Dear Children of Medjugorje, Praised be Jesus and Mary!

From the Desk of Sr. Emmanuel Maillard Medjugorje, April 20, 2016 Dear Children of Medjugorje, Praised be Jesus and Mary!   1. April 2, 2016, Mirjana received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross. After the apparition, she shared the following message:    "Dear children, do not have hearts that are hard, closed and filled with fear. Permit my motherly love to illuminate them and fill them with love and hope; so that, as a mother, I may soothe your pains because I know them, I experienced them. Pain elevates and is the greatest prayer. My Son, in a special way, loves those who suffer pains. He sent me to soothe them for you and bring hope. Trust in Him. I know that it is difficult for you because you see more and more darkness around you. My children, it is necessary to break it by prayer and love. The one who prays and loves is not afraid, he has hope and a merciful love, he sees the light and sees my Son. As my apostles, I call you to keep trying to be an example of merciful love and hope. Always pray anew for all the more love because merciful love brings light which breaks every darkness - it brings my Son. Do not be afraid, you are not alone, I am with you. I implore you to pray for your shepherds that at every moment they may have love, that they may work for my Son with love - through Him and in memory of Him. Thank you." 2. Two great confessors.  Did you know that the 2 patron saints for the Year of Divine Mercy are Padre Pio and Leopold Mandić? On April 13, a great blessing came upon Zagreb, Croatia. The Italians allowed the body of St. Leopold (known to some as "the Croatian Priest of Ars" like St. Jean Vianney) to travel from Padua to Croatia. He was solemnly revered in the Cathedral of Zagreb in front of a captivated crowd, alongside Blessed Cardinal Stepinac. Many confessions lasted until midnight and started again early the next morning. Interestingly: in the place where Leopold was born, Boka Kotorska, families had many children and often the 1st son became a priest. Leopold was an exception, because he was the 12th child. He worked very hard to unite the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of the East, a hot issue even today. In Medjugorje, his statue stands right next to the confessionals, and that is not a coincidence: he is watching over the pilgrims so that they may make a good confession! When Father Leopold Mandic's superiors told him that he was too lenient with those who came to confess to him, he answered: "If the Lord wants to accuse me of showing too much leniency towards sinners, I will tell Him that it was He who set the example! And I didn't even die for the salvation of souls as He did." Father Mandić often said to his penitents: "Be at peace, put everything on my shoulders, I'll take care of it.''  This is what he explained: "I give my penitents only small penances because I do the rest myself." And indeed, at night, he would spend hours in prayer, doing penance for his penitents.   During the bombings in World War 2, in Padua, the entire Church burned down except for his wooden confessional and his cell, as he had prophesied. "God has shown so much mercy here for his children that this must remain a monument to his goodness.''   Padre Pio had a reputation for being rather strict. But he was able to read people's souls, and knew what was necessary for his or her conversion. He knew that many came to him hoping for a miracle, but without the intention of changing. The process of conversion began with him, but like any good confessor, spiritual guide or friend who helps people on their journey, he could not make the decision of conversion for them. Every person must make their own decision. Pope Francis explained why he had chosen Padre Pio and St. Leopold Mandić for the Jubilee: "Because they are missionaries of mercy. Mercy occurs in confession, and these two priests spent much of their lives in the confessional." 3. The visionary Jacqueline Aubry went to join our Father in heaven on March 15th, at the age of 80.  Who is she? Let us look back at the village of L'Ile Bouchard in France, on December 8, 1947. At midday, four little girls saw the Blessed Mother in the church: Jacqueline, the eldest, was 11 years old.   There was also Jeannette, Nicole and Laura. The apparitions happened every day for a week. The Beautiful Lady, as the little visionaries called her, invited the children to "Pray for France that was in great need." Indeed, after World War II, the country was on the brink of civil war and the Communists were ready to take control. That morning, Father Finet, founder of the Foyers de Charité, had entered the room of the French mystic, Marthe Robin, and said to her: "Marthe, France is lost!" "No Father", she replied, "France is not lost as you say, because Our Lady will appear to small children..." And indeed, under the guidance of the pastor who believed the children, the whole parish of L'Ile Bouchard began to pray and, against all odds, the Communist plan failed. Since then, the Blessed Mother is venerated at L'Ile Bouchard under the name of Our Lady of Prayer.   Today, France can be saved again if more children and adults in families and in parishes come back to prayer. As Father Jozo Zovko likes to repeat, "Don't expect peace to come from your politicians! Peace will come through your prayer." 4. . Jesus appeared in Medjugorje.  Long ago,Vicka told me that during the apparition on Good Friday 1982, the Madonna appeared with Jesus. But not the way she comes every year at Christmas, when she is radiant with joy, holding her newborn Child. On that day, Jesus appeared as an adult. He was suffering His Passion and wearing his Crown of thorns. His blood was flowing down His forehead, cheeks and His beard. His face was covered with spit and mud. He was swollen from the blows He had received during the night in the prison of Caiaphas and the cruel abuse inflicted upon Him by Pilate's soldiers. He was wearing a red mantle all torn and bloody. "Dear children," said the Gospa. "Today I have come with my Son Jesus in his Passion so that you may see how much He suffered for you and how much He loves you." I asked Vicka: "Did Jesus talk to you also?" "No", she replied, "Jesus remained silent, He said nothing. But I looked into His eyes and I saw such tenderness there, such love, such humility that for me it was more powerful than any words He could have said. I saw how much He suffered and at the same time how much He loved us! You know, I will never forget the eyes of Jesus in His Passion!"   The visionary Marija also told the story of the apparition of Christ in an interview on Radio Maria (Italy) last February 25th. This is her story: "At that time we were being persecuted by the Communists. They took us to the mental hospital which was filled with people who had mental disabilities. We suffered a lot because they told us that we too would end up the same way as them. We were 16 year-old children and we were afraid. When the Our Lady appeared, we started to cry and we told her that we did not have anymore strength to continue, we were too exhausted.   "Earlier the Gospa had warned us: we should neither eat nor drink anything the Communists would give us. We were not to accept anything from them. We later learned from one of them that they had tried to drug us. They had their plan: they had said on television that we were drugged and they wanted viewers to see that. Fortunately, the Blessed Virgin had warned us of the danger. Then they brought us back to the Church in the village, and at night, we returned home, exhausted. That is when the Blessed Virgin appeared to us. We told her that we couldn't take it anymore, that we didn't deserve what they were doing to us. To make us afraid, they said for example that Vicka's father who was working in Germany would be arrested and put in jail as soon as he came back home, that he would no longer be able to earn money to support his family and that his family would die of hunger. We told Our Lady everything they did to us, how they had arrested us, taken us to an asylum, and how they were threatening us with having to stay there forever and becoming insane. It was then that she showed us Jesus with a crown of thorns, covered in wounds, bathed in blood, and she told us: "As He has done that out of love for you and for the whole of humanity, do it for Him as well." Jesus said nothing, he only looked at us... That night, I was unable to sleep, it had left a very deep impression. We will never forget it!   5. The next live broadcast will take place May 3 at 9:00 pm. I will talk in French about the message given on the 2nd. The April 3rd live program is broadcast at:  http://www.enfantsdemedjugorje.fr/index.php/le-direct-du-3.html Watch the videos with my 10-minute "Little bits of spiritual advice" at: https://sremmanuel.org/video/ We have created a new Facebook! Look today at: https://www.facebook.com/sr.emmanuelmaillard?fref=ts Follow us on twitter@childrenofmedj Dearest Gospa, Mother of the Risen Lord, you too see in our hearts. You know how they are still prisoners of emptiness and fear. Come and pour into them rivers of life and love!  Sister Emmanuel + (Translated from French)