Our Lady Saved Our Lives

By Sr. Elizabeth Marie, pcpa

   St. Maximilian Kolbe said of Our Lady, "She rushes to our help, even when we do not invoke Her name..."   The story of my conversion is proof of the Immaculate's unsolicited love for Her wayward children. My mother was raised a strict Lutheran. She had long abandoned her faith by the time I was born, yet still had me baptized in the Lutheran church. Despite this, my parents did not raise me, their only child, with any religion. My parents divorced when I was ten, my father becoming increasingly violent and paranoid, his mental illness exacerbated by alcoholism. Many times he threatened to kill my mom, so we had as little contact with him as possible.

   An unexpected phone call in the early 1990s brought a long lost friend back into our lives. Patti was my godmother, but it had been ten years since we had seen or heard from her. She told us she had traveled extensively, and after hearing of Marian apparitions in a small village called Medjugorje, she went to see for herself if the Mother of God really was appearing there. This experience profoundly changed her life, leading her to return to the Catholic Church. Now she was married to a Croatian and lived only fifteen minutes from Medjugorje with her husband and three children. At that time they were planning to come to America for six months because of the strife in the Balkans. When we finally saw her again after so many years, she took every opportunity to tell us about her Catholic faith, but we could not have been any less interested. God was not someone we needed in our lives.

   After her stay in America was over, she wanted us to go visit her in Bosnia. By this time it was 1994 and I was getting ready to start my freshman year of high-school. Despite the opposition of family members (they thought we were crazy for wanting to go to a war zone), we wanted to go, but money was short and we could not afford airfare. The summer was drawing to a close and it would soon be too late for me to go because of school. Then one day my mom heard an inner voice which said, "You have to leave, and you have three days to do it." She could think of nothing else, but there was no hope of scraping together enough money. The next day an unexpected blue envelope arrived in the mail. It was a lawsuit settlement my mom had been waiting on for years, and it was for the exact amount we needed for our tickets. Immediately she bought the tickets and withdrew me from school, since we were going to be gone for so long. Despite her best efforts to obey the voice of warning, we did not actually leave until the fifth day, August 15th.

   We stayed with Patti and her family for a month. During that time she desperately wanted us to go to Medjugorje. We dismissed the idea: "It would be sacrilegious if we went there since we don't believe any of that stuff." Patti prevailed in the end, but we did not want any close up views of the church or Apparition Hill, preferring to see them from the comfort of her air conditioned car as we drove by. My mom and I would wait at a nearby restaurant when Patti went to Mass.

   One night I had a vivid nightmare that my father was looking for us, wanting to kill us and himself. The next morning, quite shaken up, I told my mom about it. She assured me it was only a dream, and that we were perfectly safe since he had no idea we were in Bosnia. Unknown to me, when she had woken up that morning and come downstairs for breakfast a strange thing happened which she never experienced before or since. It seemed as though her eyes were covered by a gauzy veil which separated her from everything. She felt like she had stepped out of time and reality.  It only lasted about fifteen seconds.

   We came back to America a week later. The night we got home my grandparents came over to give us the horrible news that my father had killed himself while we were gone. Later we found out that the date of his death corresponded with the time of my dream and my mom's surreal experience. When we remembered all the strange things that had happened - the voice, the blue envelope, the dream, the surreal experience - we came to realize that Our Lady had taken us to a war torn country to save our lives. God's ways are so ironic sometimes! There was no doubt that had we been home, he would have killed us, too. This was confirmed when a friend told us she saw my father sitting in his truck outside our house, apparently looking for us, shortly before he committed suicide. In his truck we even found items he had taken from our front porch.   We fell in love with Our Lady - how could we not, after realizing how much She loved us. My mom and I began to pray the Rosary daily, and as always, Our Lady led us to Jesus. About eight months later we enrolled in RCIA, and on the Easter Vigil in 1996 we were received into the Catholic Church.

   I am convinced that what Our Lady did for us, She does for all Her children, though sometimes it remains hidden from our eyes. God knew that in order for us to come to Him, we would have to see quite clearly how Our Lady had intervened. In His Infinite Wisdom, God knows just who needs that kind of explicit proof and who does not. One litany invokes Mary as the "Shepherdess of the wandering sheep." She is an ever watchful Mother who, no matter how far we stray, never lets us out of Her sight. The more I grow in my love for Jesus, the deeper my gratitude and love for Our Lady become, for without Her I never would have come to know Christ and His Church.

                                                                                                                                              Sam's Change

By Denis Nolan

   Our Lady's primary message is Her presence in Medjugorje!

   Years ago, I remember Sam Belardinella coming up to me after I had finished speaking to a group about Our Lady's apparitions in Medjugorje. "It is easy for you to talk. I am a poor barber. I do not make enough money to pay my taxes every year. Where am I going to get the money for a plane ticket to Medjugorje?"

   "Sam, just ask Mary," I remember saying. "And, if She does not give you a ticket, Jesus will be so excited someone is paying attention, He will give it to you Himself!"

   Two weeks later, Sam came up to me with a shocked look on his face. He was holding a letter in his hand from Mark Bavaro, tight end for the New York Giants. (Sam used to cut his hair when he played football as a student at Notre Dame.)

   Mark and his wife were planning to go to Medjugorje, the letter said, but his wife, Suzie, was now pregnant and they could not make the trip. Their two Rosaries were in the envelope.

   The letter said, "Sam, would you please do this favor for me! Of course, I will understand if you cannot. Here is a check for $2000. Would you and your wife please go to Medjugorje and take our Rosaries there so that they can get blessed by our Blessed Mother?" And, so it happened.

   Upon returning from Medjugorje, Sam installed a statue of Our Lady in his barber shop and forbade the telling of any improper jokes or stories. From then on, his barber shop belonged to Our Lady!

   Sam will tell you that before his pilgrimage to Medjugorje, if he had had a choice between flying his pigeons on Sunday, or going to Mass, he would fly pigeons. That has all changed.

   It has been 15 years now since that trip to Medjugorje, and not only has Sam attended Mass every Sunday, but since his return, he has faithfully served every morning as the altar boy at his parish's 6:45 a.m. weekday Mass!

   Sam changed. Perhaps you should make some changes in your life as well. Think about it, and think about a way to act upon it. Find a way to keep improving each day of your life. That is why God is still giving you time... in order for you to make changes. “So be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48).

   Yes, make some changes. It is time to stop flying the pigeons, and go to Mass... every day, if you can. Do it while you still have the time. Start with twice a week, then three times, and then more. Make a day without receiving Christ an imperfect day, an incomplete day, a day where your Treasure has not been found. Make some changes now.

Revolution of Love

   This is an excerpt of a talk given by the visionary Marija in August, 2010 to Italian pilgrims gathered in Medjugorje.

Our Lady first appeared on June 24,1981, and we like to say this was the start of the most beautiful adventure in the world today. At first, we visionaries thought all of those on the hill could see what we could see. We found out that they could not see Our Lady, and so we asked, "Why us? Why me? Why did you choose us and not some better ones?" Our Lady said, "God gave me the possibility to choose, and I have chosen."

Imagine those days when our country was under a Communist regime; a harsh, strong regime that seemed to get harsher every day, and Our Lady came to us. In 1981, President Tito had been dead only a year.

It was a few days after the apparitions began, that the main television station and the most watched newscast reported that six children from the village of Medjugorje in Hercegovina claimed to see the Blessed Virgin Mary. I tell you that this Communist station made the best advertisement for Medjugorje at that time. It was broadcast all over Yugoslavia!

The six of us were blamed for being used to destroy Communist Yugoslavia. The Communists feared a revolution or rebellion against the regime. They claimed that a revolution started, and today we can say a revolution had started, but not the revolution they were thinking of. They brought in police and many soldiers to surround the hills. The distance between each soldier was one meter. Special troops came in and surrounded the parish. Imagine Medjugorje invaded with fully armed soldiers and specially trained dogs!

"They forbade us to go up Podbrdo, where Our Lady was appearing. We asked Our Lady to advise us about this situation. At the same time Father Jozo, the pastor, was very confused about all the people climbing the mountain and not coming to the church. He prayed, "God give me the sign. What am I to do?"

Pilgrims flowed into Medjugorje like a river, and they would not be stopped. Day and night, they continued to climb Podbrdo, the place where Our Lady was appearing. Finally, Our Lady told us, "Go to the church, you will be protected there." We asked Her three times to make sure we understood that we were to go to the church. At that time, you see, we were afraid of Fr. Jozo

The church was closed during the afternoon, and there were no evening Masses at that time in the summer of 1981. Our Lady told us, "Go to the church." We had to go if She told us to go.

Fr. Jozo was in the church praying, and when he opened Sacred Scripture, he read "They are my beloved children." When we arrived, we saw Fr. Jozo praying and we said to him, "Our Lady told us to come here." He said, "Just now in Scripture I read you are my beloved children. This is my sign."

At this time, honestly, we did not know how to lead the Mysteries of the Rosary; we were only children. Because Our Lady had asked for the Rosary, we learned to pray it correctly. We prayed on our knees, thanking God and Our Lady for all the graces we were receiving. Prayer brought us closer to Our Lady, and we began to follow Her more intensely. I must say that, even now, I am still learning how to pray.

We came to the altar, in St James Church; we knelt and prayed the Rosary with the people. At this time Our Lady would appear to us. Early on, Our Lady said, "Ask your parish priest to celebrate Holy Mass. Also, pray two Mysteries of the Rosary before Holy Mass." We prayed the Joyful and Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary before Holy Mass. At the end of Holy Mass, we would pray the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary in thanksgiving for the graces received.

The pilgrims were bringing many sick people, and Our Lady said, "Pray with them, and have the priests pray over them and bless them." Today, we still have these healing prayers at the Croatian evening Mass.

Our families and the villagers had strong faith, thank God, and when we asked Our Lady, "Why have you come to us?" She said, "I have chosen this place because here, I have found a living faith."

On one occasion, the special armed troops blocked our entrance into the Church. The villagers came and did the only thing that they could do; they got on their knees and surrounded the Church, and prayed. Fr Jozo was imprisoned; some of the Sisters were locked in a room in the rectory while the rectory was being searched. I'm not sure if I understood all that was happening at the time, but I knew the police were everywhere. The soldiers were ordered to guard the church area. They were there for many hours at a time. They were not allowed to leave, and, they were hungry and thirsty. Our families would bring them food and drink because they saw that the soldiers had been on duty for two days. My own mother, as well as our neighbors, would prepare extra food for these soldiers and take them water. Water was very scarce here, but they took it to them anyway. We were the children of peasants, and we were used to sharing what we had with those in need.

When the police saw the villagers bringing the soldiers food, they asked, "What kind of revolution is this?" They began to question why they were here as armed guards against good people. The commander of the police force decided to withdraw his troops, dogs, and policemen. The helicopters zooming around the Church could only find people on their knees praying. The General then ordered the church doors to be opened and the people were once again able to attend the apparition and Holy Mass.

It truly was a revolution, but not the one that the Communists were expecting. It was a revolution of God's love and mercy. Our Lady continued to teach us, and we followed Her, and fell in love with Her messages with all our hearts. I was 16 at this time, and I wanted to learn to pray more and do good deeds.

The six of us waited for Our Lady with great joy. Many nights we would gather together and spend the night in prayer. At daybreak we would go home to meet our parents to work in the fields all day. It was a beautiful time.

My father, as well as Vicka's and Ivanka's fathers, worked in Germany. The regime threatened Vicka's father. They were going to confiscate his passport so he could not go into Germany to work. He had eight children to provide for and this would be the road to starvation for them. Vicka's family said they would not deny Our Lady. They were ready to starve, to die for her. They were strong witnesses to Our Lady's presence here in Medjugorje.

Our Lady stressed monthly Confession, three Mysteries of the Rosary every day, and She taught us to look toward Heaven, to have a strong desire for Heaven. She taught us the importance of Holy Scripture, to place God in the first place in our lives.

Families would gather and read Scripture before work, and end the day with family prayer and Scripture reading. My own father had a 4th grade education and was a poor reader. We would say, "Come on, father, read something; it's alright if it is slow." He then began to read to us a Psalm or some short verse from the Gospel. As the head of the family, he was so proud and happy that he did this and could respond to Our Lady's invitation. He was very joyful doing this for Our Lady.

We changed, and became stronger in our family prayer. We began fasting as Our Lady asked us to do. Our Lady said, "With prayer and fasting, even wars can be stopped. Certain evil spirits can only be cast away through the power of prayer and fasting." We were on our knees, and we gave Our Lady our 'yes.'  Our Lady said, "Through your witness, I will begin to change the world."

I want to tell you something very important; this is the time of grace, this is Our Lady's time. Our Lady chose the six of us to tell you, "God does exist and should be the center of your lives."

Our Lady says, "I intercede before my Son for each one of you. God has not forgotten you. He loves you and he invites you to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world."

We are not called to be Crusaders, to liberate the Holy Land, as in the past. Our Lady wants us to be Her extended hands in today's world; She wants us to become the hands of love; She wants us to become missionaries wherever God sends us; She wants us to become a true Image of God and witness with our lives, that we belong to him.

The youth of today's world are empty because they do not have God. Our faith is no longer witnessed to them. They need to know God exists for them. It is not too late for you to start living your faith. Start living your faith today. This culture of materialism and consumerism gets in the way of faith. The modern world denies God. There are many people in today's world that proceed forward without asking God to lead them. Satan wants to convince the world that man can live without God, but Our Lady says, "Without God you do not have a future." There will be no eternal happiness without God.

We may not meet again, but I beg you to make good use of your time during this time of grace, Our Lady's time. Use this time for prayer; the devil will tempt you in many different ways. Do not permit him to stop your prayers! Pray unceasingly, and use your time here in Medjugorje to climb the mountains. Take your Bible, and find a rock to sit on; take a seat and pray. Meditate before the Blessed Sacrament; adore Him and be on your knees and pray before Jesus. Spend time with Jesus and get to know Him… Attach yourselves to God and love His commandments. In this way, paradise will start here in your hearts, in your families, in the world.

Our Lady wants a new revolution – a revolution of love, and She started it on June 24, 1981. I am a witness and I share this testimony from my heart. God bless you.

                                                                                                                                                       The Medjugorje Message, UK

“The theology of Medjugorje rings true. I am convinced of its truth. Everything concerning Medjugorje is authentic from a Catholic point of view. All that happens there is so evident, so convincing! ...There is only one danger alone for Medjugorje – that people will pass it by!” ~ Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar (Excerpt taken from Medjugorje and the Church by Denis Nolan) [Cardinal von Balthasar has been called one of the most important theologians of the 20th century.]

Conversion

By   Fr Slavko Barbaric, ofm

   Conversion, in the messages of Medjugorje, means to change one’s way of life, to forsake sin, selfishness, arrogance, pride, and to open ourselves to humility, love and to never give up.

   Conversion has two elements – one, whereby we are called to forsake sin, and another, whereby we are called to open ourselves to love. None of us will be able to say he loves enough, that he cannot love more. This is conversion – to try and love more, to try and get to be fully aware of sin, to pray for the spirit of love and to go forward.

Medjugorje News

   Mike Golovich, who was a recent pilgrim to Medjugorje, has relayed to us the good news that the yellow building, which is located behind St. James Church, has been renamed the “Bl, John Paul II Parish Hall.”

NORTH WEST LONDON MEDJUGORJE CENTRE

30th ANNIVERSARY of MEDJUGORJE

FRIDAY 24th JUNE @ 7.30 pm until 9.15pm

Church: St Anthony of Padua

5 Garratt Road, Edgware, Middx HA8 9AN

Celebrant: Fr Chris Connor

Rosary, Holy Mass, Benediction,Refreshments provided afterwards

Enquiries: General: 020 8868 8232

Travel: 020 8958 7719

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MEDJUGORJE CENTRE NORTH EAST 30th ANNIVERSARY 

We are celebrating with a Vigil Led by Fr. Ciaran McDonnell

Friday 24th June 2011

Beginning 7pm

Rosary : Mass : Adoration of The Blessed Sacrament

St. Augustine RC Church

Wealcroft

Leam Lane

Felling

Gateshead NE10 8QS

For more information please call: 01670 818937

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OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE 30TH ANNIVERSARY 

SATURDAY 25th JUNE from 4.30 - 7.30 pm in the Cardiff Catholic University Chaplaincy, 62 Park Place, CARDIFF CF 10 3AS

The Medjugorje Centre in Cardiff are celebrating their evening programme at the same time as the pilgrims in Medjugorje itself. United with them we will begin at 5.00 pm with the Rosary. At 5.40 pm we will pause for 3 minutes to be united with Our Blessed Lady as she appears to the three visionaries. We will then continue the Rosary followed by the Litany to Our Lady.

There will be Mass at 6.00 pm. Refreshments, tea and coffee provided, celebratory offerings welcome, if you want to, bring a cake or cakes to mark the occasion.

Join us , we look forward to seeing you. For more information please contact Frank and Romilly Fenlon,tel:029 2046 0189 or em -r.fenlon@ntlworld.com

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OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE

23rd - 26June 2011

In thanksgiving and celebration to God Our Father for the presence of Our Holy Mother in such a special way at this time we are holding a 3-day prayer festival in North Wales. A time of reflection, prayer, reconciliation, adoration, renewal. Spiritual leaders are Fr. Salvatore Musella SDV; Fr John Abberton; Br John Delaney OFM Cap. Begins late afternoon Thursday 23 June,ends after breakfast on Sunday 26 June, we will follow the Medjugorje prayer programme as closely as possible.

At the Franciscan Retreat Centre in Pantasaph North Wales, 2½ hours by train from London Euston. The Centre has peaceful grounds, which provides Via Crucis through woodland and a rosary walk to the Lourdes grotto. The cost is £130 full board. If you are unable to come for the three days, why not join us from 2pm as a day delegate on Saturday 25 June. Please arrive no later than 1.30pm. The day ends at approximately 9.30pm. Booking is essential.

Bookings and enquiries to: Franciscan Retreat Centre, Pantasaph, Holywell, Flintshire CH8 8PE North Wales Tel: 01352 711053 Email: pantasaph@gmail.com Website: www.pantasaph.org.uk

Enquiries can also be made to Geraldine Downing, tel: 01978 357367 Email: info@northwalesqueenofpeacedays.org.uk Website: www.northwalesqueenofpeacedays.org.uk

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Our Lady Queen of Peace Day

OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE APOSTOLATE OF ESSEX AND LONDON AREA

IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE

Saturday 25th June 2011

11.00 am to 5.00 pm

The Shrine of Our Lady and St Simon Stock, Aylesford Friary, near Maidstone, Kent

Day of Prayer and Reflection: HUMILITY, HOLINESS, CONVERSION OF HEARTS, SILENCE, RECONCILIATION with Gathering, Rosary, Holy Mass. After the lunch break, a talk at 2.45 pm, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Prayer & Benediction at 4.00 pm.

Coach organisers please liaise directly with the shrine secretary Anne Pass, tel 01622 717272 or email pilgrim@thefriars.org.uk or for more information please call Queen of Peace Apostolate, Essex Prayer Group, on tel: 01277821886.