Newsletter From Medjugorje January 2017

From the Desk of Sr. Emmanuel Maillard January 15, 2017 Dear Children of Medjugorje, Praised be Jesus and Mary!   1. On January 2, 2017 Mirjana received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross in the midst of a large crowd willing to entrust the New Year 2017 to the Blessed Mother. After the apparition, she shared this message that Mary is giving all of us: "Dear children, my Son was the source of love and light when He spoke on earth to the people of all peoples. My apostles, follow His light. This is not easy. You must be little. You must make yourselves smaller than others; with the help of faith to be filled with His love. Not a single person on earth can experience a miraculous experience without faith. I am with you. I am making myself known to you by these comings, by these words; I desire to witness to you my love and motherly care. My children, do not waste time posing questions to which you never receive an answer. At the end of your journey on earth, the Heavenly Father will give them to you. Always know that God knows everything; God sees, God loves. My most beloved Son illuminates lives, dispels darkness; and my motherly love which carries me to you is inexpressible, mysterious but real. I am expressing my feelings to you: love, understanding and motherly benevolence. Of you, my apostles, I am asking for your roses of prayer which need to be acts of love. To my motherly heart these are the dearest prayers. I offer these to my Son who was born for your sake. He looks at you and hears you. We are always close to you. This is the love which calls, unites, converts, encourages and fulfills. Therefore, my apostles, always love one another and above all, love my Son. This is the only way to salvation, to eternal life. This is my dearest prayer which fills my heart with the most beautiful scent of roses. Pray, always pray for your shepherds that they may have the strength to be the light of my Son. Thank you." 2.  "Return to the Rosary"!   2017, the centennial anniversary of the apparitions in Fatima, is a vitally important year for believers. Let's take a careful look at the message that Mary gave the 3 little shepherds, a message that shown across the entire 20th century like a beam of light. Mary presented herself as Our Lady of the Rosary. She revealed to us the path toward a lasting peace for the whole world, and she specifically gave us a sure way of ending World War I, namely to pray the Rosary!   There is certainly a major reason why the Blessed Virgin, in all of her appearances throughout the Church's history, strongly insists that we pray the rosary every day. Why does she constantly reiterate this tender supplication? As a Mother, she knows best how to guide her children toward happiness. Many have never practiced this prayer. Some do not even know it, while others have stopped praying it. It has to be said that the hidden treasure of the rosary is not always very easy to find. That is why I propose to give you a little explanation. There are 2 ways of praying the Rosary, the good way and the bad way. Or...Let's rather say: the weak way and the powerful way. The weak way:  Suppose that I carry a heavy burden on my heart because one of my relatives is dying in hospital and is in great pain. So I decide to say a Rosary for this intention, in the hope of obtaining a healing for that person or at least some tangible relief. So I start reciting my Hail Mary's pretty mechanically, while my mind is anxiously focused on the suffering of this person. I wonder how I am going to be able to deal with this very difficult situation. It goes without saying that this Rosary will still bear a little fruit, but it will leave me more tired and stressed than before I prayed. It's a pity, because I've spent some time praying it! The powerful way: The Blessed Mother has taught us to pray the Rosary for the past 35 years with great precision. Suppose that the same problem is bothering me and it hurts: one of my parents is dying in hospital and is in great pain. So I am going to share this concern with my Mother in Heaven. Instead of locking my mind on that problem, I am going to completely get rid of it, let it go, throw it and abandon it in her Immaculate Heart. Image published by RL George: http://www.rlgeorge.com/our-lady-of-fatima/ I may tell her: "MOM, now this is YOUR problem! The burden is too heavy for me, please take care of it since you're my mother. Aren't you all-powerful on the heart of God? He can't say no to you!"  I know she is good at taking care of her children's problems, so while she is busy with my problem, my heart is relieved and free to pray with serenity. With deep trust in her, I can now focus on Jesus wholeheartedly and contemplate the various situations in His life that the mysteries talk about. Of course, before pronouncing the prayers of the Rosary, I take some time to go in spirit to the place where the mystery has happened. At that point, it's always a good idea to read the relevant part of the Gospel. With all my heart and using my imagination, I am going to look at Jesus in this situation, enter the scene and participate in what is happening.   A concrete example: when I pray the 5th luminous mystery, the institution of the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper, I go in spirit to Jerusalem, I enter the Upper Room in the Cenacle and I sit down at the table among the Apostles in order to participate in the meal.  When Jesus gave his friends his Body and his Blood, he was already thinking of me, because in his divine spirit he already knew all the Holy Communions that I was going to receive, as well as those of all men of all time. So I am not a distant outsider, rather I fully become part of this event that involves me directly. This extraordinary event is not an old story that is disconnected from my life. No, this action of Jesus is something he does for me again today. While I am watching him in prayer, I receive the same grace from Jesus that he poured out 2000 years earlier to his friends. Because "we become what we contemplate", everything that lives in the heart of Jesus at this moment penetrates into my own heart.  I become filled with his treasures and my whole being is enriched by the burning love which emanates from him. This example enables us to understand why such a prayer fills us with who Christ is and increases our love for others. This love will then be transformed into action, because it is solid. As Our Mother says: "Of you, my apostles, I am asking for your roses of prayer which need to be acts of love. To my motherly heart these are the dearest prayers." (In the Rosary, each Hail Mary is a new rose which we offer to Mary). "Always love one another and above all, love my Son. This is the only way to salvation, to Eternal Life. This is my dearest prayer which fills my heart with the most beautiful scent of roses." 3. A Narrow Escape!  A few years ago, one of my sisters from my community came to fetch me from Split airport. We decided to pray the Rosary on our way to Medjugorje. That winter was very cold and the road was very slippery and icy in places. It was pitch black.  We were not going very fast, but suddenly our car swerved to the left towards the huge mountainous rocks which form the inside of the roads here.  On the right side was a ditch that we managed to avoid; and fortunately, along the left side of the road below the rocks, there was a small wall (about 20 cm high), curved like you see on a racetrack. Without hitting the rocks, our car went over the small wall, skidded along and ended by going back in the right direction on the road without any damage. We had had a narrow escape!   We owed this protection to the Blessed Mother, to whom we were praying, and to the many Angels of whom she is the Queen. We warmly thanked them! But the most surprising part of the story unfolded a few days later when I had to drive on the same road back to Split.  Since I knew exactly where the event had happened, I took a close look at the place because I had never seen a road with a curved retaining-wall except in films which showed racing-car scenes.  To my amazement the retaining-walls were not there! They actually never existed!   Along the rocks there was an average small wall that is perpendicular to the road (90°), like on other roads everywhere else in the country. I understood that, on that night, Our Lady had looked after us in a way we never could have imagined! Not only had she protected us from a freefall down the precipice on the right and from crashing into the rocks on the left, but she made sure that there was a curved sidewall in place so that we could come back home safe and sound in a car free from bumps! Thank you Mary, thank you for the power of the Rosary! I hope many of your children will adopt it while driving their car, and not only in the car! Dearest Gospa, please, don't let us fall into spiritual laziness, help us seize all the means you are giving us to finally enjoy true peace and divine protection! Sister Emmanuel + (Translated from French) * Support Sister Emmanuel's Ministry! In a letter dated 2005, Sister Emmanuel wrote to her board:   "I do not wish to bombard people with requests for money neither on our website nor in letters that we send out. While we appreciate beyond measure (and need) donations, we should give people the chance for a "win-win". They buy a book or a cd or a dvd for themselves or their friends and family, and we use the money to produce more. That way people are fed with the messages of Our Lady and the Gospel messages of peace and hope, and we can also feed others with those messages throughout the world, always." Sister's wishes continue to be honored in all of her apostolates around the world. All donations to Sister's USA 501(c)3 and proceeds from media sales go directly into translating, editing, publishing and distributing Sister's materials and the messages of Our Lady. Go to SrEmmanuel.org today and give the gift that keeps on giving by purchasing from the website! Now until February receive 30% off your entire basket. Enter promo code ROSARY at Checkout.  We do also accept donations. If you would like to support a specific project, for example: one of the three new books Sister will publish in the next year; our Constant Contact subscription for one year, which allows us to send these newsletters to you and 25,000 other people; or you would like to make a general donation, please write to: contact@sisteremmanuel.org. Also, please send us your feedback about how we can do better. Write to the email address above. P.S. 1. New Book on Mercy by Sr. Emmanuel.  Sister's new book on Mercy will be published in the first days of February in France. In order to hasten publishing the book in English, we need help in the translation, already well started. We are looking for experienced translators from French to English, German, Spanish, and Polish. Please, contact us at gospa.fr@gmail.com with the words "Mercy book translator" in the Subject. P.S. 2. Have you picked your saint for year 2017? It's never too late to do so!  The list of saints that you may print is found on our website and here:   Click here to download the list today!   P.S. 3. The next Live will take place on February 3rd at 9pm. Sister will speak in French about the message of the 2nd and the New Year.  The re-transmission can be found at http://www.enfantsdemedjugorje.fr/index.php/le-direct-du-3.html P.S. 4. New Book!  Sister is now preparing another book on the Mysteries of the Rosary.  Share with her your testimonies on the rosary so that they may feed all of us!  Send it to gospa.fr@gmail.com. Please, help!   P.S. 5. Don't Forget Sister's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sr.emmanuelmaillard/   P.S. 6. "My Heart will Triumph" by Mirjana Soldo can be purchased at: www.MyHeartWillTriumph.com  Co-publisher: Catholic Publishing, 317 Riveredge Blvd, Ste 208, Cocoa, FL 32922, USA P.S. 7. Sister Emmanuel's Newsletter can be received in many languages! 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