May 15, 2010
Dear Children of Medjugorje, praised be Jesus and Mary!
1 - On May 2, 2010, Mirjana received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross. After the apparition, she gave the following message:
“Dear children! Today, through me, the good Father calls you to, with your soul filled with love, set out on a spiritual visitation. Dear children, be filled with grace, sincerely repent of your sins and yearn for the good. Yearn also in the name of those who have not come to know the perfection of the good. You will be more pleasing to God. Thank you.”
By the Croatian words duhovni pohod (spiritual visitation), it seems that Gospa wants us to identify ourselves with her in her journey of the visitation, and in the many maternal visitations, which she continues to make to her “dear children”. To the prayer group of Jelena Vasilj, she said that if we abandon ourselves completely to her, others will recognize HER voice when we speak. The voice of Mary carries the Holy Spirit! The greeting of Mary is a Pentecost! This call to set out on a “spiritual visitation” is huge!
2 – We have the Magisterium! A pilgrim from Haiti told us a situation that we sometimes see and which merits an explanation. She went to confession in a church in Paris. During the confession, she told the priest that she often prays for the souls in Purgatory. Then the priest became a bit upset and said, “Leave them alone! Purgatory does not exist! Do not waste your time with such things!” The lady, somewhat struck by this statement, replied to him humbly: “But father, even during Mass, the priests pray for these souls!” “It is only a ritual,” replied the priest.
The lady then explained that she was very upset because as a child, her parents raised her in the habit of praying for the deliverance of the poor souls. And then, in one confession, everything collapsed for her! She wondered if she had she put her faith in pipe dreams (fake prayers); if she prayed in vain for those poor souls; if her dear parents who were strong believers, had misled her. Tormented by doubts, she sought direction for her prayer: what was she to believe?
In the end, she was reassured by several truths of the Catholic faith and teaching: that her parents had instilled in her the true faith of the Church; that the doctrine of Purgatory is part of the Magisterium of the Church; that no priest can deny Purgatory if he is truly Catholic; and that she could clearly reference more information about Purgatory as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
So what should the faithful do when a priest tells us something, which contradicts the Catholic faith? Two things:
- First, let us respect the priest and talk to him without animosity. Do not judge him, because we do not know what he has learned in the seminary, and whether he, himself, has been the victim of an incomplete or incorrect education. The best thing we can do for him, is pray for him.
- Second, let's also be clear with him and ask him to simply pass on what the Church says on the subject, rather than his personal opinion, especially if this opinion contradicts or modifies the Doctrine of the Church. Indeed, we go to the priest to find in him an apostle of Christ and a member of His church, not to hear a personal opinion that may vary according to the priest consulted.
In this way, we avoid the sin of judging the priest, we keep our inner peace, and we do not fall into the error of blindly believing what he says if he himself is in crisis in regards to the Magisterium of the Church.
The same goes for the ministry of the young and young at heart (middle aged). Many engaged couples tell us that in confession, their priest tells them that living together before receiving the Sacrament of Marriage is not a problem and that they can receive the Eucharist and other Sacraments. What a mistake! This is only the personal opinion of the priest, and it absolutely differs from the teaching of the Church. It is very painful to see so many young people misled by such advice, because chastity before marriage is powerful for success in the future of their family. It attracts the blessings of God! (See PS1, CD or DVD with Fr. Tim Deeter)
My purpose here is not to enumerate the difficulties encountered by the faithful in their sincere search for truth. But given the growing confusion in the spiritual realm, I can only recommend that all Catholics have and carefully read, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (one of John Paul II’s masterpieces). Thus, they will know the true faith of the Church and Her Magisterium, and they will be in communion with the Apostles' teaching. In addition, they will be strong before the dangerous approximations of those who are themselves victims of the spirit of relativism. A criterion of discernment that can help us is to check whether we seek above all to please God, rather than men. The Word of God cannot be diluted. It is, afterall, the Word of Life.
We give thanks to God for all the priests that He has given us, all the more for those who teach us the true faith received from the Apostles and who today suffer with the Church. Let us support them with fervor!
3 - A very good mother! Often mothers are the inspiration and guardian angels of priests. I know a Lebanese priest, Father Labaky, whose story is rather unusual: When he celebrated his first Mass, his mother gave him the most beautiful host you can imagine. It was delicately handmade, of a beautiful golden color like fields of wheat, and huge. He exclaimed, “Mom, where did you find such a host?” The mother then explained the origin of the host:
As a child, her son had confided in his family that he felt the call of Jesus and wanted to become a priest. She was very happy and decided to support this growing vocation by offering to God small and large sacrifices. She prayed to God to make her son a holy priest in His church.
To solidify her maternal and spiritual help, she took a vase and decided to throw a grain of wheat into it each time she offered a sacrifice to God. Shortly before he celebrated his first Mass, she told herself, ‘I will grind these grains of wheat, and with the flour I will make a large flat cake that will be his first host.’
And so it was done. When the priest heard his mother’s story, he was deeply moved! Each parcel of the Body of Christ that he would hold in his priestly hands would come from an offering of his mother! Wow! She had kept this precious secret for so many years, sacrificing herself silently for the priestly vocation of her son!
Father Labaky is now 70. His life has been so fruitful thus far! He has saved so many lost children and now, he sees to the training of priests. His books are pure marvels. (See PS2)
May this story inspire many moms, and awaken vocations of “spiritual motherhood” for priests. Holy priests would then multiply in our world!
4 – The year for priests: This month, let us make ours the very beautiful Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that Pope Benedict prayed in Fatima on May 12th, with all and for all the priests. In order to be able to pray it also, as lay people, we may adjust a few words:
“Immaculate Mother, in this place of grace, called together by the love of your Son Jesus
the Eternal High Priest, we, sons in the Son and His priests, consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart, in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.
“We are mindful that, without Jesus, we can do nothing good and that only through Him, with Him and in Him, will we be instruments of salvation for the world.
“Bride of the Holy Spirit, obtain for us the inestimable gift of transformation in Christ.
Through the same power of the Spirit that overshadowed you, making you the Mother of the Saviour, help us to bring Christ your Son to birth in ourselves too.
“May the Church be thus renewed by priests who are holy, priests transfigured by the grace of him who makes all things new.
“Mother of Mercy, it was your Son Jesus who called us to become like him: light of the world and salt of the earth.
“Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall short of this sublime vocation,
nor to give way to our selfishness, to the allurements of the world, and to the wiles of the Evil One…”
(The continuation is below. See the Vatican website www.vatican.va and http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/prayers/documents/hf_ben-xvi_20100512_affidamento-fatima_fr.html)
Dearest Gospa, Mother of priests, thank you for your loving gaze, which heals us, raises us up and makes us beautiful! Please come with us when we are on our spiritual visitations, that the Holy Spirit may radiate around us!
Sister Emmanuel +
(Translated from French)
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Following of the Act of Consecration:
“Preserve us with your purity, guard us with your humility, and enfold us with your maternal love that is reflected in so many souls consecrated to you, who have become for us true spiritual mothers.
“Mother of the Church, we priests want to be pastors who do not feed themselves but rather give themselves to God for their brethren, finding their happiness in this.
“Not only with words, but with our lives, we want to repeat humbly, day after day,
Our ‘here I am’.
“Guided by you, we want to be Apostles of Divine Mercy, glad to celebrate every day the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, and to offer to those who request it the sacrament of Reconciliation.
“Advocate and Mediatrix of grace, you who are fully immersed in the one universal mediation of Christ, invoke upon us, from God, a heart completely renewed that loves God with all its strength and serves mankind as you did.
“Repeat to the Lord your efficacious word: ‘They have no wine’, so that the Father and the Son will send upon us a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
“Full of wonder and gratitude at your continuing presence in our midst, in the name of all priests I too want to cry out: ‘Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’.
“Our Mother for all time, do not tire of "visiting us", consoling us, sustaining us. Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that threatens us.
“With this act of entrustment and consecration, we wish to welcome you more deeply, more radically, for ever and totally into our human and priestly lives.
“Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest, so that all mankind shall see the salvation of the Lord, who has the name and the face of Jesus, who is reflected in our hearts, for ever united to yours! Amen!”
PS 1- Order Fr. Tim Deeter’s “Prepare for a Successful Marriage” available on both CD and DVD for more marriage preparation tips at our online shop. You’ll be glad you did! www.childrenofmedjugorje.com
PS 2 – For more information or to order Fr. Monsour Labaky’s book “Lebanon Villiage of Heave” visit http://www.lebanonpostcard.com/en/leb-books/index.shtml
PS 3 - Sister Emmanuel’s latest teachings are NOW AVAILABLE on both CD and DVD format! Choose a single title or purchase all six: Take the Hand of Your Heavenly Mother; Make Your Peace With God; Embrace Suffering As Your Way to Joy; Pray With Your Family: A Remedy for our World Today; Responding to Our Lady's Call to Holiness; Prayer Groups: Our Lady's School for Holiness.
*Buy the DVD set for your Lenten preparation and go on a virtual retreat with Sister Emmanuel, as experienced this fall at the Children of Medjugorje Summit Retreat in St Malo, Colorado!
PS 4 - An important piece of information to pass on to all: The parish of Medjugorje now requires to see the 'celebret' of the visiting priests, and to keep a copy. If they don’t have it, they won't be able to celebrate Mass nor hear Confessions.
Permission is given to spread the text of these reports under two conditions: 1) no words are changed,
2) “Children of Medjugorje” is cited along with our website www.childrenofmedjugorje.com
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