“A woman dressed in battle array.”
August 13, 2021
Dear Children of Our Lady of Medjugorje, Family of Mary TV:
Several years ago when I suggested that Mary TV stream live Our Lady’s apparition to her, Marija, replied: “Let’s do it on her Great Day, THE ASSUMPTION!”
It’s our great day too. Our Lady is coming to us in Medjugorje – in her body!
Upon the declaration of the dogma, in November 1950, Archbishop Fulton Sheen prophesied that within three decades the call from the woman dressed in battle array would come to save her children:
“Within three decades the definition of the Assumption will cure the pessimism and despair of the modern world. Freud, who did so much to develop this pessimism, took as his motto: “If I cannot move the Gods on high, I shall set all hell in an uproar.” That uproar which he created will now be stilled by a Lady as powerful as an “army drawn up in battle array.” (p. 139, “The World’s Frist Love”)
Three decades later, on June 24, 1981, the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist, Our Lady started coming to Medjugorje...in her body!
And recently, in response to the Mother’s call, thousands of young people from all over the world gathered for six days of prayer and catechesis at the 32nd annual Medjugorje youth festival – the largest gathering of youth in the world for 2021. It was an amazing display of faith and joy!
The Franciscan Provincial, Fr. Miljenko Steko, seemed to be proven right when, during a homily, he said that the world’s media would ignore the festival unless there was a scandal to report... Sure enough, the only news report I saw was in “Crux”, that found it newsworthy only because Cardinal Robert Sarah was Presiding at the opening Mass, right after a letter from the Pope welcomed participants.
Under the bold headline, "Pope Francis, Cardinal Sarah Address Pilgrims", the Crux article began:
“Often placed in opposite sides of the spectrum by those who see the Church under the lens of politics and ideology, Pope Francis and Cardinal Robert Sarah were the protagonists of an unexpected coincidence Sunday: Both addressed 50,000 youth gathered in the site of an alleged Marian apparition.
“Francis made himself present in Medjugorje through a message, signed on July 29 but which was read by the papal representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday before Sarah, the former head of the Vatican’s liturgical office, celebrated the opening Mass for the August 1-6 youth gathering.”
Unreported were the opening words of the Cardinal’s homily: “May Our Lady of Medjugorje convert us, and help us to do God’s work, and may she bless us all!” And the opening words of Cardinal Sarah’s catechesis the following day: “Before starting this encounter, this session, let us invoke the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit may make our mind and our hearts available so that we would be able to listen to this catechesis that Jesus gives us this morning. We would remain in silence for a moment, and we would prepare our mind and our hearts, and we will invoke Mary who is already among us!”
The teachings, faith and joy during the youth festival were simply amazing...for example, Bishop Guido Gallese, Ordinary of the Diocese of Alessandria della Paglia in Italy, witnessed how as a young man he came to Medjugorje, and Our Lady called him to the priesthood....
You can relive the entire Medjugorje youth festival at:
Cathy’s reflections on Our Lady’s messages these past days have been a novena in preparation for Our Lady’s (and our) great Feast Day that we celebrate on August 15th, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Re-read them. I am!
God bless you!
Denis Nolan
PS. Just as I am about to send this out, I received the sad news that Archbishop Henryk Hoser, Permanent Papal Visitor to Medjugorje, has died.... He was truly one of the great shepherds of the Church. Mary TV will be airing a tribute to him...
I’m attaching the last letter I sent to him (I sent it to him in Polish) just before the youth festival. After our meeting in Medjugorje on October 5, 2018, as he was going through his papers to get his email address in order to give it to me so that we could stay in touch, he was saying out loud, “Thank God for this great meeting!”
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