteries of the rosary. After about half an hour, a voice announced in the church, "Lord, I have forgiven. Please forgive me!" Everyone began crying and sobbing loudly. This prayer touched our hearts, and floodgates of tears were opened. We all had the desire to say, "We have forgiven. Please forgive us, too!" And everyone looked for a hand, any hand, to hold. With relieved hearts, we continued our prayer. After the prayer there was a true celebration of reconciliation throughout the whole village.

The morning that followed will go down in the history of Medjugorje. Overnight the people had torn down all the walls in their hearts, walls which had been separating them from one another. The next morning, everywhere in the village, people went to houses in which they had never set foot before because of one incident or another; many had even stopped greeting one another. Farmers can be petty, too. Hate and estrangement often had developed. But now, in their neighbor, they recognized their brother. In their neighbor they recognized Jesus. It occurred to them sadly why, for such a long time before, they had been unable to have such joy and beauty. And so I no longer have to ask anymore, "Do you want to forgive? Do you believe in God the Father?" We now carry out our baptismal promises day by day, everyone making an effort, even if only mentally: "I reject Satan... I believe in God..."

It was then that people saw the Croatian word "MIR", meaning "PEACE", in capital letters in the sky. I, too, witnessed this event. The letters moved as if animated, streaming towards us like a car's headlights. It felt like we were experiencing the end of the world. I cannot imagine anyone ever forgetting such a thing - not the letters, but the interior experience, I mean. It is engraved within our hearts, into our lives, and into our entire being, the meaning of "Medjugorje" - engraved within the new man, within children of God who love and forgive.

12/13/11

The Call to Confession - Father Jozo Zovko

Fr. Jozo Zovko



The call to Confession-Fr. Jozo

 "The call to monthly confession. That is the sacrament through which peace flows, the spiritual anointing, forgiveness. I ask you to remember. I desire as your brother, as your friend and the one who loves you, the one who places you in his heart and promises to pray for you and your families and your intentions, as such a desire to say something that is above all -- There is no confession without a priest!

Perhaps this is the greatest reason why the Anglican pastors want to be Catholic, to leave sin. Jesus gave the priesthood. In the Hall of the Last Supper, our Holy Father wrote a most beautiful letter to us, in the Hall where the priesthood was born and again reminding all of the priests on the greatness, on the grace, of the source of where and how the roots began.

When Jesus said, "How fervently I long to be this night with you." Why? Because He desired to give the Priesthood to us. And He gave it. Without the priest there is no forgiveness of the sins. There is no Eucharist. And practically speaking, there is no Church.   "Let us start to pray for priests."

Pope John Paul II prayer to the Holy Spirit

12/12/11

Say Merry Christmas


Uploaded by saymerrychristmas on Oct 24, 2011
Download your FREE Sheet Music at www.saymerrychristmas.net and together we can make 'Say Merry Christmas' the biggest Christmas song of all time. MP3 downloads are available on iTunes and Amazon.

The American Christian Life United Choir - Join in!

Every Christmas, the media and PC police tell us, the Christian majority, what we can do and say to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. If you've had "enough" of this biased propaganda and believe in the true meaning of Christmas...now's your chance to fight back and bring Christ back into Christmas.

As you know, Christmas is being twisted and turned, pushed and pulled by politically correct merchants who enjoy the ride on the Christmas sleigh...but won't give Christ the recognition and honor he deserves. So, let's challenge these stores with our wallets...and patronize only the stores that celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

If we do what the kids say in the song "If it don't say Merry Christmas in the window...then you don't go in that store" you'll be amazed at how fast the word gets-out. And maybe once again, Christmas will become...what it was...and what it was always meant to be, a Celebration of Christ's Birth!

Each download will be registered as an "authentic" vote for bringing Christ back into Christmas. So, let's terrify the media, by showing proof positive, that we Christians, all 230 million of us, are sick-and-tired of being the piñata...for every misguided, politically motivated cause!

Download "Say Merry Christmas" today!...make "your" voice heard with "your" vote...and we'll make "Say Merry Christmas" the biggest Christmas song of all time! Call your "radio station" and ask them to play "Say Merry Christmas" ...We have the strength in numbers...
Let's use it!

Fr. Jozo's Reflection on Our Lady's Message of Dec. 25, 2007




"Dear children! With great joy I bring you the King of Peace for Him to bless you with His blessing. Adore Him and give time to the Creator for whom your heart yearns. Do not forget that you are passers-by on this earth and that things can give you small joys, while through my Son, eternal life is given to you. That is why I am with you, to lead you towards what your heart yearns for. Thank you for having responded to my call." (12/25/07)

This is a Christmas message and also the last message of this year. In the time leading to Christmas, we were witnesses of our preparation and maximum effort and activity in preparing the way to the Lord who was to come.
To all those with open hearts the Holy Mother and Virgin is able to say: "With great joy I bring you the King of Peace, that He may bless you with His blessing." How many hearts have received this precious gift of the King of Peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and in Holy Communion! They have done so in complete unity with the Church, which was preparing them to open their hearts for that great gift - the King of Peace - through prayer, fasting, dawn Masses and the Sacraments. This peace and joy of Christmas shines from joyful hearts.

Such believers are completely different from those motivated by purchasing gifts to bring joy to their own hearts and to the hearts of others. Because this is not possible, once again, those individuals were deceived and disappointed. After the feast, they remained even more empty and tired. This is not Christmas. They lack Jesus, the King of Peace. They lack peace and His joy, which He gives to the prepared hearts, families and the Church.

Life and a frantic rush inspired and moved by the inclination and desire of a goal to possess and enjoy has never been blessed. In fact it is worthless. It is most sad to recognize and to live in the vicinity of someone who lives only for things. Our heart and our nature long for something higher than things or pleasure. Our hearts can be satisfied and filled only by their Creator, by God who came as Christ, the King of Peace.
Therefore, this warm Motherly teaching is for each of us: "Adore Him and give time to the Creator for whom your heart longs." Our manger scenes in Churches and in families are not decoration or folklore. They are a place of prayer and adoration of the King and Lord. It is so important for us to find time to dedicate to prayer and thanksgiving for His birth and our salvation. A manger where a family does not gather and take time for prayer is an empty sign to us and to our children. It is almost on the level of false display windows and illuminated cities, which in an external way show their tradition but not the faith, gratitude and love for the Mother and the Child given to us.

Our Lady calls us to adore Jesus, our King. From the beginning, She has been asking for this in Her messages. This is why our prayer community in its program lives from the Eucharist and adores the living and present Jesus in the Holy Sacrament. Unfortunately, some members easily dispense and free themselves from Adoration on Thursdays, or fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. In Adoration we are so close to Him. We are at His feet, listening to His teaching of grace and receiving His blessing and peace. Our life and our heart longs for Him. Every time we meet together in prayer, in reflection on the message of the Queen of Peace and in Adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament, we give important time to Him for whom we long.

My dear ones, once again, our good Mother cautions us not to forget that we are passers-by in this world. It is painful to listen to or speak to a person who acts and lives as if he will never die or account to God for his life. It is difficult to meet people who, sunk in their selfishness, feel no responsibility for others with whom they share their life and gifts and who do not think at all about those who are to come after them. Because of this, we have polluted the air we breathe, poisoned the food we eat and poisoned the family in which we are born and raised. We have poisoned the earth, the hearts and everything that we have seized in our selfishness as solely our own. If we are not aware that we are passers-by on this earth and that things of this earth are not our goal or of greatest value, most certainly we have forgotten eternal life and the un-passing joy that our King of Peace and Savior brought and gave to us by His birth. This especially pertains to technology and offers of pleasure and enjoyment. Christmas and its celebration are not a time of pleasure and entertainment but a discovery of what is not passing and is eternal. All of this is a gift to us for which we must be grateful.

 We must take time in song, prayer and in listening to the Word of God to give thanks to the Lord.
In a most beautiful way, the Mother explains to us that She is with us to lead us towards that for which our hearts long. We are like a child in front of a shop window stopping before our toy, our dreamed of desire, trying to force our mother to enter into the shop and to buy it for us. If a child does not succeed, he cries and throws a tantrum, putting his mother in an uncomfortable position and she most often gives in. How are we to pass through this world of consumerism and of great offers when it seems to us that somehow we need all this? Everyone else has this or that new product, so why shouldn't I?

Permit me to share a story with you. A hermit walked through a city. He walked by all the shop windows and all the shops. He enjoyed looking at the most beautiful things that people were buying and taking home.
He was whole-heartedly grateful for everything: for beautiful clothes, expensive shoes, all the food products and an abundant market of all kinds of fruits and vegetables. At the end of the day he prayed: "How wonderful and good you are, Lord. Thank you for all the most beautiful things that my brothers and sisters are buying. Thank you for everything, but especially thank you for the gift that I do not need any of those things. Thank you that I am perfectly happy and free because I can be without all that I have seen." This is the freedom that we need. We have become addicted to technology and such expensive things telling ourselves that we cannot be without them. As a consequence, we are not free.

On the same day, when Our Lady gave this message through Marija, Our Lady explained through the visionary Jakov not to seek joy in the things of this world but to open our hearts and to accept God.
On everything we touch we leave behind our fingerprints, and simple expertise reveals the person who has touched the item. It is the same with our hearts in watching advertising on television, newspapers, and other media. An identifiable imprint of our addiction or our freedom remains.
God wants us to be free. He does not want us to live for things, but for Him who is our peace and our all. Let us persevere in the Motherly school of Our Lady. Let us not reject it or superficially take it to heart. This message, in particular, is completely Gospel based; "Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven and come follow Me (Mt. 19, 21-22)."
Jesus I Believe   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfVV9DcihWc&feature=related

12/11/11

The Virgin Mary Appears In Prison.



The Virgin Appears In Prison
 The Medjugorje Sentinel,  by Padraig Caughey

In 1982, when I was 26 years old, I was captured by the British Army and thrown into the Curmlin Road Jail. Belfast, in the North of Ireland. At the time, I was extremely bitter and full of hate, not believing in God at all, and very angry at the Catholic Church, which I considered pro-British. The years of rage and violence during the Troubles had taken their toll on me, and I was increasingly suicidal. The only thing that stopped me from killing myself was the knowledge that it would bring great pain to my family.

One night as I entered my cell. I found lying on the floor, a news- paper photo of Padre Pio, bearing his stigmata. I do not know how it got there, as neither myself nor my cell-mate were believers. Anyway, as I looked at the marks of the Passion on Padre Pio's hands, I thought, "The old fool did it with a screwdriver!" I wondered how he had never gotten blood poisoning or been caught cheating during such a long life. That night as I was going to sleep, I said in despair, "Padre Pio, go to God, and ask Him to prove to me that He really exists in the space of one 'Hail Mary.' If He does not, I will know for certain that He does not exist, and I can go ahead and kill myself."

Our Lady Appeared! As soon as I had said, "Hail Mary," my eyes flooded with tears in rivers down my face, for there, standing at the end of my bed, in great glory, was the Mother of God Herself. Extraordinary holiness, beauty, majesty, purity, motherliness, love, and kindness... indescribable! She said, "Now you believe."

I could only nod, and say, "Yes, I believe,"

Then She said, "Faith, without love, is vain. You must forgive; do you forgive?" Then I saw before me, picture forms of all whom I had hated, while Mary's voice gently kept asking me, "Do you forgive, do you forgive, do you forgive?"... as each picture passed before me.

She then said, "Now is there anyone, anyone at all, to whom your bear hate?"There was no one; I forgave them all. It was as though the weight of the universe was lifted from my soul.

For the first time, Mary smiled. "Now you have faith, and now you have loved; but now you must pray, for prayer is the food of faith. Pray... pray the Rosary," and She held a set of beads towards me.

I was embarrassed, and said, "I am sorry. I have forgotten how to say them."

Then Mary said with great firmness, "I, Myself, will teach you," which She did. I cannot tell you the joy I felt. It was as though I was reborn. I found it hard to say the Rosary at first, but then I came to love it.

Eventually, I ended up saying it all the time. The way that Mary taught me to pray the Rosary was not at all as we prayed it when I was a child. Her way was slow and thoughtful... so meaningful to me, and such a joy to feel truly in the presence of Jesus and Mary while it was being prayed. When I left prison, I entered a Cistercian Monastery for three and a half years. I am certain, that for the rest of my life, I will never forget Our Lady's visit, and always thank Padre Pio, Our Lady, and God for that wonderful night in prison which changed me and saved both my life and my soul.

12/10/11

Dear children! Today I call you to prepare yourselves for the coming of Jesus.


Dear children! Today I call you to prepare yourselves for the coming of Jesus. In a special way, prepare your hearts. May Holy Confession be the first act of conversion for you and then, dear children, decide for holiness. May your conversion and decision for holiness begin today and not tomorrow. Little children, I call you all to the way of salvation and I desire to show you the way to Heaven. That is why, little children, be mine and Decide with me for holiness. Little children, accept prayer with seriousness and pray, pray, pray. Thank you for having responded to my call. Our Lady's message from Medjugorje of November 25, 1998

12/9/11

The Disappearing Priest

Saint Elijah's Church in Tihaljna

The Disappearing Priest
By Tony Zuniga

Fr. Jozo is considered by many to be a living saint. He went to prison to protect the six visionaries when the communists attempted to jail them. Maime [my wife] and I went to his Mass at St. Elijah’s church, about an hour from Medjugorje. And even though we were told that the Mass would be in Croatian, and that we would not understand it, we were asked to just simply look at Fr. Jozo and listen. God would do the rest. We did, and God did.

At the moment of Consecration, when the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ during the Mass, Fr. Jozo repeated Jesus’s words, “This is My Body!” As he slowly raised the Sacred Host, I heard two loud thumps to my right. Startled, I turned my head in that direction. Two women who were standing nearby had just dropped hard on their knees, as if hit by a two by four. I found out later that one of them did not believe in Jesus, and the other one did not believe in Mary. Apparently their conversion took place in an instant. tant.

Then my own miracle happened. When I turned back toward the altar to see Fr. Jozo, he disappeared right in front of my eyes. The Sacred Host remained floating in mid air, but Fr. Jozo just wasn’t there. I rubbed my eyes. I looked under and around the altar. All I could see was the Sacred Host, floating and vibrating, about three feet above the altar. My heart was pounding. So I turned to Maime to tell her to look, but could not reach her. The church was packed with people, and Maime had her head down in adoration. So I turned to the left, and saw another woman staring and looking towards the altar, shocked, just like I was.

After Mass, I went directly to this woman. Before I could ask her anything, she asked me, “Are you going to tell me about the disappearing priest?” My heart leaped with joy. For a moment I thought I had imagined things, or I was the only one who had experienced this. But this woman challenged me, “What did this miracle mean to you?”

I answered quickly and without hesitation. “Jesus Christ is above everyone and everything, including His own Mother, more important than the priest, and all of us. He is the center of our existence, the core of our being, the King and Lord of our lives, the Master of our destiny, our friend and personal Savior!” The woman smiled and said, “Good! Now, go out into the world and tell everyone you meet what you saw and experienced here.”

The miracle of Medjugorje, however, is not the outer, incredible manifestations we see with earthly eyes, but the continual transformation, in tremendous numbers, of the lives and souls of people who go there. Many who went to Medjugorje had never been inside their churches in forty or fifty years. Today, they are daily communicants. Marriages are strengthened and blessed. Young people who lived in sin, from drugs, to sex, to hatred, and kids who had abandoned their families and forgotten about Jesus are liberated from all evil, and now feel free and forgiven. Today, after returning from Medjugorje, they go out and preach the Good News wherever they find themselves. The people of God have returned to God and are now rejoicing.
Editor’s note: The above is an excerpt from the book Mother of the Most Beautiful Love in the World, Copyright 1995.      http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/

Dear Family of Mary


Mary TV Reflection
December 9, 2011
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin

Dear Family of Mary!

I love Saint Juan Diego. Everything about his life speaks of the little way. He was a small one, someone who would be overlooked by the "powers that be". He lived a hard and simple life, farming and working with his hands. His people had been subjugated by the Aztecs, and so they were badly used. He welcomed the Franciscans who came with the Spanish conquest, being baptized quite soon after they arrived. He saw the beauty of Christ, and went to Mass when he could, walking 15 miles one way.

It was on one of those 15 mile treks that Our Lady appeared to him. He knew he was nobody. And so he was sure she had made a mistake. But Our Lady persisted, and she sent Saint Juan Diego to the Bishop with her request. The Bishop wisely asked for confirmation of Saint Juan Diego's story, and that is how we have the tilma! But what I love the most are the words Our Lady said to St. Juan Diego on the day of the miracle when he was trying to evade her. He had found out that his uncle was ill, and so he wanted to go assist him. But Our Lady cut him off at the pass and said:

"After hearing Juan Diego's chat, the Most Holy Virgin answered: "Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything. Do not be afflicted by the illness of your uncle, who will not die now of it. be assured that he is now cured." (And then his uncle was cured, as it was  later  learned.)" (  http://www.sancta.org/nican.html )

"Am I not here who am you Mother?" I just love it! I think that Our Lady is the same kind of mother for us today in Medjugorje. Listen to this message:

*"Dear children! Today also I invite you to prayer, so that through prayer you come still nearer to God. I am with you and I desire to lead you on the path to salvation that Jesus gives you. From day to day, I am nearer to you although you are not aware of it and you do not want to admit that you are only linked to me in a small way with your few prayers. When trials and problems arise, you say, "O God! O Mother! Where are you?" As for me, I only wait for your "Yes" to present to Jesus for Him to fill you with His grace. That is why, once more, please accept my call and start to pray in a new way until prayer becomes joy to you. Then you will discover that God is all-powerful in your daily life. I am with you and I am waiting for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (May 25, 1992)

Our Lady waited for Saint Juan Diego on the hill at Tepeyac. She waits for us on the hills of Medjugorje. She waits with her love, her protection, her care, and her call. She wants to help us, and she wants us to become a help to her other children. Saint Juan Diego presented the flowers to the Bishop, and Our Lady left her image on his tilma, an image that to this day is converting thousands of people. We go to Medjugorje and Our Lady imprints her image on our hearts, and we then come home carrying her loving image to our families and friends. If we remain faithful to her, thousands will be converted through our lives lived in her image.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
(c)Mary TV 2011

The Holy Spirit Speaks through the Darkness



Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur, Touched By Grace
The Holy Spirit Speaks through the Darkness
It never ceases to amaze me how the Holy Spirit can speak to us if only we are open to it. We might open a book and find just the passage we need to answer a question that has been bothering us or a friend might call at the moment when life is falling apart and offer the encouragement that is desperately needed. Somehow, God provides what we need when we need it. As a former spiritual director of mine was fond of saying, “There are no coincidences, only God-incidences.” I had an experience like that just this past week.
.
Wednesday morning, I had the strong feeling that I should go to morning Mass. It was 7:50 a.m. My local Church has an 8:15 mass. My children were occupied and my husband was home so I could go; I hadn’t eaten yet so I knew I could go to communion. There was nothing standing in my way, so I decided to heed the call and go.
.
The first reading was from the book of Tobit (Tobit 3:1-11). It told the story of two people begging for death. The first was Tobit who had been blind for four years. He felt like a burden to his family. As Tobit states, “be pleased to take my life from me; so that I may be delivered from earth and become earth again. Better death than life for me, for I have endured groundless insult and am in deepest sorrow.”
.
The second suffering soul was Sarah. She had been married seven times, yet each time her husband died before the marriage could be consummated. For this, she was taunted by her father’s serving girls. She decided that life was no longer worth living. She made the decision to hang herself, but then she thought better of it, knowing that such an action would only bring shame to her father. She decides, “I should do better not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord to let me die and not live to hear any more insults.” Ultimately, the Lord would take pity on both Tobit, who would eventually be healed of his blindness, and Sarah, who would be married to Tobias and live happily with him for many years.
.
The homily that morning focused on trusting in God even in our darkest hour, trusting that God has a plan that will come to fruition in God’s time, not ours. This was a message I desperately needed to hear. Yes, it is something that I am well aware of, but sometimes one does need a reminder. Both Tobit and Sarah had good reasons for feeling discouraged. As someone who has suffered from depression for over twenty years, discouragement often seems like my constant companion and darkness often prevails. I can be fine for a while, and then I will wake up one morning and feel like I was hit by a two by four during the night. It is like a dark curtain has fallen and life seems meaningless.
.
Anyone who thinks that people choose to be depressed has never truly experienced depression. I have been in that place where I have begged for death more times than I care to admit. As a teenager, I was suicidal. Only my fear of hell kept me alive. As an adult, I have more perspective. I know the curtain will eventually lift, although sometimes it can take months. I have learned how to function in spite of my feelings so that even those closest to me are unaware of what I am going through. Only my faith carries me through until the light eventually comes again. Yes, I know what it is to suffer in the darkness and throw myself on God’s mercy. This message of trusting in God was one that I needed to be reminded of. I need to believe that God has a plan. The Holy Spirit reached out and spoke to me through the darkness. For that, I am incredibly grateful.

Secret History: The Fascinating Prophecies that Led up to a Famous Alleged Apparition

The old church in Medjugorje

Secret History: The Fascinating Prophecies that Led up to a Famous Alleged Apparition

It's impossible to know how the Vatican will rule on it (abiding, as we will, by any such ruling), but there certainly are aspects about the famous apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina that continue to intensely intrigue.

Previously, we have written about how the happenings there seemed to have been prophesied. This occurred a number of times. There was a famous Catholic charismatic priest, Emiliano Tardif, from Santo Domingo, who, in a "word of knowledge" at a conference, saw it coming. There was also a prediction, of sorts, from an Irish-American nun, Sister Briege McKenna. Those were immediately before the occurrences – in fact, earlier the very same year and month: June, 1981.

Farther in the past, however, and with more detail, there was a villager named Mate Å ego, born in 1901, died 1979, who, as we have reported, often spoke of a future time when, "My Gospa [Our Lady] will come – blessed are they who remain in prayer.”

"I'm telling you this now!" he was quoted as prophesying. "I will not see any of this but you, children, will! There will be lots of buildings not like houses we have now – some of the buildings will be huge. Our folks will sell their land to foreigners who will build hotels. Medjugorje and the surrounding hills will be a holy place. There will be so many people on our Crnica you won't be able to sleep at night. They will come for my Gospa! Be kind and hospitable to those who come here and all will go well for you."

Å ego was an illiterate man who was only half-listened to at the time. Obviously, aspects of what he foresaw came stunningly true: Once tobacco fields and houses made of rough-hewn stone, Medjugorje is now a pilgrimage city the size of Lourdes with religious shops, pansions, and even hotels densely clustered around the church, many of them largely built with foreign money to provide for pilgrims whose numbers continue to swell (even as a Vatican commission studies the events; in September alone, 5,441 priests concelebrated Mass there, or 181 a day, distributing 300,500 Hosts).

But there was more. Older than that were the prophecies of an elderly woman named Marićuša who tended to sheep on the hillsides and likewise saw a tremendous future in which Our Lady would appear and a "white army" would also come (this perhaps the white-clad United Nations peacekeepers during the Yugoslavian civil war in the 1990s).

Meanwhile, in 1933, the large Cross on a massive hill/mountain known then as Śipovac (Rosehip Hill), now called Kriźevac (Hill of the Cross), was erected at the behest of parish priest named Father Bernardin Smoljan, who in 1945 was murdered by Communists in Mostar. Father Smoljan wanted to also build a new church, but the impoverishment of the area prevented that until 1969, when the original quake-damaged church [above] was replaced by the now-famous two-tower one.

If it was all a hoax – these intimations of something tremendous in the area's future – it was certainly a long-running one!

It is all detailed in a splendid new book, Medjugorje: What's Happening? by Father James Mulligan of London.

In 1974 there was also what Father Mulligan calls a "naive painting" by a local artist, Vlado Falak, of Å urmanci (an adjacent hamlet), depicting the Blessed Mother in the sky above the new church with Cross Mountain in the background. That was seven years before six children began receiving their apparitions! The picture had been displayed in the choir loft of the church – where many later apparitions would occur (as well as in the rectory and sacristy).

What was it that seemed to pre-ordain this area?

No one can really know how places here and elsewhere are chosen and figure into God's master Plan, nor the role of history (and even pre-history: this is old caveman territory). It is a fact that Franciscans have ministered here for many centuries – since the Middle Ages, with legends that Saint Francis himself once walked the craggy, dolomite-stone hillsides of former Yugoslavia.

The blood of martyrs has been spilled in this vicinity. In 1941 – during World War Two – a train with six cars filled with women and children was sent to Å urmanci. They were led up the mountains and thrown alive off the precipices. Sixty-nine Franciscans in Hercegovina were killed in 1945 (some buried alive at a nearby monastery called Å iroki Brijeg) and a total of 617 priests slain by Communists in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Later, the priest who served as pastor of Medjugorje at the time of the initial apparitions would be imprisoned by Communists, who intimidated the bishop, threatened to detain the seers, and tried to keep villagers away from the hill of apparitions. Intriguing, to say the least.

And the Vatican? Father Mulligan relates the account of a meeting in Linz between Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Medjugorje priest Father Slavko Barbarić at which time, referring to the apparitions, Cardinal Ratzinger told the Franciscan that "the Church does not want to repress anything that is bringing good spiritual fruits" (reported in Nasa Ognjista, 1991, number 10). Father Mulligan says that according to taxi drivers and others in the village the future Pope first visited the site incognito in 1985 as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Among the alleged witnesses: an Irish pilgrim named Mary E. Smith who was with a friend named Anita Curtis and recalls that "we were sitting on the steps outside the sacristy. Cardinal Ratzinger walked right by us at half-a-meter's distance. He put his head down and to the left, toward the wall of the church, as if he did not want to be recognized by the general body of pilgrims. He was dressed in civilian clothes: a white, short-sleeved shirt open at the neck and a light gray pair of trousers. I also recognized his snow-white hair."

Seers have declined to comment on whether the future Pope has been there (there are reports of three visitations), but it is documented that the Vatican has regularly sent "observers."

Meanwhile, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who later sent away a local bishop from Mostar who had sought to reject the apparitions. It is also reported that in October 2009, Monsignor Edmond Farhat, former apostolic nuncio of Austria, went to Medjugorje with a group of 2,000 pilgrims and related that he had spoken to Pope Benedict about going and that the Pope was "delighted."

Still, no one knows what the current commission will recommend, and how the Vatican will react to that recommendation. (We will abide by whatever final decision the Church renders.) A final word on Mate Å ego: he also prophesied, enigmatically, that one day there would be a lake in Medjugorje, where now, in summer dryness, there is cracked earth.
http://www.spiritdaily.com/   &    http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/