Marian Shrines

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There are many Marian Shrines in the world, including  LOURDES, FATIMA, MEDJUGORJE, KNOCK….

Although, over the years, I was a Pilgrim to The Holy Land, Fatima and Knock, I have yet to visit any other Shrine. Years ago I became interested in MEDJUGORJE  after reading about It  and through returning Pilgrims who brought back little gifts to give me, including  rosary beads, a picture of Our Lady saying:

‘IF YOU KNEW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, YOU’D CRY FOR JOY’.

This happened almost twenty years ago.

MEDJUGORJE is an obscure rural village in the little known country of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our Lady appeared in apparition there in 1981 to six local young people.  Such visits to earth by our Heavenly Mother Mary  brought  great joy to the village and especially to the six young people who actually saw her face and  listened to what she had to say. Even after almost forty years, pilgrims  flock  to Medjugorje, and all other Shrines;  many living in hope of conversion and, with conversion, peace of mind, and freedom from fear.

Each time Our Lady appeared on earth was to bring love and joy to humanity and urge people to pray, as only through prayer could they get closer to God and God’s grace, not forgetting  that prayer can also be manifest in good works.

What inspired me to write about Medjugorje?  As indicated, there are books written about the Shrine and this short account is simply my personal experience. I have been convinced, and firmly believe  that Our Lady works through people  to get her message across. For example:  Approximately two years ago at Christmas, a parishioner in the Church I attend gave me a tiny present as a Christmas gift. To me this was very unusual. When I opened the gift at home, I was astonished to find THE DOLOUR ROSARY BEADS (the seven sorrows of Our Lady). To me this indicated that Our Lady wanted me to say the Dolour Rosary daily, which I do. Attached to the Rosary was instructions and a copy of THE SALUTATIONS TO MARY (A  short litany) I didn’t  pray the litany after the rosary, as I should have,  but about  two weeks later another parishioner in the same Church, approached me and handed me a copy of The Salutation to Mary and said,  in a friendly tone, ‘read this’. I thanked her and off she went. Then I opened her copy of the Salutation to Mary, the exact same as the one I had not been saying.  I had to smile and after that I always pray The Salutation to Mary after praying  the Dolour Rosary. Both parishioners were made aware of where their actions emanated from.  Several weeks later the first parishioner handed me a wrapped gift containing a cross, with Jesus depicted on the cross.   With each gift I stressed to the carrier that it emanated  from  Mary, as the cross is an important part of the seven sorrows of Our Lady.

A year or two before that I was looking out for a book on the life of St Anne, Our Lady’s mother. I wanted to read the book because a false tale had been circulated about the fact that she had married more than once and had more than one daughter.  I didn’t believe the story because  St Anne was known as a ‘barren’ woman, with one only husband, St Joshin. Anne gave birth, miraculously to one only daughter, Mary.  Mary gave birth to one child only, Jesus.  I wanted the book to educate myself. Not long after this, I looked out for the book in a venue for A DAY WITH MARY’ I bought two books but could not find the one I wanted. A couple of days later, in Church, I found the book on St Anne on the seat where I usually sit. I had a good idea who left  it there and after Holy Mass had ended, she approached  where I was sitting and, with a smile, and said she knew I would appreciate  a book on St Anne.  I could hardly find the words as I planted a kiss on her cheek. She didn’t even know that I wanted the book! It turned out that the parishioner was at the same venue for A DAY W ITH MARY, but we didn’t see each other.  She picked up the book I didn’t see and   left it on the seat where I sit in Church.  Upon reflection, I also appreciated that the parishioner was also a witness.  Had I bought the book myself, there would not be a witness.  When Jesus was on earth he set great store on having a witness. A witness to horror or a witness to good.

Just recently, OUR LADY made me a witness, with others, in the following way:

On the 28th June , 2018 I received an unexpected gift from  a returning Pilgrim while we were in Church waiting for Holy Mass to  be celebrated. I had little knowledge about the life of  the parishioner and she had very  little knowledge about  mine.  When I arrived home that day, I opened the gift for the first time and was compelled to write to her straight away, as follows:

28th June, 2018

Dear G

I want to thank you most sincerely for the wonderful gift you brought back for me from  MEDJUGORJE and handed it to me in Church to-day. To me, Our Lady sent the gift, with you as carrier/messenger. This is how I view the gift:

The three little medals represent The Holy Trinity.

The picture of Our Lady, with the words:  IF YOU KNEW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, YOU’D CRY FOR JOY, with a phial of HOLY WATER  attached. The Holy Water represents OUR LADY’S TEARS FOR THE WORLD, with a little square of cloth to dry her tears.

The second picture of Our Lady, with the same message, attached to a phial of HOLY SALT. The salt represents those people on earth who do God’s Will.

The little bottle (which looks like perfume) and has not been opened by me, represents the heavenly perfume of hope.  Many people/pilgrims  who visit Medjugorje live in hope of  conversion. Those who find what they hoped for are truly blessed.

The Scapular is for  the protection of the wearer.

The picture of Our Lady with the message: ‘’DEAR CHILDREN I INVITE YOU TO INDIVIDUAL CONVERSION. THIS TIME IS FOR YOU! WITHOUT YOU GOD’S PLAN CANNOT BE REALISED. DEAR CHILDREN, GROW DAY BY DAY CLOSER TO GOD THROUGH PRAYER. I GIVE YOU THE WEAPON AGAINST  YOUR GOLLIATH. HERE ARE YOUR FIVE STONES”

  1. PRAYER WITH THE HEART – ROSARY
  2. EUCHARIST
  3. HOLY BIBLE
  4. FASTING
  5. MONTHLY CONFESSION

This letter ended with a few handwritten words to Our Lady’s messenger/carrier.

PRAYER WITH THE HEART  means we concentrate on the words of the Rosary without letting the mind stray to something else. Not always easy.

THE EUCHARIST means attending  HOLY MASS every day or at least once a week, and be in the state of grace to receive Holy Communion..

HOLY BIBLE  is  where you learn about the life of JESUS CHRIST: Jesus’ many miracles performed ; the time he cast out evil spirits from people; the time he said to Peter ‘GET BEHIND ME SATAN’ Not that Peter had an evil spirit within, but because Jesus knew that the opinion expressed by  Peter emanated from SATAN.  Hence the apostles were learning all the time and enabled to write the Gospels, with the help of The Holy Spirit, after Jesus died.

FASTING  means the obvious: Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the desert.  He ate to live; He didn’t live to eat.

MONTHLY CONFESSION, with sincere repentance for our sins and acceptance of the penance bestowed by the Priest who represents Jesus, earns us the grace of God each time, thus enabling us to resist temptation to do wrong. Penance is usually in the form of prayer and God knows if we don’t do the penance bestowed!

THE ROSARY is the greatest prayer and starts off with THE  APOSTLES’ CREED:

I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. I  BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD. HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY. HE SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PLATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED, AND WAS BURIED. HE DESCENDED TO THE DEAD. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN. HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER. HE WILL COME AGAIN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, THE RESSURECTION OF THE BODY, AND THE LIFE  EVERLASTING, AMEN.

After  praying the APOSTLES’ CREED, we pray the LORD’S PRAYER, followed by three to the HOLY  MARY; next pray THE LORD’S PRAYER again,  followed by ten to the HOLY MARY, Covering five decades of the Rosary. A booklet and Rosary Beads will help those who heed what Our Lady advised…’Here are your five stones’, which includes the HOLY ROSARY. HELP SOURCED FROM ANY CATHOLIC OUTLET.

I had been  praying  The Apostles’ Creed in my sleep. When I woke up I thought and believed God wanted me to add the prayer to his website.

This brings me to the words of John Newton:

‘I am not what I ought to be;  I am not what I would like to be;   I am not what I hope to be;  But I am not what I once was;  And by the grace of God I am what I am’ .

It was a lovely day for me when I received a letter from the Pilgrim G in reply to my letter dated 28th June:

29th June, 2018

‘Dear R,

Your  lovely words touched my heart. There are special people whom Our Lady puts us in contact with and you are one of these to me. Your love and devotion to Mary is a beacon for us all.

Our Lady loves you very much. There is a beautiful statue of the Risen Christ in the grounds of St James’ Church in Medjugorje and he weeps tears from the knees. I saw this myself and felt that Jesus’ heart is breaking for all those who don’t love him. I wiped his tears with ten small tissues and one of those I gave to you. Keep it close to you and always remember how much he loves you and all of us.

I pray that some day you will go to Medjugorje and see for yourself this wonderful place of Peace, graces and blessings. God Bless you, G and K’

G and K are wife and husband. A husband, changed and blessed by his visit to Medjugorje.

Human nature being what it is, a question likely to be on  the  reader’s mind  is:  How does the enemy of truth react to my ongoing writing about God’s truth?  Not good.  For a very long time Satan has targeted me from time to time, doing this mostly through my husband. What I know for certain is that Satan wanted  my  husband to dump  what he called  my ‘religious books’  When my husband told me that he was going to hire a skip to clear out our garage and that he would dump my ‘religious books’ in the skip as well, I told him that the devil would be delighted as he hated the book, and that the book belonged to God. After that, no more was said about dumping the book, with the title THE GOLDEN ROSE. Provocation is the devil’s most frequently used method to inspire something dreadful, including murder. The fact that my husband is still alive is testament to my self  control and my forgiving nature!  Also   the fact that I knew where the aggression emanated from. Imagine the headlines:  ‘ READ ALL ABOUT IT…GOD’S WRITER HAS MURDERED HER HUSBAND’  If true, that would end my writing career,  which the devil was anxious to do. I also believe that Satan was instrumental  in having my first book rejected many times, until I learned the truth, that the book itself had not been rejected, I had been rejected as the writer. Eventually, I published the book myself in 2001 but was unable to get it on the market This time EMBARRASSMENT’ took hold and, no doubt, lack of trust in the writer’s discretion!  I have God to thank for leading me, through a magazine article, as to the truth why my  first book, was rejected so often.  I mention all this because I believe it was and is part of being  targeted by Satan. The mantra being:  If you stop her the first time, she will not carry on and  write a second book.  The second  book  being  THE GOLDEN ROSE, which was also rejected for the same reason.

My husband paid the price for not doing the Satan’s Will. He was brought down several times with different cancers, including to the head, neck, throat and  to one eye: Treatment and short periods of remission followed, but just recently, in July, 2018, he had the worst attack, this time in his eye.  I couldn’t tell him what I was thinking, for fear of adding further trauma  to his life and I didn’t think or believe he would believe me anyway. In the past he didn’t complain about pain, but recently he has suffered a great deal of  pain. On 20th July,  he was admitted to hospital with a chest infection. As soon as possible after the infection has been treated, he will undergo  radiotherapy treatment to his left eye  He keeps optimistic and is a fighter, but not a believer.

Towards the end of June when I was in the process of writing this article and then posting to the website, I returned to the computer and found nothing to post. Despite being ‘saved’,  the  work had disappeared and couldn’t be retrieved, just as happened in 2012. Just as God has His workers on earth, so has Satan.

To explain ‘THE GOLDEN ROSE’ book. This is a book about faith and other things. I started writing it thinking it was my own idea, but half way through I realized it was going to be used as a vehicle for subjects  beyond my imagination, and at this point I realized the book was God’s idea . The story in the book ended at The Knock Marian Shrine, a place I knew little about initially, but subsequently learned a great deal.

In 1879 Our Lady appeared at Knock, accompanied by St Joseph and St John the Evangelist, holding a book and dressed as a bishop. Our Lady spoke no words, but her actions said everything.   When you have a picture of the MAJESTY OF HEAVEN, as demonstrated at The Knock Marian Shrine, it is difficult not to be humble, and  it does make you  unafraid of death.

Our Lady appeared with a gold rose in her crown, similar to the one on the cover of THE GOLDEN ROSE book. Did this mean, I asked myself, that the book held by St John the Evangelist represented The Golden Rose book? Above all, was this God’s way of creating a witness between  heaven and earth.  In other words, witness not only for THE GOLDEN ROSE  book, but also for THE LORD’S WEBSITE, which followed in 2012.

As I considered myself paid in a currency I could not put in a  bank, I gave the copyright of the book to the Knock Marian Shrine. With three charities to benefit.

Looking back over the path I travelled since l955 , when I was  twenty years of age and when,  I believe, the mustard seed was planted: I had gone to England to live with my older sister and find  employment.  When I found employment and a modest place to live, this was the start of my short working  life,   until the local health authority tracked me down , with an appointment to   go to a named place to have a chest x-ray. After the x-ray was taken I was told that I had a hole in my lung   where a shadow had been. A programme of X-raying the students in our college before I left at eighteen, showed I had a shadow on one of my lungs,  and I persuaded my mother it was nothing  to worry about and that I was still planning to go to England.

To cut a long story short,   I ended up in a sanatorium in  Leicester  for almost two years.    One day, as I was incarcerated in bed, the daily shopping  cart stopped and I bought a newspaper called The Daily Sketch, likely to be the only time in hospital when I  bought  a newspaper!  The date on the newspaper was and still is  7th March, 1955. I tore the relevant page out of the newspaper and folded it up to keep with my belongings. I still have it to this day, 21st July, 2018.  What caught my eye was a picture of  JESUS in THE HOLY SHROUD. The caption read:   THE WORLD’S GREATEST PICTURE? Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC wrote the piece and was convinced that the face was/is the Face of Christ as he lay in the tomb. I was also convinced that it is THE FACE OF CHRIST and that is why I kept the newspaper page to this date in 2018.  

 As the years passed and ordinary life of ups and downs had to be lived, I had  forgotten  about  JESUS FACE IN THE HOLY SHROUD  until it emerged in recent years from my archives.   THE FACE OF JESUS, similar to his face in the Shroud, also appeared in September 199O, in the heart of an earthly rose, and this inspired me to later write the book, THE GOLDEN ROSE, just after I published my first book in 200l.

For the benefit of the reader who may not have heard about THE HOLY SHROUD. When Jesus died, his body was placed in a tomb. He was appropriately robed  and then a piece of  linen material was placed over his face. When Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, he lifted the linen from his face, folded it up and put it to one side in the tomb, where it was later found. To me, this was/is the only true picture of JESUS CHRIST, and later, in 199O, became manifest in a  picture of an earthly rose which formed the cover of a book to be written, with the title THE GOLDEN ROSE. This is explained in the book itself. No apologies for repeating myself.       

We can go through life and not know what God has planned for us.  A simple act of faith  led to great events and taught me that we are not alone on this earth and that if we trust in God and are not handicapped by ego, we can do anything, as explained in the parable of the Mustard  Seed. The Mustard Seed  is  the  smallest of all seeds and can grow into the biggest tree of all. In my case, it ended up in the biggest job of all, first writing THE GOLDEN ROSE and then writing for THE LORD’S WEBSITE. Thank you God for the privilege.

Ego is when you get a job to do and say: ‘I can’t do that, people will think I’m crazy’ or, ‘I’m the wrong person  for the job, get somebody else,  Lord’ .

REMEMBER:  When Jesus rose from the dead, he stayed with his people for forty days. He arranged to meet them on the mountain and one of the promises he made was that he was going away but would return again and take them with him, so that where he was, they would be too. His mother Mary knows when Jesus will return to take us with him. The living will have no advantage over those who have already died. Jesus will come in the clouds but his feet will not touch the earth. Those destined for Heaven will rise up to meet him.

Thus, Jesus mother Mary wants us to be prepared, the message from Medjugorje. THIS TIME IS FOR ‘YOU’.  She  has given us the five stones in preparation for Jesus coming back again. She pleads for us because she loves us and so does Jesus. Whether or not we heed Our Lady’s message is up to us.  Don’t take the risk that there will be another chance, no matter what your age. Only God, knows the date and year Jesus will return. Be ready.

May we all merrily meet in Heaven.

THANK YOU TO JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH, AND TO ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND THANK YOU TO GOD FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF SERVICE TO YOU.  HUMBLY, YOURS.

RMF.