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Medjugorje, Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, 2020
My dear Friends, Christ our joy is risen!
1 - Reminder of Mary's message conveyed on the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th:
"Dear children! I am with you all these years to lead you to the way of salvation. Return to my Son; return to prayer and fasting. Little children, permit God to speak to your heart, because Satan is reigning and wants to destroy your lives and the earth on which you walk. Be courageous and decide for holiness. You will see conversion in your hearts and families; prayer will be heard; God will hear your cries and give you peace. I am with you and am blessing you all with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call."
2 - Some local news... Outwardly, nothing has changed, the village remains deserted and silent! But internally, beautiful things are happening, bonds are becoming stronger between communities, people are helping each other with shopping and errands, people have the time to speak on the phone which is almost impossible when everything is "normal". In a word, the Lord is strengthening our brotherly bonds, something He is so good at doing!
We are praying for 3 people in the parish who are victims of the coronavirus. Father Ante, who was hospitalized in Mostar, went home to the Father on Saturday 18, at the age of 77. He had already dealt with several viruses in Africa.
Also 2 religious' sisters from the retirement home convent in Miletina have gone to their rest. Father Ante passed away, as did Saint John Paul II, during the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in April 2005. The other Franciscan friars are doing well, thanks be to God! It is a great joy for them to be together in their ordinary community life, while respecting the prescribed distances!
The live-streamed Medjugorje evening Mass was followed by a vast number of people (3,516,903 on April 16th). It is beautiful to see how spiritual Communion is increasingly well understood and more widely practiced. Even though we can't wait to get back to sacramental Communion! http://www.medjugorje.hr/it/multimedia/live-streaming/
As for Father Jozo Zovko? He is living in his community in Zagreb like all the Franciscans of that parish. It is not yet known whether he will be able to preach at his summer retreats on the island of Badija the way he has done in recent years. Those retreats planned before that date will be postponed to October, God willing!
The visionaries are sheltered in their family homes, like all of us. Marija has sent this lovely fraternal note to us: "God overblessyou my dearest! With the Risen Jesus in our hearts and the Gospa with us, we lack for nothing. We are also in prayer, just as the Gospa taught us from the very beginning. Prayer holds first place, and conversion in the family. A big kiss to all of you!" Your Marija.
As for our house, well, we are still in good health and continuing to make our videos despite our limited technical resources. For instance, it takes 1 hour to send a 5-minute film to France for editing, so that it can be posted on YouTube and Facebook, etc. You may have noticed our "amateurish" skills in editing, and the photos don't always have the best resolution... Nevertheless, it is all being done with love to reach out to you wherever you are during this ordeal of confinement, and so impatient to see the end of this pandemic!
Just so you can get a glimpse of the 3 workers who are carrying out this task, and so that you can keep praying for us even more, here is a picture taken a few years ago of Nancy (my American assistant now in Medj), Gaby (who is stuck in France) and myself.
Here is a glimpse of our simple daily life as recluses in the home, and how we alternate between filming and peeling...
3 - We supported the "finducovitd19" ("endofcovid19") initiative before Easter and received a beautiful sign of God's blessing! On Holy Saturday, the number of nations affected by Covid19 was 193. On that day, according to the site's statistics, Christians from 193 nations had pledged to pray with us and invoke the Name of Jesus at 3pm. On that same day, the number who died was 103,000; and on our website, we found that there were 103,000 people praying! God loves to give us such small signs of encouragement! We will continue to invoke the name of Jesus at 3 p.m. until the end of the pandemic. contact@finducovid19.com
4. The Blood and the Glory! Great is the joy in our hearts, for Christ is risen! This joy cannot be taken away from us. However, this Easter celebration is marked by great suffering, which in many cases is unprecedented. This has made me think a great deal about a woman who established the connection between intolerable suffering and glory, two intertwined realities that the world is experiencing today. This woman is St. Veronica, known for wiping the face of Jesus on the way to Calvary.
According to Venerable Martha Robin, her real name was Seraphia. She was a cousin of the Blessed Mother and barely older than her. She loved and adored Jesus, and fed Him in the Temple when His parents lost him at the age of 12. When she heard the screams and agitation in the street under her windows, and saw that Jesus was in custody and carrying His cross, her heart skipped a beat and she rushed off to the sinister procession of Roman soldiers, Pharisees and onlookers who were accompanying Jesus toward His crucifixion. God only knows how she managed to get close to Him, given that the Romans and other guards with their horses formed an impassable barrier. She set off, however, knowing that she could be exposed to serious injury or even death. But love does not care about barriers and knows how to open a breach! There she was, standing before Jesus, a disfigured, unrecognizable Jesus who no longer looked human. She barely had time to wipe His face before being kicked out by the Roman guards. However, when she locked eyes with Jesus, that gaze was something she would never forget! Then Seraphia realized that Jesus' face had been etched onto her veil... An unbelievable marvel! The relic of all relics!
But there was more there than a relic on the cloth: Jesus had another gift for her, rewarding her wildly loving gesture towards Him: He etched the Fire of His own Heart onto hers so that she could carry within her the seal of Christ's love. Henceforth Seraphia was a different person. For the remainder of her life, she would feel the burning fire of charity in her.
5 - Why this story today? The Church is in agony. The shepherds are without their flock, the sheep are without a shepherd, and the churches are closed. No public Masses, no sacraments, no prayer gatherings... However, as the Gospa told us last year, "The Church is my Son!" The Church is like her Master, she endures violence and looks beaten. Some are even leaving her in a fit of spite. But this is not the time for abandonment!! On the contrary, this is the time when, like Seraphia, we go before Jesus who is a prisoner in chains to show Him our unconditional love.
Far from whining and complaining, we want to welcome the Crucified One, who rose from the dead, was victorious over Evil, and who will transform the brand of blood that is making us suffer inside into a flame of love and glory. After this trial, however difficult, there is before us the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart prepared by God. It is by worshipping our King that we will hasten this Triumph. In adoration, Jesus' beautiful gaze will not fail to look deep into our soul, communicating His flame, and healing it from emptiness and fear.
6 - New hope! After 24 countries consecrated themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus on March 20th, France has taken a small first step. Mgr. Marc Aillet from Bayonne invited the faithful to be united for the Consecration of France to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which he will carry out on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, in private. A great big thank you to this Bishop! See the link:
Dearest Gospa, we are so blessed to have you with us! You have often told us, "I am with you and I intercede for each of you before God." Now, in the midst of this ordeal, we appreciate your maternal tenderness and the power of your prayer more than ever! Thank you for never tiring us, and for supporting us no matter what!
Community of the Beatitudes
(Translated from French)
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