Day: October 10, 2017

The Risen Christ Statue last night as the sun was setting J.M.J October 11, 2017 Dear Family of Mary! Yesterday I spent some time at the Risen Christ Statue which is behind St. James in a large area set aside for prayer.  This statue is huge, made of bronze and depicts Jesus at the moment of resurrection, still in the Cruciform.  Pilgrims line up to venerate this image of Jesus, Risen from the dead.  But as you can see in this picture, the only accessible part of Jesus’ body is his legs and feet from the knees down. But there is more to this statue.  Not long after if was installed, pilgrims noticed a clear liquid flowing from the knee of Jesus’ right leg.  This liquid has been flowing, drop by drop for many years now.  People collect the liquid on little napkins, on articles of clothing, or just anoint themselves with is. As you can see, there is an urge to just lean against Jesus, to just rest on Jesus, when you are near it.  I have always felt drawn to just rest my head on Jesus’ leg, like a child with his father, just embracing him around the legs!!  It just feels like that, so much peace. Some have wondered if the liquid that flows from Jesus’ knee might have a connection with something that happened during His Crucifixion.  We know that Our Lady stayed near the Cross of Christ throughout His Passion.  She could not be torn away from her Son.  In fact the artist who created the stained glass windows in St. James Church in Medjugorje, created this window depicting the Crucifixion. Our Lady is embracing Jesus’ legs, the only part of His body she could reach.  Her tears would have rolled down His legs much like the liquid is rolling down the legs of the statue.  Could this mysterious liquid by Our Lady’s tears of love for her Son, shed for our sake, for our deliverance from sin and death?  It could be. All I know is that the Risen Christ Statue draws me, calls me to come close and to hug Jesus’ legs, to lean against Him, to rest on Him, to be quiet with Him, to stay a child with Him, and to love Him.  I am very grateful to the artist whose inspiration created this statue that now is blessing thousands of pilgrims in Medjugorje, one at a time. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c)Mary TV 2017

(The path we walked to Vicka’s old home where she spoke to pilgrims yesterday) October 10, 2017 Dear Family of Mary! Today our group rose early in the morning and walked together, praying the Rosary, towards Apparition Hill.  Our destination was Vicka’s family’s ancestral home, where Vicka has resumed giving her witness to pilgrims on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  It is such a familiar spot, on the narrow road in Bijakovici, just before the entrance to the Apparition Hill climb.  When the pilgrims gather to hear Vicka, all traffic is stopped!  No one can get through! (Vicka stands under the grape vines on the stairs.) Vicka will talk very slowly and carefully about what she has learned from Our Lady.  Here is a portion of her talk from this morning: I am happy to share with you Our Lady’s main messages.  The main messages of Our Lady are prayer, peace, conversion, confession, and fasting.  And Our Lady recommends that we pray all three parts of the Rosary daily.  And she recommends fasting every Wednesday and Friday on bread and water.  And a beautiful thing that Our Lady invites us to pray for is to pray for our strong faith. But when Our Lady invites us to pray, she doesn’t want us to just move our lips.   But Our Lady would like for us day by day to open our hearts so that prayer may really become a joy for us so that we may succeed to pray with love. Our Lady gave a beautiful example when she said: All of you in your homes have a flower pot.  And if you put just a few drops of water in this pot every day you will see a beautiful flower growing.  The same example is our heart, because if you put a few drops of prayer in your heart you will see it become a beautiful rose.  And if just for a few days we do not give it water we will see the plant vanish as if it never existed.  And Our lady says that the same thing will happen to us if we do not pray one day, and we say I am tired so I will pray tomorrow.  But then when tomorrow comes we find another excuse, and then practically day by day we distance ourselves from prayer and our heart only gets implants from the bad side.  And Our Lady says, same as a flower cannot live without water, so we cannot live without God’s grace… Now we will remain united in silence in prayer.  I will pray for blessing for all of us, but it is very important for all of us to remain in silence.  Our Lady says, “Do not be afraid of silence because silence can bring forth so many beautiful and great things.  Our Lady has said more than once, “You people talk too much and you pray too little, so that is why we must change this attitude and pray more and talk less.  So it is very important to remain in silence in prayer… We stood in silent prayer for more than 1/2 hour, drinking in the peace. This is only a sample of what Vicka said, but you can hear the entire talk on our website soon.  Vicka prayed then in silence for a very long time.  One pilgrim told me that she felt drawn into prayer, as into a deep pool of water.  She was able to pray unusually well as Vicka prayed. Vicka is a luminous example of someone who is given over completely to God.  She suffers joyfully, offering all her suffering to the Lord.  And she witnesses such joy! We were so blessed to be with her in the early morning brightness, the air so cool and fresh.  What a blessing it was to pray with Vicka. It reminded me of this message: April 25, 1987 “Dear children! Today also I am calling you to prayer. You know, dear children, that God grants special graces in prayer. Therefore, seek and pray in order that you may be able to comprehend all that I am giving here. I call you, dear children, to prayer with the heart. You know that without prayer you cannot comprehend all that God is planning through each one of you. Therefore, pray! I desire that through each one of you God’s plan may be fulfilled, that all which God has planted in your heart may keep on growing. So pray that God’s blessing may protect each one of you from all the evil that is threatening you. I bless you, dear children. Thank you for having responded to my call.” In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c)Mary TV 2017 PS.  One of our pilgrims stayed behind to listen to Vicka again and again, almost all morning.  When Vicka was leaving, she had one of her helpers give him a rosary she was praying with.  it was so special to receive that rosary.  But he noticed a woman near the stair that Vicka had been standing on, begging that Vicka come back to just pray with her a little.  She was desperate.  But Vicka was exhausted and they couldn’t ask her to return.  The woman was so sad.  So our pilgrim placed the rosary Vicka had given him into her hands and explained that it was Vicka’s rosary.  He said she could have it.  She broke down in tears.  He found out she was very ill, and this rosary meant the very much to her.  She wept and wept. We have no idea what wonders God is working in us as pilgrims as we love one another.  In heaven we will know!!!