Children of Medjugorje November 12, 2015

From the Desk of Sr. Emmanuel Maillard

November 12, 2015,  Dear Children of Medjugorje, Praised be Jesus and Mary!   1. On November 2, 2015, Mirjana received her monthly apparition of Our Lady at the Blue Cross in the presence of many people. After the apparition, Mirjana conveyed the following message:      "Dear children, anew I desire to speak to you about love. I have gathered you around me in the name of my Son, according to His will. I desire that your faith be firm, flowing forth from love. Because, those of my children who understand the love of my Son and follow it, live in love and hope. They have come to know the love of God. Therefore, my children, pray, pray so as to be able to love all the more and to do works of love. Because, faith alone without love and works of love is not what I am asking of you: my children, this is an illusion of faith. It is a boasting of self. My Son seeks faith and works, love and goodness. I am praying, and I am also asking you to pray, and to live love; because I desire that my Son, when He looks at the hearts of all of my children, can see love and goodness in them and not hatred and indifference. My children, apostles of my love, do not lose hope, do not lose strength. You can do this. I am encouraging and blessing you. Because all that is of this world, which many of my children, unfortunately, put in the first place, will disappear; and only love and works of love will remain and open the door of the Kingdom of Heaven. I will wait for you at this door. At this door, I desire to welcome and embrace all of my children. Thank you!" 2. Death does not exist!   In this month of November which is so often feared, we celebrated the saints (not Halloween, God forbid!), and then on the 2nd, we commemorated the deceased and we prayed for them (See PS1). The prospect of death is there for every human being, and many are afraid of it. Yet, it is simply the transition from this life to the other life.  It is actually our real birth. This is why the Blessed Mother tells us that "death does not exist." When she spoke of Fr. Slavko, who died on November 24, 2000, she did not say in her message, "He died peacefully", rather, she said: "Rejoice with me, because your brother Slavko was born in heaven, and he is interceding for you!"  And St. Bernard of Clairvaux said, "When we are on earth, we are not born yet. We are born when we enter into heaven. On earth, we are carried in the womb of the Mother of God." 3.  Consecrate your death!   Living fully in the womb of the Mother of God means to banish all fear of death and the fear of this mysterious birth that is promised to us. Every good mother prepares for the birth of her child with infinite care and tenderness. How much more so does Our Lady! She tells us, "No, dear children, you do not know how to properly celebrate the death of your loved ones! You should celebrate the death of your loved ones with joy, the same joy that you have at the birth of a child." But in our world, which is so locked up in materialism, we have lost the final outlook of our lives! In death, we often see nothing more than a departure with no return, and destruction without mercy, a disastrous wall, when in fact it is a precious door, the door that finally opens onto the life for which we are created.   That is why, as apostles of the Blessed Mother, I propose we consecrate our death to her Immaculate Heart and to the Heart of Jesus, so that this crucial moment in our lives may already fully belong to God through the hands of Mary. This can be done in 4 steps:   A - We can already thank God for the moment he has chosen to bring us home to Him. Whatever the moment, tomorrow or in 50 years, let us tell God how confident we are that He will have chosen the best time for us from the perspective of our eternity.   B - We can take the next step, and thank Him for the manner in which He has chosen to bring us back to Him. May our imagination not spiral out of control! Because then we would suffer in anticipation of something that will not happen! On the contrary, let us quiet our imagination, and instead surrender entirely into the hands of the One who knows so much better than we do what we need.   C - Let us take yet another step, and thank God for the time he has chosen to take to Him the person who is most dear to us. Tomorrow? In 50 years? May He be blessed, because this divine choice is the best for this person, for his or her eternal happiness. This is an invitation to have great trust in God, surrendering to His holy will of love.   D - And lastly, let us thank God for the way He chooses to take this beloved person.   Doing this requires deep inner strength, as we may encounter strong resistance. It is an opportunity to switch to the trust a child has in its father... This can take several days, but with the grace of God and a lively faith, we can finally say YES. And the great gift that comes from this Yes, this trusting surrender to the divine plans, is the healing of our fears or anxieties before death. In the hands of such a Father, of such love, how could fear still haunt us? How could anxiety still dare to seize us? 4. The departure of little Emmanuel Florence is a mother of 6 children in France, near Lisieux. When her first child was born, she was so amazed to see in him the wonder of life, that she turned to her Creator to thank Him for this grace. Florence was already a practicing and even fervent believer, but becoming a mother was a giant step in her intimacy with God and her joy of living for Him. She felt very small before such a treasure, an entirely new being entrusted into her hands. She very soon understood that the life of her little Emmanuel did not belong to her, but was entrusted to her by the Creator, and that she would have to work with Him to help the child become what he was in the eyes of God. To become a saint! Sophie also had other children, and she loved all of them. One day, at the age of 11, Emmanuel suffered severe seizures while at school, and after in-depth examinations, the diagnosis came as a bomb: he had 3 cancerous brain tumors, one of which was not operable. Only parents who have lost a child can imagine the shock. Two possibilities: God would make a miraculous healing, or He wouldn't. Florence and her husband then began to bombard heaven with constant and fervent prayers; and as the news spread, relatives formed a chain of prayer and fasting for the child. Florence then discovered Medjugorje through a message from the Gospa shared in prayer. This improvised prayer and adoration group led to conversions and returns to God that no one could even have hoped for. As for Emmanuel, he was joyful and would comfort all those who came to his home with a knot in their stomach. His parents did not hide the truth from him. When he heard the news at first, he did feel upset, but after receiving the sacrament of the sick, he changed and became calm and serene, even showing humor. Florence understood that the Lord was going to take her child, so she renewed her thanksgiving that she had made at the time of his birth. Though they also cried a lot, it was pain mingled with glory, like for Jesus at the death of Lazarus. Her child had completed his mission, she had to let him go.  "The Lord has given him, the Lord is taking him away, blessed be His name", she thought. She and her husband consecrated the child again to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus so when he went, he would be carried by them towards his eternal happiness. On the night when Emmanuel departed, they were all there with him in intensive care (special permission obtained surely by the Gospa!) and the whole event was very simple, as if going on a trip. Emmanuel had already been given to God, he was not torn away. At the funeral, according to everyone, it was not a burial, but the celebration of a "delivery to heaven"! Tears and smiles were peacefully mingling. On All Souls Day (this Nov. 2), Florence was present when I suggested to pilgrims to put into practice these 4 steps for the consecration of death, ours and that of our loved ones. At the end, she ran up to me and said, "Sister that is exactly what I went through with my son! I understand why we experienced his departure with such peace! No distress, no frustration, no revolt... In prayer, we were literally carried along! Emmanuel did not disappear, he remains with us and we speak about him in our family. With him, the peace of God has been communicated to us!" For this very fervent family, Emmanuel is their bond with heaven, their beloved treasure! As Mary teaches us, they experience his departure as a birth. May we all live true love and rejoice when our loved one enters into their real life. "If you loved me", Jesus said, "You would rejoice that I am going to the Father!" (Jn: 14, 28) 5. A beautiful initiative On November 7th, 80 people participated in a "March for Life" from the Mostar hospital to the church of Medjugorje (35 km), after 40 days of prayer and fighting the culture of death, in particular abortion (200 thousand each year in Bosnia Herzegovina). This initiative, "40 days for life", is ecumenical and international, and some Muslims support it. At least 540 children were saved in the world, of which 14 in Croatia. Many women express their regret at having aborted. A beautiful fruit of Medjugorje and the messages of Mary! 6. We have created a new Facebook! Look today at: https://www.facebook.com/sr.emmanuelmaillard?fref=ts  Follow us on twitter@childrenofmedj  Dearest Gospa, you have lived the death of your parents, of Joseph, Jesus, and several apostles. Please, enlarge our hearts to the size of your Heart and heal us from frustration! Make us desire what God desires, want what He wants in order to savor true peace of heart!   Sister Emmanuel + (Translated from French)