 (c)Mary Matasso, 2012 The Statue in St. James Church (Do you see Denis??) |
| June 23, 2012
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children, I am continuously among you because, with my endless love, I desire to show you the door of Heaven. I desire to tell you how it is opened: through goodness, mercy, love and peace - through my Son." (June 2, 2012)
Being in Medjugorje, it seems that the door to heaven is very close. Our Lady is that door. Her heart is the door. In her great love for God, and her great love for us, we are offered the way through her to union with the Trinity. She offers herself as our entrance into communion with God. Here in Medjugorje, the way to holiness and heaven is presented to us, made possible to us, and provided for us, through Mary. It is a wonderful grace for these terrible and magnificent days.
Yesterday, Denis, Mary, Tom and I moved to Ivan Dragicevic's house for the second half of our visit to Medjugorje. We were sad to leave Dragan and Maja, but we had a long and joyful dinner with them the night before. Maja asked a lady who lives nearby to make a local dish for us called "meat pie" (I don't know the Croatian word, sorry!). It was spicy meat wrapped in a wonderful pastry. Delicious! We talked into the night, sharing our stories. It was a family time, which happens so easily in Medjugorje. Our Lady creates strong bonds of love here. She is a good mother and helps her children to be bonded together in trust and love.
 English Mass at St. James Friday, June 22 (c)Mary Matasso 2012
We went to 10:00 English Mass, and heard a rousing homily from an American priest. He had us repeat many times the phrase, "I will give you everything but..." Then he would fill in the blank with something hard for us to give up, like "my money", "my free time", "my resentment", "my anger", "my addiction", "my fear", "my shame", "my need to control", "my anxiety", "my jealousy", "my greed", "my lust", etc. The list went on for a long time. He made a very good point. It is important not to hold back anything from the Lord. He knows what is good for us and what is not good for us. We need to be attached to Him, and not to these other things. Whatever pops into our head when we say this phrase "I will give you everything but..." is probably hurting us.
After Mass, we went to the Mary TV Studio and began to work, assembling shelves, hanging lights from the grid on the ceiling, rearranging equipment, etc. It is coming along. But the biggest joy for Denis and me was praying the Rosary - live - with a clear shot of Apparition Hill during the broadcast! Tom and Josip were able to place a camera on the roof and zoom in on Apparition Hill close enough to see the people walking about! It was awesome! I felt like it was a turning point for Mary TV. Finally we were able to bring all of you right to Our Lady! Very exciting for me!
Denis and me, praying outside the studio yesterday (c)Mary Matasso 2012
But the gifts didn't stop. After our work was done we packed up and came to Ivan's house. We were greeted by fellow pilgrims, and we were told to go immediately to the chapel for the apparition! We prayed the Rosary with Ivan, and then at 6:40 pm Our Lady appeared to him. Such peace! Such fullness! I was overwhelmed with the love of Our Lady, that she would let me be present.
Ivan greets Our Lady in his chapel, Friday, June 22, 2012 (c)Mary Matasso 2012
I want to just summarize what Ivan shared with us. I am not quoting him, this is just a brief summary. Ivan said that this is a very special time for him personally, because of the anniversary. He said Our Lady was preparing him for the anniversary and that it is really special and cannot be described in words. He said that Our Lady was very joyful and happy, and that she greeted all of us with her motherly greeting, "Praised be Jesus, My dear children." He said that Our Lady prayed over each priest present individually, and then prayed for the sick and then for all of us. She blessed us all with her motherly blessing and blessed all the religious objects we brought to her.
Ivan said he recommended all of our intentions to her and in a special way recommended the priests and their parishes to her. Then Ivan had a private conversation with Our Lady. He said they talked in a special way about the beginning of the apparitions. Then Our Lady prayed again, and left in the Sign of the Cross saying "Go in peace."
What a wonderful blessing it was to be with Ivan for the apparition. I prayed for all of you on our email list, and asked Our Lady to bless us. I feel sure she takes our prayers seriously.
We will not be streaming any apparitions this visit, due to respect for the Vatican Commission and their work. But we will pray for you at every apparition we are allowed to attend.
Thank you to all of you who are praying for us! We will continue to do our Rosary -live- at 9:00 am EDT (Eastern time USA) while we are here. Join us if you can. We may do some other programing. Check the website for news. Our archived rosaries are not going up because the internet is so limited here. But we hope to get them up soon. Thank you for your patience.
God bless you!
Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2012 |
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