Dear children of Medjugorje,
Praised be Jesus and Mary! Happy
Easter!
1. On April 2, 2014 Mirjana received
her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross on a lovely sunny spring day!
After the apparition she gave the following message:
"Dear children, with a motherly love I
desire to help you for your life of prayer and penance to be a sincere attempt
of drawing closer to my Son and His divine light - that you may know how to
separate yourselves from sin. Every prayer, every Mass and every fasting is an
attempt of drawing closer to my Son, a reminder of His glory and a refuge from
sin - it is a way to a renewed union of the good Father and His children.
Therefore, my dear children, with hearts open and full of love, cry out the name
of the Heavenly Father that He may illuminate you with the Holy Spirit. Through
the Holy Spirit you will become a spring of God's love. All those who do not
know my Son, all those thirsting for the love and peace of my Son, will drink
from this spring. Thank you. Pray for your shepherds. I pray for them and I
desire that they may always feel the blessing of my motherly hands and the
support of my motherly heart. "
2. Struck by the Holy Spirit! Battistina is
definitely an Italian woman of our time. She is a 47-year old internet-based
accountant. When her partner invited her to go to Medjugorje, she was not very
interested. Then, one morning, on her car radio, she heard the song, often
played by Radio Maria that had irritated her so much for years when she was
looking for a program. Unexpectedly that song moved her deeply; her tears flowed
continuously, without any apparent reason. She understood that the Blessed
Mother was calling her. But I will let her tell her own story ...
"Since a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in July
2012, everything has changed in my life, nothing is like before! My conversion
happened during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There were thousands of
us outside around the Rotunda. Suddenly I found myself on my knees and I had the
feeling that I was holding my living heart in my hands. I saw my entire life
scroll down before my eyes. I clearly saw the good and the bad, and everything
that seemed good at the time was becoming bad. I started to feel a great pain
about my divorce.
How could I have broken a promise made in
front of God? These words echoed in my mind, 'let no one split apart what God has
joined together'. I then
understood that my serenity was only in my mind because my heart was ice-cold. I
had always felt I was on the side of the "righteous" and that I was a victim.
Suddenly I saw how hard my heart was, I saw the suffering of my 4 children, what
my father and my in-laws had endured, and I especially saw that I was not at all
a victim. Actually I had never forgiven anyone. When my oldest daughter, 9
year-old and in 4th grade, had insisted on doing her first Holy Communion, I had
told her it made no sense; and my last child had not even been baptized! I saw
all the New Age books that I had bought over the past 20 years. How could I have
spent all that time reading and taking courses on self-development, things that
only ended up pushing me away from God and my family?
The pain was getting stronger and
stronger and little by little I found myself with my face to the ground. I told
myself, 'Lord, let me die here, because I am not worthy of even lifting my head
from the ground'. At that moment I felt something like a huge hug filled with
love, and a joy that is not of this world. And I told myself, 'During 18 years I
thought I had given my children everything, but actually I had not given them
anything because I had not given them this. So if I stay here to pray for them
for the rest of my life, would that not be better than anything that I could do
if I went back home? If I, as a mother, the soul of the household, had
cultivated prayer instead of cultivating useless things, my children would still
have a united family today!'
I understood that when you make the
decision to shrug off the cross of marriage, you are actually putting it on your
children's shoulders.
Then I felt that I had to keep the
promise of faithfulness in marriage, so I decided to make a vow of chastity. I
offered this to God so that a thousand families would not separate. My life
partner felt the same way. He also told me that we should consecrate ourselves
completely. Some priests told me that the vow of chastity was not necessary,
others that it was just something we had made up, but I was quite certain and
determined because it seemed so little in comparison with the infinite mercy
that I had received.
My children thought I had become crazy
because I was going to church and hung up a crucifix in the living-room. My
eldest daughter was very irritated by my enthusiasm, and she told me, 'So what
about all the things you've been telling us for the past 18 years?' 'I am
sorry,' I told her. 'I was mistaken!'
In November I went back to Medjugorje
with my 4 children so that they too would have an understanding and wisdom. I
was very hopeful that they would meet the Lord. I was watching them from a
distance, and waiting I thought, 'But if I, their mother, with the little love I
am capable of, am so happy to see my children pray, how much happier must our
Heavenly Mother be? And how unhappy will she be for her children who get
lost!
During the pilgrimage all of my
children's hearts were touched. We started studying the Catechism together. Nine
months later, the youngest, 10 years old, was baptized, and all my children
received Holy Communion during the same celebration. This was the most beautiful
day of my life! It was as if I could see them all being reborn at the same time.
My partner and I stayed together for a year, living like brother and sister. But
every day I was asking God to be able to understand what His will was, whether
we should stay close to support one another, or be separated completely. I kept
that doubt in my heart for a long time but little by little the Lord led our
paths to grow apart because of work.
After my conversion, I contacted my
ex-husband again. For nine years every telephone call had ended with yelling on
both sides; so for a year we did not talk to each other, and he would
communicate with me through the children. When I recognized my mistakes,I looked
at his faults as the consequences of my own, and then my resentment disappeared.
I was the one who should ask for forgiveness! Little by little I started to feel
the deep bond of marriage, sealed by God, and to feel once again a spouse. Yet I
did not understand it. I asked a priest if it was all right to feel that I was a
spouse, even though my husband was bonded to another person and had a son. The
priest answered that the sacrament of marriage was indissoluble before God.
Now the love that I thought had been
cancelled or even had never existed, I found it once again intact in the depths
of my heart. I keep it in its purity and I pray every day for the conversion of
my ex-husband and for all the families. I thank Jesus and Mary for the infinite
grace that my family receives every day and I continue onward on this path of
conversion."
3. What Battistina experienced, in
concentrated form and in consecutive steps, is what frequently happens for
Medjugorje pilgrims: invited by Our Lady without knowing why, Battistina came;
and by a special grace, she saw her whole life in the light of the Holy Spirit.
She understood with her heart the mercy of God for her, she regretted her sins
(that she did not see before), and she cried over them, renounced them, and
confessed them. She could see herself being thoroughly transformed and she took
action, making changes in her life according to what pleases God, with the help
of a good priest, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. What a powerful
example! Many people just stop at the graces they received, but it is a good
thing to take concrete action once you get back home! This testimony will help
us enter fully, together with Jesus, into this time of mercy that is offered to
us now as never before!
4. The Novena to Divine
Mercy is an awesome
present from God. It begins on Good Friday and ends on the Sunday after Easter
which Pope John Paul II declared Mercy Sunday. May this powerful
prayer - and the promises attached to it - bring to each one of us a real
renewal of love for Christ! May it help us abandon sin and decide for holiness!
You can find the Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet here: http://childrenofmedjugorje.org/blog/
Dearest Gospa, we are celebrating with joy your divine
motherhood of us, because Jesus is telling us again today, "Behold your Mother"!
Like John, we are taking you into our home in order to live each minute of our
lives with you! Your maternal Heart delights us! In these days of great
blessings, please tell us the secrets you have about the Heart of your Son!
Sister Emmanuel
http://www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/
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