Dear Children of Medjugorje

From the Desk of Sr. Emmanuel Maillard

March 15, 2017   Dear Children of Medjugorje, praised be Jesus and Mary! 1.  On March 2, 2017, Mirjana received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross.  After the apparition, she shared with us the following message from Our Lady:  "Dear children, with motherly love I am coming to help you to have more love and that means more faith. I am coming to help you to live with love the words of my Son, so that the world would be different. Therefore, apostles of my love, I am gathering you around myself. Look at me with the heart, speak to me as to a mother about your pains, sufferings and your joys. Ask me to pray to my Son for you. My Son is merciful and just. My motherly heart would desire for you also to be like that. My motherly heart would desire that you, apostles of my love, speak of my Son and of me to all those around you with your life; so that the world would be different; that simplicity and purity would return; that faith and hope would return. Therefore, my children, pray, pray, pray with the heart, pray with love, pray with good works. Pray that everyone would come to know my Son, so that the world would change, that the world would be saved. With love live the words of my Son. Do not judge, instead love one another so that my heart could triumph. Thank you."   See a video of Mirjana receiving the apparition here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB5MeugJYCU Don't forget! Mirjana's birthday is March 18th, and, as usual, she will receive an apparition on that day.  2. What I Learned in Egypt   Last month I had the joy of being able to return to Egypt. Many had told me: "Don't go, it's dangerous!" But where is the danger these days? Isn't there just as much danger in Paris, Nice, or Brussels, where we had bombings lately? The real danger is not being where God calls us!   In her March 2nd message, Mary told us twice that she comes to help us. That reminds me of what I learned while visiting a small church hidden in the narrow, crowded streets, in the oldest part of Cairo. That Church is where one of the three icons, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, painted by the Apostle Luke, is kept. This icon of the Blessed Mother is called "El Ezbaweya". (Two other paintings of St. Luke are located in Rome, and Jerusalem.)   This is a miraculous icon. Many Christians and non-Christians come here to honor the Mother of God who is shown with the child Jesus. Some spend hours in front of her, seated on the floor, mumbling a mix of praise and supplications. Among the many miracles that have occurred in this place, one of them, narrated by the Coptic priest in charge of this shrine, really touched me.   In the 1940s, during World War II, a woman of Greek nationality came to Cairo, and for 12 days she stood at the feet of the Blessed Virgin, tearfully praying and pleading with her. Every day, she would make a new offering. What happened was that her son had joined the British army and was then sent to Lebanon. He sent letters to his mother regularly, but in his latest letter he had told her that he was sick. After that...she received not one word from him! Complete silence! She was not receiving any more news, so that this poor mother was afraid that something bad had happened to her son, perhaps even that he had died. So she had come from very far to implore the assistance of El Ezbaweya, begging her to look after her son over there in Lebanon, to keep him healthy and bring him back.   One day, the priest found her very early in the morning standing in front of the door of the Church, radiant with joy. She told him that she had received a letter from her son. He thanked his mother saying: "Mom, thank you for the lady you sent me! I was very sick, but this lady came to me and she brought me some medicine. She told me: 'Your mother sent me to you!' The medication she brought me is what healed me. I took it and I am healed!' I asked her to tell me her name, and she said: 'My name is El Ezbaweya'." (Her son did not know this name at all).   The priest concluded: "The Lady El Ezbaweya has replied to the prayers, the tears and the praises of a mother!" 3. Don't forget St. Joseph! On March 19th, we will joyfully celebrate him!  Those who have not yet started the Novena, and wish to, will have to "train-hop" so to speak. Meaning that you can still hop on the train of the novena and end it after St. Joseph's feast day.  Following in the footsteps of the Holy Family in Egypt makes us realize how this man, chosen by God, was able to take care of his family under the worst possible conditions! As political refugees under constant threat from Herod's spies, despised by people because of their poverty, Joseph, Mary and Jesus owe their survival to Providence alone! Their unshakable confidence in God's purposes and their mutual love enabled them to undergo this trial and grow stronger because of it. What a magnificent example for us, whose families are bombarded as never before by the destroyer! Indeed, though Satan is always eager to subvert and break what God created from the beginning, namely the holy nest of life that is the family, nevertheless the Creator is all the more present to pour out his special graces to all families that really trust in Him! The sacrament of marriage is incomparably rich, because it places the family under the blessing of God. In our day, who wouldn't want to be covered by the blessing of God? Of course, if you asked for such a blessing, you cannot at the same time act in a way that displeases Him. The world is pushing us to step on the Word of God, which is life because it is God, but St. Joseph will help us to keep it and treasure it! Among the praises addressed to St. Joseph in his litany (see our site), there is one that we should mention now more than ever before, "Joseph most chaste." Just recently we have seen a horrible campaign to pervert children through pornography, cleverly imposed by the Ministry of Education and the media. The Lord Jesus, though He is so merciful, spoke clearly against those who would scandalize a child (see PS 1). Woe unto us! Destroying the innocence of children is criminal. Our entire future will be seriously disordered and our children's potential for affection very wounded, even deviated. God can repair everything with much prayer and care but so many intimate sufferings could be avoided if only we would see the violence of pornography. St. Joseph, please protect the children!   Saint Joseph, my tender father, I place myself forever under your protection. Consider me as your child and protect me from all sin. I throw myself into your arms so that you may carry me on the way of holiness.   (A song composed in French, used for our morning prayer in Medjugorje) 4. Living Lent, Easter Is Next Month!   For the weeks of lent that we still have to live, here are three ideas to make them more fruitful:   -      Every time I am tempted to grab my cell phone to call someone, I will ask myself, "Is it really necessary?" If I can avoid this call, I will replace it with a short prayer calling for the blessing of God upon that person and the entire world. Decide to never judge.   -      I will make the sign of the Cross over me - the right way - as Mary taught it to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, during the first apparition on February 11, 1858. On that day Bernadette just could not make the sign of the Cross. Then, Our Lady made, in front her her, a VERY wide and slow movement from the forehead to the belly button across the chest from left to right. From that day on, Bernadette made the sign of the Cross over herself with great reverence and piety. Actually, by this sign, we invoke God three times holy. The exchange of love between the three persons of the Trinity begins working within us. The sign of the Cross well made, with the heart, has the power of exorcism! It reminds the enemy how and by whom he has been defeated forever: Jesus on the Cross. One of my assistants was converted just by making the sign of the Cross one day. In one moment, she believed in God and started changing her life. For her, it was like an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.   -      Every day, at home, read some verses from the Bible, especially the text of the daily Mass, even if you went to daily Mass. Pick up one word that strikes you the most, repeat it, chew on it, ponder it, be nurtured by it throughout the day. Then share it with your family or friends or neighbors, helping others to learn from the Word of God, which is light unto our steps.