Children of Medjujorje Newsletter

January 15, 2014                                                                                                                         Dear Children, Praised be Jesus and Mary! 1.  On January 2, 2014, Mirjana received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross, surrounded by a great number of pilgrims who had come to entrust the New Year to the Mother of God. After the apparition, Mirjana transmitted the following message: "Dear children! For you to be able to be my apostles and to be able to help all those who are in darkness, to come to know the light of the love of my Son, you must have pure and humble hearts. You cannot help for my Son to be born in, and to reign in, the hearts of those who do not know Him, if He does not reign - if He is not the King - in your heart. I am with you. I am walking with you as a mother. I am knocking on your hearts. They cannot open because they are not humble. I am praying, and you my beloved children also pray, that you may be able to open pure and humble hearts to my Son and to receive the gifts which He has promised you. Then you will be led by the love and strength of my Son. Then, you will be my apostles who everywhere around them spread the fruits of God's love. My Son will act from within you and through you, because you will be "one". My motherly heart yearns for this - for unity of all of my children - through my Son. With great love I bless, and pray for those who are chosen by my Son - for your shepherds. Thank you." (At first Our Lady was sad and then decisive, Mirjana said.)    2. 50 reasons to be thankful.  I wish to share with you one of our good traditions. On December 31, each one of us locks himself in his bedroom for one hour and writes 50 reasons he has to thank God and Our Lady for the concrete favors, blessings, gifts, pardons and lights that he has received during the year. This is a good idea for those who want to purify their heart from any heaviness and let the joy spill forth from your heart. If you wish to offer your list to OurLady in this month of January, you may send itto "Queen of Peace", BP 2157, F-06103 Nice cedex, France.We will take it to a visionary. 3. You can help me!I have reserved the month of January and February for the writing of a new book! So Iwish to receive your testimonies. I need you! Think of the lukewarm believers who will open their hearts to Godreading the graces you have received! Thank you for sending your testimony via email to:gospa.fr@gmail.com   4. My companion Saint for the year 2014 is St Catherine Labouré, the visionary of the rue du Bac in Paris, to whom Mary gave the MiraculousMedal. I pray to her for the 6 visionaries of Medjugorje. May they stand fast in the storms of this world. Howabout you? What saint has chosen you? Our family of Children of Medjugorje (your family!) has received "The Queen of Peace," nothing less! (See our updated list of Saints at www.childrenofmedugorje.org) 5. Our Croatian friend Patar tells us: "Last year, I downloaded the list of Saints from the Children of Medjugorje website. I shared it with our prayer community here in Split, and Leopold Mandic chose me! On the little paper, the prayer intention read: "Pray for each conceived child to be born." Ten days later I visited a young family who was struggling with a complicated pregnancy. The mother's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, so the possibility of losing this one overwhelmed them. We prayed and spoke together for nearly three hours. I told them about my protector saint for the year and promised to pray to him in a special way for their intention. Then I sent them to a priest that I know well. A healthy little girl was born bringing great joy to all of us. The incredible thing is that two more couples with similar experiences, also asking the intercession of St. Leopold Mandic, received healthy babies. Then, as a result of praying to him, a great miracle took place in our family too! We wanted to have more children, but it would be risky since my wife delivered three of our children through Caesarian section. Another pregnancy would be dangerous considering the risks of a fourth c-section. My wife offered the problem to Our Heavenly Mother and soon she was pregnant during the days when it would not be possible according to the Billings method, just around the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12th). Now, my wife and I have six children, four on earth and two in heaven. A little boy, Luka Leopold, was born. He is now five months old and he is a great joy to all of us. 6. A pure and humble heart: Ivona, 49, a florist, is a mother of 2 grown children and a widow. Last November she came to Medjugorje for the 3rd time, and we were greatly amazed by her deep fervor. She would go up and down Krizevac, barefoot, not minding the cold, the wind, the rain and the mud. Married since 1984, she lived in a small 2-bedroom apartment in Ukraine. Igor, her husband, quickly showed himself to be mean. He often drank and mistreated her verbally and sometimes beat her. Ivona also realized one day that he had a mistress, a married woman and mother of 3 children. Although Igor was born a Catholic, he spoke badly of the priests and refused to go to church, except for feast days. But Ivona loved her husband dearly and she was praying for him. One day he became seriously ill and he had to stop working. He needed constant care. His lover abandoned him. Seeing that Igor was going to die soon, Ivona worried about his eternal fate. Out of love, not only did she pray, but she would also fast a lot for him. In August 2009, she went to Medjugorje to obtain his reconciliation with God. Even though the heat was terrible, she went up and down Krizevac, barefoot on the burning stones. She was begging God: "May he not die without Confession!" Since Igor was yelling at the children all the time, she was praying for the unity of the family. "Even if Igor should hate me", she said to the Lord. "Give me the strength to bear it!" Indeed Igor insulted her despite her good caring for him day and night. Nevertheless, Ivona was always feeling peace in her heart because her prayer kept her in unity with God. One day Igor was hospitalized, and Ivona did not let him down. She spent hours at his bedside. Three times Igor refused to let the Catholic chaplain, who was a priest, see him and hear his Confession. Ivona kept silent and did not give in to discouragement. She prayed with all her heart near her husband, confident that God was listening to her. Rosaries and Chaplets of Divine Mercy alternated between medical treatments. On January 6, the morning of his death, oh what a miracle took place! Igor stroked his wife's hair saying, "Even when I am mean to you, you keep on loving me and taking care of me!" His legs were becoming black but he was still conscious. That day Ivona had to leave the hospital for a few hours to attend her daughter's first Holy Communion. When she came back, she ran into the priest in the hall and suggested that he make another try at hearing Igor's Confession. It was now a question of hours before his death! But - 2nd miracle - the priest answered her that he was just coming back from Igor's room and that Igor had made a good confession, after 20 years without any Sacrament! She was overwhelmed with joy! When she entered the room, she placed a picture of the Merciful Christ in Igor's hands and, to her great surprise, he put it between his fingers, raised it up to his face and gazed at it with serenity. Then he told his wife, "How shall I manage going up there?" She answered him, "you are going to your home, do not be afraid! Jesus is enlightening the way before you to go to Him, and you have the Three Kings to escort you!" When she saw that he was suffering, she told him, "Remember that Jesus also suffered before going to his Father." She asked him to forgive her for the times she had made him suffer, and she expressed that, for her part, she had forgiven him EVERYTHING. Already Igor could no longer speak, but he shed tears as a response to her. She thanked him for the years they lived together, then with a big smile, she said to him, "Now you can leave in peace for the House of the Lord!" Upon these words, his eyes became motionless. He was dead. Ivona had persevered in prayer and fasting, and everything she had asked God had come true! Igor had been to confession at the last moment, just 6 hours before dying, before losing his speech. After Igor's death, during the following Lent, Ivona fasted on bread and water for 40 days in order to thank God for having converted her husband. Ivona has not stopped working for her family's salvation since Igor's death. Her son Boris is very sick. She came back to Medjugorje for him in November (that's when I met her) and she intends to bend the heart of God for his healing and especially for his conversion. He left the Church and put up with a very difficult person. So, Ivona made a deal with God, "Lord, you take care of my son Boris, and I will take care of Your sons, the priests!" On November 25, after climbingboth mountains up and down (Krizevac and Podbrdo) barefoot on a freezing cold afternoon, she spent all night in St. James Church before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar, praying for priests! Our Lady told us last October, "Do not stop praying for the gift of love." And this month she said, "You must have pure and humble hearts."Ivona is such an inspiration for us! She is one of those "violent" ones who takes the Kingdom of Heaven by storm. She will not be disappointed! Dearest Gospa, what is there in store for us during the year 2014? God knows, you know too, and you are our true leaders. How comforting! We totally abandon ourselves into your hands, as we want to realize your plans and find, in this way, that peace of the heart we yearn for. Sister Emmanuel + (Translated from French)