Saturday, october 22, 1994 10:30 a.m.
- Angelus.
- O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
- Glory Be.
Good morning to everyone. I want to thank our Archbishop for his presence among us, helping us live in accordance with our Catholic, apostolic and universal Church. It is a Roman Church for which so many people gave their lives for Jesus, for the faith they bore inside, and in these times, our Holy Church and all the Christian community firmly is standing up following the path that leads to Zion.
It is the time of an awakening; the awakening of a People of God that longs for social justice, love, preparation and culture. We have to learn from our pastors, especially from our Vicar, the Holy Father, the Pope of Rome, John Paul II. We have such a great Pope! He is giving of his life, he is calling us, he is pointing out the best pathway so all may meet together in just one heart. He is doing so much, from one place to another to win souls, to make the hearts grow in tenderness and make them understand how great the love of Jesus is, who gave his Most Precious Blood to save us and make us better in life by complying with our Christian duties; and the greatness of the love of Mary, the Mother of the Lord, Our Blessed Mother – purity – the purest of all women. Mary of Nazareth, the Flower of Mount Carmel, the wild violet of Nazareth.
O Mary! O White Lily! O Immaculate! I love you so much, my Mother, and I wish that all your children could feel you and go in pursuit of your sublime steps, because we are following you and you are rising, all crowned in simple and sublime majesty. Blessed are you among all women.
O Mary! You look upon these people, these people who cry out for love, loyalty and apprenticeship; and you come to teach us with Jesus. It is Jesus, the Masters of masters, the Lawyer, He, the One who defends, the Risen Christ who has bathed us with his Blood, and then, after three days, He rose from the tomb to ascend into heaven leaving a wake of light and of knowledge for man, so they could lead a true, simple and honest life. And I say simple, because we truly have to lead a life that is in accordance with the life They led in Nazareth.
Therefore, I want to tell you something. It is not what we are on the outside, it is what people bear within; how we lead our life in our homes, with our families all united, sharing our bread at the table all seated with the father and the mother presiding over it. It is the family, the family of God, the universal family, the family that moves and walks, the children who go to college, the small ones in their schools, in short, a family that grows to find its truth, the truth of Jesus, of a Mother, and of a Patriarch, Saint Joseph, protector of the family, to teach us that families are the true family of Jesus Christ and of his Mother. They are the persons that point out how to forge ahead living the Gospel.
These times cry out for evangelization! We all have to prepare and strengthen ourselves in order to live the Gospel, regardless of how people come to us, where they come from, or how they are – no – the important thing is to give them a hand and help them with the burden. We all have our burdens, problems, concerns, sicknesses, daily anxieties, especially when the family is big, a family with many people. But we all have to recover from all our family concerns and our natural problems, in order to assimilate the kindness of the Sacred Family to help and teach us the value of their love, the love they are giving us to truly conceive in our hearts the flame and the fire of Jesus Christ.
It is Jesus, the Child who one day was found by his Mother and Joseph inside the Temple, talking to the Doctors of the Law. They were walking the streets of Jerusalem and their surprise was, that the Boy had disappeared. Mary… her Heart… “O Lord, how painful, my Son, where is He? She saw Joseph, “O Joseph, where has the Boy gone? Where is He?
What a painful moment for my Mother! This was one of the biggest pains Mary had to go through. Believe it, because when we loose a son, it is the worst thing we can experience. Then, they looked for him, here and there, and then they found him speaking with the Doctors of the Law. O sublime Jesus, You were such a smart Child, how wonderful! They were amazed, their Son was a Giver of Life. They understood the supreme majesty of the Father reflected in that little innocent Creature, who was revealing to the Doctors the beauty and the greatness of evangelization. Jesus in that moment started his labor of evangelization, he started to win hearts and souls for God, souls like those of the Doctors and priests of those times.
So, we must meditate on the life of Jesus, his birth, his childhood, and his development. We must follow Him, step by step, everyday. O the Scriptures are so beautiful! They are a wonderful recount of the marvelous things that really touch the heart: Saint John, Saint Marcus, Saint Luke, and Saint Mathew. What Our Lord went through is the beauty of the Scriptures. Jesus had to go through so many things in his life. The beautiful passage, but sad at the same time, which I always remember and live is when He told his Mother, “We have to separate, my Mother, I have to go and look for those who are waiting for Me, to spread the Scriptures, my Word, Mother. It hurts to leave you, my heart is suffering. O Mother, how painful! I do not want to leave you, but the moment has come to prepare those who will follow Me, so we can bring to the world the salvation of all the families, and those who wish to follow the Lord, my Father.”
Such a farewell. We must think about this too. These are passages to be remembered, passages of the intimate and familiar life. It is like when we have to separate from our children; as for example, for this trip my son had to stay, and my other daughter too, my dear Esperancita who has helped me with the burden, because of their children and because one of the little girls was recently seriously ill. It was a miracle of my Lord and Mother. When I was coming I felt in my heart, O Lord, I have to leave them, may the child be alright, and may nothing happen to her, Lord. It seems something silly, but it is not, because thanks be to God she is better.
It is the separation and having to forget with the thought of bringing the Heart of my Mother to all of her children as she requested in Betania, on March 25 in 1976, by saying, “My little daughter, my Heart I gave you, my Heart I am giving you, and I shall continue to forever. My little daughter, stand and walk, do not stop. You think about your age, no daughter, no, you shall make it. I shall give you the strength to go from one place to another spreading my message of reconciliation so all my children on earth, our beloved planet chosen by the Father, may be saved. Yes, daughter, in these times of great calamities, you must do so with all those souls that also rise, those who can accompany you. The future shall be a difficult time: warfare among brothers, difficult circumstances, misunderstandings, incurable diseases from unhealthy passions, and so many sad matters.”
“Daughter, do not mind your preparation, no. Preparation is important to a certain point. Culture is beautiful, but I shall use you. Do not worry, follow my voice, be humble, simple, open your heart to your brothers. Do not worry about what they may think; what is important is that some may receive the grace, and that these some, may turn to each and everyone, and each and everyone with only one thought: ‘We must be saved by all means.’”
Brothers, this is why I wish to talk to you. We must unite with each other, forgive each other, bear each other, and make firm and hard decisions right now. I feel the United States in my heart. I feel it because it has given me a hand to help me with the burden, it has helped me come here and to so many other places where I have been lately.
So, I invite you to something big: prayer, meditation, penance, the Eucharist. The Eucharist is my daily nourishment since I was seven years old and I received my First Holy Communion. Everyday of my life! O, Lord Jesus! And when I was seriously ill, when the doctors would say that I could live no longer, I asked for my Communion. O, such a refreshment, such a beautiful nourishment, such a wonderful exquisite delicacy!
O Lord, I wish to never lack of You, you fill up the emptiness of my heart, and now even more with my family. I wanted to devout my life to you, Lord, by being a nun. I was afraid of the world, I feared everything. But, O Lord, I have had to face it, I have had to dress up, get ready, and go on, although I wanted to hide dressed in white, like my Mother, as I always have seen her… brilliant, with the majesty of a queen, with the humility of the innocent child who loves her children, and comes looking for them to comfort, soothe and teach them that nothing is lost in life while we still have at least a breath of life. This goes to the sick, the sad, the persecuted, the imprisoned, and those who have no bread at all.
You have come to me during so many nights saying, “Little daughter, let us go to the hospitals, jails. Let us go, little daughter, there are so many in need: the youth so they shall not fall in sin, let us rescue them.” These are beautiful nights that I spend with Mary – who would know – but, I do not know, perhaps, I do not deserve this, but it is her will, and I let myself be led like a child who knows nothing. I know nothing, she is the one who knows, and she is the one who uses me as an instrument.
I know that there are many saintly souls here, many good people, souls that are truly an example, and who are working in the heart of the Church, pious souls who with determination have surrendered to the Church to work, shaping their lives, and completely surrendering to the task of missionaries of love. And I say missionaries, because I have met many people in the different places where I have been who are so natural, who are dressed in a simple way, and are doing beautiful things trying to win the hearts, giving courage, giving the Word of God.
The Word of God is so beautiful! It is so beautiful to feel that He comes to us and says!: My little children, turn your hearts into a torrent of supernatural life, and all this through the love I am offering you. It is the flame and fire that burns so you may live here in this Jesus of all times.”
So, brothers, let us live a simple life in accordance with our Church, with our Pope, yes, our Holy Father. You may say, “He lives in a palace.” No, it is humility, not what you have, that surrounds you, no, no; it is your inner life, it is the life you lead according to what the Lord wants us to be, concerned about our brothers, those who suffer, those who wander around the streets.
At night in New York, when I saw all those poor people, my God, how painful: give them a blanket to protect themselves from the cold, a peace of bread for their famine. We must prevent delinquency from happening by all means. How? Helping those poor people to rise, by taking them to a home before they get used to living that sad life of moral and spiritual deformation, otherwise they will start to yield, they will become delirious, and do things that are not right. Let us rescue them all; therefore, let us pray for all these people.
Therefore, we must bring our families together in one fist, all united with infinite love, bearing each other, loving each other, helping each other, cooperating with our family. One person does something and the other one does something else, in short, everyone does something: someone sets the table, washes the dishes, lives. No more separations. – That one over there is a lawyer, but the other one is not – no, no; everyone has to be put into consideration, has to learn, has to pull through. This is what parents have to achieve.
Families have to be a mirror of the family of Nazareth – an imitation – sharing the food with moderation, without abusing; also trying by all means to teach the children, from a very early age, what Jesus means, the Child in the manger with his Mother and Saint Joseph when he was born; also when they would go out in Jerusalem and visit, the cousin of Mary, Elizabeth; and when with John the Baptist they were children running around and were allowed to play.
A child needs to play, to burn energy. We cannot stop them, some say, have them in a sort of dictatorship, no. Give them a little, but at the same time retain them with kindness, with such a great effort that they can understand that we parents are their companions, not only to teach them human respect, but also games so they can feel happy. Yes, with their brothers and friends, but with us playing with them as well, giving them joy, making them feel they are taken into consideration. These are small details, little painter strokes of family spiritual life.
Even more, there is something important, I have seen a lot of unity here, a lot of union among the members of the group that invited me here. I congratulate you, special souls, I could say, who have waited for so long to see what I was going to answer, and I thought: I want to go, Lord, if it is your will. But the doctors kept on saying, “You cannot move, your health is delicate, in any moment your heart…” For I underwent a catherization, but I always say: Lord, I am going to die standing firmly as soldiers do at your service, I am never going to stop.
I am nothing. Do not expect sophisticated words or speeches from me, no. You will find in me a woman as anyone of you: simple, but with love in her heart, because my Mother has touched it. The humility of Mary has deeply touched me. She is so delicate, soft, sweet. Her tenderness and her eyes are so beautiful.
When I saw her in Betania – she has appeared so many times – but that day, the first time, she appeared in such a magnificent way. She came as a little girl, who was between 14 or 16 years old, all dressed in white, with her hair falling upon her shoulders, with such beautiful honey eyes, and she was beaming splendorous lights from her hands. This is how my Mother came with her hands like so… and her Heart deeply beating for she had come to bring reconciliation among people and nations.
All this in order to attain peace in the world, peace in Medugorje, peace for those children, peace for so many souls who trust that everything will pass. It has to pass, and everything will fall back into place to obtain the things of the Lord. Because if my Mother of the Peace came to Medugorje it had to be because they deserved it, the innocent children, all the people of Medugorje, of the United States, all those who have followed her from afar, and those who have been able to go.
A miracle will take place, a great miracle of love that I hope will be soon. I always ask this to the Lord, because the apparition of my Mother in Medugorje has been one of the greatest; the purity of Mary beaming peace to the world. But the Lord has also sent her to Betania of the Holy Waters accepting Mary in his chosen place for her apparition who came as Mary, Virgin and Mother of all People and Nations to reconcile us and so peace can reach the world, and it will.
For the time being, these years are very tough, yes, to much grief, many things that especially throw youth off balance; but at the same time, I would say that youth, that fresh, luxuriant and jubilant youth are finding their truth. They have found their truth working in apostolate tasks and turning their nations, their cities into columns of light living a worthy and Christian life, as the children of God must.
Well, I have spoken a little to much, so I want to end by saying: My Lord and my Mother love you in a very special way. Faith is growing, it is developing in the heart of the young, and the desire to serve as well. It is so beautiful to serve and not to be served, and it is beautiful to feel that in that service that is being done it is Jesus, the Son of God, who is working in each one of us. This is something, and this something is a lot, and this a lot is God who vibrates with all his people. The Father in his Divine Son, and the Holy Spirit pouring his lights and graces, giving his Word to men, youngsters, adults, and even to the innocent children, who have been inspired to say things that have amazed me with questions and with beautiful answers too. So, the Holy Spirit is giving us knowledge, He is preparing us to make us hold fast to our faith, and He is especially giving us a grace: charity to cooperate with all our brothers.
I thank you all, and that great woman who introduced me. I see there are people who are very sensitive, and have a great heart, as all the souls who have looked after me. Perhaps, I do not remember all your names, but I remember you, I have felt you in my soul and I will carry you here in my heart forever.
And now, all the priests who are here, starting with our Archbishop, all our priests, pastors, the religious that I can see, I am speaking to you: daughters, it is so beautiful to be a nun… it was my dream. God wanted me in the world struggling with men – but well – you are leading a life of surrender, it is a complete surrender renouncing to the world, to its pleasures, and to everything that could make you suffer, I would say. In the world one suffers very much, it is not so easy to adjust to the negative currents of men. I congratulate you, forge ahead loving and following Jesus and Mary, especially for the children who grow, teaching them, helping their parents, and your congregation so the most beautiful roses from the garden of my Immaculate Mother may bloom.
Well, now let us collect our thoughts a little, and let us think that from today on a change will take place in our lives, in each and everyone of your lives, because the presence of my Lord will make itself felt in your homes with the mystical incense of the altars of his Church; and my Holy Mother with the roses of her love, her soft scents; and the Holy Spirit too with a soft breeze which will stay with you.
I do not know who will feel this first in their homes, houses, or convents, but you can be sure that the love of a Mother, the love of Jesus is so big, that He would let Himself be crucified again just to save this century that agonizes again, to make Himself felt in all the hearts, so they can be filled with love, with that living faith of everyday, and with a constant charity at the service of those who need us.
And now, place all your intentions in the hands of the Lord and of his Mother, your health, jobs, family problems, fears, any psychological problem that can exist in your family, something that makes you feel persecuted, something that is drowning you, or overwhelming you with mortification. I wish that his grace, his love, his blessings and the hope for better days may reach you.
“In the Name of my Father, I bless you, my children;
in the name of my Mother, I heal you in the body and in the soul
and I will keep you here in my Heart. I will keep you,
I will keep you here in my Heart from today on and forever.”
May peace be with you and may the light of the Holy Spirit enlighten your souls. You are in peace and in harmony with the whole world.
Thank you, Your Excellency, Monsignor, I thank all the priests, the religious, all the community that has invited me, and all these blessed people that the Lord loves and feels, and who are called to live an evangelic life; evangelization so that hands and arms can be extended to this blessed place of the Benedictines. I love them and feel them so much because my first confessor was a Benedictine: Father Emerano from Caracas, in San José del Avila, he passed away, and I had to change, and all my confessors were so wonderful until I met Padre Pio and Father Felice Capello who were like hope for me. When I did not know what to do with these things that were happening to me, they were the ones who helped me go on, and here I am a poor women who loves and feels her brothers from the bottom of her heart.
May God bless you, and bless me too, because I need a lot of fortitude and supernatural life to forge ahead for Jesus; Mary; and the Father, who is a good and comforting Father to all of his children so the Holy Spirit may work.
I thank you all, I love you all. I carry you here… I am staying with you, and wherever I go I will have a votive light in my heart to enlighten this area, this city, these surrounderings so the minds may refresh and the hearts may open to the humility of following Jesus with the Cross, our cross; loving the cross. I love the cross so much, Lord! It is my cross, our cross; all of us carrying our cross full of joy and youth, giving ourselves to all who may need us. I thank you all, thank you.
May God keep you.
