February 15, 2008
Dear Children of Medjugorje,
Praised be Jesus and Mary!
1 – Every year on February 2, Mirjana Soldo receives her apparition privately, alone in her room. This month, she was on vacation with a family in Italy, and the apparition was also private. She transmitted the following message:
“Dear children, I am with you. As a mother, I am gathering you, because I desire to eradicate from your hearts what I see now. Accept the love of my Son and erase fear, pain, suffering and disappointment from your heart. I have chosen you in a special way, so that you will be the light of the love of my Son. Thank you!“
2 – Sr. Lucia dos Santos on the altars? We know the links between Fatima and Medjugorje in Mary’s plans for the world (see message in P.S.1). A good piece of news makes us very happy today: Pope Benedict XVI has allowed the cause for Sr. Lucia’s beatification to be opened. Little Lucia was the third visionary of Fatima in 1917, and she died on February 13, 2005 at the Carmel of Coimbra (Portugal) at the age 97 years. This announcement was made by Cardinal Jose’ Matins at the Cathedral of Coimbra during the anniversary mass of Sr. Lucia’s death. The Pope made a dispensation to the rule calling for a five year delay after the death of a Servant of God before opening the cause for beatification. Recently, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II also received the same dispensation for their causes of beatification.
Lucia was only 10 years old when Our Lady appeared to her for the first time. Her cousins, Jacinta and Francesco, little shepherds like her, were with her and also saw the “Woman clothed with the sun.” They both died three years later, in 1920. Our Lady told Lucia that she would live for a long time in order to spread the devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Sr. Lucia kept on having private apparitions of Our Lady during her hidden life in her Carmel. These will probably be published in her personal writings, after her beatification.
In 1981, after the attempted assassination, Pope John Paul II realized that it was the Virgin of Fatima who protected him from death. In fact, that attempt took place on May 13th, the anniversary of the first apparition. He understood that an invisible hand had deflected the bullet, saving him from a certain death. He took it to heart to fulfill Mary’s requests given in Fatima, and in particular he consecrated the world (including Russia) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in communion with all the bishops of the world. This was one of the most remarkable initiatives of his pontificate; what other pope would have been able to carry out a work of such scale? He visited Sr. Lucia three times, and on his last visit (May 13, 2000), he beatified the two young shepherds, Francesco and Jacinta. During that visit, he also asked that the 3rd secret of Fatima be revealed. He would say later on, “The prayer of sister Lucia always supported me in moments of trial and suffering.” He also knew from Sr. Lucia herself that shortly after she left for heaven, he would follow her. That’s what actually happened, since he died on April 2, 2005, about two months after Sr. Lucia.
A central point of the message of Fatima is the call to pray for the conversion of sinners, which the young shepherds hastened to do. Looking at the state of the world 91 years later, we just cannot ignore that call anymore, a call so often repeated by the Queen of Peace at Medjugorje. May the example of sister Lucia and her cousins awaken our hearts from their torpor and inflame them with love, so that we hasten the full realization of Mary’s plans initiated at Fatima! (to be continued in the March 15th report)
3 - The Angelus at stake! An Italian friend shared with me a precious testimony about the Holy Virgin of Nazareth: One day she was driving from Citluk back to Medjugorje, and Vicka was with her in the car. When noon came, both friends started to recite the prayer of the Angelus. As the prayer was over, Vicka spontaneously turned to my friend, and, her face radiant with joy, told her, “You know, the Blessed Mother likes this prayer very much! All her being thrills with joy when she hears it because it reminds her of the moment of the Annunciation.
Saint Louis de Monfort, also, wrote that every time we recite the Angelus, Mary feels the same joy as the one she felt when she received the visit of the Archangel Gabriel in Nazareth.
Many Catholics still do not know this prayer by heart. Then why not memorize it and say it at least once a day at noon? Or better: 3 times a day? It would be a beautiful present to the Blessed Mother during this Lent, in thanksgiving for her graces! (See P.S. 2)
4 - Little Antonietta! Today we need to be h
ealed from all the poisons subtly injected by the media and to recapture our innocence. The sure means to achieve this is to let ourselves wonder at the innocence of children. What splendor! What a beautiful reflection of God! This innocence would make Jesus say, “Let the little children come to me.” “The Kingdom of God belongs to those who resemble them!” Jesus himself would not be without them.
Recently in Rome I discovered the youngest non-martyr saint of our times: little Antonietta Meo from Rome, a Servant of God, who died of bone cancer at the age of six-and-a-half (1930-1937). She will surely help us live Lent and prepare us for Easter!
Her love for Jesus was the more extraordinary as her family did not show any special fervor for God. She had made it a habit of writing a few words to Jesus every night and putting the pages under her statue of the Infant Jesus, so that He could come during the night and read them. Since she was too young to write, she dictated her letters to her mother. But at the end of her life, she was able to write, though clumsily, and her words reveal her very deep mystical life with Jesus and also with the Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Mother. Her 100 letters take us through her Way of the Cross, which she was able, through love, to turn into a way of joy.
Her mother tells us that one day at the age of 3, she added to her prayers, “Jesus, give me the grace to die before I commit a mortal sin.” And later: “Dear Eucharistic Jesus, I am very, very happy that you have come into my heart. Never leave my heart anymore, and stay always, always with me! Jesus, I love you so much, I want to abandon myself into your arms so you can do what you want with me.“
In April 1936, she had to have amputated one leg, and this is when her intimate dialogue began with Jesus, at the heart of her suffering. Without anyone teaching her to do so, she wanted to offer her suffering to Jesus for sinners. And she was only 6 years old! She decided to give her little leg to Jesus, and then she wrote to her father, “I am very happy that Jesus gave me this problem so that I may be his dearest one.“
Sometimes people near her saw her come close to the tabernacle after Mass and say, “Jesus, come and play with me!” One day she told her mother, “Sometimes I see Jesus!” “And how do you see Him?” her mother asked? “On the cross“answered Antonietta. She never complained and she showed such joy that sometimes her mother wondered whether she was really suffering. The doctors had to explain to her . . . .
Her last letter, dated June 1937, landed in the hands of Pope Pius XI, who, deeply touched by it, sent a priest to give his Apostolic blessing to Antonietta. “Dear crucified Jesus, I love you so much, but so much! I want to stay with you on Calvary. Dear Jesus, tell God the Father that I love Him so much too, so very much! Dear Jesus, give me the strength I need to bear these pains that I offer for sinners.” Writing the letter was interrupted by a very painful crisis; she threw up, yet she insisted on continuing the letter in which she entrusted to Jesus all those she loved, and repeated in her child’s words how much she loved Him. She ended with, “Your little girl sends you a lot of kisses. . . .” She foretold her mother about her death and said, ‚“In a few hours, I will die, but I will not suffer anymore, and you shouldn’t cry. I should have lived a few days longer, but Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus said,”it’s enough!”
On Dec. 18, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI recognized her heroic virtues, a major step on her way to beatification. (See P.S. 3) Little Antonietta, you are our hero! Please pray so that joy and hope may prevail among us, because so many children and youth are suffering! Pray that adults and parents may see in each child this immense potential for union with God that you showed us, and respect it and help it blossom!
Dearest Gospa, yes, please come and eradicate from our hearts all the evil you see!
Please, replace it with your love for Jesus!
Sister Emmanuel +
(Translated from French)
_____________________
PS 1 - August 25, 1991. “Dear Children! Today also I invite you to prayer, now as never before when my plan has begun to be realized. Satan is strong and wants to sweep away my plans of peace and joy and make you think that my Son is not strong in His decisions. Therefore, I call all of you, dear children, to pray and fast still more firmly. I invite you to self-renunciation for nine days so that, with your help, everything that I desire to realize through the secrets I began in Fatima, may be fulfilled. I call you, dear children, to now grasp the importance of my coming and the seriousness of the situation. I want to save all souls and present them to God. Therefore, let us pray that everything I have begun be fully realized. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
PS 2 – Prayer of the Angelus
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace…
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary…
V. And the Word was made Flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary…..
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
LET US PRAY! Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
PS 3 – Documentation on Antonietta can be found at Basilica Santa Croce of Gerusalemme (in Rome): info@nennolina.it - Tel: +39 06 701 4779 http://www.nennolina.it/index.html
恭讀聖瑪竇福音20:17-28
往神父講道目錄
耶穌上耶路撒冷去的時候，暗暗把十二個門徒帶到一邊，在路上對他們說：「看，我們上耶路撒冷去，人子要被交於司祭和經師，他們要定他的死罪；並且要把他交給外邦人戲弄、鞭打、釘死；但第三天，他要復活。」
