10/20/13

October 18, 2013
 
Dear children of Medjugorje, praised be Jesus and Mary!
 
1 - On October 2, 2013, Mirjana received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross, surrounded by a big crowd. After the apparition, she gave us the following message:
 
"Dear children! I love you with a motherly love and with a motherly patience I wait for your love and unity. I pray that you may be a community of God's children, of my children. I pray that as a community you may joyfully come back to life in the faith and in the love of my Son. My children, I am gathering you as my apostles and am teaching you how to bring others to come to know the love of my Son; how to bring to them the Good News, which is my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son. His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you. I will be with you until the meeting with the Heavenly Father. My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. Do not be afraid. I am with you. Put your trust in your shepherds as my Son trusted when He chose them, and pray that they may have the strength and the love to lead you. Thank you."
 
2. Saints are truly alive! Sister Briege McKenna just spent a few days in Medjugorje, which was a great joy for us (See PS1). The last evening of her stay, October 1st, was Little Flower's feast day. Sr. Briege told us a very touching fact about her connection to Little Flower that can help us better profit from the help of Heaven, especially now that All Saints Day is near.
 "One day", she said. "Jesus spoke to my heart and told me, 'Go and talk to the priests and bishops'. My answer was, 'Come on Lord, I am a first grade teacher'. A few months later I met a Jesuit priest who told me, 'You know, Briege, the Lord put something in my heart - to invite you to give a priest retreat.' I replied to him, 'you didn't hear right. You know I teach first grade'. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'These priests are like children, they are very open and charismatic.' I had to lead that retreat for about 60 priests, without him, because he had to be hospitalized the next day. Never in my life had I stood before priests. They couldn't see but my knees were shaking. So I prayed St Therese, and to make a long story short, the retreat was very blessed.
"Not long after that a bishop from California who had heard about the retreat invited me to preach another one in San Diego. I felt a little bit more secure, seeing that the Lord had worked well during the first retreat. As soon as I arrived at the 2nd retreat, one priest of the retreat said to me, 'There are only 50 parish priests on the retreat. They do not want to be here, their bishop forced them to come. They are absolutely mad that there is a nun coming, and they want to tear you apart.' Then, there was a fight in me and I said: "Jesus, YOU got me here!"
"The next day, I learned that this Trappist brother had to leave so he put me in charge of all the conferences! Then I recalled all the horrible things these priests had said about me. On the morning of the retreat, I got up very early and prayed for several hours. Then knowing that there was a statue of St Therese in the campus grotto, I bought for her the biggest candle I could find, and I went to pray to her: 'Listen, Saint Therese!  For me, leading this retreat is worse than going into the lions' den. Please help me, please come with me, and you help me talk to these priests!"
 
"When I walked into the conference room, all these priests had their arms folded, and you could see by body language that they were not very happy to be there. Anyway I started to give my 1st talk. I gave 3 talks that day and I knew I had them because you could see a transformation.
After super I went back to the grotto with another candle that I lit in front of St Therese and I said to her, 'I really want to thank you for being with me today.'
 
"Later I met an Irish Monsignor who told me, 'I never in my life listened to a nun. I was very resentful. You know, this morning, when you were talking to us, you told us to close our eyes, but I did not close my eyes. I had my head down for a moment and then I looked up to see what you were doing.' Then he asked me, 'Do you have a devotion to St Therese?'  I asked 'why?' 'Because, you know, I don't see visions, but St Therese was standing by your side before us. I realized at that moment that Therese was here to help you.'" 
 
Sr. Briege continued, "It taught me something about the saints! I often tell this story to parents when they are choosing a name for their child. I tell them, 'Ask that saint to give your child his own gifts, so that your child can continue to glorify Jesus in the manner that this saint glorified Him! When you have the name of a saint, that saint loves to accompany you. He helps you to accomplish what you have to do in your life to be a saint. When we invite the saints, they actually will come and accompany us in our work and in our ministries!"
 
This testimony from Sister Briege, corroborates with the urging invitation from the Gospa to read the lives of saints and pray with them. On the spiritual side, most Catholics live below their means and miss huge graces offered to them by the elected ones in Heaven. So before Halloween, rather than collect pumpkins, let us devour the life of a saint and ask him to come and help us, either our patron saint or another one of our choice. Of course it is not about watching for a vision like the one the bishop had of St Therese; but we can be assured of the effective response from the saint, because in Heaven, angels and saints love us with the very love of God.
 
3. Medjugorje in Rome! We have good news! For the Marian days of October 12-13, Pope Francis, honoring the program prepared by Pope Benedict XVI before his departure, invited the representatives of the Marian shrines, officially recognized by the Church (see PS2). At the same time, Father Marinko Sakota, Medjugorje's parish priest, received an invitation from Rome to attend these Marian Days with 30 parishioners who were there in the beginning days of apparitions in Medjugorje.  The small group left Medjugorje on October 10th, making a first stop at the Loretto shrine, near Ancona.
 
It is noteworthy that among the Marian shrines officially recognized, like Fatima, Lourdes, Banneux, Guadalupe, etc., the Pope also wished for the presence of the representatives of Medjugorje! In fact, Medjugorje was the only Marian shrine unrecognized (or "not yet recognized") among all these shrines with a glorious past! Besides, according to Ivan Ivankovic (in prison with Father Jozo in 1981 for having said that he had seen the Cross dance on the Krizevac), the small group was surprised to have been offered choice seats in St Peter's Square for both days. Indeed, our friends got some of the best places, behind the bishops and cardinals, quite close to the Pope.
 
Even if this is not equivalent to an official recognition from the Church, this tacit initiative from the Pope may still be considered a significant act regarding Medjugorje. The 'Medjugorje file' is going along positively and we give thanks to God for it.
 
Let us pray that the results of the Commission created by Pope Benedict for Medjugorje will be published without delay.
 
Dearest Gospa, you said in Fatima: "At the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph." Thank you! In this way, you announce a beautiful future for the world. We beseech you, may you hasten to crush the serpent's head and help us hasten the triumph of your Heart in living your messages and in consecrating our lives to you!
Sister Emmanuel + 
(Translated from French)
PS 1. Sister Briege McKenna is a well-known Irish nun. Very gifted by God, she travels the world, helping Religious and lay people to be centered on Christ in the Eucharist. In this way, she has drawn so many souls back to God! Jesus entrusted to her His priests in a special way, and she has for them powerful words, increasing their faith and often obtaining healing of soul and body. prayer@sisterbriege.com - www.sisterbriege.com  You may watch this testimony on line:
 
PS 2. Way before he left, Pope Benedict had planed to entrust the world anew to the immaculate Heart of Mary, on the anniversary of the last apparition of Mary at Fatima, on October 13, 1917. Pope Francis has happily fulfilledthis most inspired and needed plan!In reality, rather than a consecration, the words« Affidamento a Maria » mean that the Pope has entrusted the world to Mary, as Pope John Paul II did already on October 8, 2000.
 
PS 3.  Children of Medjugorje Inc announces our new and improved website! Please check us out at www.childrenofmedjugorje.com and let us know what you think. We will continue to add content including new video clips from Sister Emmanuel, as well as more books and other materials for purchase. Also, please keep our ministry in mind as you plan for your end of year tax-deductible donations. Children of Medjugorje, Inc is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and will provide a receipt for all donations.
PS 4Back to School!  October brings us back to our school days. Return to the "School of Our Lady" each day with Sr. Emmanuel's teachings. Discover what Our Lady says about topics such as prayer, fasting, suffering, death, peace, etc. Sr. Emmanuel brings Gospa's messages alive with real experiences and ways to live the messages! Pick up your CDs and DVDs now! Sister Emmanuel's latest teachings are AVAILABLE on both CD and DVD format! Visit www.childrenofmedjugorje.com and click on Shop COM to order your CD's today.
PS5. From your house, spend the night with us in Medjugorje live!
Click http://www.medjugorje.hr/en/multimedia/live-streaming and sign up by clicking en/user/sign-up/. 
 
PS6. Our Lady loves to receive mail! She responds in the heart during prayer. Send your letter to Children of Medjugorje, PO Box 18430, Denver, CO 80218. Outside of USA send your letter to: "Reine de la Paix", BP 2157, F-06103 Nice Cedex, France. We will entrust them to a visionary who will place them at the feet of Our Lady.
 
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