Around
the 1st of January, large crowds of pilgrims once again gathered on the
main street in Bijakovici. Vicka, after an absence of nine months for
health reasons, returned to the stairs of her blue house to give
witness! This year however, we will have to wait until March for her to
resume her normal rhythm of speaking three days per week. By then the
treatment of her shoulder should be finished. In these last nine
months, Vicka has suffered more than usual, but she knows how to remain
happy in all situations, even those that are apparently negative.
Recently
I had the opportunity to meet her and discuss the latest events with
her, as well as her suffering. I was wondering why God would allow nine
months to go by without Vicka speaking. How many thousands of people
would have been able to be touched by her beautiful testimony and have
returned to God? Why did God allow the long silence of this excellent
witness? What advantage was there in keeping her away, trapping her
inside her house, neither able to move, nor able to meet the crowds
from all over the world who called for her? Of course it has to do with
the incredible fruit of suffering, when it is offered to Jesus. There
is no better example than Vicka. She does it with such ease. When I
asked her about how she manages to stay positive she had many good
points to share!
She said: “You see, if God allowed that
absence, He knows why, therefore I’m happy. He knows how much I love to
bear witness to the pilgrims, He knows that the pilgrims need to hear
the messages; then if He still chooses for me to make a sacrifice and
bear this suffering instead, I don’t doubt, this plan is the best one
for us all. That’s why I’m happy. I know that everything He does is a
blessing. I am in His hands in order to serve Him. He can do as He
wishes and, whatever He does, it’s His choice and I always thank Him.
He sees so differently from us! We judge too easily on the outside. We
have our own thoughts about things and we want God to act according to
our wishes. But no! You see, we should always be happy with what God
does, even if we have wanted something different. This brings
heart-felt peace. I’m happy to be with my family, with the pilgrims or
my friends, but I’m also happy when I’m sick. The important thing is to
say YES to His ways and to have total confidence in Him. When you have
confidence, you have peace! But this doesn’t happen overnight. We learn
it day by day and we have to work in our hearts. We have to pray! God
always wants to give us that peace, but we have to pray and to open our
heart in prayer.”
The war rages on
I asked Vicka how
was Baby Jesus when she saw Him in the arms of His mother on Christmas
day. Was He asleep? “No!” She said. “He was completely awake. His eyes
completely open!” Then I asked, “And His Mother, I suppose that she was
radiant with joy?” To my question, Vicka lowered her head for a second
and responded, “Yes, she was joyful; it was Christmas! But, she’s a
mother, so even if her heart aches with pain, she hides it in order to
show happiness to her children. But for me, since I’ve been seeing her
for a while, it shows.” (I asked this question because of Mirjana’s surprising reaction to the apparition of Our Lady on December 2nd.)
I
continued to ask Vicka, “I understand that the Mother of God suffers
enormously, seeing the large number of families breaking apart today.”
“Sister Emmanuel,” Vicka responded. “Today there are not only families
that are breaking apart! It is EVERYTHING that is breaking!” On my way
home from Vicka’s house, I thought about writing an “Open Letter to the
Blessed Mother” and to share here some parts of it so that we are all
encouraged to pray:
Dearest Mother,
You have said
it yourself, while looking at our hearts; your heart is filled with
pain. Know that our hearts are also aching when we think or your
immense sorrow, after all that you have done for us in Medjugorje!
I
do not know, and no one knows, what Mirjana saw last month that caused
her to cry for so long after the apparition. But I implore you, don’t
abandon us! Don’t leave us alone, battling with this world without
peace and undermined from inside. Do not cease your marvelous
apparitions that happen every day when the sun goes down, because so
many children await and cherish your arrival!
Don’t withdraw
your hand too quickly from us! Look around, there are too many young
people who wander, are blas_(c) and without goals! There are too many
couples who split, too many children who are force fed with emptiness
and are thirsty for love, too many people who are victims of solitude
and fatal blows. You can’t leave us in the heart of this battle, dear
Mother, even if we have responded so poorly to your call and have let
all this suffering cover us, even though we had your messages to teach
us how to live!
Your Son spoke to us of the fig tree that the
owner wanted to cut down because it didn’t bear fruit. But the gardener
interceded. “I will dig around it and give it some manure.” Dear
Mother, please give us another chance, multiply your graces! We’re so
hard-hearted and rebellious! You can’t let hatred lead the world and
poison so many innocent children as early as primary school. Look into
your maternal heart: can you really let your children rush into the
road of death that is on display on every screen! How could you leave
us at this very moment when in the West, the rates of perversion,
depression and suicide increase everyday?
You know the
situation all too well! But you listen to sincere prayers and, for even
one single child who cries out, you employ all the power of your
intercession before the Father of Mercy. Mother dear, we beg you, do
increase your interventions on our behalf and ask our Father to allow
you to remain in Medjugorje for a long, but a very long time!
Call among us pillars of prayer and of holiness, and chase the evildoers away!
For
the first time in your messages, you said that you fight for us as a
mother fights for her children. You wouldn’t have to fight if there
wasn’t a war raging! So, please listen to the clamor that comes from
the front line and to the uproar that the enemy is making! See the
anguish of those who have not yet taken up the right weapons, and
please continue to visit the earth without tiring!
Mother dear, come to our aid!
