Sister Emmanuel’s Newsletter from Medjugorje, February 2014
February 15, 2013
Dear Children of Medjugorje, praised be Jesus and Mary!
1. On February 2nd Mirjana Soldo received her monthly apparition in her home, in semi-privacy, after which she conveyed to us the following message:
“Dear children, with motherly love I desire to teach you sincerity, because I desire that, in your actions as my apostles, you be exact, resolute, and above all sincere. I desire that, by the grace of God, you be open for a blessing. I desire that by fasting and prayer you obtain from the Heavenly Father the cognition of what is natural and holy — Divine. Filled with cognition, under the shelter of my Son and myself, you will be my apostles who will know how to spread the Word of God to all those who do not know of it; and you will know how to overcome obstacles that will stand in your way. My children, by means of a blessing, God’s grace will descend upon you and you will be able to retain it through fasting, prayer, purification and reconciliation. You will have the efficiency which I seek of you. Pray for your shepherds that the ray of God’s grace may illuminate their ways. Thank you.”
2 – Saint Joseph, my loving father…
Years ago, I made a deal with St. Joseph: he would give me strong signs of his kindness, and I would make him known. Last Saturday, seeing that his feast day of March 19th was getting close, I said to him out loud, in our morning prayer: “Dear Saint Joe, you know that many people have no idea of the power you have in heaven, and know even less of your desire to help them. They are missing out on so many favors from you! If you would like to have new friends who will start praying to you, give me a beautiful testimony, and I will publish it. Besides, I will invite the readers to offer you a 30-day Novena before your feast day (See PS 2). So there, you have a job. Now please go for it!”
The next day, a dear Croatian friend from Dubrovnik came to see us unexpectedly. Her name was Stosija. After climbing down from Podbrdo, she walked along the little path in front of our house and decided to knock at our door to make a short visit. She had barely arrived when we noticed such a great joy that her entire face was lit up. Then she told us:
“I was born near Zadar, Croatia. From my childhood I used to hear my family pray daily and I loved looking at the statue of the Holy Family, as little children do. I got married to a man from Dubrovnik where I moved to live. At that time, everyday life was very hard. So we decided to go and work in Germany where my husband kept his own restaurant and his Art Gallery. Each summer we came to Dubrovnik. I was much younger then and my prayer life was rather poor. We had two children and everything went fine, until my son got ill. Only then did God finally come in the first place in my life.
So, in 1985 I came to Medjugorje for the first time, with my son. Invited by Fr Slavko, we were present during the apparition. Later he told us to go to Confession. Since 1985 I have been returning to Medjugorje many times and it really changed my life completely. Not only my life, my family’s life too. I am so grateful to God! When I heard about the Croatian Sanctuary of Saint Joseph in Karlovac, I went there and enrolled myself in the Brotherhood of Saint Joseph, and started praying to him. That’s how he entered into my life as a strong protector.
My husband died in 1999. I left Germany and now live in Dubrovnik, a city that I love. But our old stone house, although beautiful (with nicely kept garden) was too big for me. My greatest problem was to choose where to live. For the past four years we have been trying to sell it, to no avail. I have a very nice neighbor. I spoke about God to him and he started attending Mass regularly. He kept asking me where I was going to live when the house is sold. I told him: ‘I will let God decide. It could be the nursing home or I could go to my daughter’s.’
“In Medjugorje I came across Sister Emmanuel’s book The Hidden Child of Medjugorje with many beautiful stories. Every night, before going to sleep, I asked my dear Gospa to choose a ‘good night story’ from that book. Last September I placed the book on my heart and, while keeping my eyes closed, I opened the book and picked up the story of ‘The Craftsman from Warsaw’. Through this story you learn that you can recommend your needs to Saint Joseph by writing a letter to him and attaching it to his picture, praying regularly and in faith waiting for the result. Then I decided to ask Saint Joseph to help me solve my problem. I looked at his picture and said: ‘My dear Saint Joseph, pray for me so that I may find out if God wants me to stay here! It’s late, so I will write down my prayer request to you tomorrow!’ It was on Saturday night.
Sunday morning I went to church and my neighbor greeted me saying: ‘Praised be Jesus and Mary!’ (His name is Joseph!) I invited him to drink coffee after Mass with me, and chat a little bit. While we were sitting, again he asked what my plans were when the house get sold. I simply said: ‘I don’t know, I’ll see. I inherited a piece of land from my father near Zadar. Maybe I can sell that property in order to get some money and build a little apartment in my garden and stay here.’ Immediately he said: ‘I will buy this land!’ (My neighbor is a successful man). I laughed and asked him: ‘Why would you buy it?’ ‘I just want to help you!’ he said. I turned around and looked at St Joseph’s picture: ‘My dear Saint Joseph,’ I said. ‘I haven’t even written the letter to you, yet you are already answering me!’
Now we are in the process of getting all paperwork done. As a civil technician my neighbor has drawn all the plans and he helped me work on them. Next to the house, we are also going to build a little chapel called Nazareth dedicated to the Holy Family. I asked St. Joseph to be my finance minister, to be what he was in his own house: a good father of family, a good protector and a good foster parent. I am happy to see this coming true.”
And so thanks to Stosija, I received my story the very next day after I had prayed to St. Joseph! And he provided me with it just in time to publish it here! Well, if St. Joseph offered me so quickly this testimony, I am sure that it is for you also to adopt this great Saint! It looks like he is waiting for you too!
3 – The children! Friends of ours from Rome, a family of 4, come to Medjugorje each year to recharge their “spiritual batteries”. They take the messages to heart and pray together every day. Here are some pearls gleaned from the mouth of their little son:
“Mommy, when you go to Heaven, will you tell me then whether the Madonna has blue or black eyes?”
“But darling, if I am dead, how can I tell you?”
“You will tell me in my heart!”
The mother wrote to me: “It is beautiful to see that the Blessed Mother is a real person in their lives and that for them, there is a language of the heart. These days, we were expecting Father Antonello in our home. The children love him very much.
– Mommy, is Father Antonello arriving today?
– Yes!
– Will he be picking me up at school?
– I think so, Francesco.
– How wonderful it would be if he could bless all the children in the school!”
Hearing this, the priest immediately went to see the school. Francesco’s family spoke with the Sister in charge, who was surprised and very touched by the child’s request. And so, on the next day, all the children in this school received a blessing!
Praying as a family is the most beautiful gift parents can offer their children, in this world and for eternity!
Dearest Gospa, please call the blessing of God upon us. We want to be among your apostles, loved just the way you love them: “exact, resolute and above all, sincere”! Of the billions of people on earth, how is it that you have chosen us to be your apostles? We do not want to disappoint you.
Sister Emmanuel +
(Translated from French)
Nota Bene: A big “Thank You” to all those who are, or will be, sending me their testimonies for the new book I am writing, in the style of The Hidden Child of Medjugorje. They are very touching! May I suggest another request to make the book even more attractive? If you have any beautiful photos that have to do with Medjugorje, please send them to me at gospa.fr@gmail.com and put “My Testimony” as a subject. THANK YOU with all my heart!
PS 1. Let us send our angels to Rome for Medjugorje! In prayer and with confidence we are waiting for the statement on Medjugorje from the Vatican. On January 17th, Pope Francis received the conclusions of the work of the commission. It looks like the statement will be published this year because Cardinal Pulic mentioned it on January 22nd as he was returning for Rome where he had met with the Pope. There is much at stake with this paper, both for the church and for the world! We can help the experts who are involved a lot by sending them our guardian angels because angels are excellent to whisper the ways of God in the ears of men.
PS 2. The 30-Day Novena to St. Joseph starts on February 17th and the 9-Day Novena begins on March 10th. Perhaps we can recite his litany!
PS 3. Why not write a letter to Our Lady? She loves letters and she’ll bless you for it!Send it to:”Queen of Peace”, BP 2157, F- 06103 Nice cedex, France. We will give it to a visionary.
PS 4. Think of your needs for Lent! You will find lots of good ideas for useful and lasting presents on our site! www.childrenofmedjugorje.org
PS 5. Bring Medjugorje inot your home! View the celebrations live! http://www.medjugorje.hr/en/multimedia/tv-web/