The Spirit of Medjugorje
Medjugorje Message March 25, 2024
"Dear children! In this time of grace, pray with me for the good to win in you and around you. In a special way, little children, pray united with Jesus on His Way of the Cross. Into your prayers put this humanity which wanders without God and without His love. Be prayer, be light, and be witnesses to all those whom you meet, little children, so that the merciful God may have mercy toward you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
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Featured article from October's Spirit of Medjugorje
God's Choice
By June Klins
On the afternoon of September 2, a friend asked me if I would pray for her daughter-in-law, who had been hospitalized for four days. They suspected MS from her symptoms, but the test was negative. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong. Of course I agreed to pray for her.
That evening, I went to an awesome worship service called "Made2Worship," where, at the beginning, we sing "Veni Sancti Spiritus" (Come, Holy Spirit) over and over, as they do in Medjugorje. (The original founder of this service had been to Medjugorje, where I suspect he got this format.)
After the service, a young man named Nate, who has Down Syndrome, walked up to me with a pamphlet, and said, "This is for you." I was surprised when I looked at the title of the pamphlet, "What's Wrong With Me?" - Living With a Mystery Illness. Immediately I thought of the prayer request for my friend's daughter-in-law. I thanked Nate and asked him where he had gotten the pamphlet. He led me to the vestibule and showed me a rack that had about 40 pamphlets on it. Why he chose that specific pamphlet and why he gave it to me, Nate himself probably couldn't answer. I felt that the Holy Spirit was at work, since we did call on Him earlier that night.
Three days later, when I gave my friend the pamphlet and explained how I got it, she took one look at the title and burst into tears at the realization that God hears our prayers and works through others we don't even know to help us. She said her daughter-in-law was out of the hospital now, still without answers, and would be visiting her the following day. When she thumbed through the pamphlet, she said it looked good; then when she noticed where the author of the pamphlet lives, she was dumbfounded. The author,
Sr. Karen Zielinski, O.S.F., resides in Sylvania, Ohio - the exact town where her son and daughter-in-law live!!! What are the odds of that? I never even heard of that town. We knew for sure at that point, that this whole scenario was orchestrated from Above.
It was hard for me to contain my excitement as I tried to call Nate's mother to let her know how God used him to hopefully help this young lady. When I was not able to get her by phone, I left a message that I would talk to her before Mass the next day. In the vestibule the following day, I shared the story with Nate's mother, and told another lady standing nearby that she could listen to it also. Nate's mother was actually not surprised at the story, and said that Nate has often given her pamphlets or other things that she needed at that exact moment. She told me that this was not the first time that God had used Nate to convey a message to other people as well. She shared that one day when Nate was about six years old, she had a prayer group in her home; afterwards, the ladies were all complaining about their husbands. All of a sudden, Nate became irate - and she emphasized "irate." Nate screamed at the women to stop, and then yelled, "Seventy times seven!" Of course, at age six, he had no idea that this referred to the number of times Jesus said to forgive (in the 18th chapter of Matthew), but all of the women sure did!
The other lady who was standing with us in the vestibule said that what came to her as she listened to these stories was how precious every life is to God - that nowadays many medical professionals would suggest and even coerce women who are pregnant with babies who may have Down Syndrome or other disabilities to have an abortion. But no, God has a plan for every life. This lady quoted St. Paul, who wrote, "…God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing…" ( 1 Cor 1:27-28).
In this month of October, which along with being the Month of the Rosary, is Respect for Life Month, we remember the words of Our Lady: "Pray that you may be able to comprehend the greatness and the beauty of the gift of life" (1/25/90).
