Mary TV: November 22, 2012 Reflection

Marija Pavlovic Lunetti speaks at Notre Dame, 11/15/12  (c)Mary TV 2012  + J.M.J. November 23, 2012 St. Clement I, St. Columban, Bl. Agustin Pro   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. Therefore, my children, do not waste time on vanities. Only knowledge of the love of my Son can save you. Through that salvific love and the Holy Spirit He chose me and I, together with Him, am choosing you to be apostles of His love and will. My children, great is the responsibility upon you. I desire that by your example you help sinners regain their sight, enrich their poor souls and bring them back into my embrace. Therefore, pray, pray, fast and confess regularly. If receiving my Son in the Eucharist is the center of your life then do not be afraid, you can do everything. I am with you. Every day I pray for the shepherds and I expect the same of you. Because, my children, without their guidance and strengthening through their blessing, you cannot do it. Thank you." (June 2, 2012)   Marija spoke about being chosen during her talk at Notre Dame. She is living this message.   For me for a long, long time, it was a big joy to be here. And when Lynn Hoffman invited me to come to California, she gave me the possibility to come here also, to make a normal conference here, like you do every year. I said, "I am so happy to be here." I am sorry also for my English. You are a good occasion for me to speak better. So please help me. Anyway, I am so happy to be here in Notre Dame. I have heard for so many years of the University of Notre Dame, and the many many people who come here. I remember that in 1985 a priest came from Notre Dame, and he gave me a sweatshirt from Notre Dame and I put it on and I thought to myself, "Ah, this University is completely from Our Lady."   And after that I heard many things, good and bad. Mostly good. And when I heard of this occasion here I thought it was good to ask our Lady to bless this place, this town, this city that is born from this priest who was little bit a visionary also. And he had this idea to make a university. And now today it is one of the biggest known campuses. Thank God for this man who answered "yes", like Our Lady when she said "yes" to be the Mother of Jesus. Today I am also here to say, I am not here for me, but my testimony will help you, everyone, to be more near to Our Lady. Because she chose me, and she gave me this possibility to be here with you.   Thanks to her, my life is changed. I chose holiness. I chose conversion. Because when Our Lady came, 24th of June, 1981, I am just a girl, I was sixteen. When Our Lady appeared, I never thought Our Lady would come to me, come to us. Vicka was older than the rest of us. And when Our Lady appeared over Apparition Hill, near to our house, she was so shocked, and she ran away so fast she forgot she had shoes. Her shoes stayed there and she ran home. This is what courage we had at that time. There was also communism at that time, and we thought we would go to jail. But Our Lady chose us, and we were minors. So we would not have the possibility to go in prison. And I remember when the police would come and try to put us in prison, we knew that someone would go in our place, our mother or father or someone else older than us. Many times we said, "You do not have the possibility to put us in prison, because we are too young."   But one day the secret police came and took Father Joso who was our parish priest, who at the beginning was not a believer in the apparition. He said "I don't understand, Our Lady appeared over a rock or a bush on this poor hill. There is nothing there, only a bush or stones, and nobody goes to the Chruch, and here is Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist. How come nobody is stopping there? And every day he was praying. And he ask why Our Lady was not appearing in the church. And every day Our Lady appeared on Apparition hill and one day the police took us and told us that we could no longer go to the hill for the apparition because the hill was the property of the government. And when Our Lady came we asked Our Lady, "What do we need to do?" And Our Lady said to us, "Go in the Church. There you will be protected." And we were not sure because Fr. Jozo did not believe. And we asked Our Lady three times. And Our Lady smiled the third time and said, "Go in church. There you will be protected." And we said there was no other way, we needed to go.   We thought that normally in the afternoon when Our Lady appears, the church is closed. So we had a good excuse to say to Our Lady, "There is nobody there, the Church is closed." But this time Fr. Jozo, who was the parish priest, was praying. And he opened Holy Scripture and he asked, "Dear Jesus, please speak to my heart. I don't know what I need to do. There are so many people who have come to this place. So many are praying day and night. And nobody comes here to You." And we came that moment to the church and he opened Holy Scripture and he read "This is my beloved son, protect him."   We tried to say to Fr. Jozo, "Fr. Jozo we are sorry. We don't like to come, but Our Lady told us to go there, to go in the church." And so we said this to him, and he smiled and said, "I just have gotten an answer. I prayed and Jesus spoke in my heart. We will pray together." So from Apparition Hill we went into the church. Our Lady made her own program. She said, "Ask your parish priest to pray the rosary, to make Holy Mass. Many pilgrims come who are sick, and she said to us, "Jesus said when there are 2 or 3 together, I am with you. So you pray over the sick person and you ask Fr. Jozo and the other priests to pray and give a blessing from God, and we prayed and asked blessing from God through Fr. Jozo over every sick person there. So every day our program got bigger! (Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti. University of Notre Dame, November 15, 2012)   Marija was very happy because Our Lady chose her to come to Notre Dame. She said, "Today I am also here to say, I am not here for me, but my testimony will help you, everyone, to be more near to Our Lady. Because she chose me, and she gave me this possibility to be here with you." Marija understands what it means to be chosen. From the moment Our Lady first appeared to her in Medjugorje, on June 24, 2012, she has experienced in a concrete way that chosen-ness. Our Lady comes to her, chooses her to receive the apparition. Our Lady shares with her the messages she gives for the world on the 25th of the month. Our Lady converses with her and is present to her in a very special way. She has been chosen.   But on June 2, 2012, Our Lady told all of us that we have been chosen as well. "Through that salvific love and the Holy Spirit He chose me and I, together with Him, am choosing you to be apostles of His love and will. My children, great is the responsibility upon you." We have been chosen to be her apostles of Jesus' love and will. We have been chosen. Like the visionaries, we are nothing special. We are not better than anyone else. We are merely chosen to receive the incredible presence of Our Lady in Medjugorje, and to be transformed by it. We have been chosen to be those who carry Our Lady's love to others.   May we recognize the deep meaning of being chosen. May we say "yes" to that choice of God and Mary. May we respond with our total self-gift, and be Mary's Apostles!   In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2012   PS. The Anniversary of the death of Fr. Slavko Barbaric is tomorrow, November 24. Let's ask him to pray for us, that we can say "yes" to being chosen!