I Have Come To Tell The World That

     God Exists

                        -----Compiled by June Klins        

   The third volume of “The Best of the Spirit of Medjugorje” may be the best volume---so far. The title and cover are certainly new, symbolic and eye-catching.

   The bold declaration of the large-type title reminds us of the “Why” Our Lady  comes to Medjugorje---to assure us that God does, indeed exist, cares for us and wants to guide us through His Beloved Mother. As She said on the tenth anniversary of her apparitions: “I want to save all souls and present them to God.”

   The beautiful cover, with color photographs representing the Five Stones:  Bible reading, Confession, Fasting, Prayer with the Heart, and the Eucharist are surrounded by a white “cloud” on a field of pale blue.

   The highlight of this, as in all volumes, is the collection of Mary’s messages, in hard copy, paper form, here a complete compilation from Jan. 2005 to Dec. 2009.  Computers do crash; even electronic records can be tampered with. Now each of us can have a permanent record; we have can dip into them on sleepless nights and ponder their meaning for us personally.

   Some of the other important parts include a modern “Examination of Conscience” (before Confession), a discussion of Fasting, and two lists (both voted upon) of the ten best books and the ten best websites, which can be counted on for accurate, up-to-date information.

   Even some experienced Catholics can, at times, be intimidated by the Sacrament of Penance.  This guide is practical and used in many places. The Church states that those who have reached their 59^th birthday and those with health problems are exempt from traditional fasting.  This volume lists other ways we can give up something for God.

   Those familiar with the Medjugorje may be tempted to skim over the first few pages: don’t!  The short biographical information of the six visionaries are accompanied by close-up black and white photos and selections from their many interviews---all of which make us the reader feel as if we could reach out and touch them!

   This lively book is a treasure trove of information from both authorities and ordinary people. I feel the “authorities” (Blessed John Paul ll, priests and nuns, even our dedicated editor) may better be up front in the book; then the reader will have inside information to the wonders the new converts will be discovering, as the testimonials show. The “Testimonies” (chapter 3) is long, but well worth it. My favorites are those of the well-known actress and also the well-traveled photographer.

   This series will become a trusted research tool by students and writers of the future. As such, in the absence of an index, I’d like to see at least some articles grouped together by subject. The information on the Secretes, for example, which Mary gave to the visionaries, appears in more than one place and could be cross-referenced, since it’s sure to be a hot topic in the months and years ahead.

   For those of us who can’t (yet!) make the trip to Medjugorje, this book makes us knowledgeable sources and helps us be better disciples, helping to spread Gospa’s messages, and to bloom where God has planted us.

Available also in e-book formats.

Searching for Love

By June Klins

   The face of the young man who sat across from me glowed with the joy of the Lord as he shared his story with me.   Twenty-eight year old Ryan Ravis began his story by saying that when he was growing up, his parents did not practice their Catholic faith, but he was thankful that they sent him to a Catholic grade school and allowed him to attend Mass on Sundays with his grandparents. He always enjoyed working at the church festival and helping at the parish school in the summer. However, in his teens, Ryan stopped attending Mass, even though he continued to help out at the parish.

   When Ryan was in the sixth grade, his father became very sick with depression and he left the family in the year 2000.

After that, Ryan lamented, “It was really tough growing up.”  By the time Ryan was a senior in high school, he became very depressed himself. He blamed himself for his father’s leaving. “The biggest thing was I was searching for love,” he related. He would go on dates and when things did not work out, he would get more depressed.

   In 2003, Ryan graduated from high school.  He had no plans for college, because he did not do well in school and didn’t like it.  That summer, he had a steady girlfriend, but in October she broke up with him. That just set him “over the edge.” He said he was “tired of life, tired of letdowns and tired of everything.”  He confessed that he had even contemplated suicide, as he lost all interest in everything, and did not want to leave his room. He also admitted that he had consulted with psychics because he wanted to know the future. But no psychic could have predicted how God would soon touch Ryan’s life, nor would he have believed it at the time anyway.

   Ryan continued: “My turning point in my life, something I’ll never forget was December 27, 2003. I was at home, so bored with myself. I just got this idea to go over to Sacred Heart Church to open up and get things ready for Mass, just to give me something to do, and so I did. My intention was not to stay for Mass –  so after everything was set up, I was ready to leave, but a strong feeling of peace and love came upon me as I stood near the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue, and I felt the Lord wanting me to stay for Mass. And so I did. From that point on, I began going to Mass again every weekend; it became the highlight of my weekend, because I felt such peace, and I knew everything would be OK. I began to meet new friends from Sacred Heart, and they began to renew me in the Faith.

   “My conversion happened on Sunday, July 18, 2004. Two weeks before this date I knew that Father Bill Kiel was coming to my parish to celebrate a healing Mass. From the time I found out he was coming, I just knew I had to go to this Mass. I couldn’t wait for it; it’s all I could think about. The day came, and when I sat down in the pew to pray, all my sinfulness began to come to my mind, and feeling so sorry for all the things I’ve ever done. I began to cry profusely.

   The Mass began, and during the whole Mass, I cried uncontrollably. I can’t explain why I cried so much; it was like God was melting my heart of stone away. From the examination of conscience and Father Bill’s homily, I knew I needed to change my life completely.  I opened my heart to the Lord and said, ‘Lord, take control of my life. I give it to You in Your hands.’ At the end of Mass, I went up to receive my individual blessing from Father Bill. I remember saying to myself, ‘Lord, please heal me.’ All I remember is Father Bill laying his hands on me, and next thing I knew was I was on the floor [resting in the Spirit].”

   After Mass, Ryan overheard his new friends talking about Medjugorje with a woman named Nancy, and he knew right away that he had to go there. He was still crying at this point, and Nancy said to him, “There’s something very special about you; what is your name?” When Ryan told her, she asked him, “Are you going to be a priest?” Ryan replied, “No, I want to get married and have a family of my own.” She said, “A parish can be your family.” Ryan protested, and she said, with a smile, “I don’t know – I think you’re supposed to be a priest.”  Nancy later told Ryan that those words were not hers, but the Holy Spirit speaking through her. Ryan said, “Never have I felt God truly present in my life as I did that day at the healing Mass. God put each person that day in the right place at the right time for Him to speak to me.”

   From that day forward, Ryan could think only of the priesthood and Medjugorje. Ryan said, “A day never went by that I didn’t think of Medjugorje, and every day I prayed that God would somehow get me there; I just knew and believed God would.”

  Ryan said his first miracle through Medjugorje occurred when he had a bad case of poison ivy and his hands were swollen three times their normal size. His new friend Nancy gave him a wooden rosary from Medjugorje and he held it and prayed with complete trust. Without any medical intervention, it was completely healed the next morning. Ryan said this was God’s way of saying, “I’m here; I’m listening.” 

   Two months later, in October of 2004, Nancy and Ryan attended another healing Mass at Father Bill’s parish. After Mass, Ryan met someone, and for some reason, he shared his whole life story, and then started talking about Medjugorje. He said, “I know I have to go there, and I’m trusting God will find a way to get me there.” This person looked at him and said, “Ryan, I have to tell you something. I’ve been praying that God would send me someone who wants to go to Medjugorje and can’t afford it, and I would pay their way. After listening to you, I believe you’re the one.”

   So, in April of 2005, Ryan went to Medjugorje.  Although Ryan did not feel he was as open to God’s will as he should have been while in Medjugorje, the benefits came when he arrived home. “This trip really taught me to surrender to God’s will, and to take each day, one day at a time; which was always a hard thing for me to do. The trip also taught me prayer comes first. A day without prayer is like a day in total darkness. I also was inspired to participate in the liturgy more, by becoming a Eucharist Minister, and then later I became a Lector.”  But like most pilgrims who have been to Medjugorje, Ryan longed to return.     

   In the meantime, Ryan got a good-paying job, and he was dating, but kept getting his heart broken over and over. Ryan said that he knew through all of this that the only ones who would never break his heart were God and Our Lady. He said, “That’s what gave me so much peace and happiness.”

   Ryan saved up and went back to Medjugorje in 2007, with the purpose of doing God’s will. The very next day after he arrived in Medjugorje, he went to Mass at St. James. The gospel reading that day was from John 14. What really struck Ryan was when Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know Me?” From that point on, Ryan’s prayer was: “This is for Your will. You show me what You want to show me.”

   Two days later, Ryan’s group went to see Fr. Jozo in Siroki Brijeg.  After his inspirational talk, Fr. Jozo blessed the priests who were there, who would then, in turn, bless the pilgrims. When it was Ryan’s turn to be blessed, a priest from Ireland laid hands on him, and at the end of the blessing, he pulled Ryan close to him. Ryan wondered what was going on, as this priest had not done this to anyone else. The priest asked him his name, and then said, “Ryan, you need to pray more about your vocation, and become a priest.”

   After that pilgrimage, Ryan began living the messages of Medjugorje and began praying the Liturgy of the Hours and meditating on the daily Mass readings (since he was not able to attend daily Mass because of his work schedule).

   At the advice of the diocese vocation director, Ryan enrolled in a Community College. To his surprise, he was getting all A’s. “This was God’s work because I can’t do this” he said.

    In October of 2008, after a third visit to St. Mark Seminary in Erie, PA, Ryan knew he was ready to enter the seminary. The only problem was that he had a car payment and some other debts to pay off.  Shortly after, Ryan won a settlement that he had not anticipated, and was able to pay off his debts. He entered the seminary in August of 2009. 

   On Holy Thursday of 2009, at the diocesan Chrism Mass, Ryan was thinking to himself how he would like to go to Medjugorje once again, if he only had the money.  After the Mass, he went over to talk to Fr. Bill. Father said he had wanted to talk to him because a couple had donated money for a pilgrim to go to Medjugorje, and he wondered if Ryan would be interested.  Ryan accepted, and decided that this third trip was about trust – “to trust in the Lord wherever He is leading me.” On that pilgrimage Ryan climbed Cross Mountain alone one day and met a Franciscan friar who said to him, “There are going to be a lot of people who will try to stop you, and it’s going to be tough. Don’t ever give up.”

    Ryan said the friar was right.  He said that before he entered the seminary his old girlfriend, who had broken up with him years ago, wanted to get back together. He declined her offer. “I’ve never been so happy in my entire life, and I know what God is calling me to.”  He noted that it’s interesting how something he really, really wanted in his life could now just be put aside.

   Ryan said, “From the beginning of my story, I was searching for love, for that significant other – what I thought was what I needed. What I really needed was the love of God. That’s what was missing, and there was all that emptiness there…It has truly been a blessing and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.”

                                                                                                                              Won't You Believe My Story?

By Sr. Emmanuel

  Last April 27, a man attended the Mass in French at noon: Jean, 35, is from the Island of La Reunion (Indian Ocean). The evening before, he had given his testimony of conversion to his group of pilgrims, and everyone was overwhelmed by it. It needs to be said that, after having killed a man, Jean had just gotten out of prison. Here is the story: Although he was of Catholic origin, Jean had stopped practicing his religion at 14. Then he got into drugs, alcohol, hanging around bad company. He lived with his companion, Jessica. In 2003, in the course of a violent dispute with [a man named] Gilbert, he felt threatened and hit him a little too hard... Gilbert died instantly. Jean was condemned to 12 years of prison.

   His girlfriend Jessica went to Medjugorje in 2008, and she had a major conversion. Upon her return, she taught Jean – still in prison – how to pray the Rosary. During his years of detention, Jean held onto praying the Rosary, though it was not always easy for him. But he carried on and realized that "it cured him of heart pains and head pains," as he said. He became a diligent reader of the Bible. Later, another person talked to him about the Rosary and about Medjugorje.

He came out of prison on Good Friday, April 6, 2012, and his first step was to go to Confession after 17 years away from the Church. Then he asked for a Mass for the repose of Gilbert's soul. His deepest wish was to go to Medjugorje. A generous person offered him the trip and, on April 27, Jean was with us at the French Mass. Only the pilgrims in his group knew him and his background.   

   That day, the celebrant did something I've never seen. During the homily, he called Jean to the pulpit and asked him to illustrate by his own witness the story of the conversion of Paul, who was struck blind, was healed of his blindness, and followed Christ. Jean delivered a few simple words and went back to his seat. Then the most unheard-of thing happened: in this small chapel, thousands of miles from the Island of La Reunion, that very same day, that same hour, were present the relatives of Gilbert, the man whom Jean had killed! Seeing Jean in front of the microphone, they couldn't help but recognize him!  Imagine the shock! 

   That day, once again, Heaven opened up in Medjugorje, because after the Mass, they fell into each other's arms and reconciled.   They were weeping tears of joy, full with the emotion of having known Jesus and Mary. If I had not been present at that Mass, I would not have believed this story!

Forgiveness: The Bottom Line with Everybody

                                                 By Father Angelus Shaughnessy, OFM

   We know the condition of our own forgiveness before God is our willingness in turn to forgive those who have injured us.

“Forgive us our trespasses, Lord, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

   Forgiveness is the bottom line for all in this world: spouse, non-spouse; family member, non-family member; friend or

foe – because nobody, but nobody, meets our expectations completely. In other words, no virtuous act is so virtuous to

other people as it is to ourselves. People just do not know how virtuous we are –  that we worked our fingers to the bone.

   They don’t see our efforts; there is no recognition, no affirmation, no gratitude and, what is my natural reaction to all of this?  “I hope they break a leg and die and go to hell in that order!”  But we know as Christians we are not blessed if we respond in that way. I must allow myself to be raised into the realm of faith and the supernatural, into the realm of prayer. If I try to live my life only on the level of nature, at the natural level, it is not long before I descend into the un-natural.

So, I pray:

I forgive my mother and father for not being perfect, for neglecting me because of their own problems, for not loving me enough.

I forgive my brothers and sisters for all the competition, for not helping when I needed it, for not loving me enough.

I forgive my spouse for unreal expectations, for taking me for granted, for not loving me enough.

I forgive my son and daughter for not being exactly like me, for learning the hard way, for not loving me enough.

I forgive myself for my selfishness, for the stupid things I did in the past, for not loving me enough.

I forgive God for not making me perfect, for not making everyone just like me, for giving me a free will which I often abuse.

I forgive anyone who may have physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, financially, or sexually hurt me.

I ask God to forgive me as much as I forgive others; and I promise God to try to live faithfully and to create a community of

loving people.

  Perhaps the only motivation that can move you and me to forgive is the words Jesus our God

spoke through that exquisite pain of His crucifixion: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Message from Our Lady of Medjugorje through Mirjana Soldo for June 2, 2012
"Dear children, I am continuously among you because, with my endless love, I desire to show you the door of Heaven. I desire to tell you how it is opened: through goodness, mercy, love and peace - through my Son. Therefore, my children, do not waste time on vanities. Only knowledge of the love of my Son can save you. Through that salvific love and the Holy Spirit He chose me and I, together with Him, am choosing you to be apostles of His love and will. My children, great is the responsibility upon you. I desire that by your example you help sinners regain their sight, enrich their poor souls and bring them back into my embrace. Therefore, pray, pray, fast and confess regularly. If receiving my Son in the Eucharist is the center of your life then do not be afraid, you can do everything. I am with you. Every day I pray for the shepherds and I expect the same of you. Because, my children, without their guidance and strengthening through their blessing, you cannot do it. Thank you."

Pray for our Priests, the Shepherds

by Louise Lotze

   A recurrent message we hear each month, given to Mirjana, is to pray for our priests, God's chosen ones, who are our shepherds.  Our Lady emphasizes their importance to us. In Father Jozo's book, Observe the Fruits, he reveals a story about a Canadian lady, a leading ballet dancer, Lisa Baril. She and her husband, a university professor, came as pilgrims to Medjugorje.  Lisa studied and perfectly learned Croatian ,and was thus able to talk fluently with the parishioners and also to interview the seers. She and her husband became great apostles of Medjugorje, becoming involved in a movement to help priests and bishops, called “The Daisy Movement” (Adopt a Priest Program). “The Daisy Movement” was founded in Aylmer, Quebec by Mrs. Louise Ward in1981 (the same year Our Lady began appearing in Medjugorje). 

  Within a short time, thousands of people and prayer groups were offering themselves to pray for their own priest or bishop. This movement has spread all over the world. The beauty of this movement is its simplicity.  This is how it works:  draw a daisy with seven petals. In the heart of the “daisy” you will write the name of the priest. On each petal for each day of the week you will write the name of the person who will be praying for the priest as long as God will keep him alive.  It is also acceptable to write a couple, or a group name on a petal.  Then, on a special occasion, you will give a “daisy” as a gift to our beloved priest who will surely be happy.  Through prayer we can show our love and our faithfulness not only to our priests, but to the whole Church.

   Father Jozo, during his former daily catechesis, mentioned the priests, and invited us to pray for them: “Dearest brethren,  pray for the priests.  Without the priest there is no Confession; we cannot leave our sins; we have no Holy Mass.  Pray for the priests!”  It is important, then, that we pray for the vocations to the priesthood –  for the renewal of the Church.  Father Jozo believes that vocations are lacking because we have stopped praying. He encourages us to pray so that Italy and the world may always have holy priests like Father Pio and St. Leopold Mandic and others.  Father Jozo continues: “Let us put into practice the messages of Our Lady, the Queen of Peace, to help the Church, the families, the world.”  Wouldn't it be great to answer Our Lady's by taking the initiative to incorporate the “Daisy Movement ” in our own dioceses and parishes?  This is a challenge to make a change in the Church and the world.  Are you ready to take on this challenge? 

 “Do not forget your shepherds.  Pray that they may not get lost, that they may remain in my Son so as to be good shepherds to their flock." (Our Lady to Mirjana on March 18, 2009)

Be Not Afraid!

By Ana Shawl

    Recently there was a discussion by members of our internet Medjugorje prayer group regarding the various difficulties that we all experience in prayer, and in following Our Lady's messages. A member posted Our Lady’s message to Mirjana on March 18, 2008: “The way on which I lead you is difficult and full of temptations and falls. I will be with you and my hands will hold you. Be persevering so that at the end of the way, we can all together, in joy and love, hold the hands of my Son. Come with me: fear not. Thank you.”

    Our Lady said, "The way on which I lead you is difficult and full of temptations and falls.”   So, even as Jesus was tempted by the devil, we are going to be, too; and although Jesus didn't fall, we, from time to time, fall. But after that, Our Lady helps to pick us up! She knows we are going to fall, and this is why, too, it is soooo important to go to Confession.

Questions and Answers with Ivanka

The following is an excerpt from the question and answer session with visionary Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez at the Notre Dame Medjugorje conference on May 23, 2010: 

Q: What happens when you see Our Lady?

A: When we see Our Lady we pray the Rosary and we pray all together until She comes. When that moment comes, there is a light that comes and flashes three times. And then I see nothing else around me and I don't hear anything else except Her. And my children say, "Well why, Mummy, do you move your lips and you don't say anything?" And I talk, the way I talk with you now, so why can't the others hear us, and why is this different?  I don't know. This is just the mystery of the path of God and I don't know these secrets and mysteries. They are His!

Q: Our Lady dictated Her life to one of the visionaries. Will that ever be made public?

 A: Our Lady spoke about the details of Her life from 1981 to 1985, to me personally. She spoke to me about the future of the Church and of the world. She gave me some kind of parchment, not paper or cloth, and there is something written on it, something invisible, and it is like parchment. There I wrote all the elements of the secrets. And when She tells me to whom I must give it, and when I must give it, then I will do it. So far nothing has been said and done about it.

Q: [What can you tell us about] fasting?

A: We laugh when we hear “fasting!”  We always say "fast." Our Lady calls us, indeed, to fast on bread and water. Perhaps you live the same things as I do, and I am sure you do. There are days when we normally eat, and I forget to eat. Perhaps I drink water, but I don't think of food. I don't feel bad, I feel nothing. I just feel normal. But in the same way, when I say, "Now I am going to fast," that day I feel so nervous. I feel headache, tummy ache, pains, everything. But I believe this is simply Satan working on us. He does not want us to open our hearts. So we can go about it in many, many ways how to start and to learn the path of inner cleansing. For example, we could start by saying, "Today I will not watch TV," or, "Today I will not eat cakes." Slowly but surely we will get closer and become more and more free of things, and when the day has come, and we shall be able to really fast on bread and water, then we shall go into the heavy stuff inside, into the thick, thick layers that we have in our spirit.

Q: [What does Our Lady say about] marriage?

A:  Our Lady is calling us to respect the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Yesterday there was a wedding going on in the hotel where we sleep. I saw them all very happy and joyful – the young couple and all those friends that were there. From that first day onwards, they need to give each other that love, that warmth, and really watch over that love that it may grow, and they may go together on the path of holiness. When we get married at home, at the moment when we exchange the sacrament, we take a cross in our hands. And on the cross, we promise, before God as our witness, that we shall take each other, watch over each other, and respect each other, in good days, bad days, in sickness and health. Because throughout the path of life, there shall be misunderstandings; there shall be problems; there shall be sickness and pain. But if that love is the very basic thing, we can make it grow in the sense of God throughout the whole path. And that unity, that life of community we can build through prayer. Today in our world, the worst is when there is this icy cold silence in the family. And we must not allow that our children get lost in one direction, the husband in the next, and the wife in the third. We need to create a unity among us, and it may be with five minutes together, at least. Our Lady told us that Satan is so strong and wishes to destroy the family. My dear friends, from the family, everything comes. Good priests, good politicians, good doctors all come from the family, and therefore, my dear friends, we must watch over our families, because if the family gets definitely destroyed, the whole world will collapse.

Q: During your beautiful experiences with Our Lady, was it hard to come back down to ordinary life, and do you miss Heaven?

Ivanka’s Message on June 25, 2012

  The visionary Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez had her regular annual apparition on June 25th 2012.  At her last daily apparition on May 7, 1985, Our Lady confided to Ivanka the 10th secret and told her that she would have an apparition once a year on the anniversary of the apparitions. It was that way also this year. The apparition, which lasted 7 minutes, took place at Ivanka’s family home. Only Ivanka’s family was present at the apparition. After the apparition, Ivanka said: Our Lady spoke to me about the 5th secret and at the end said:  "I am giving you my motherly blessing. Pray for peace, peace, peace."

Working Full-time for Our Lady

By June Klins

   Since my grade school days, when I would stand at a chalkboard in my parents’ garage and play school with my friends, I have had a passion for teaching. In my senior year of high school, my picture was in the faculty section of the yearbook as a “Future Teacher of America.”  I have always wanted to make a difference. So last fall, when I began to feel the prompting to retire from my part-time teaching job, I really struggled with it.

   The week before Christmas, my employer offered an early retirement incentive, and gave January 31 as the deadline to take advantage of it. The form had to be notarized and it was irrevocable. I went to the Adoration chapel to pray about it, and as I knelt in front of the Monstrance, I heard in my heart, “It’s time to move on.”  It seemed I had my answer, but I was not satisfied.  Did those words really come from Jesus, or was it my imagination? 

   For almost 10 years I had juggled this newsletter, my family, and my job through the state as the math specialist at an all –boys’ Catholic high school called Cathedral Prep. Eliminating the teaching job from the equation would certainly make my life less stressful.  After all, in the passage Our Lady asks us to read every Thursday, Jesus said, “You cannot have two masters (Mt 6:24).”  But I absolutely loved my teaching job, and it was my only source of income.

   The struggle continued. I asked God to let me know for sure what He wanted for my life. At the Adoration chapel, again, I felt Him tell me to put it into His hands – to go ahead and do the paperwork, and if the incentive contingency went through, then it was His will, and if it did not, I would continue to teach. I was OK with that for a few days, and then the struggle began again as I became worried about finances. It even made me physically sick.  

   As I continued to pray about this at Adoration, I asked God to “hit me over the head with a 2 by 4” to let me know what I should do. When I got home that day, a lady called me about a subscription to the newsletter. She just happened to mention, out of the blue, that she had taken an early retirement from her teaching job because of an incentive offered by her district. Tears welled up in my eyes as I felt that the Holy Spirit was at work. Why would she tell me that?

  Within a few days, I put the paperwork in order and got it notarized. The next workday, I took it with me, with the intention of mailing it after school. But then I had such a productive morning with my students, I thought to myself, “How can I give this up?”  When I read my email at lunchtime, I got a note which stated that, because of state budget cuts, my hours would be cut for the second time in the school year. That was the “2 by 4” I needed!  Thank you, Lord!  I mailed the envelope after school.

   I was at peace with my decision for about two days, when something else came up, and I began to get concerned again about my finances. My pension estimate was wrong, so I did not know the exact amount of my monthly pension check. And now there was no turning back. I couldn’t sleep all night.  I should have listened to Our Lady, who said on August 25, 1996, "Dear children! Listen, because I wish to speak to you and to invite you to have more faith and trust in God, who loves you immeasurably.”

  The next day, I ran into a woman I had not seen in a while, named Mary Jane (not her real name). She asked if I was still teaching, and I told her about my struggle with retirement. She then told me that she had been a bit apprehensive about her own impending retirement.  At that point, Mary Jane, who is a very faith-filled Protestant, looked at me and exclaimed, “But the Lord said to me, ‘Mary Jane, you have to trust Me. Have I ever let you down?  Have I ever given you a reason not to trust Me?”  As she spoke, all of a sudden, I felt the anxiety lift from me completely. I cried tears of thanksgiving all the way home. I know God speaks to us through other people, and I know He was speaking to me through her. That was over five months ago, and I have felt at peace with the decision ever since.  

   My last day of work was May 31, which just happened to be a Marian feast – the feast of the Visitation. As I was carrying a box to my van that day, a lady drove into the school parking lot and asked me where to park for the special Mass they were having at our Cathedral (which is attached to the school). I had forgotten all about this Mass, which I had really wanted to attend. It was a High Mass in Latin, celebrating the 50^th jubilee of the rector of the Cathedral. The program said that the Mass was the Mass as it was in 1962, when this priest had been ordained. And in 1962, May 31 was the feast of the Queenship of Mary. Wow! Two Marian feasts days and a very special Mass – what a way to start off my new life of working full-time for Our Lady!  

Our thanks to Barb Repasy, Sally Dugan, Marge Spase, Barb Sirianni, Julie Hansen, Joanne Warren, Agnes Trott,