Dear Family of Mary

(c) Mary TV 2013            J.M.J September 12, 2014 The Most Holy Name of Mary Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! Already for a long time I am giving you my motherly heart and offering my Son to you. You are rejecting me. You are permitting sin to overcome you more and more. You are permitting it to master you and to take away your power of discernment. My poor children, look around you and look at the signs of the times. Do you think that you can do without God's blessing? Do not allow darkness to envelop you. From the depth of your hearts cry out for my Son. His Name disperses even the greatest darkness. I will be with you, just call on me: 'Here we are Mother, lead us.' Thank you." (May 2, 2009) On this beautiful Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, I want to share an excerpt from Fr. Don Calloway's testimony of conversion. He lived a very sinful life as a young man but received the gift of conversion through Our Lady of Medjugorje. He discovered Our Lady in a book about Medjugorje, and decided he needed to change his life. And right after this deep conversion, the devil came to take his soul before the conversion could be completed. Here is what happened: [After hours of kneeling, crying and praying] I got up from kneeling. Then, at a loss for what to do next, I made the decision to go to bed. What had happened to me was so unbelievable that I just wanted to sleep. Then I would get up the next day and tell Fr. Callahan what I had experienced. When I curled up on my couch - I didn't even have a bed in my room, only a couch - I was so at peace. But all of a sudden something below me and within me - this is very difficult to explain - knocked me out of my body.   I literally felt as if I had left my body. My physical form remained on the couch, but my soul or spirit had left. I was paralyzed and in a state of shock. I couldn't move my hands or any part of my body. I tried to scream for my mother, but I couldn't make a sound. For a moment, I thought I might be going to hell - as if everything I had just come to know was suddenly being taken away from me; I had been such a bad person that I wasn't worthy of God's mercy. I was going to go to this place of eternal separation from everything I had just come to know as being true and beautiful and good. I had no idea what to do. Then, with every part of my being, I managed to interiorly scream. I spiritually cried out, "Mary!" It was so strong and penetrating a cry, it seemed to echo throughout to echo throughout the cosmos. It was like a little boy screaming for his mother after he's fallen and been seriously injured. All of a sudden, I was violently slammed back into my body with what seemed like the force of the entire universe. It was so violent a thrust that I expected my mom to come running into my room to check on me. Yet nobody came because no one heard a sound. After I got over the shock of the impact, a feeling of peace overwhelmed me, a peace that was tangible. Then I heard a voice, the most feminine voice I have ever heard and ever will hear. It was within me, it was outside of me, it was like liquid love being poured over me. It was pure maternal love. It said, "Donnie, I'm so happy." That's all I heard but I knew who it was. Nobody called me Donnie but my mother. Nobody. I knew this was the voice of Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I was so at peace that I felt like a little boy snuggled close to his mother's breast. I was so at peace, so loved, and so at rest that I went into a deep sleep. I hadn't slept like that since I was a young boy. (Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC. "No Turning Back". Marian Press. Stockbridge. p. 179-180) The Most Holy Name of Mary!! The most powerful Name Mary!! Fr. Calloway knew instinctively to call on the name of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, she who had brought him conversion. We too can call on her name, she will come and help us in all our difficulties. She drives the devil away simply by her presence.  She can protect us. To close, here is an excerpt from the Breviary for Sept. 12, Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary: The Most Holy Name of Mary O thou, whosoever thou art, that knowest thyself to be here not so much walking upon firm ground, as battered to and fro by the gales and storms of this life's ocean, if thou wouldest not be overwhelmed by the tempest, keep thine eyes fixed upon this star's clear shining. If the hurricanes of temptation rise against thee, or thou art running upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If the waves of pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy toss thee, look to the star, call on Mary. If the billows of anger or avarice, or the enticements of the flesh beat against thy soul's bark, look to Mary. If the enormity of thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee, if the dread of judgement appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the deep of despondency, into the pit of despair,think of Mary.   In danger, in difficulty, or in doubt, think on Mary, call on Mary. Let her not be away from thy mouth or from thine heart, and that thou mayest not lack the succour of her prayers, turn not aside from the example of her conversation. If thou follow her, thou wilt never go astray. If thou pray to her, thou wilt never have need to despair. If thou keep her in mind, thou wilt never fall. If she lead thee, thou wilt never be weary. If she help thee, thou wilt reach home safe at the last - and so thou wilt prove in thyself how meetly it is said: And the Virgin's name was Mary. --Excerpts from the Breviary for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Sept. 12) Mother come, Mary come!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2014