September 30, 2011
St. Jerome
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! I call you, that this time be for all of you, a time of witnessing. You, who live in the love of God and have experienced His gifts, witness them with your words and life that they may be for the joy and encouragement to others in faith. I am with you and incessantly intercede before God for all of you that your faith may always be alive and joyful, and in the love of God. Thank you for having responded to my call." (September 25, 2011
For over twenty years now, people have gathered at Notre Dame for the Medjugorje Conference. Countless people have witnessed to the love of God and His wonderful Gifts, received through Our Lady of Medjugorje at that conference! We have a wonderful talk given at the ND Conference in 1991by Bishop Nicholas D'Antonio, O.F.M. posted on our website. Bishop D'Antonio died in 2009, and it is a treat to be able to see him on this video. Here is a short transcription from his talk which you can watch in full at www.marytv.tv in the Featured Video box at the top of the home page. Bishop Nick shares about his pilgrimage to Medjugorje and what he experienced there:
On the vigil of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, several priests, laity, an elderly nun, and I agreed to begin the climb to the top of the hill of the Cross at 11:30 pm. It was pitch dark. We prayed the Way of the Cross which gave us a chance to catch our breath. With us was a heavy set female pilgrim whom we tried to dissuade from climbing the hill. She ignored our pleas, and asked me to assist her by pushing her forward. So with my left hand on her ample posterior....all of us finally made it to the top.
Once there the good lady, whom I assisted, suddenly prostrated herself at the base of the huge cement cross, and cried and prayed in the following manner: "Thank you Jesus. I praise you! I love you! You got me up here! I will be forever grateful."
I was miffed by her words! [The crowd laughed heartily] Notice how human bishops are! Without me she never could have made it! Anyway, once back in New Orleans, this good woman showed me her appreciation with a gift of freshly baked Italian cookies.
It is 2:00 in the morning. We are still at the top of the mountain. On the summit there are rocks everywhere....and no toilet facilities. The area is small and all available spaces were occupied by other pilgrims. The heat was stifling. And so we prayed Rosary after Rosary and rested the best we could.
At dawn the priests and I began to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Our backs faced the rising sun. After a while, I turned my head to look at the sun and got the surprise of my life. I saw huge concentric circles spread outwards from the center of the fire ball in all directions. And on the face of the sun I could appreciate that there were revolving crystal balls of all colors, green, red, gold, purple. I motioned to the others to come, look, and see. We compared what we saw, and agreed that we were witnessing the same phenomenon. Greatly excited, we watched the sun dance and spin for approximately 15 minutes, yet without hurting our eyes. Refreshed, we returned to our prayers. We consulted Fr. Tomaslav Pervan about this, and he only laughed it off as an illusion. But one of the visionaries explained it as a sign of grace. That made more sense to me!
As the sun rose higher, pilgrims began to pour in from all directions, singing and praying with great devotion and faith. The summit was already overcrowded, yet the pilgrims pressed forward and sat where ever they could. I was exhausted from sitting. I stood up for a brief moment and lost my piece of the rock!! [More laughter!] The new neighbor simply looked up and smiled. (Bishop Nicholas D 'Antonio, O.F.M. speaking at the Medjugorje Conference at Notre Dame in May 1991)
As you can see, Bishop Nick had a wonderful sense of humor! Wasn't he amazing, climbing Mount Krisevac in the middle of the night and praying Rosary after Rosary as he waited for Holy Mass with the parish for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross! The miracle of the sun was a gift to him for his courage! If you listen to the whole talk, you can see how careful Bishop Nick was to analyze the events of Medjugorje, making certain that he looked at it from all sides and discerned the truth. He believed completely in the authenticity of Medjugorje and witnessed to it powerfully that day.
May we all find our voices now, witnessing to the great gifts we have received through Medjugorje! The world needs to know that Our Lady is with us!
In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan
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