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Echo of Mary Queen of Peace 180 (March-April 2005)

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Our Lady’s message, 25 January 2005:
“Dear Children, In this time of
grace I call you anew to prayer. Pray,
my Children, for the unity of
Christians, that you all may be one
heart. Unity will be a reality in your
midst inasmuch as you will pray and
forgive. Do not forget: love will conquer
only if you pray, and if your hearts
open. Thank you for responding to my
call.”
Pray for
Unity of Christians
“Holy Father, in thy name, keep them
which thou hast given me, that they may
be one, even as we are one”
(Jn 17:11).
Thus prayed Jesus at the hour of His
sacrifice. “I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who believe in me through
their word, that they may all be one; even
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be in us, so the world
may believe that thou hast sent me”
(Jn
17:20-21).
A prayer by Jesus could not go
unheeded by the Father, yet still today
Christians are not one. After a happy start
when the whole group of believers was
united heart and soul
(Acts 4:32), the first
quarrels began quickly creeping in (1 Co
1:11-12)
and still today the division amongst
Christians is cause for scandal.
The Lord’s great prayer is still
suspended before the Father, and perhaps
it is waiting for the revealing of the sons
of God
(Rm 8:19) and the return of the Son
of man
to be fully and universally satisfied.
In fact, the last enemy to be destroyed is
death
(1Co 15:26) and since he who
separates sows death, perhaps it will be
at the last battle that we will finally become
united Christians. This should not induce
us to remain passive. We are rather called
to mobilize everyone and implore from
God the great miracle which will make us
one child in His Son Jesus.
The prayer for the unity of Christians
does not end with the closing of the week-
long prayer said annually for this purpose.
In fact, Mary urges us: “Pray, my
Children, for the unity of Christians,
that you all may be one heart”
- one
heart in the Heart of Jesus, with our words,
deeds, and life. May there be no more
division between creatures and the Creator,
amongst people, in the family, in society,
in the world. May he who divides be thrust
into hell, and may Jesus reign!
Unity will be a reality in your midst
inasmuch as you will pray and forgive.”
Without prayer and communion with God,
we cannot truly forgive. May we grow in
prayer and forgiveness so reconciliation is
made possible, so that unity becomes a
reality. As great an objective it may seem it
is at everyone’s reach, and we are all
responsible for it. All it takes to pray and
forgive is an open heart, and all of us can
ask God for this grace and obtain it. One
doesn’t need any particular gift such as
wisdom or intelligence; rather, these talents
can impede grace, for the Father “hides
these things from the wise and under-
standing, and reveals them to babes
” (cf.
Mt 11:25).
“Do not forget: love will conquer
only if you pray, and if your hearts
open
.” Simple yet extremely important and
deeply meaningful words! Our salvation,
won by Christ, awaits our acceptance to
become universal and manifest for the
world; hence we must pray and offer
everything to God (an open heart), so that
in my flesh I may complete what is lacking
in Christ’s afflictions
(cf. Col 1:24). Don’t
read this as being condemned to suffer; as
it is further proof of God’s great Love for
us who wants to lift us up to the Son. May
Thy kingdom come, oh Father. Yours is a
kingdom of peace and love. May the
civilization of Love triumph in the world!
We believe in You. We surrender ourselves
to You!
Nuccio Quattrocchi
My food is to do the will of the one who
sent me, and to complete his work
(Jn 4:34)
Our Lady’s message, 25 February 2005:
“Dear children, Today I call you to
be my extended hands in this world that
gives God
last place. You, my
Children, give God first place in your
lives! God will bless you and give you
the strength to bear witness to Him,
the God of love and peace. I am with
you and intercede for all of you. My
Children, do not forget that I love you
tenderly. Thank you for responding to
my call.”
God in first place
“Today I call you to be my extended
hands in this world that gives God last
place.”
Last November Mary gave us a
similar invitation, and the call to be her
extended hands roused sincere emotion in
hearts which are open to the calls and
suggestions of our heavenly Mother. Today
she has repeated the call, though this time
it seems more pressing and seems to cover
greater radius. Today the call involves the
whole world. We are called to be her
extended hands before the entire world;
the reason being that the world places God
last
. We are called, therefore, to turn the
situation around, to re-establish the
primacy of God in the world. How? By
becoming Mary’s extended hands; that
is, allowing her to use our hands to offer
assistance, to sustain, to lift back up, to
feed, to heal, to serve, to caress, to
welcome, to bless.
We are called to be Mary’s extended
hands so that God can be put back in the
place which is His - first, not last - and to
do it not so much with words, but, rather,
with our lives. “You, my Children, give
God first place in your lives!”
Saying
isn’t enough; it must be evident with our
doing, in our deeds. Our God isn’t a
concept to be expressed, but a living
Presence to be shown; not an idea to be
communicated, but the Living One to
witness; not something fleeting or elusive,
but the Creator and Giver of life. In fact,
it is in Him that we live, move, and exist
(Acts 17:28).
We are created in the image
of God (Gen 1:27), and man finds his true
life in God alone. “When I shall with my
whole self cleave to Thee, I shall no where
have sorrow or labour; and my life shall
wholly live, as wholly full of Thee” (St.
Augustine, Confessions: 10.28.39).
If life is not oriented towards God, man
is necessarily disoriented, and worldly
seductions and the illusions of power and
wealth cannot suffice to cancel the need
for God, for just as the deer longs for
running water, so does my soul long for
You, o God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God
(Ps 41 [42]). There’s no
compromising, for if God is not given first
place, He will sooner or later slip back into
March-April 2005. Echo of Mary, Queen of Peace, P.O. Box 27, I-31030 Bessica Treviso, Italy.
Yr 21 #2 Ph/fax + 39 (0)423.470331 - Email: info@ecodimaria.net - A translation of the original Italian: Eco di Maria
180
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last; for we cannot serve both God and
mammon
(Mt 6:24; Lk 16:13).
Put God first, as Jesus did, as Mary
did, as the saints do! It’s not as difficult
as the tempter would have us believe. All
we need do is say “Yes” to the Father -
said with all our heart and being; said with
joy, faith and love! that our heart lift up to
God like that of a child, and open up to
Him so His holy love might remain in us;
that our souls open up to Him and be
touched by His holy mercy.
“O God, we want to be Your children,
humble and devout, to the point of
becoming Your cherished and sincere
children, such as only the Father would
desire us to be. Help us Jesus, our Brother,
so that Your Father might be benevolent
to us, and that we might be benevolent to
Him.”
(Excerpt: Petition to God, prayer
given by Our Lady to Jelena, Medjugorje,
1985).
May our entire being praise the Father
and surrender to His will, and witness that
He, our God, is God of love and peace.
With His blessing He will give us the
strength to follow Jesus in joy and in
sorrow, on Tabor as on Calvary. Mary
loves us tenderly, and like a tender bud
in her hands we will blossom and become
her extended hands. So why wait any
longer?
N.Q.
Sr. Lucia born into heaven!
She would have desired going to heaven
after having encountered the “white lady”
at Cova di Iria close to Fatima in Portugal
back in 1917. Lucia was only 10 years old
when Our Lady visited her and her two
little cousins. The events of Fatima are well
enough known not to be repeated here,
but one of the facts is worth our
consideration. In one of their encounters,
Our Lady said she’d soon take Francisco
and Jacinta into heaven, but that Lucia
would remain in the world as: “Jesus
wants to use you to establish in the world
devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”
The young girl didn’t like the idea at
first, as she would have preferred going
to heaven with her two little cousins, but
Lucia nonetheless understood the
greatness of serenely accepting God’s will.
She lived to a great age and she
consecrated herself entirely to God – in
prayer and in the silence of the cloistered
convent – to promote devotion to Mary
and her Immaculate Heart,
“Sister Lucia inspired confidence
because of the peace in which she lived,”
said Bishop João Alves, retired head of the
Coimbra Diocese, “a peace that resided in
faith and a constant union with God.” And
she communicated this peace to all those
around her or who simply came into contact
with her, or wrote to her (she, in fact, loved
writing and even learnt to use a computer in
recent years). She communicated this peace
to the simple folk, and to the “great” figures
such as the Popes who met her and saw
reflections of heaven in her, in particular
John Paul II – a protagonist of the secrets of
Fatima of which Lucia was faithful
custodian.
There existed a profound friendship
between John Paul II and Lucia. Just
hours before the elderly Carmelite died she
received his personal message, in which
he said that on hearing of her illness, he
prayed to God that the religious would be
able to live the moment of pain and
suffering with a paschal spirit
, and he
imparted his blessing to her. Bishop Albino
Cleto of Coimbra confirmed that Sr Lucia
heard the reading of the papal message on
Sunday and, being ‘very affected’ by it,
asked if she could personally read the text
of the fax.” Lucia, too, was concerned
over the health of the Pontiff and spent
her last days in prayer for him.
She died on the 13th February. The
13
th
was also the day Our Lady chose to
visit Fatima from May to October. Lucia
would have soon turned 98: a long life spent
in doing God’s will for the salvation of
souls.
Editor
JP II: Icon of
suffering Servant
Speaking of the Pope especially
now that his health is seriously
threatened, immediately causes
prayer to rise to God to grace
us with his presence yet more.
It has been a trying moment, and the
whole world has been on the alert out of
concern for him, also due to the invasive
action of the media which captures his every
laborious movement and exhibits the
humiliating signs of his sickness without
regard. If the close ups of the Pope’s suffering
taste rather of subtle cynicism for the sake of
sensationalism, they have also served to
show up a most noble and precious side of
his lengthy pontificate: preaching combined
with suffering
. “The Pope, too, must suffer,”
he said in 1994, “so the world can see that
there is a Gospel which I would say is even
greater, called the Gospel of suffering.”
It is a paradox for our days with the great
quest for well-being, the illusion of eternal
youth, and the tendency to pretend that death
doesn’t exist, while exploiting every instant
of life for one’s own enjoyment.
That is why God chose as His guide for
the Church of these times a man who is not
ashamed to show his weakness
. Instead, it is
seen as a sign of strength; it has become an
example for his flock. “I continue to serve
the Church and the whole of humanity, even
here in the hospital among other sick
persons, of whom I am thinking with
affection,”
he declared during recent
hospitalization. It’s a theme that returns
frequently in his homilies; it counter attacks
the ever so invasive culture of death, for
indeed, suffering is the core of the Christian
message; an essential element. “If growing
old, with its inevitable conditions, is
accepted serenely in the light of faith, it can
become an invaluable opportunity for better
comprehending the Mystery of the Cross,
which gives full sense to human
existence
…”
(JP II’s 2005 Lenten Message).
The Holy Father’s witness is strong! Both
when as a young pontiff he flew from one
country to another, and the world loved this
“athlete of God” who wasn’t afraid to
thunder out the Truth to one and to all, and
also now that he is disable and lets himself
be transported and in his meekness he lets
himself be caressed, disarmed he continues
to fight for peace. Yes, his witness is even
stronger, and the world cannot but stand back
in admiration.
Of course, this penalizing condition of
his – a “loser” quality from a human point of
view – has not removed an ounce of that
steely determination of his with which he has
always worked. John Paul II has always been
impatient to return to work each time he has
been immobilized by his infirmity. Far from
being ostentation, exhibitionism or heroic
protagonism, our beloved Pope is moved by
a profound sense of responsibility towards a
humanity which he received in custody from
God: “I always feel in need of your help before
the Lord in order to carry out the mission
that Jesus has entrusted to me,”
he humbly
exclaimed in the Angelus of 13 February. And
on the first “note” written after the
tracheotomy he was given on Thursday 24
Feb. the Pope said: “Ever wholly Thine,”
thus newly entrusting himself and his Petrine
Mission into the hands of the Mother.
So we see that he never fails to attend to
his commitments, even when he experiences
difficulty at lifting his hand or at speaking.
And he will continue to attend to them, to
the very end! despite the shrewd attempts
by “some” who advise him to retire, as “the
Church needs a leader with good health,” to
which the Pope rebuts: “Did Jesus perhaps
come down from the cross?”
He continues his pilgrimage on the earth
with tenacity and faithfulness, overthrowing
the idea of “powerful” with his behaviour. It
is time we all understood that the strength of
the Church is born from the little ones, the
last ones, from those who courageously offer
their sufferings for the good of all. “Dear
sick people, if you join your suffering to the
suffering of Christ, you will be his privileged
co-operators in the salvation of souls
. This
is your task in the Church… Thus, your
suffering is never wasted! Indeed, it is
valuable for it is a mysterious but real
sharing in the saving mission of the Son of
God.”
(Papal Message 11/2/2005)
This his preaching. This his example. This
his life, till death. A true icon of Isaiah’s
suffering Servant (cf. Is 53:3) today incarnated
in the successor of Peter.
John Paul II is a great Pope because he
is not afraid to humble himself : “.. I set great
store by the value of your prayers and
suffering: offer them up for the Church and
for the world
; offer them for me, too, and for
my mission as universal Pastor of the
Christian people.”
(ibidem)
The Osservatore Romano commented
during his hospitalization: “The Pope is
showing the world the true meaning of the
salvific value of Christian suffering which he
himself is totally embracing. What is
happening in this hospital is so encouraging,
even spiritually convulsive, for it is
overthrowing the mentality that sees pain
and sorrow as a mortifying experience, as
something to be hidden or removed, to be
distanced with disgust. Instead, the Pope is
saying that the Mystery of the Redemption
of the world is surprisingly rooted in
suffering.” (our translation).
S.C.
2
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YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST
17 Oct. 2004 – 29 Oct. 2005
A play of lights…
“Behold the Lamb of God…” said the
priest as he lifted the broken host after
having received in his hands the sacrifice
of Christ. A light, coming from who
knows where, reflected off the gold paten
onto the Host, making it exceptionally
luminous. It was almost as if the light were
from within, it was so intense and clear.
It was then that I experienced more
fully that “Jesus is light, pure light,
uncreated light, and this light will enter into
me when I open my lips to receive the
Eucharist…” This is what I was thinking
when a beam of enthusiasm began to
penetrate my mind and heart at the idea
that my being – internally dark, obscured
by the shadow of sin: mine and of the
world – would soon change. “If I let the
Light enter the darkness within me
everything will change,” I told myself.
“The more I open up, the more it will
invade me. The more I empty myself, the
more I can be filled …”
And with these feelings I prepared
myself to “take Communion.” I returned
to my place, and a new awareness was
present in my soul. That thin wafer that I
received on my tongue contained the same
Light that had defeated the Darkness once
and for all, one day in the sepulchre. To
be precise, it was the third day after
Easter
. The lifeless body of our Lord
Jesus was there on the stone slab. The
tomb was dark, just like any other tomb,
because the dark is typically associated –
in an imposing way - with death.
But that day something new happened,
and it changed our destiny. On that day it
was darkness that ran up against its own
death. There was no escaping; it had been
defeated, cleaved by a powerful light that
radiated from the body which had died on
the cross, it was a light that passed through
ever fibre of the Body, bringing It back to
life. Unheard of event! Incredible event!
Salvific event! On that day corruption was
rooted up from human existence. Once and
for all. It had to make way for a new
process which would change our destiny:
resurrection. “This is the night of which
it is written: And the night shall be as clear
as the day, and the night is my light in my
pleasures,”
chants the Easter Exultet. “Let
the earth rejoice, made radiant by such
splendour; and, enlightened with the
brightness of the eternal King, let it know
that the darkness of the whole world is
scattered.”
This light is in each host that
becomes Eucharist, and each Eucharist
radiates this light in us. It is a light able to
burst into the sepulchres of our death/sin
and gives us life: risen life; redeemed life.
It comes from the Father, and through
the Spirit becomes the Body of the Son so
that we may be its dwelling place. “You
are the light of the world,”
says the
Teacher, who then goes on to add: “A city
set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light
a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a
stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Let your light so shine before men…”
(Mt
5:14).
The call is eloquent; we cannot ignore
it and hide in the shadows of our egoism,
or of individual devotionalism, to exploit
the gift for ourselves alone. Rather, with
audacity we ought to proclaim the Mystery
which unhinged the bolts of death and
made us immortal - without fear of
showing the world what we’re called to
be. And we are called to be salt, to be men
and women modelled with the only Light
that can call everything back to existence.
As I remain seated on the pew,
immersed in my reflection, I became aware
that the light was gradually changing, or
rather, transfiguring me, since everything
that was steeped in shadow just minutes
before was now resplendent with light.
I had the clear sensation that I was that
lantern which is to be placed on the hilltop
without any type of cover, so that the
luminous fount now in me could reach
distance horizons. But there was
something I had to do while I shone with
a light that was not mine:
I had to protect
it so it wouldn’t die out. To protect it from
the winds and bad weather, from all the bad
spirits that hate the light. I had to be its
custodian, as a tabernacle protects the
Blessed Sacrament. This was the response I
had to give to so much grace. Simple and
decisive. When a response is repeated every
day it awakens awareness, responsibility,
and thus mission.
Stefania Consoli
Bread for the body and spirit
When we eat we nourish our body.
Also the communion between those
sharing the meal is nourished and
strengthened
. To take food together is a
gesture that expresses esteem, openness to
dialogue, acceptance, encouragement,
forgiveness, festivity… for this reason life’s
important events are celebrated by sharing a
meal.
Jesus teaches us to ask for our “daily”
bread, not only for ourselves, but for all. He
thus prepares us to perceive every man’s
hunger, not to forget the many who hunger.
Through asking for daily bread we ask God
that we might not remain closed up in egoism
or in sterile resignation before the hunger of
others, but also to learn to share our bread
and be servers and witnesses of His love.
But man does not live on bread alone: he
hungers for values, for clearness of mind, for
hope, for faith, for freedom, for peace, for the
infinite, for eternity, for victory over death.
Man needs to be nourished also by the God
Who enters into him, Who gives meaning to
his day, Who understands his tears, Who
makes him able to love, Who forgives, Who
helps him so he doesn’t fall under his own
burden, and makes him able to carry the
burdens of others. Towards this God we are
drawn by a vital desire, as with hunger and
thirst. Father God nourishes our spiritual
hunger above all with the bread of His word.
In the Bible bread is also a sign that
prefigures the joyous destination of all: a
banquet
at which each of us will be face to
face with the Lord Who will satiate every
hunger. To ask for our daily bread is to ask
to not end up in oblivion, but to be accepted
by God the Father in His house and to
become part of His family for ever. Our daily
bread reminds us also of that bread that Jesus
left for us at the Last Supper: the Eucharist.
To the Father we ask that our family
meals may prepare us to gather with the
Church for the Eucharistic meal
, or rather,
that they may be a continuation of the
Eucharistic that we have celebrated. Through
giving us that bread, Jesus places within us
the strength of the Holy Spirit Who
communicates divine life to us, that is to say
the full and definitive life. We should
remember that the Eucharist is nourishment
that allows us to live down here as children
of God and as brothers and sisters of each
other; it is sustenance for a life which finds
its fulfilment in our resurrection.
Lorenzo Zani (from a Pastoral Letter)
Lent and the wilderness:
school of love and intimacy
If the exodus symbolizes man’s journey
towards perfection, the wilderness is its vital
space. It is in the wilderness that man learns
to know himself, and to choose
: “I place two
ways before you: good and evil. Choose”
(cf. Dt 30:15-19). Here, man’s prayer matures
into a lengthened and vital prayer
. Here, he
gets accustomed to the effort of walking, he
learns to know his own limits, egoism,
laziness, jealousy, and above all the hidden
things. “I brought you into the wilderness
to see what was in your heart”
(cf. Exodus).
But there is more. The desert is the school
of divine intimacy; the silent, boundless space
where man encounters God Absolute. In the
wilderness law becomes Love and man
discovers that God is Person. It was in the
wilderness that the Prophets helped God’s
people reach this matured relationship with
Jahvè, and it became friendship, covenant,
conversation, knowledge, life. Hosea tells the
story of this encounter which becomes conjugal
love, where the nuptial ceremony represents
the fullness of God’s gift to man, and adultery
represents the very nature of sin: “Come, my
people, come. Come to me there in the desert,
heart to heart, and I will speak to you of love.”
The God-man relationship is all about
solitude. Prayer, true prayer, crucified prayer,
will lead you there and there it will be
consumed
– like a flame of love.
The wilderness truly is the place of God,
and it is the place where man learns to
become God
; son of God, of course, but of
the same nature as God. It is love that makes
the transformation, and when love will reign
there will no longer be need for faith or hope,
for they will have run their course.
Hence, the wilderness is man’s march
towards the promised Land; the place where
God as Absolute is made evident, and where
man learns to stay with Him, and to speak
and pray with Him and to know the mercy
and heart of the Father, which is love, only
love, all love.
One comes out of the wilderness with
the certainty that God walks with man, that
God seeks man; that God is man’s Everything
and that there is no God other than Him.
(excerpt Journey Without End, Carlo Carretto)
3
Echo 180
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Not this way
had God thought of woman
God created woman in His own image,
just as He did with man. It was a single image,
though there is a clear distinction. “Male
and female he created them
,” says the book
of Genesis. In the woman God put those parts
of Himself which he drew from the deepest
layers of His divine being: sensitivity,
intuition, tenderness, the capacity to donate
self in an unconditioned way without seeking
advantage, fortitude and the wonder of a body
able to lovingly receive and give life.
Yet the woman has always suffered due
to a different mentality which would
atavistically place her on a plane of inferiority,
submission and marginalization. But none of
this was in God’s plans. So we must be honest
and admit that it is merely a human product.
I know, we’re not saying anything new.
For decades it has been the subject of
debates and discussions. Yet, has anything
really changed?
Has all that has been written,
said and discussed served to change the
destiny of millions of women who still today
live in conditions of slavery, exploitation and
ignorance?
We don’t intend giving an answer here,
each of us has a conscience, and statistics
abound. There are various courageous
organizations which denounce the plagues
afflicting the feminine universe, starting with
the vile market of prostitution which goes to
swell the pockets of men of bad faith who
exploit the good faith of many women who
lack means, culture, and future and are robbed
of their dignity, often trapped while oh so
young and made to feel unworthy of a better
destiny. There are so many minors! so many
who despair! all deceived! and often
kidnapped then sold – to satisfy the
insatiable masculine egoism.
And what of the terrible mutilation
inflicted on millions of African girls, impeding
them from joyously participating in love in
all its expressions – physical and emotional;
making of her man’s exclusive
possession!
And again: the patriarchal status in
many countries or religions which is
imposed as law, and woman are de-
classed as inferiors, of little worth, and
therefore unsuitable for public office or
similar responsibilities. In many of these,
women don’t even have the right to show
their faces…
The list is long and sorrowful, but
we’ll stop here. The 8
th
MARCH is the day
dedicated to women, not only to celebrate the
feminine genius and beauty, but a chance for
the world to show its concern and interest in
a scenario that throws sinister shadows on
mankind for the better part of the year.
We don’t want to judge anyone. All we
want to say is this: God had not thought of
her in this way…
We only need to look at
the way Jesus – the God-with-us – had so
much concern and esteem for women who
took an active part in His life and mission;
beginning from His Mother, the little woman
from Nazareth, and Mary of Magdala, the
woman who followed Him during the horror
of His Passion and had the privilege of being
the first to announce His resurrection. But
there were many other women who
accompanied the Lord and helped to make
the public mission of the Messiah more fertile.
This glance at the Gospel would make us
think that the Church, beloved bride of Christ,
holds the same respect for those
(consecrated and lay) women who make up
the finest threads in the thick weavings of
her fabric, but sadly this is not always so,
even though her Pastor and our beloved Pope,
has repeatedly and loudly praised the
feminine genius as an indispensable element
in the life of the world and the Church.
The fact is that a strong clerical and
masculine vision often confines the woman
to servile and secondary roles. But this
misinterprets the Heart of God who instead
looks upon the woman with tender love and
admiration, thankful for her capacity to love
even when she is not loved in return, and to
generate even when others would want her
sterile. Who knows why she is so “feared”?
Perhaps because she is unable to remain
silent before hypocrisy and deceit? Or
perhaps because her innate sense of gratuity
is so much in contrast with the widespread
quest for power?
Obviously, much has been done over the
past years, and numerous are the women
which are given voice in the Church today
with authority and approval. Yet, still much
has to be done to restore to women that which
has been subtracted from them over centuries
and passed down through too many
generations.
It isn’t difficult. All one needs to do is
imitate God. For many years He has made
Himself present in Medjugorje through a
woman
– His Mother. He trusts her and her
capacity to be always and in any case Queen
of Peace.
Sr. Stefania Consoli
“...be very careful if you make a woman
cry, because God counts her tears.
The woman came out of a man’s rib.
Not from his feet to be walked on.
Not from his head to be superior.
But from the side to be equal.
Under the arm to be protected,
and next to the heart to be
loved...”
From the Hebrew Talmud
Her tears…
A child asked his mother: “Mummy, why
are you crying?”
She replied: “Because I’m a woman…”
“I don’t understand…” said the child.
His mother bent over and embraced him,
and said: “Honey, you wouldn’t understand.
I’m just crying, that’s all.”
Later, the child asked his father: “Pa,
why does Mummy sometimes cry without
reason?”
“Oh, women cry a lot, I guess they know
why,” was all he could say.
The child grew up and became a man…
and that old but meaningful question often
came to mind. So one day the man went
down on his knees and asked God: “Lord,
enlighten me. Why do women cry so easily?”
God replied: “When I created the
woman, I wanted something very special. I
made her shoulders strong, able to support
great burdens… but also tender so she could
offer great comfort. I gave her immense inner
strength so she could support the sorrows of
motherhood and also the disdain she would
oft times receive from her own offspring. I
gave her the strength to enable her to assist
her family, without falling into self-pity,
despite her own illness and tiredness, and
even when others throw in the rag.
I made her particularly sensitive so she
could love her children in whatever
circumstances, even when they offend her
profoundly. This sensitivity allows her to
keep at bay the sadness, tears and suffering
of children, and to share in the anxiety,
doubts and fears of teenagers.
Nonetheless my son, to sustain all this I
gave her tears – to use whenever she desires.
Tears make her more sensitive, enriching her
with good sentiments; and her every tear is
enriched with a little bit of love. These drops
evaporate into the air and save humanity…”
And that child - now grown up – replied
with a sigh: “Now I understand the deep
sentiment of my mother, wife, sister...” and
he thanked the Lord for having created such
a wonderful creature - the
WOMAN
- each
time unique and irreplaceable.
Anonymous
What did She want to
tell us 10 years ago?
Why those tears of blood that ran down
her face? Ten years have passed since the
little statue wept blood. It was a statue of
Our Lady
bought at Medjugorje for a
family in Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy), and
it first wept blood in front of their 5 year
old daughter.
This isn’t the first time something like
this happens, but on this occasion the
statue also lachrymated whilst in the hands
of the bishop who was at first sceptical
and contrary. Mons. Grillo wrote in his
memorial: “I was forced to give in and
accept this mystery. And I became all the
more convinced as I witnessed the good
fruits this tree was producing
. The
Gospel provides a criterion for judging: by
the fruits of the tree.
Here, the spiritual fruits
are extraordinary… People are moved by a
great need for conversion. About one
thousand broken families
– through
divorce or separation – have been brought
back together
. Many women have obtained
a much sought pregnancy... and many have
come to ask for baptism…”
The various experts who were given
to study the case expressed their positive
opinion. Everything - they say unanimously
- indicates that in that corner of the Earth,
at the gates of Rome, an event took place
that has no human explanation and points
at the mystery of the supernatural.
Now it is up to the Church to give
her final opinion. Stefano De Fiores, one
of the greatest living specialists in studies
on the Blessed Virgin, said: “At
Civitavecchia there is no logical or
sustainable explanation other than to accept
divine intervention,” adding: “The finger
of God has been at work here.”
4
background image
Philomena and Pauline:
feminine holiness
Martyred possibly under the cruel
persecution of Christians led by Diocletian,
St. Philomena was unknown till the
beginning of the 19
th
century when her
tomb was uncovered in the ancient
Catacombs of St. Priscilla in Rome. Even
then, all that was discovered was that it
was the body of a young girl about 12-13
years old, most likely called Filumena,
and that the manner and symbols of her
internment indicated martyrdom.
No record existed of a virgin martyr
by this name, but perhaps Jesus – “who
keeps the good wine till now”
(Jn 2:10) -
had wanted to keep her hidden till our times,
for once she was “uncovered” He began
immediately working a remarkable quantity
of miracles through Philomena’s
intercession. Of course, she very quickly
became loved and known, by the people,
by popes and by saints
.
Pope Gregory XVI was so impressed
by the favours God granted through her
intercession that he called her the “great
wonder-worker of the XIX century.” In
fact, it was on the basis of her powerful
intercession alone that she gained official
recognition by the Church, being elevated
to sainthood only 35 years after the
discovery of her tomb, and subsequently
being extraordinarily privileged with a
mass and proper office in her honour.
Her precious relic is enshrined in the
church at Mugnano del Cardinale
(Avellino), not far from Naples in Italy, and
her principal feast day is 11
th
August. This
year celebrations are underway for the bi-
centenary of her translation; hence a year
of special graces for those who turn to
this saint for intercession. “St. Philomena
is dearly loved by the Queen of Martyrs.
Her intercession is still today very
powerful,” assures Msgr. Braschi from the
St. Philomena shrine.
(www.philomena.it )
Among the many popes who
venerated her, Pope Pius IX
(1846-1878) proclaimed her
Patroness of the Children of
Mary
,’ and amongst the
numerous saints St. John Vianney
held a special devotion for her;
giving all the credit for the many
miracles documented at Ars and
for his own cure to Philomena’s
intercession, and recommending
to one and all to entrust their
entreaties to Philomena. He also
spread devotion to Philomena as
the Supporter of Missionary Priests.
Foundress of “Living Rosary” healed
Another special devotee was the
extraordinary woman Venerable Pauline
Marie Jaricot,
Tertiary Dominican, whose
spiritual guide was St. John Vianney.
Though she was near death she desired all
the same visiting Philomena’s sanctuary
where she was miraculously and almost
instantly cured. She promptly returned to
the Pope, from whence she had come, to
put forth her miracle as proof that God also
desired that the cult of Philomena receive
full authorization.
A woman of immense talent, Pauline’s
ambition was to help relieve the misery of
the poor, and to spread love of Christ. At
an early age, with simple and practical
insight, she started a work which has
continued to grow throughout the world.
With a collection for the Church’s
missionary work, she founded the Society
for the Propagation of the Faith
in France.
A few years earlier she started what is
known as the Living Rosary with her
usual system of asking friends and friends
of friends willing to pray at least part of
the Rosary. The Living Rosary was placed
under the protection of St. Philomena
by Pope Gregory XVI who told Pauline:
“Pray to St. Philomena, whatever you ask
from her she will obtain for you.”
With foresight Pauline also sought to
organize a social project based on Christian
values to establish justice in the world of
work. Though her project failed, “it
mysteriously prepared for a renewal of the
Church’s social involvement which would
be developed in Leo XIII’s Encyclical
Rerum novarum,” said John Paul II who
also praised Pauline for her “unprecedented
spirit of initiative,” and for her great love
of the Eucharist
and of the Virgin Mary.
On the occasion of the bicentenary of
her birth the Holy Father said: “Pauline’s
daily life was illumined by the Eucharist
and by adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament
. She very soon expressed her
desire to become a living Eucharist, to be
filled with Christ’s life and to unite herself
deeply with his sacrifice, thus living two
inseparable dimensions of the Eucharistic
mystery: thanksgiving and reparation.
This is what prompted the Curé of Ars to
say: ‘I know someone who has many very
heavy crosses and carries them with great
love; it is Miss Jaricot.’ Her spirituality was
marked by her longing to imitate Christ in
all things..”
A true daughter of the Church, she
dedicated her whole life to the missionary
growth of the entire Church. As Pope Leo
XIII wrote, “by her faith, her trust,
the force of her mind, her
gentleness and her serene
acceptance of all crosses”, Pauline
showed herself a true disciple of
Christ.
Born in Lyons on 22 July 1799,
she suffered humiliation and
poverty in the latter years of her
life which concluded on 9 January
1862. The cause of her
beatification and canonization is
underway. The Church awaits
confirmation, as it were, from God
that it is also His will that the Church should
beatify and canonize the person in question.
God’s consent is seen through the miracles
wrought through the intercession of the
would-be blessed/saint.
Therefore, let us turn with great fervour
and trust also to the intercession of
Venerable Pauline Jaricot to draw down
these miracles so the Church may declare
her first blessed, then saint, for the greater
glory of God, and for the good of the
Church of which we are members, that
we too may be – as she liked to say –
“matches that light the fire.”
BKDrabsch
News of the blessed land
Mary provides our nourishment
At the moment of conception, mother
and child are closely united in an intimate
relationship, and an adventure begins.
When he is born she nourishes him with
her own milk, gradually adding more solid
foods as he grows and teethes. She’s there
to help him grow up, gradually stepping
back to allow him to develop and become
autonomous, able one day to become a
parent in turn. She stands back so his
person is strengthened, but without ever
forgetting him before God, and always
ready, with her discreet presence, to be
there during fundamental moments, always
careful to listen to the Spirit’s promptings
for that creature she has been entrusted
with.
Mary, our Mother, does the same
for us at Medjugorje. She receives a
multitude of children - who hadn’t known
God’s love or who had forgotten Him -
giving birth to them so they can enter divine
life. Her first concern is to clean them up
of sin; then she intercedes and obtains for
them the fruits of the Holy Spirit:
enthusiasm and bubbling joy. She nourishes
them, first with sweetened milk then with
more solid food. She accompanies them
along the way, warning them of Satan’s
malefic action, giving them the weapons
they need for the battle, so they can defeat
the world with Christ.
This is what has been happening in
the nearly 24 years of apparitions. Mary
continues to give milk to her newborns,
and solids to those who’ve chosen to grow.
For this purpose she gave life to various
realities which serve to distribute
nourishment according to the many
needs of Her children
. As a mother of a
numerous family, she is attentive to the
needs of the littlest, of those who study,
those who work, those who are sick...
At Medjugorje we find many such
“instruments,” starting with the Parish, the
various Communities of consecrated
religious, and the charitable organizations
which live and work around the Shrine of
the Queen of Peace.
Personally, I felt drawn by a
community which strives to live the
suggestions given by the Blessed Virgin to
the Prayer Group of Medjugorje through
Jelena and Marijana. Our Lady leads us
along a path of self-offering. She
encourages us to offer our lives to the Lord
through her Immaculate Heart, first as
individuals, then in little groups called
“fraternities.” In a message of 25 February
1988 she said: “Witness with your lives,
and sacrifice your lives for the salvation
of the world.”
And this is what we strive to do. We
come from various backgrounds, nations,
cultures and social classes. Mary called
us to Medjugorje; each from his own
environment where he works and lives and
experiences small and big problems. And
at this place of grace, with the help of the
Holy Spirit, we are able to encounter the
5
background image
living God, and Our Lady. Through
communion with God we are able to face
and defeat the Evil One precisely there
where, in our own lives, we experience
our every day trials and tribulations.
Through living our totus tuus, and
united to Christ and to His cross, death
and resurrection
, we are able to
continually experience being elevated to the
Father. The Holy Mass – experienced and
lived – is the focal point of this journey.
On this road many battles, often
difficult ones, are won. It isn’t always
easy, but the example of the others is
incitement to go ahead, and helps us to
keep the peace which springs forth from
the bottom of our hearts, and our faith,
hope and love during all life’s trials.
As we journey, the adversities that life
presents disturb us less, and instead of
judging, condemning or despairing, the
offering that we make “for Christ, with
Christ, and in Christ” help us to turn them
into “new life,” becoming occasions of
salvation for us and for others. And in all
this Mary continues to walk beside us.
Elena Ricci
Mary invited me
into her home…
I still remember the first time I
found a copy of Echo of Mary in the
underground chapel of a Greek Orthodox
church in my town. It was in 1997, in a
little town in north-central Romania
and I still hadn’t turned 17. I hungered for
the living word and I needed to meet people
who experience my same thirst; and this
little publication was an immense gift. I
immediately felt that Our Lady’s messages
were nourishing me, freeing me, and
immersing me in a Light which filled
everything in me. Also the articles based
on the witness of others and news within
the Church gave me great joy for it made
me understand that I wasn’t the only one
to experience this intense desire for God,
for holiness, and to surrender my own life
totally to Him. It made me see how I was
part of a body
, of the Body of Christ
which tended with all its energy to the
Father.
Therefore I wrote to the nun who
translates the Echo from the Italian original
(Sr. Anka, editor’s note) to ask if I could
receive it regularly. She later also sent me
a booklet containing the Medjugorje
messages.
My sister and I began immediately to
read them and to pray the complete Rosary
every day, to fast on Wednesdays and
Fridays, and to go to Mass as often as
possible. We learnt to consecrate
ourselves to Mary’s Immaculate Heart
and to the Heart of Jesus with the prayers
suggested by Our Lady
through Jelena.
At the beginning these prayers seemed
much like any other prayer, but I soon
learnt that through my consecration my
life was being changed, even on a day-to-
day dimension. It is a total offering, a
surrender to God through which He guides
our life, He brings it to accomplishment
and He fills it with Himself. In short, it
was a totally different Life!
Thus, through living the messages we
felt the desire to go to Medjugorje and to
encounter more profoundly Mary who had
changed our lives and had united us in her
love. But some time had to pass before this
was realized. Our parents opposed, for
various reasons: Medjugorje was in a war
zone and the fighting had still not
completely ceased; it was too far (a full day
and a half away)… and then they didn’t
understand our desire since they didn’t live
the faith and never went to church; and there
was one last obstacle: it required the money
that a large family couldn’t easily find.
To their repeated refusals I would say
to my sister – who I thought was more
afflicted than me for not being able to go
– that we could continue to live Medjugorje
at home, that our Medjugorje was there,
on the altar when we went to Mass, that
in the Eucharist there is everything: Jesus
and Mary together with all of heaven.
I know that I earnestly felt that this
was true; when I lived Mary’s message I
felt her in my heart ever more present, and
nothing could remove that joy from me,
not even the fact that I could not go to see
her at her house. And in fact, isn’t this
what the Queen of Peace was teaching us?
To live every day with her, to give Christ
first place in our lives, to have Jesus as
our greatest joy and our everything…
So I first came to Medjugorje in the
year 2000, together with a group of young
people. It was for the Youth Festival in the
Jubilee year; and I felt immediately at
home: the silence, the messages, the
complete Rosary, the daily Liturgy, and
adoration
were all things I was already
doing, but at Medjugorje I was able to live
them more profoundly; I could dedicate
myself to them entirely. Many sought
signs, wanting to see Our Lady, and went
from one visionary to the other; but I
perceived Our Lady’s presence in the very
air, and my desire to pray grew ever
stronger: all I wanted to do was pray, pray,
pray
; to stay with Mary and to listen and
imitate her.
Back home I joined a Medjugorje prayer
group and together we went to Eucharistic
adoration and prayed. I was in my third year
of University studies; I had a lot to study
and many were the possible openings for
work, but I felt that my life was there - in
prayer, and the total offering of self
– just
as our Blessed Mother had said at
Medjugorje. I felt that it was there that I
could give more to mankind
: at adoration,
in prayer and contemplation where I would
encounter the living God, where my heart
would be purified and where I could give
the greatest love to the world
. I felt how
Mary was drawing me ever more closely to
Christ. The words: “Thank you for
responding to my call,”
echoed in my heart,
and I felt that I still had not fully responded
to her call. I still had not given everything.
The following two years I returned to
Medjugorje six times to ask for light and
to understand how I could surrender
everything into her hands. Each time it
was Mary who took care of the money,
the trip, the lodgings
– at times in ways
beyond comprehension and very
surprisingly - all to get me there, in the
place where Father God had sent her to
remind His children how to find “the way
of peace” and to help them journey along it,
in “holiness and righteousness” towards the
fullness of life. For she knew that if I had
encountered and touched the infinite love
of the Living God I would not have desired
anything else on this earth but to surrender
myself totally to Him and place myself at
His service.
Today I am a consecrated religious
in a contemplative community that I
met at Medjugorje
, and in the silence of
prayer, through the Immaculate Heart of
Mary Wholly Pure, I offer my life for the
salvation of the world, that God’s plans
for mankind may be fulfilled. I pray that
every person may accept the call by the
Queen of Peace which is one of prayer
and conversion of heart and thereby
discover God’s infinite goodness and
wonderful beauty, and the immense joy of
living in Him, for Him, with Him, as Him,
with at our side an Immaculate Mother.
Cristina Palici
Consecration to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary
*
O Immaculate Heart of Mary,
ardent with goodness,
show us your love.
May the flame of your Heart, O Mary,
descend upon all mankind.
We love you so.
Impress in our hearts true love
that we may yearn for you continuously.
Oh Mary, sweet and humble of heart,
remember us when we sin.
You know that all men are sinners.
Grant us, that through your Immaculate
Heart,
we might be given spiritual health.
May we always see the goodness
of your motherly heart;
and may we be converted
by the flame of your Heart.
Amen
Consecration to the Heart of Jesus
*
O Jesus, we know that You are merciful
and that You have given Your Heart for us.
It is crowned with thorns and with our sins.
We know that You implore us constantly
so we do not go astray.
Jesus, remember us when we sin.
Through Your Heart make us love one another.
May hatred disappear from among men!
Show us Your Love.
We all love You; and want You to protect us
with Your Good Shepherd’s Heart
and to deliver us from every sin.
Enter into each heart Lord Jesus!
Knock, knock at the door of our hearts;
be patient and never desist.
We are still closed up within ourselves
because we haven’t understood Your Love.
Knock continuously!
O Good Jesus, make us open our hearts
up to You at least in the moment
when we remember Your Passion
suffered for us.
Amen
* told by Our Lady to Jelena, Medjugorje 1983
6
background image
“To love is to give everything, to give all oneself…”
and gives us the chance to place on the altar
our own offering joined to that of the Son.
Would you consider this slight?
We can receive and give love; we can
use God’s gifts which are given to us without
charge for the good of our brethren. We can
face suffering in the peace and trustful
surrender to the Father’s will, in the certainty
that nothing is lost, because He wants our
good and He accompanies us at every step.
It all depends on our response of love, on
our inner decision to let ourselves be guided
by God
, to let ourselves be transformed and
all that still ails or is dark within us to be
healed and illumined by His light.
It is a life journey built on the little and
big “yes’s” of every day, on the concrete
choices which bring us ever closer to the
Lord. He doesn’t want us to be crushed by
life’s difficulties and problems; therefore He
never entrusts us with a cross that would be
too big or too heavy for us to bear; but He
does leave us free to choose: whether to
refuse and flee from it, or to embrace it with
courage and trust which is to respond “yes”
and to allow oneself be guided by Jesus -
Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life – in
These are the words of a song inspired
by St. Paul’s famous ode to Love in
Corinthians (cf. 1 Co 13:1). At times I use it to
accompany prayer during Eucharistic
Adoration; and while the soul praises God
during the song, at the same time the soul is
immersed in the mystical love and total
donation of Christ Who gave Himself entirely
for our salvation.
This may prompt us to ask: how can we
follow Him? Can we, too, live love as He lived
it? Must we, too, die on the cross out of love?
The Gospel is clear about this. In the Gospel
according to John, especially at chapters 13-
17, Jesus leaves for the Apostles and for us
His spiritual testament where He sums up the
meaning of His mission as Son Who was sent
by the Father to the earth, and He calls us all
to follow in His example.
Father God loved us from the moment of
conception; and at every moment He gives
us His blessing and He protects us from evil,
entrusting us to the protection of our Blessed
Mother, the angels and the saints. He is in
our midst with the life-giving power of the
Holy Spirit Who renews everything, Who
every day offers us the Son in the Eucharist,
an attitude of profound humility.
Very often we are full of our own ideas,
programmes, desires and thoughts, and we
turn circles around ourselves; and we don’t
enter profoundly into the secret chamber in
our heart where the Lord wants to speak to
the soul and communicate His divine life to
us.
To place oneself in God’s presence in
prayer and with deep sincerity and humility
always opens up something new. We can
become docile instruments in His hands and
be ready to depart and fully participate in His
plan of love, enabling it to be realized in us
and around us.
So let us begin to open ourselves up like
a flower soaking up the rays of the sun, and
our entire being will blossom. Egoism and
individual interests will make ever more way
for pure love. The more we surrender
ourselves unconditionally, without
pretending anything in return, the more it will
be pure. But for the love in us to be purified it
must pass through the cross and become a
living offering, broken bread, so that other
souls may receive the life
. Then, together,
we shall rejoice when the Father will call us
next to Himself to delight in the good
promised for those who’ve loved.
Chiara Piccinotti
Return to your initial fervour
Mother of Light
In her messages the Queen of Peace calls
us with impassioned insistence and in perfect
harmony with the Gospel to be “light for all”
(message 5 June 1986)
and “to witness to the
Light” (ibidem), or “to spread the Light of
God everywhere”
(2 June 1987). Mary asks
us in particular to become “her Light” (18
March 1988)
, to “light up all those who live
in the darkness” (ibidem).
With an expression typical of the Gospel
of St. John (the Apostle which Tradition and
Scripture indicate as being the closest to
Mary) “Light” is identified in the unending
current of God’s sacrificed Life and Love
which now gushes forth for ever from the
transfixed Heart of the Immolated Lamb, Who
alone is the true fount of Life for souls and
for the entire universe. He is the “luminous
cloud” (Ex 13:21) that guides the new people
of the covenant towards the embrace of the
Father (cf. Jn 19:35). This is the light that lights
up the New Jerusalem: “And the city has no
need of sun or moon to shine upon it… and
its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21).
This is the uncreated and life-giving light
that Mary calls us to carry to the multitude of
brothers and sisters who are immersed in the
laden darkness of this time, inviting us “to
be the reflection of Jesus who will light up
this unfaithful world which walks in the
darkness”
(message 5 June 1986). In fact, she
who over 2000 years ago generated the Word
of God - Who alone is “Light of the world”
(Jn 8:12) - is today sent by the Father to re-
generate the ineffable Light of the Son, true
“Light of men” (Jn 1:4), in hearts and in all
creation.
Nonetheless, we know that Mary’s
childbirth is not without pain. Mary is the
Woman of the “great sign” (Rev 12:9): the
“Woman adorned with the sun… she was
with child, and in labour, crying aloud in the
pangs of childbirth” (ibidem) and she is sent
by the Father to guide the ranks of the
children of the Light in the final battle against
the children of the “dragon … that deceives
the whole world” (Rev 12:9). “Dear
Children, I desire for you to be children of
the light and not of darkness. Therefore, live
what I tell you.”
(message 25 August 1993)
“I invite you my Children, to become peace
where there is no peace and light where
there is darkness so every heart might accept
the light and the way of salvation”
(message
25 February 1995).
The presence of the Queen of Peace at
Medjugorje is a sign of the decisive spiritual
confrontation with the multiform powers and
principalities of darkness
that today keep
the hearts of men tightly chained down
because they firmly oppose the projects of
Life of the Mother, prophetically announced
in Revelation: “The dragon stood before the
woman who was about to bear a child, that
he might devour her child when she brought
it forth”
(Rev 12:4). But Mary comes to
encourage us: “I am with you… though
Satan desires destroying my plans and
stopping the plans that the heavenly Father
desires realizing here”
(message 25 Sept.
1990).
It is thus that the “Father of the Light”
desires that the ranks of children chosen
from eternity should be intimately associated
with the Mother’s mission
and especially
participate in the triumph of Her Immaculate
Heart, so they may generate the Light of God
in souls and in the entire universe. In a certain
way they will be a continuation of Mary’s
presence amongst men of this time: “Go and
give to people the light of my divine Son.
Together with His light give also me, with
prayer and love. Through you I desire
touching all souls to give light to the most
hardened ones”
(18 June 1987).
That the gift of this lofty call be
operative, there must be an unconditional
response of love
. This is the precious key
that opens the senses of the soul so it can
experience and receive the river of Light and
heavenly Life that gushes forth unceasingly
from the Heart of the Most High. It is also
the decisive condition which makes of us
authentic bearers for our brethren! “My
Children, if you do not experience this light
or if you cannot see it then neither can you
give it to others, while God is calling you to
do precisely this”
(18 June 1987).
In fact, it is our unconditioned “yes” in
response to the Queen of Peace, who calls
us to unite our life to the Paschal offering of
the Lamb that was slain, that makes God’s
paternity in us shine anew, and we reflect the
true “light” that “lights up the New
Jerusalem” (Rev 21:21), the “holy city coming
down from God out of heaven radiant with
God’s glory” (Rev 21:10) already shining in
its fullness in the Immaculate Heart of the
Mother who is present in the world. She
desires that this light should spread out to
the world through the humble response of
her “dear Children.” It is for this that she
calls us to become the “flame in the night
which will show the true light to others”
(14
Jan. 1989), so that it might shine in all souls.
This way, all creation will be completely
enveloped in the glorious light of the Risen
One, and in Him be raised to the eternal
embrace of the Father: “Therefore, make it so
your surrender is complete to become truly
able to donate light to those around you”
(message 18 June 1987).
Giuseppe Ferraro
Our Lady’s message to Mirjana, 2/3/2005:
“Dear Children, do as I do: come, offer
love, and with your own example give my
Son to all.”
7
background image
Sped.Abb.Post.3/70, Aut.Trib.Mant.#13-8,11.86; Legal Dir. A.Lanzani; Printed by DIPRO Treviso
In the desert Mary follows us
with her gaze.
Let us remain firm in the certainty
that even from afar Mary
never abandons us,
but intercedes always.
And the Lord will bless us.
8 March 2005
Our readers write...
Sr. Mary Elizabeth ocd, Kenya: Receive
my gratitude for regularly sending me Echo
of Mary. I make sure that this inspiring
newsletter reaches as many as possible. May
Mary in her own motherly way drag along
her heavenly way the feet that go astray and
make steady the knees that loath to pray.
B. Capulong, Philippines: I receive your
magazine and am very grateful for it. Truly, it
helps me deepen my faith and devotion to
Mama Mary. I read it from page to page and
really it is full of inspiring messages. I hope
that the Echo of Mary will touch more people
like me. Truly, it is a gift from our Bl. Mother.
Hector Tissera, Argentina: Warm
greetings from Rio Tercera. We wish you all
peace and every good. Echo is formidable; it
enriches my spiritual life very much, just as it
does for all those with whom I share it. May
the Blessed Mother and Our Lord shower
you with every blessing.
M. Fogarty, Ireland: Many thanks for
your Echo which I receive through an Irish
distributor. I look forward to receiving it. Ihope
that you can always produce and send it.
F. Carlani, Canada: Thank you very
much for sending me regularly the Echo of
Mary: a gift so precious and so important!
Thadius Lingei, Kimbe, PNG: Thank
you, thank you, thank you for the Echo of
our Blessed Mother Publication. I read it very
attentively; it helps me spiritually. If anyone
has the possibility of sending us Rosary
Beads
we’ll be very grateful and prayerful in
our St. Michael’s Catholic Parish. (see below)
Peter Luk, Malaysia: May God continue
to bless you and your team for the wonderful
work that you are doing.
Sr. B. Callaghan, England: I enclose a
donation for my treasured Echo safely
received! God bless you; keep going, I beg
you!
Mr. S. Scally, Ireland: Echo is wonderful.
It is a fruit of Medjugorje; a spiritual weapon
in today’s secular world. May Jesus and Our
Lady always bless your wonderful work.
EVENTS
- Light to the Nations,
AUSTRALIA
Easter retreat for
YOUTH
, 24-27 March 2005.
Enquiries: 0427-277072 info@lttn.org.au
Mirjana & Jakov in
LONDON
on Sunday 17
April 2005 - at the Church of the Sacred
Heart, Quex Road, Kilburn, London
Annual Marian Conference
SCOTLAND
,
Craig Lodge, Dalmally, Argyl - 3-5 June 2005
with presence of Milona von Hapsburg and
Kathleen Martin. Info: 01838 200216
“How beautiful are the feet…”
A word for distributors of
ECHO
This biblical phrase from Isaiah (52:7) is
not merely an expression of appreciation from
those who receive good news and hence
praise the journey of its bearer, but expresses
the explosion of joy we feel when the Word
of God reaches us and brings about a change
in our daily lives.
But this good news reaches us by way of
a person who acts as its instrument; and this
is how I think of the collaborators of Echo
who carry it to many brothers and sisters.
They are men and woman of all ages and
conditions who for a little while (but often
with great sacrifice) become instruments of
this life-giving communication, and I imagine
that they do not do this service in a state of
anxiety, but with the trepidation of one who
knows he is carrying something precious.
The word of God is precious
I am convinced that whoever proclaims
the Gospel must start from this. I remember
very well the amount of time our Fr. Angelo
would spend reading Holy Scripture and how
years of familiarity with the inspired word
prepared him – in silence – to generate the
Echo. But I’m also ever more aware of how
efficacious it is – when preaching – to cite
concrete examples, of people who trust in God
and in His calls and see the change in their
lives. God’s plan for them is realized. They
become a living and visible word; a humble
word, still journeying of course, but living
and able to communicate this presence.
When we read the Echo we not only
receive messages and reflections, but an
experience. Writers of the articles know that
this is true; also the printer. And when the
secretary calls me she manages to transmit
this wealth. To say nothing of those who work
with despatch and in touch with its basic
problems. It is there that the Word mediated
by the experience of a Mother takes flesh
today. And we who read the Echo receive
all this.
Come out into the open
There is a link in this chain worth special
attention: distributors. The word distributor
doesn’t pay credit to what they really do, as
we know that there is much more to it than
just distributing. Some are affectionately
called “Our Lady’s posties” by those who
receive Our Lady’s message.
Accepting to be carriers of the Echo is a
further step in this journey of grace I dare to
call “apostolic.”
A distributor knows he is doing a service
because he or she is the first to benefit from
it. Hence the need to read Echo before
distributing it, to find “a word for me,” and if
necessary, to pray to God and His Mother to
obtain the right disposition for this
apostolate. I’m not saying you’ve got to be
angels, but in the awareness of one’s own
limits, instruments yes.
And just as every instrument must be
used well if we want it to work well, we too
must let ourselves be “used well” by Him
Who has called us.
Armoured with God’s wisdom
When distributing the Echo we must have
the good sense to avoid delivering it in a
clumsy way, for example as with the various
publicity leaflets we find in our mail boxes.
This would be a waste of means. On the other
hand, a direct contact with those who receive
from us enables one to check that the quantity
delivered is correct and has not undergone
variation; it enables one to come to know of
any problems tied to the service. Showing
our faces to readers opens the way to
communication.
It does me good to know that there are
people who believe in what they are doing,
and thus I trust that these reflections of mine
will help us all feel that we truly do belong to
one big family! Thank you, dear distributors
of Echo of Mary.
Fr. Alberto Bertozzi
Again we renew our appeal to readers of
good will to help us keep on producing the
Echo. As we have already said, there is the
risk that growing costs may not be met by
donations. At the same time we are grateful
for the generosity of all those who have so
far responded by accepting to be the open
hands of Providence.
We feel certain that with help of God and
yours we will be able to continue our work.
The Staff of Echo of Mary
Donations needed
and gratefully accepted
PERSONAL CHEQUES payable to “Echo
of Mary Association”
- mail to same at:
P.O. Box 27, I-31030 Bessica TV, Italy.
Bank accounts (specify payment for
“Echo of Mary Association”)
Italy: Banca Agricola Mantovana (BAM),
Ag.Belfiore, Mantova. Int’l Bank co-ord’s:
IT 02 Z 05024 11506 000004754018
Britain: Royal Bank of Scotland, 26 George
St., Oban, Argyll, PA34 5SA. Acc. no. 8326
0400 154351
USA, cheques payable to “Echo of Mary
Association” can be mailed to C/o R
&
F
Venditti, P.O. Box 646, Pacifica CA 94044.
“Do not be afraid to give your time to
Christ! Time given to Christ is never time
lost, but is rather time gained...”
(JPII Dies Domini 1998)
* ECHO OF MARY
on
audio CASSETTE
(English / French)
: Send requests to:
Echo of Mary Association,
POB 27, 31030 Bessica (TV), Italy
Ph/fax: Italy +39 (0)423.470331
www.ecodimaria.net - info@ecodimaria.net
We dedicate these letters of
appreciation to
FR. ANGELO
who
continues to assist and bless us from
heaven. Let us pray to him and with
him, as we remember him on the
anniversary of his birth into eternity,
3 March 2000.
* Request for Rosary beads
1) Thadius
Lingei, Vitu Elementary School, Dpt.
Education, P.O.Box 426, Kimbe, WNBP, Papua
New Guinea. 2) Br. Ephraim M. Chimutu, Box
275, Tembisa 1628, Rep.South Africa
8
 


 

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