MARY, OUR MOTHER

© Children of Medjugorje 2008
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September 15, 2008, Our Lady of Sorrows

Dear children of Medjugorje,
Praised be Jesus and Mary!

1 - On September 2nd, Mirjana Soldo received her monthly apparition at the Cenacle. After the apparition she gave us the following message: “Dear Children, today, with my motherly heart, I call you gathered around me to love your neighbor. My children, stop! Look in the eyes of your brother and see Jesus, my Son. If you see joy, rejoice with him. If there is pain in the eyes of your brother, with your tenderness and goodness, cast it away, because without love you are lost. Only love is effective. It works miracles. Love will give you unity in my Son and the victory of my heart. Therefore, my children, love.”

Once again, Our Lady called us to pray for our shepherds.

2 - A Wounded Statue! The white marble statue of Mary erected on Podbrdo Hill was badly damaged on August 29th. At the dawn of day, the first witnesses were shocked: Our Lady’s hand was missing and her nose marred, disfiguring her face. What overwhelming hatred! Who could have something against Our Lady if not the one whose head she crushes with her heel? But as often happens, Heaven turned this evil into good. The act actually inspired many to offer Our Mother prayers of reparation. For example, the Parish of Grossetto, Italy, organized prayers of reparation spanning nine consecutive Saturdays. Let us not be the last ones to show the Gospa our support! The damages will soon be repaired, since the hand was found in a bush. But some pilgrims have expressed a desire that the hand not be replaced! In fact the Gospa has often invited us saying, “Dear children, be my extended hands to those who do not yet know the love of God.” The broken hand may remind us that today we can take responsibility for being her maternal hands, her instruments! Through us, she wishes to reach her children who are most in need of the essentials – our prayer, fasting and sacrifices.

3 - Facing Death! I just came back from a mission in Spain and Portugal. It is evident that these two countries, which were far from Medjugorje for so long, are ardently opening themselves to Our Lady’s messages! Among other incredible blessings, I appreciated the example of a manufacturer who decided to dedicate the profits of his work to the broadcasting of the Divine Mercy and publications about Medjugorje. He donates financial support to each work that he prints, which allows him to publish religious books at a lower cost. Thanks to his sacrifice, thousands of people are reached who would not be otherwise if they had to pay the normal price. This shows what impact of grace a single ‘child of Medjugorje’ can have when he puts himself to the service of Jesus and Mary through the concrete actions that are in his power! I would not be surprised to learn in Heaven that such generosity allowed many souls to find Salvation. What a beautiful example! It may inspire us for similar actions that we are capable of doing for Our Lady! I could not help thinking, ‘If the Gospa found people like this in each country, how fast she would cover the world with her messages!’

Returning from the mission, my sisters drove me from Dubrovnik airport to Medjugorje. During the trip, we saw a car careening toward us in our lane, it was going at full speed on the wrong side of the road. The driver had fallen asleep and his head was down! A collision was inevitable. My sister held the horn down and pushed on the brake, the man finally lifted his head and, just a few yards from our car, he was able to quickly pull back into his lane. Our survival hanged only by a thread! Five minutes earlier we had sung a hymn to the Guardian Angels and to St Michael the Archangel. I believe these Heavenly friends spared us from a terrible accident! This is a good encouragement to put the Angels to work in all circumstances! They can act with such power where humanly we aren’t able to do anything by ourselves!

4 - Many people are asking us questions about Father Tomislav Vlasic, OFM. In effect, because of serious errors totally independent of Medjugorje, the Holy See has removed his faculties. After several consultations with him, the Church certainly had to take action in order to protect the faithful from various deviances. But most of the media added their own opinions to the case, and thus caused great trouble among the faithful, especially in Italy. We should always go to the reliable sources, or wait for them to clarify the facts. Even though Fr. Tomislav was closely connected to the events of Medjugorje in its beginning, and did a very good work then, at one point he had to leave the parish on serious grounds. Since then, he has been living in Italy for over 17 years, so what happens today does not concern directly the parish of Medjugorje, nor condemns it in any way. The whole Church is aching because of this situation. Therefore, along with Mary, let us keep away from any agitation, let’s remain in God’s peace and in prayer, in order to hasten the victory of the Light where the enemy wants darkness. Such victory is certainly prepared by God, but we have to seize it! Before a clear text is published on the website www.childrenofmedjugorje.com around October 1st, each one of us is invited to read again and to live the messages Our Lady urged us to live these past years, through Mirjana: “Pray for your priests!” “Your shepherds should be in your hearts and in your prayers!”

5 - The Month of the Rosary: A Gift to the Gospa? Our Lady has said, “I ask priests and all religious people to pray the rosary and to teach others to pray it.” (Aug. 25, ‘97) “Prayer in the family is the way to cure the world of today,” (to Ivan, last August at the Blue Cross).
If you love Our Lady and you want to please her, you can’t miss if you renew your prayer of the Rosary in the family, especially with October coming soon, the month of the Rosary! For some people, beginning to pray the Rosary demands a step of faith, but it’s a step no one will regret!
Mother Teresa and praying in the family.
In Mother Teresa’s ‘Intimate Writings’ (see PS), we find very enlightening letters on the weapon that she used to defeat evil as it eats away at our families today. In the passage quoted below, she describes one of her visions to a prelate, “Excellency (...) Again this huge crowd! I could read deep sorrow and suffering on their faces. I was kneeling next to Our Lady who was facing them. I did not see her face but I heard her say, ‘Take care of them, they are mine. Bring them to Jesus. Take Jesus to them. Do not be afraid. Teach them to say the Rosary, the Rosary in the family, and everything will go well. Do not fear. Jesus and myself will be with you and your children.’”

Last year, during my mission in India, we were invited in the South of the country to a school built at the seaside in the state of Kerala. There, we shared the Medjugorje messages with the students. The nuns who ran the school happily confided to us, “Here, we pray the Rosary everyday with our students.” Imagine my surprise! What French Catholic school would do this? Then a nun took us up to the school terrace and said, “Look on the left and look on the right!” There, we could see complete desolation, as the tsunami had badly hit this area. Then the nuns told us, “Look at our school! It was spared, it remained intact! When the tsunami arrived on our property, the water stopped at the first step!” And the nuns added, with a touching smile typical of a pure heart, “Because you see, Sister, here in our school we pray the rosary together everyday, so Our Lady protected us!”

Dearest Gospa, O admirable Mother, how happy we are to live with you and to share everything with you!

Sister Emmanuel +
(Translated from French)


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- From the beautiful book: “Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light” (2007).

PS 2 - In the US, some are confusing Fr. Jozo Zovko with Fr. Tomislav Vlasic, but they are two different priests.

PS 3 - Read and present to your friends Sister Emmanuel’s latest book, “The Hidden Child of Medjugorje”! Available in the US through COM store: www.childrenofmedjugorje.com , click “Shop COM.” Also available are all of Sr Emmanuel’s CDs and DVDs with many teachings and meditations on the messages from Medjugorje.

PS 4 - In order to receive this monthly report from Sr. Emmanuel in English, please go to our website: www.childrenofmedjugorje.com click “Get Involved” and then “Join Us.” Or, send an email and request to be added to the mailing list!

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