The Spirit of Medjugorje Online

THE 25TH DAY OF EACH MONTH, THE BLESSED VIRGIN GIVES A MESSAGE TO THE VISIONARY MARIJA, THAT IS TO BE GIVEN TO THE WORLD.

“Dear children! Today I call you to pray for my intentions. Renew fasting and prayer because Satan is cunning and attracts many hearts to sin and perdition. I call you, little children, to holiness and to live in grace. Adore my Son so that He may fill you with His peace and love for which you yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call."

November 27 is the Feast of the Miraculous Medal. The above image of the Miraculous Medal, in its original French, is the work of Jeffrey Tiner, a prisoner on death row in Oregon. This artwork was done in stipple (dotwork) style. For a related story and the image of the reverse side of the medal, please scroll down.

If you would like a pdf of the printed copy we send out, email June at jklins1981@verizon.net and put "November pdf" in the subject line. Permission is given to reprint original articles in our newsletters, provided that no wording is changed and that "The Spirit of Medjugorje" is credited. To reprint articles from other sources we have used, permission must be obtained from that particular source. (Sometimes permission is granted only to us for our use.)

Fr. Bill Kiel will be speaking on Sunday, November 25, 2012, at “A Marian Gathering” at Camp Notre Dame, 400 Eaton Rd., Fairview, PA. The day will begin at 10:00 A.M. and end with Mass and prayers for healing by Fr. Kiel at 3:00 P.M. Other speakers include Wayne Weible, and Michael Ripple, author of A Lost Shepherd. Participants should provide their own lunch. Light refreshment and drink will be provided. No admission fees, but a free will offering will be greatly appreciated. For more information, go to www.alostshepherdmedjugorje.blogspot.com.

The Missing Shoes

By Gina Knarr

My daughter Mandy, my mother, and I climbed Cross Mountain with our pilgrimage group on June 18, 2012. When Mandy started to take off her shoes to climb barefoot, our guide Ana warned, “Watch out for snakes!” Always a “free-spirit,” Mandy took off her shoes anyway, and left them at the Fifth Station.

Coming down the mountain, Mandy was looking forward to finding her shoes, because it was very hot by that time. When we got to the Fifth Station, Mandy said she had hidden them in a bush. We could not find them anywhere. There were three of us looking, and we were spread out on the mountain, not in single file on a path. Mom and I sat down and Mandy said, “I’m going back up.” I said, “We’re going to pray to St. Anthony.” Mom asked, “How do you do that?” I explained to her about St. Anthony, and how you can ask his intercession in finding lost items. So Mom and I prayed to St. Anthony, and within 10 minutes, Mandy came down the mountain with the shoes on!

We asked Mandy if the shoes were where she thought they were, and she said, “No.” She said that an elderly Italian man who did not speak English helped her find them. I asked her how he knew she had lost her shoes. Mandy said that he looked down at her feet and motioned to her feet with his hands. Mandy shrugged her shoulders to indicate she did not know where the shoes were. He pointed up the mountain. Mandy put up five fingers to ask him if the shoes were near the Fifth Station. The man shook his head no, and then put up six fingers, followed by seven fingers. Mandy assumed he meant they were between the Sixth and Seventh Stations. She walked up the mountain, thinking they were in the bushes somewhere between those two Stations. But they were not. They were lying right in the middle of the mountain. They were ORANGE sneakers, so we don’t understand how all three of us, all spread out, could have missed orange sneakers!

Who was that elderly Italian man on the mountain who helped Mandy find her shoes? Mom thinks it was St. Anthony. I’d like to think so, too.

Editor's note: Gina and her mother, Jean, are from DuBois, PA. Mandy is studying in Ecuador this semester.

Sr. Lucia and Medjugorje

The following is an excerpt from an email update by Denis Nolan regarding MaryTV.

Two days before Vienna, Cathy [my wife] and I, and Milona von Habsburg, who traveled to Vienna as part of Mary TV's team, were interviewed on Radio Maria. Milona said something astounding and profound. We know from her testimony at the 2010 National Conference on Medjugorje at the University of Notre Dame that her aunt, Olga, Duquesa de Cadaval, was the personal secretary to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, and that Milona and her family would visit her every year in Coimbra, Portugal. And her aunt would tell her and her family that Sr. Lucia was praying fervently for the visionaries in Medjugorje, concerned for their wellbeing, because she knew Our Lady was appearing to them and they had no protection from the world that was flocking to their doors...

During the radio interview, Milona said her aunt brought her one day to meet with Sr. Lucia at her convent.... While praying in Sr. Lucia's chapel, Milona, who at the time was Fr. Slavko Barbaric's personal secretary in Medjugorje, remembered that no one was to meet Sr. Lucia without permission from the Vatican, and so she decided not to stay for the visit. She instead went to the chapel to pray. She told her aunt later that, as she prayed in the chapel, she received in prayer: "Those who go deep into Fatima in prayer will understand Medjugorje." Her aunt told her that this was exactly what Sr. Lucia had told her during their visit. She had gotten it in prayer that very same time!

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Medjugorje 2012 Reunion

By June Klins

On August 26, Fr. Bill Kiel and pilgrimage leader, Dennis Todaro, hosted a reunion at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church in Indiana, PA, for the pilgrims of their June, 2012 pilgrimage. What an uplifting day! It was like being in Medjugorje again. Our spiritual director of the pilgrimage, Fr. Bill Kiel, celebrated Mass, followed by a pot luck luncheon, and then a sharing time. Several people showed slide shows of their pictures. Then we shared stories. Some of these stories were previously published in our October issue. I would like to share some of the other stories with you, and hope that they will touch your heart the way they touched mine.

One of the first to witness was a pilgrim named Mary Jane. Mary Jane said she did not know a soul the first day of the pilgrimage, but quickly made friends with an older and much shorter lady, named Elaine. When her kids saw a picture of the two of them together, they questioned, “How did you hook up with her, Mom?” Mary Jane replied that she was moving slowly at the time, as she was recovering from knee surgery, and Elaine moves slowly naturally, so they ended up walking together and found they enjoyed each other’s company. One day, Elaine said to Mary Jane, “How about that lady that came with the cane to the pre-trip meeting? She must not have made it.” Mary Jane retorted, “I was that lady!” After we finished laughing, Mary Jane shared an amazing “God-incidence.”

One of the intentions Elaine had brought with her to Medjugorje was for the healing of her friend’s grandson. It laid heavy on her heart and she had mentioned his first name several times to Mary Jane. Towards the end of the week, Mary Jane asked Elaine for this young man’s last name. It turned out that Mary Jane was also praying for this very same young man, who just happened to be married to a young woman who had been her next-door neighbor! These two ladies, unlikely partners – who had never met until this trip – and live about 85 miles apart, were both praying for the same person! Mary Jane recently shared with me that at this point, this man’s prognosis looks good, that he is working again, and that he and his wife bought a home and are expecting their first child in the spring of 2013!

Our Lady sure has a way of linking people together on these pilgrimages! On my very first pilgrimage to Medjugorje, two young pilgrims who did not know each other before, began dating and later married. But that is a story for another time…

One pilgrim declared, "We came to Medjugorje as pilgrims and left as family." I think we all felt that way!

A pilgrim named Beth shared that, in Medjugorje, she was praying for the intercession of St. Anthony to help her and her daughter find a house to rent. She had been looking for a year and a half. Five days after her return, a friend called her about a brand new home that was for rent. Beth said there were all kinds of “Italian” symbols, such as the house being on “Naples” Drive, the walls in her bedroom being an olive color, etc. She quipped, “Tony came to my assistance!” Beth also related that both she and her daughter noticed that when they pray the Rosary together in their new home, they see little rainbows on the walls. She feels that this may be Our Lady’s way of saying She is with them.

Beth worked with NASA this summer, and one of the scientists had stated one day, “There’s so much around us that our human senses don’t have the capacity to see, to hear, to know.” Beth said this statement was reaffirming to her because in Medjugorje, during the Miracle of the Sun, she saw a white cross in the sun through her camera, that she could not see with her eyes.

There were some very emotional testimonies. A pilgrim named Deborah, through tears of thanksgiving, shared that before she and her husband and college-aged son went to Medjugorje, her husband and son were losing their faith. On the day that the group climbed Cross Mountain, Deborah and other members who were unable to climb, along with Fr. Bill, prayed the Stations of the Cross that surround the Risen Jesus statue. As she was praying, Deborah could sense a tremendous struggle, but towards the end she felt “sheer joy.” She knew in her heart that either her husband or son was being healed on Cross Mountain. She was elated to find out later that day that they were BOTH healed. Her husband, who never prayed the Rosary or wore a medal before, now does both. Deborah is grateful that her son is now grounded in his faith as well.

Deborah further related that her husband had brought her a rock from Cross Mountain, since she was not able to climb. She had not asked for a rock; she had just asked for him to pray for their marriage. She looked closely at the rock and did not see anything special on it. After they arrived home, Deborah looked at the rock again and discovered that there was a cross carved in the rock. As we have related in prior issues, Croatians take their marriage vows holding a crucifix!

At the healing Mass Fr. Bill celebrated on the last day of our pilgrimage, Deborah’s husband rested in the Spirit for the first time in his life. That very evening, he found out that his mother had died earlier that day at the exact time as the healing Mass! After Fr. Bill prayed with and consoled Deborah’s family, Deborah went outside at 6:40 P.M. as Fr. Bill had suggested, and she saw the Miracle of the Sun! What a consolation that was.

A pilgrim named Mary Beth, who never had intended to give her testimony, said, through tears she was holding back, that she felt compelled to share. She said that she had followed the apparitions from the beginning and had always wanted to go to Medjugorje, but something always came up and she was never able to go until this pilgrimage. The intention she took in her heart was to pray for a grandchild. She explained that her son married at age 40, and he was now 44 and they still did not have any children. She wanted to have a grandchild before she was “too old to get on the floor and play” with a grandchild. She told her son and daughter-in-law in the fall that she was going to Medjugorje to pray that they would have a child. In December, her daughter-in-law announced that she was pregnant. Her son said, “Now what are you going to pray for?” Mary Beth replied, “A second child.” Two weeks before the baby was due, they lost her. Mary Beth said, through tears, that she knows that she went to Medjugorje to obtain strength for herself, her family and her son.

Mary Beth later added, “When my daughter-in-law went back for her checkup, the doctor told her that the staff, who had helped deliver the baby and care for her during this tragedy, were amazed at how they had coped with their loss. They were amazed at their faith, courage and grace. My son said, ‘We have had, and continue to have, an army of people praying for us.’ A beautiful testimony to the power of prayer.”

When Mary Beth was finished with her emotional testimony, a pilgrim named Bonnie felt prompted to respond. Bonnie said, “Sometimes we don’t get what we asked for in Medjugorje. We get something different.”

Bonnie went on to explain that, although she had prayed in Medjugorje to avoid having an operation that was scheduled after her pilgrimage, she still had to have the surgery. In the hospital, she had a wooden rosary from Medjugorje, and she was asked if she wanted to keep the rosary with her during surgery. She said that she would love that, and when she woke up after five hours, she found the rosary taped to her hand. What a powerful statement that made to all the hospital personnel who saw this!

The next day, the rosary was lying on her bed, and when one of the nurses came in, she began to admire the rosary. Bonnie asked her if she was Catholic, and the nurse replied that she was raised Catholic, but in her adult life she was “searching.” She said that her son attended a Catholic school and was starting to pray the Rosary, so Bonnie gave her the wooden rosary. When another nurse came in, she lit up when Bonnie said she had just come back from Medjugorje. This nurse brought others in and they were all on their I-pads, looking up “Medjugorje.” Bonnie gave out many medals, pictures and other Medjugorje items she had in her purse. Bonnie concluded, “So maybe I had surgery for that nurse – to bring her back to her faith.”

Bonnie then added, “So whenever you have sufferings, they always bring blessings.” Looking at Mary Beth, she reassured her, “I know it’s difficult now, but it will always bring blessings. You’ll see.”

To be continued next issue…

A Holy Man’s Advice

By Susan Tassone

“Thank God ahead of time.” These are the famous words of Venerable Solanus Casey -- once known as Barney Casey.

Born on November 25, 1870, Barney Casey was one of 16 children in an Irish-American family from Superior, Wisconsin.

Barney felt that God wanted him to dedicate his life to the priesthood. And so it was that on Christmas Eve, 1897, he entered the door of the Capuchin monastery on Mt. Elliot Street, in Detroit, Michigan.

Devotion? Humility? (Oh, how these count!) Father Solanus was given the humble job as doorkeeper. Like other famous “porters” – St. Faustina, St. Andre of Montreal – Father Solanus had the gift of prophecy and healing. Thousands of every walk of life (and faith) were healed. More cases than not. And, importantly, not only physical healings, but spiritual ones. Indeed, Solanus used his gifts to encourage, challenge, and bring back hope to those suffering, searching, and in need of God’s unbounded love and mercy.

To this day, pilgrims visit his tomb at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit where he is laid to rest, leaving petitions on top of his tomb and exercising the traditional “knocking” on his tomb to get his attention: thanking God ahead of time (as he always recommended). Those coming to Solanus for help also heard him inviting them first to do something more for God and God’s people: such as confident thanks shown in good deeds. “Confidence is courage divinely reinforced," he once said. "It is courage. Have confidence in the providence of God. Shake off excessive worry and exercise a little confidence in God’s merciful providence. God condescends to use our powers if we don’t spoil His plans by ours!”

Father Solanus felt the answered requests were due to three things: belief, praying with faith, and making a promise. His usual invitation was enrollment in the Seraphic Mass Association, which is still in existence to help the Holy Souls (important!) in Purgatory.

Meanwhile, as far as further advice, the Michigan holy man always said to pay at least a little sacrifice of some kind in thanksgiving if things go favorably. Thanks must be given not just after the favorable result but before: to show your confidence in the goodness of God. Commenting on prayers for healings, etcetera, that are not "answered," Father Solanus said these had to be understood in light of God’s mercifully loving designs. “Blessed be God in all His designs!”

The Holy Souls were the focus of many of his prayers and devotions. A fellow Capuchin, Brother Ignatius once remarked that “his concern for the souls in Purgatory was very evident in the many letters that he wrote to people. This was something he would recommend in the event that someone was asking for a favor, that they should pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. In his mind, the poor souls 'hardly ever fail.' He encouraged people to have Masses offered for them and enroll them in that Seraphic Mass Association. He believed by that enrollment they would become 'missionaries with us.' He said: “Prayers for the missions and for the missionaries are mostly what they need.” Let us thusly heed!

Father Solanus also explained that “if we by our prayers and sacrifices freed a soul in Purgatory, we would have another intercessor in Heaven.” He prayed all the time, especially the Rosary, and encouraged people to “storm Heaven” with prayers for everything from good weather to the needs of relatives – for sinners, for the poor and needy (for justice and peace). He dreamed that he was suspended over a hug pit of fire and was almost falling into it. Looking around for something to hold on to, he saw a huge rosary hanging just above him. He grasped it firmly. Now he was secure. It was a dream he would never forget. Later on he recalled that this dream reinforced in him his special relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary. He prayed with perseverance for everything including perseverance!

Interestingly, he felt that Solomon’s prayer for wisdom was one of the greatest prayers. Wisdom, versus knowledge.

The highest act of prayer, the Holy Mass, and Holy Communion, he said, was the answer to all problems. He said frequent Communion brings peace into a soul and into a family. “Use Holy Water frequently," he also advised. "It keeps the devil away.” These are the same messages Our Lady of Medjugorje gives to us in our day! She tells us to bring back the use of Holy Water, give the joy of the Holy Mass to our dead, and believe and pray that the Father increase our faith, and then ask for whatever we need.

Father Solanus died on July 31, 1957 – the exact day to the hour that he offered his first Holy Mass.

Editor’s note: To request Masses through the Seraphic Mass Association, call 877-737-9050 (toll free). Susan Tassone has authored many books about Purgatory. Her newest book is called Prayers, Promises and Devotions for Holy Souls in Purgatory.

Intercession

By Cathy Nolan

"Dear children, as my eyes are looking at you, my soul is seeking those souls with whom it desires to be one - the souls who have understood the importance of prayer for those of my children who have not come to know the love of the Heavenly Father. I am calling you because I need you. Accept the mission and do not be afraid, I will strengthen you. I will fill you with my graces. With my love I will protect you from the evil spirit. I will be with you. With my presence I will console you in difficult moments. Thank you for your open hearts. Pray for priests. Pray that the unity between my Son and them may be all the stronger, that they may be one. Thank you." (September 2, 2012)

Several people have shared with me their experience of sleeplessness and intercession. It seems that many of us have been called to wakefulness in order to pray for souls!

I must admit after I wrote Thursday's reflection, I went to bed only to be awakened at about 3:00 A.M. by what sounded like a knock on our front door. I jumped out of bed and ran to the door to discover that no one was there. Of course when I went back to bed, the adrenaline had done its work, and I was wide awake.

Then I remembered an excerpt from Caryll Houselander about sleeplessness and intercession! I realized I was being asked to pray. So I proceeded to pray a Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I offered these prayers for whomever the Lord and Our Lady had in mind. Then I went back to sleep.

But at 6:00 A.M., I was awakened by the phone. It was my daughter. She told me that her father-in-law had just passed away. We talked about his passing and then hung up. Then I realized for whom I had been praying during the night. It must have been for Frank, the father-in-law.

When I visited with Frank's wife, Marian, and told her about my night of intercession. She teared up and told me that 3:00 A.M. was when Frank began to struggle and fail. She was grateful to know that I was praying at that time. I was amazed at Our Lady's timing!

We don't always find out for whom we are praying, but sometimes the Lord wants us to know. I am so grateful that Our Lady had been preparing me to intercede through this message. She must have known. We can all count on Our Lady to lead us with great precision and wisdom on the road the Lord has for us. She is the best of guides. Didn't She tell us: "Accept the mission and do not be afraid, I will strengthen you. I will fill you with my graces." She definitely will strengthen us and fill us with actual graces to accomplish God's will in our lives. Even in the night, She can help us to wake up and fight for souls!

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Marija: Being on Earth is Living Purgatory

By Jakob Marschner on September 26, 2012

Paradise exists; the Medjugorje visionaries say they all saw it in the 1980s, but a conscious decision for God while on earth is needed to get there.

These were the main themes when visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti delivered the Virgin Mary’s monthly message on Radio Maria on September 25: “Dear children! When in nature you look at the richness of the colors which the Most High gives to you, open your heart and pray with gratitude for all the good that you have and say: ‘I am here created for eternity’ – and yearn for heavenly things because God loves you with immeasurable love. This is why He also gave me to you to tell you: ‘Only in God is your peace and hope, dear children’. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Radio Maria director, Fr. Livio Fanzaga, opened his talk with the seer. “I don’t know if you have noticed that in Our Lady’s messages of this year, we are reminded of Eternity, Heaven. Do you suppose it is because we don’t think enough about that?”

Marija replied,“True. I think She wants to ‘stick to that subject’ because the world is too attached to earthly things, and She is back to a theme of the early years: ‘Me instead of Thee.’ She repeats, ‘Place God before everything,’ and it can seem like telling a story at times, because we might not be living our faith with an open heart and sincerity.”

“Daily life can seem to be removed from – or another world when compared to – living your faith, but Our Lady wants us to combine the two, by saying ‘Dear children, you cannot go on in this way.’ Many times She has repeated to us that without God you have neither a future nor eternal life. She repeats it, and we repeat it. Today the focus is on worldly values.”

[Fr. Livio] - The visionaries have seen Paradise, some even in their body. Do you feel nostalgic towards it?

“Yes, and in a big way. The five minutes with Her make us want to have God in our hearts to carry us the entire day; at that point we have Paradise in our hearts. Our Lady would like us to do everything in God; we might still think of ‘apparition time’ or ‘Mass time’ or ‘time to eat’ or ‘sleep time.’”

[Fr. Livio] - Marija, I am thinking about this: You have seen Paradise, but when you have been with Her five minutes, you have been in Paradise again. Our Lady is Paradise that comes down to Earth. After you have seen Our Lady, how do you feel about returning here?

“Like I am in Purgatory, Father Livio – nothing less because, as you say, we feel nostalgic towards Paradise. We hope to attain Paradise even here and now, but we are distant; even we need conversion.”

[Fr. Livio] - We don’t see Her, but when She comes through a visionary, we are reminded that our goal is Paradise, and She brings a bit of it down, but I have noticed many times that Our Lady has had us find the presence of God by looking at nature. In particular She recalls this by the colors of flowers or those of nature. She invites us to read nature in a mystical way, like St Francis.

“Yes, probably because in nature our heart is closer to God. We are marveled by the colors and such. Even this evening, She said, ‘Say: I was created for eternity’ and ‘yearn for the heavenly things.’ Think about God, think about the love of God that there is for us.”

At this point Fr. Livio Fanzaga looked ahead into October, the month dedicated to the prayer of the Rosary, and as such, a month especially devoted to a most integral part of the Medjugorje message:

[Fr. Livio] - I would like to ask one last question. We are about to start the month of October, the month of the Rosary. Our Lady has asked for it, daily, and all the mysteries.

“True, She has asked for the Rosary as Her preferred prayer, and She calls for it daily – not only the Rosary, but that our life becomes a prayer. Through it, we open our hearts to Her, and She said, through it, She can intercede to God for us, because our heart opens.”

“Some object to the Rosary as repetitious, but Our Lady replies that if you love someone you say one-thousand times ‘I love you.’ Through the Rosary, we give our litany in our own small way.”

[Fr. Livio] - Our Lady has insisted on the Rosary within the family.

“She says if a family prays, it is holy – if it does not, it is far from God. She asks us to make prayer the central point of our daily life. A family that is in God goes forward. If not, we have no future perspectives.”

[Fr. Livio] - You have four boys. Is it hard for you to have the Rosary said in your family?

“When they were smaller it was simpler. I have to thank God that even today they gladly pray. I hope it always grows. I also hope so through my example and my life.”

www.medjugorjetoday.tv

Our Lady’s Medal

By June Klins

In 1998, I received a healing from chronic pain that had gripped me for twenty years, after my mother’s friend sent me a medal of Our Lady of Medjugorje. Five months later, I made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in thanksgiving. I wanted to purchase medals to share with family and friends, and was surprised to see how many different styles of medals of Our Lady of Medjugorje were sold there. I later investigated to see if there was any particular one that Our Lady recommended, and I learned that there was not. In fact, in all of Her messages these 31 years, Our Lady of Medjugorje has never recommended any particular medal other than the Miraculous Medal.

On November 27, 1989, Our Lady gave the following message through the visionary Marija: “… Today is the feast day of the Miraculous Medal, and I want that you pray, in a special way, for the salvation of those people who are carrying this Miraculous Medal. I want you to spread the devotion and the carrying of this medal, so that more souls may be saved, and that you pray in a special way."

Recently I received a nice note from a subscriber named Mary Lou, to whom I had sent two Miraculous Medals. One of the medals was for her daughter who had cancer. Mary Lou wrote that her daughter is now free of cancer, and is thankful to Our Lady.

The Miraculous Medal is one of the three most highly indulgenced medals of the Catholic Church, along with the scapular, and the St. Benedict Jubilee medal. We should wear or carry these medals to protect us from evil.

Editor’s note: You can read more about the Miraculous Medal, and buy medals in bulk, by visiting the website of the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Perryville, MO., www.amm.org.