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February 15, 2013
Dear Children of Medjugorje, praised be Jesus and Mary!
1. On February 2nd Mirjana Soldo received her monthly apparition in her home, in semi-privacy, after which she conveyed to us the following message:
"Dear children,
with motherly love I desire to teach you sincerity, because I desire
that, in your actions as my apostles, you be exact, resolute, and above
all sincere. I desire that, by the grace of God, you be open for a
blessing. I desire that by fasting and prayer you obtain from the
Heavenly Father the cognition of what is natural and holy -- Divine.
Filled with cognition, under the shelter of my Son and myself, you will
be my apostles who will know how to spread the Word of God to all those
who do not know of it; and you will know how to overcome obstacles that
will stand in your way. My children, by means of a blessing, God's grace
will descend upon you and you will be able to retain it through
fasting, prayer, purification and reconciliation. You will have the
efficiency which I seek of you. Pray for your shepherds that the ray of
God's grace may illuminate their ways. Thank you."
2 - Saint Joseph, my loving father...
Years ago, I made a deal with St. Joseph: he would give me strong
signs of his kindness, and I would make him known. Last Saturday, seeing
that his feast day of March 19th was getting close, I said
to him out loud, in our morning prayer: "Dear Saint Joe, you know that
many people have no idea of the power you have in heaven, and know even
less of your desire to help them. They are missing out on so many favors
from you! If you would like to have new friends who will start praying
to you, give me a beautiful testimony, and I will publish it. Besides, I
will invite the readers to offer you a 30-day Novena before your feast
day (See PS 2). So there, you have a job. Now please go for it!"
The
next day, a dear Croatian friend from Dubrovnik came to see us
unexpectedly. Her name was Stosija. After climbing down from Podbrdo,
she walked along the little path in front of our house and decided to
knock at our door to make a short visit. She had barely arrived when we
noticed such a great joy that her entire face was lit up. Then she told
us:
"I was born near Zadar, Croatia. From my childhood I used to hear my family pray daily and I loved looking at the statue of the Holy Family,
as little children do. I got married to a man from Dubrovnik where I
moved to live. At that time, everyday life was very hard. So we decided
to go and work in Germany where my husband kept his own restaurant and
his Art Gallery. Each summer we came to Dubrovnik. I was much younger
then and my prayer life was rather poor. We had two children and
everything went fine, until my son got ill. Only then did God finally
come in the first place in my life.
So,
in 1985 I came to Medjugorje for the first time, with my son. Invited
by Fr Slavko, we were present during the apparition. Later he told us to
go to Confession. Since 1985 I have been returning to Medjugorje many
times and it really changed my life completely. Not only my life, my
family's life too. I am so grateful to God! When I heard about the Croatian Sanctuary of Saint Joseph in Karlovac, I went there and enrolled myself in the Brotherhood of Saint Joseph, and started praying to him. That's how he entered into my life as a strong protector.
My
husband died in 1999. I left Germany and now live in Dubrovnik, a city
that I love. But our old stone house, although beautiful (with nicely
kept garden) was too big for me. My greatest problem was to choose where
to live. For the past four years we have been trying to sell it, to no
avail. I have a very nice neighbor. I spoke about God to him and he
started attending Mass regularly. He kept asking me where I was going to
live when the house is sold. I told him: 'I will let God decide. It
could be the nursing home or I could go to my daughter's.'
"In Medjugorje I came across Sister Emmanuel's book The Hidden Child of Medjugorje
with many beautiful stories. Every night, before going to sleep, I
asked my dear Gospa to choose a 'good night story' from that book. Last
September I placed the book on my heart and, while keeping my eyes
closed, I opened the book and picked up the story of 'The Craftsman from
Warsaw'. Through this story you learn that you can recommend your needs
to Saint Joseph by writing a letter to him and attaching it to his
picture, praying regularly and in faith waiting for the result. Then I
decided to ask Saint Joseph to help me solve my problem. I looked at his
picture and said: 'My dear Saint Joseph, pray for me so that I may find
out if God wants me to stay here! It's late, so I will write down my
prayer request to you tomorrow!' It was on Saturday night.
Sunday
morning I went to church and my neighbor greeted me saying: 'Praised be
Jesus and Mary!' (His name is Joseph!) I invited him to drink coffee
after Mass with me, and chat a little bit. While we were sitting, again
he asked what my plans were when the house get sold. I simply said: 'I
don't know, I'll see. I inherited a piece of land from my father near
Zadar. Maybe I can sell that property in order to get some money and
build a little apartment in my garden and stay here.' Immediately he
said: 'I will buy this land!' (My neighbor is a successful man). I
laughed and asked him: 'Why would you buy it?' 'I just want to help
you!' he said. I turned around and looked at St Joseph's picture: 'My
dear Saint Joseph,' I said. 'I haven't even written the letter to you,
yet you are already answering me!'
Now
we are in the process of getting all paperwork done. As a civil
technician my neighbor has drawn all the plans and he helped me work on
them. Next to the house, we are also going to build a little chapel
called Nazareth dedicated to the Holy Family. I asked St. Joseph
to be my finance minister, to be what he was in his own house: a good
father of family, a good protector and a good foster parent. I am happy
to see this coming true."
And
so thanks to Stosija, I received my story the very next day after I had
prayed to St. Joseph! And he provided me with it just in time to
publish it here! Well, if St. Joseph offered me so quickly this
testimony, I am sure that it is for you also to adopt this great Saint!
It looks like he is waiting for you too!
3 - The children! Friends of ours from
Rome, a family of 4, come to Medjugorje each year to recharge their
"spiritual batteries". They take the messages to heart and pray together
every day. Here are some pearls gleaned from the mouth of their little
son:
"Mommy, when you go to Heaven, will you tell me then whether the Madonna has blue or black eyes?"
"But darling, if I am dead, how can I tell you?"
"You will tell me in my heart!"
The
mother wrote to me: "It is beautiful to see that the Blessed Mother is a
real person in their lives and that for them, there is a language of
the heart. These days, we were expecting Father Antonello in our home.
The children love him very much.
- Mommy, is Father Antonello arriving today?
- Yes!
- Will he be picking me up at school?
- I think so, Francesco.
- How wonderful it would be if he could bless all the children in the school!"
Hearing
this, the priest immediately went to see the school. Francesco's family
spoke with the Sister in charge, who was surprised and very touched by
the child's request. And so, on the next day, all the children in this
school received a blessing!
Praying as a family is the most beautiful gift parents can offer their children, in this world and for eternity!
Dearest Gospa,
please call the blessing of God upon us. We want to be among your
apostles, loved just the way you love them: "exact, resolute and above
all, sincere"! Of the billions of people on earth, how is it that you
have chosen us to be your apostles? We do not want to disappoint you.
Sister Emmanuel +
(Translated from French)
Nota Bene: A big "Thank You" to all those who are, or will be, sending me their testimonies for the new book I am writing, in the style of The Hidden Child of Medjugorje.
They are very touching! May I suggest another request to make the book
even more attractive? If you have any beautiful photos that have to do
with Medjugorje, please send them to me at gospa.fr@gmail.com and put "My Testimony" as a subject. THANK YOU with all my heart!
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