It's a good read!
Deacon John
© Children of Medjugorje 2008
Permission is given to spread the text of these reports under two conditions: 1) no words are changed,
2) "Children of Medjugorje" is cited along with our website www.childrenofmedjugorje.com
Dear Children of Medjugorje, praised be Jesus and Mary!
1 - On November 2, Mirjana Soldo received her monthly apparition at the Cenacle. After the apparition she gave us the following message, "Dear children, today I call you to a complete union with God. Your body is on earth, but I ask you for your soul to be all the more often in God's nearness. You will achieve this through prayer, prayer with an open heart. In that way you will thank God for the immeasurable goodness which He gives to you through me and, with a sincere heart, you will receive the obligation to treat the souls whom you meet with equal goodness. Thank you, my children".
Our Lady added: "With the heart I pray to God to give strength and love to your shepherds to help you in this and to lead you."
2 - The president. I wish the US citizens had not failed to choose life. We need to pray hard for our leaders and our nations! It's not by chance that Our Lady said a few days ago, "Dear children, in a special way I call you all to pray for my intentions so that, through your prayers, you may stop Satan's plan over this world, which is further from God every day…." (See PS 1).
From the Bible and throughout the history of humanity, we know that the blessing of God falls on a country that follows His Word and desires to put Him in the first place. We also know that people who ignore His Word, commandments and statutes cannot be blessed. We pray that the US will no longer attempt to take the place of God in deciding who should live and who should die, or call abominations good things, or consider children as "punishment". May the US no longer support Satan's plan by promoting perverted laws, and instead remember their beautiful roots in God and look to please Him over entertaining man. In one word, survive! It is indeed a matter of life and death. "I call on heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life then, so that you and your descendants may live...." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
I wish I could be more cheerful for my American readers, but I don't want to be a hypocrite. The situation is such that if we, as Catholics, do not live the instructions from the Queen of Peace (the Gospel from the mouth of a Mother) in addition to the teachings of Jesus in the Gospel, then our house won't stand long, the winds and floods and storms will ruin it. In the New Testament, didn't Jesus tell us what will happen to those who heard the message but didn't practice it?
May we call to mind Our Lady's message of January 25, 1997 which pertains today in a very special way: "Dear children! I invite you to reflect about your future. You are creating a new world without God, only with your own strength and that is why you are unsatisfied and without joy in the heart. This time is my time and that is why, little children, I invite you again to pray. When you find unity with God, you will feel hunger for the word of God and your heart, little children, will overflow with joy. You will witness God's love wherever you are. I bless you and I repeat to you that I am with you to help you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
The potential of the Saints for the US is huge, enormous! Dear reader, decide today to be that saint! Then you'll be more powerful to save your country than a bomb is to destroy it! Please, seek the blessing of God on your dear homeland by living all His commandments with love!
3 – The Saints. I love November. It is a wonderful month because we start with the Saints! They are such an inspiration for us, a cause of so much joy! We also receive special graces while praying for our deceased, and in a special way we spend the month with our eyes focused on Heaven and our Heavenly destination!
Mirjana has said to a group of pilgrims that when Our Lady says, "Your body is on earth, but I ask you for your soul to be all the more often in God's nearness", she intends that during each moment of our life on earth, we should strive to remember God and get closer to Him. Only in this way, when the hour comes to leave this earth, we have great peace, there is no shaking, no fear, because the passage is just a continuation of the move we have already started on earth!
Pope John Paul II has passionately urged the faithful to return to the Saints, especially to the great mystics of the Church. I, for one, have seen so many lives changed, so many inner healings granted, in people who simply read "The story of a Soul" by Little Flower, for example; or "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross! In fact, I have a friend who, when she was 25, couldn't help but weep with joy in her bedroom reading "The Dialogues" of St. Catherine of Sienna. As a result of that book, she renounced sin, radically changed her life and became a very happy person.
Saints are solid! They are, without a doubt, our best teachers on our way to holiness! Today, Our Lady is also asking families to "read the lives of the Saints". This will, in a beautiful way, heal the great emptiness kids may feel when it comes to practicing their faith. If they don't find an exciting example around, they'll want to leave the Church, especially in a world where they have pop "stars" of all kinds, but very few models to increase their interest on spiritual matters! (See PS4)
4 - The culture of death is not automatic! My friends from Northern France, pilgrims to Medjugorje for years, told us what happened to their daughter Audrey. Audrey was seven months pregnant with her 3rd child when she went to her gynecologist. Everything seemed to be normal during the ultrasound, but as she was returning home, she got a call on her cell phone, "Doctor Doe wants to see you right away!"
Audrey went back to the clinic trembling. "After looking again at your ultrasound, I think there may be a problem: the fetus has unusually small limbs. It would be good to do another ultrasound to eliminate the hypothesis of Dwarfism." The bomb was thrown without any tact. Another appointment was made for 10 days later with another physician. What anxiety for mother and baby!
The 2nd ultrasound revealed the same diagnosis. After the two doctors consulted with one another, they decided to do an amniocentesis (in spite of the risks involved) because they were now afraid of trisomy. Audrey, who had been very brave so far, began to lose her morale. Prayer "networks" sprung into action surrounding her with intercessory prayer. (How good it is to be supported by brothers and sisters!) The invasive amniocentesis procedure was done in a sterile environment, without the father present. Audrey recalls that it was a stressful and inhuman atmosphere!
The result of the amniocentesis showed that all of the chromosomes were normal. Audrey gave birth to a beautiful 7.5 lb little boy on July 2nd at 10:30 in the evening, (during Adoration in Medjugorje where her parents were begging Jesus to help!) The gynecologist reacted with shock, "Madam, it is abnormal that this child is normal!" (For a picture of Audrey and beautiful baby Leon click here!)
Is this a strange mistake or something else? We will never know! I only know that this kind of mistake happens too often. Several of my friends in fact had very healthy babies though they were asked to have an abortion because of an anomaly.
Audrey's parents went to Lourdes to thank Jesus and Mary. While they refuse to hold a grudge against the doctors and the clinic, they detest the culture of death, which has made society so afraid to have an abnormal or less than perfect child! May the Lord bless medical doctors so they safeguard and respect life! May God give serenity to mothers expecting a baby! May He give strength and courage to parents expecting a handicapped child, may these parents be supported by the medical world and the government! (See PS 5)
5 - 30 years ago! I do not usually talk about my private life here, but I am going to break new ground! It happens that on November 18, I will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the final vows I took in the lay Community of the Beatitudes (in 1978) in the presence of Mgr Coffy, then archbishop of Albi (late Cardinal of Marseille). I will go to Lourdes to thank Our Lady, because it is in the Grotto of Massabielle that she confirmed the calling I had received in my heart. I also thank all who prayed and are praying for me (see PS6); I am well aware that it is thanks to their loving support that I was able to persevere all through the years!
What to say about the Spouse - Jesus - that I wed 30 years ago? He is the best of the best! I did not have the least idea of where He was going to take me, or on what paths he was going to lead me, but I knew Who I was following, with Whom I was going to live day by day, and that was all that mattered to me. When He called me, I felt so free to tell Him 'Yes' or 'No'! Now I cringe at the thought that I could have said 'No'!
What a joy to have had the grace to say 'Yes' to Him! Even though I have often disappointed Him, He has never disappointed me, His mercy always saved me! With Him, life is never boring, He is Life itself and He always finds the way to turn everything, even evil, into good. I marvel at the beauty and greatness of His plans, plans He had carefully hidden from me when He called me. May He be blessed, He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life!
I wish here to encourage those who are still afraid to jump into the adventure of 'YES', whatever call they have received: you don't know what you are missing! Rather, be afraid of missing the splendid gift Jesus is offering you. Answer Him today and keep holding on to Him as a person, no matter what happens. I promise you, you will not be sorry! We only have one life...
Dearest Gospa, please, don't be discouraged with us!
Continue to help us be good, tirelessly help us until we become good!
Sister Emmanuel +
(Translated from French)
PS 1- "Dear children! In a special way I call you all to pray for my intentions so that, through your prayers, you may stop Satan's plan over this world, which is further from God every day, and which puts itself in the place of God and is destroying everything that is beautiful and good in the souls of each of you. Therefore, little children, arm yourselves with prayer and fasting so that you may be conscious of how much God loves you and may carry out God's will. Thank you for having responded to my call." (Message of October 25, 2008)
PS 5- According to the Catholic Church (in brief), amniocentesis is accepted if the dignity or value of both the unborn child and the parents is respected and promoted. To reassure the couple from the "risk anxiety" it would be a more serene continuation of the pregnancy and for the possibility of early therapy to ameliorate the assistance at delivery and after birth and to help the couple to a conscious and peaceful acceptance of the unborn child even if not "perfect". However, if amniocentesis is performed in order to decide the fate of the child's life (i.e., whether or not to kill the baby if the baby is diagnosed with a chromosomal disease) only then is it illicit. (Most Catholics do not realize that the Church is not against technology, but certainly against the application of it to decide life and death!)
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