November 15, 2006

November 15, 2006

Dear children of Medjugorje,

Praised be Jesus and Mary!

1 – On November 2, Mirjana received her monthly apparition. Then she shared this message with us:- “My coming to you, my children, is God’s love. God is sending me to warn you and to show you the right way. Do not shut your eyes before the truth, my children. Your time is a short time. Do not permit delusions to begin ruling over you. The way on which I desire to lead you is the way of peace and love. This is the way which leads to my Son, your God. Give me your hearts that I may put my Son in them and make my apostles of you – apostles of peace and love. Thank you!” Afterwards, in conclusion, Our Lady said for us not to forget our shepherds on our prayers.

2 – A stone on the heart?

November, the month of the dead, December, the month of Christmas, month of life! Here is a meaningful testimony:

Clara, a close friend of ours from Paris, lost her husband in September 2003, and two years later she still was not recovering, she felt no life in her. Mother of two teenage boys, she would force herself to eat with them and help them out in all ways possible, but her heart was constantly crushed by mourning. The gap left in her life by her husband’s departure was gashing her heart so much that only pronouncing his name would make her sob uncontrollably. The wound stayed wide open, bleeding, and no joyful future seemed to appear on the horizon for her, even though she was still fairly young.

She came to Medjugorje and spent a few days with us. She had come a few years before with her husband (who found God and converted). She explained to us her pain and her blockages; she also expressed her desire to live normally again. She mentioned something like a “stone crushing her heart” which prevented her from living. One Saturday evening, during the Vespers of the Resurrection, she asked for prayer. She later described what happened to her then,-

“During prayer, it felt like something left me, as if the rock that was crushing me had suddenly vanished. Now I certainly suffer from my husband’s absence, I miss him, but I can keep my head up, I am no longer crushed, I am alive again!”-

Clara is indeed another woman now, she found her true personality again and she can go forward and make projects for the future.

These kinds of rocks are far too many! Clara is no exception. It is common to find people who remain paralyzed, tortured by the loss of a dear one. they stop living, putting forward as a reason “with him gone, my life has no more meaning, I am done!” Sometimes, we hear it said that this is the sign of a great love. No! True love does not make anyone paralyzed nor create walls in front of us, rather it makes people live! It is true that the process of mourning goes through stages of rebellion and depression that can cause blockages, but it should lead to acceptance, a guarantee for a new start. The tragedy is to stop on the way. Also, a wound caused by tearing off causes great spiritual vulnerability. A beautiful chance to offer the wound to Jesus! But if we remain fixed in despair and rebellion, the Evil one may take advantage of it and add more sufferings to the natural sufferings of mourning. He tries to make it unbearable to push us to despair, doubt God or even worse: reject Him! (this applies to all emotional traumas).-

This is why, when such an ordeal happens, it is most important to pray so that the wound of mourning remains healthy and does not get infected by anguish, rebellion, jealousy, guilt, despair, etc. What Clara experienced during that prayer was simply the liberation from some kind of bondage that would have kept her miserable for the rest of her life, preventing her from carrying out the beautiful plan God had in store for her. This specific prayer may be done during a confession by a priest, or by a fervent little prayer group.

Another aspect of Christian mourning is our belief in the resurrection of the dead! Faith encourages us to entrust to God the beings He created. They are His own and He entrusted them to us for a certain time on earth, according to His good will. Few are the Christians who make the step of truly giving their family members to God, although this step is essential for a believer.

An example can help us understand. If I go downtown with $100 in my pocket and on the way I give them to someone, back home I no longer have my $100. If I go out with $100 and a smart thief steals them from me, I also go back home without my $100. Yet the difference between the reactions is big! In the 1st case I feel joy for having given something to someone (and for having made a good investment in the Treasure of Heaven!). But in the 2nd case, I might feel frustrated and bitter. The same thing applies with our dear ones: the Gospa invites us to love them not with a human love rather with a divine love, beyond the earth, that is offer them to God, give them to Him! All the more because the deceased person can see everything with the truth of God and wishes for us what God Himself wishes! Great peace is given in Christian mourning since the person who departs from us was already given to God (in advance)!

The Gospa goes as far as to say, “Dear children, you should celebrate the death of a dear one with joy, the same joy with which you celebrate the birth of a child!” Well, we still have a long way to go!

3 – At the bedside of the dying

Last summer, a dear Croatian friend went back to the Lord, after a very painful cancer. At her bedside I met an Austrian woman who often came to see her, prayed with her, and helped her to prepare for the great meeting. I was so impressed with her tactfulness, her know-how by a dying person, and the appropriateness of her words that I asked her for her secret. She told me her story and how the Lord had countered her plans to put her in His service. The testimony of this woman, Elizabeth, is worth knowing. The month of November is the month of All Saints and also the month of the dead who are waiting to come into the Light. Therefore everything that can help us Christianize our vision of death is good to take on!

“Once I was in a packed waiting room of a hospital”, Elizabeth told me, “and there was a woman in a wheelchair. I heard the Lord say, ‘God and pray with her.’ I said, ‘No! No! NO! Lord, I am not doing that here. How can I pray with her? It is impossible without people seeing.’ I felt ashamed that I couldn’t but the voice came again and again, ‘Please go pray with her.’ So that people wouldn’t notice, I crossed the waiting room and pretended to pull something from the pocket of my jacket that was handing behind her. On my way back I stopped at her wheelchair and put my arm around her and asked her what was wrong with her that brought her to the hospital. Then I prayed. Not loud but loud enough so that she could hear. I knew exactly that it was the right thing to do. But you see it all started in a strange way” 25 years ago I had an experience that changed my life.”

I was living in Salzburg, Austria. Our parish priest sent me to a sick couple to see if they needed anything and if I could help them somehow. They were Evangelical. So I went to their house, it was Christmas Eve. The gentleman suffered from a stroke and he could not speak anymore. So I talked to them saying, ‘I would love to pray with you if it is alright with you.’ They thought about it for a moment and then his wife said, ‘Well, fi you want you can pray.’ So I did and then I promised to come back and see them as soon as possible.

“The next morning, for the first time in my life, I heard an inner voice say, ‘Go and see the Davidson family.’ I kind of pushed the thought away even though I recognized His voice. I thought to myself, ‘it can’t be Jesus, it is Christmas, I have to be with my four children today!’ However, this voice came three or four more times that morning, ‘Go and see Mr. Davidson.’ Eventually I decided to go the following day.

When I arrived on the 26th, I learned that Mr. Davidson had died on the 25th. Immediately I kknew in my heart that the Lord wanted me to be there on the 25th and I missed the chance beacause I wasn’t obedient. From that time onwards I started hearing Jesus’ voice pretty often.

“Sometimes it is terribly embarrassing, but slowly I learned that I can’t push it away, I have to obey immediately. When this voice comes, I have to let go of everything else. Otherwise, I miss the occasion for the graces the Lord wants to give to this other person. I have had many sad experiences where I did not obey because I was too shy or embarrassed. I saw the consequences immediately.

“I am now 76 years old and I have been widowed for six years. All of my children are grown up and have left my house so I work in my parish in Salzburg. I mostly work with people who are sick and dying. I pray with them but most of all I take time to listen to them. If I visit someone in the hospital I usually encourage people to receive the Sacrament of the Sick from a Priest. I think it is one of the most wonderful Sacraments we have and I have experienced so many beautiful things with this Sacrament! People immediately feel the peace of God rest on them. Once I took my friend Fanz to the hospital, he was full of cancer all over his body, and I said, ‘Fanz, do you want the Sacrament of the Sick?’ He said, ‘Yes please.’ And I went to call the priest. There were about five other people in the room at the time. So before I left the room, one of them said, ‘Can I too get the Sacrament of the Sick?’ ‘Of course!’ I said. ‘I’ll get the priest and you can talk with him. If you are prepared to receive it then he’ll give it to you.’ The Franciscan priest came shortly after that and at the end four of them received the Sacrament of the Sick. They never received it before just because no one ever told them they could!

“There is something that haunts me that I see while working in this ministry. I see so many people dying in nursing homes who need our love and prayer! The worst is when patients are in their last moments; nurses or even sometimes nuns send them to die in the sterile, lonely hospital where everything is strange to them. Why don’t they keep them at home while they are dying? Hold them. Pray with them!”

Dearest Gospa, Mother of Mercy, with you everything becomes so beautiful! We are so fortunate to have you! Thank you!

Sister Emmanuel+

PS 1 – Mission in India! Sr. Emmanuel and 2 assistants (Chrissey and Kern) will leave for India this coming January on a 10 day mission. We entrust this mission especially to you, friends of the Gospa, because there will be many listeners. The movement “Jesus Youth” will spread the recordings of the talks widely throughout the country. Indian people are very spiritual and very keen to know the words coming from Heaven and therefore to live in the grace of God. This mission could, therefore, bring much fruit. Your prayers are welcome!

PS 2 – Sister Emmanuel will be giving two talks in the United States next week. The talks will include the topic of the family and the heavenly keys that Mary gives to us in Medjugorje in order to keep families united and healthy. The dates and locations of these talks are listed below.

November 22, 2006:

Knights of Columbus Hall

Monroe, Michigan

9:30 A.M.

November 29, 2006:

Holy Spirit Center

Norwood, Ohio

6 P.M.

PS 3 – At the moment, we still don’t have any further details about the International Commission who will work on the Shrine of Medjugorje. Let’s continue to pray for it and its (future) members!

PS 4 – Register now! In order to receive this report in French around the 15th of each month, please contact: wmmedjugorje@ childrenofmedjugorje.com

In English or German : cobrien@childrenofmedjugorje.com

In Italian : info@vocepiu.it

In Spanish : gisele_riverti@mensajerosdelareinadelapaz.org

The website www.childrenofmedjugorje. com offers translations of this report in several languages.