J.M.J.
March 17, 2017
St. Patrick
Dear Family of Mary!
Dear children, With motherly love I am coming to help you to have more love and that means more faith. I am coming to help you to live with love the words of my Son, so that the world would be different. Therefore, apostles of my love, I am gathering you around myself. Look at me with the heart, speak to me as to a mother about your pains, sufferings and your joys. Ask me to pray to my Son for you. My Son is merciful and just. My motherly heart would desire for you also to be like that. My motherly heart would desire that you, apostles of my love, speak of my Son and of me to all those around you with your life; so that the world would be different; that simplicity and purity would return; that faith and hope would return. Therefore, my children, pray, pray, pray with the heart, pray with love, pray with good works. Pray that everyone would come to know my Son, so that the world would change, that the world would be saved. With love live the words of my Son. Do not judge, instead love one another so that my heart could triumph. Thank you. (March 2, 2017)
I want to share the conversion account of a pilgrim in Medjugorje named Joe Campo. He gave his testimony along with Fr. Glen Sudano in Fruit Show 171. I was watching their testimonies on the channel today, and was mesmerized. But Joe Campo has a beautiful conversion testimony that happened through Our Lady of Medjugorje. Listen to his words:
When Joe was in Medjugorje for the first time, he experienced something special:
I fell asleep in the afternoon and I missed the apparition that was at about 6:45 pm at that time. And it was in the choir loft. I had missed that. And I woke up and I said, “Just like me to miss the apparition! I come all the way here and I miss the apparition.” And I wasn’t too happy with myself. But some time later I went into the kitchen and I looked out the window and I could see that there were people – actually there were lights – going up the mountain. There were thousands of lights going up. So I asked the people in the kitchen what is going on?
They said, “Well there is a special apparition tonight. You didn’t hear about it?” And I said, “No, I was sleeping!” So I immediately got up and got my flash light and I followed the crowd right through the vineyards, and I made it to the base of the mountain rather quickly. Then I started to climb.
It was already pretty late at that time. It was probably 9:30 or quarter to 10. And I started to climb the mountain and I literally flew up the mountain. Now I was climbing over rocks. People were singing in all these different languages. It was very inspiring. But I literally flew up the mountain. And when I got to the top of the mountain I asked someone in English, “Where are the visionaries?” I knew I was at the top, and there were thousands of people all over the place. And they said, “You’re standing with them.” And I looked and I realized that I was standing with the visionaries! So I took a seat close by, I just backed up a little bit. I found it very inspiring. You can hear singing in all the different languages. And you can hear people praying the Rosary in all different languages. And again, I was very inspired by all of this.
And at 11:00 o’clock at night we heard everybody go, “Shhhh Shhh!” She’s arriving. And the visionaries were already down. And I am telling you that at 11:00 at night with all those people, at the moment she appeared there was complete silence. Complete silence. There was no more singing. There were no more crickets. There was no more anything. Just silence.
And I watched the visionaries, and all of a sudden something overwhelming happened to me. Some thoughts came into my head, and I was experiencing conversion. And I didn’t know what a conversion experience was, quite frankly. And I just put my head down and I started to cry. And I was probably crying for about 20 minutes.
Some of the reasons I was crying I knew, but others I didn’t. But at the same time I felt a tremendous amount of peace. A tremendous amount of joy. And I think I felt love for the first time…real love…real love.
Before I came to Medjugorje I was very much into the world. I had my own company. Money was very important to me. Material things were very important to me. I was always a true believer in God, but I didn’t go to church!! I was always a true believer in God, but I didn’t follow the Ten Commandments. I believed in God, that is all there was to it. I always knew there was a God and I knew I wasn’t Him. But did I follow Him, no.
But one of the things I learned during my conversion experience when Our Lady appeared, was that everything I learned about the Catholic Church was true! It was the truth! And I had been searching for the truth my whole life. And it was answered right there. I was completely changed at that moment.
And although I was crying at that moment, so people were saying, “Are you OK?”, I was saying “I’ve never been better!!” This is great. These two emotions going on at the same time. And I also felt a tremendous amount of sorrow for my sins, and I really knew what they were for the first time. I wasn’t happy with myself, and I knew I had to change. And I also knew I was being given the opportunity to change. And even in all of my sinfulness I also knew that God forgave me. And I also knew that I didn’t deserve it.
All this information was overwhelming. And I also knew that this wasn’t just about me. I knew that I had to change but I also knew that this was big. This wasn’t just about me, or New York, or Medjugorje. This was big! This was about the planet, the entire world. And I really felt humbled that Our Lady would come to me.
(Rosie asked him; You could feel that individual attention and love from Our Lady, but also know it was worldwide.)
Yes, at the same time. I had heard people ask, do you have a personal relationship with Christ. I thought that was ridiculous. But I did have that relationship now. It wasn’t out of fear. He loved me. He loved me in my sinfulness, and I was given the chance, the opportunity to become a better person. And I wanted to take that opportunity.
I believe that Joe is right, that what he experienced was indeed for him personally, but that it is also part of a plan to change the world that Our Lady is enacting in Medjugorje. I think he is right. This is big. Very, very big. Our Lady is with us to change the world!!
We are in the middle of Lent, and Lent is all about conversion. Thank you, Joe, for sharing your conversion experience. May we all encounter Our Lady this Lent and be changed!!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2017
PS. Today, a very helpful article/interview was published by Aleteia. Archbishop Henryl Hoser spoke to them about his assignment as special envoy to Medjugorje by the Holy Father, Pope Francis. Here is the link to his beautiful interview:
PPS. We are approaching the Annunciation of the Lord! Somehow I think it is very important this year. As a preparation, maybe we could pray the words of the Annunciation from Luke’s Gospel ( Luke 1: 26-38) every day until the 25th. Just an idea!!