The Chinese bishop 王宠林主教.

(from the Children of Medjugorje newsletter)

During my trip to China last month, I visited the province of Hebei in the North of the country. There my friends spoke to me of a man dear to them, their bishop, born in heaven last year, Mgr Wang Chong-Lin Lin.

As a priest, arrested in 1958 and a prisoner for 21 years, he was only able to return home in 1979. Ordained as a bishop in 1983, his diocese had become lifeless: no priests, no nuns, no convent, not even a church, nothing! He made a pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of the Shanxi province in order to implore the Virgin Mary for help. He had unbounded love for her. He would tell his friends, “You know how noble the calling of Bishop is and how heavy the responsibility is. I can only confide in the Blessed Virgin Mary! She is the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church and also my beloved Mother. The Church made me a bishop but here the Church has nothing! No land, not even a room, no seminaries… I am such a poor shepherd! What does the Mother of God want?”

He heard about the Marian Shrine of Bansishan where the Blessed Mother had been appearing since 1982 and he decided to go there. Here is his story: “A voice seemed to urge me to go meet my “Mother” there. We prayed the Rosary on our knees and during the prayer she appeared to me near the church, dressed in white, with a blue belt. I looked into her eyes and she looked into my eyes. ‘O Mother, may you always keep your gaze on me!’ The next day, I celebrated Mass in the church for her intentions, a very important mass for me because I offered the 60,000 faithful of my diocese, I offered myself, and I consecrated them to the Blessed Mother. I told her: ‘Since I have nothing, I cannot do anything. So I consecrate my diocese to you, my Mother, take care of it yourself!’ My Mother Mary told me, “Do not worry, I will take care of you as I take care of my son Jesus!”

And it was so! The Blessed Mother answered: when he went back, priests and seminarians started to come in great numbers. In a short time, he was able to create a seminary (1985), restart the congregation of St. Theresa, open an orphanage, a Vocational Center, a Formation Center for the laity, etc…

This bishop was able to make the impossible succeed: In his complete poverty and solitude, he prayed with faith, he consecrated everything to the Mother of God, and surrendered to her with the confidence of a child. He knew that she would take her Son’s business to heart better than anyone else. Today, how many consecrated people are facing similar situations of want, solitude, and are tempted to give up in front of the enormity of the task to be filled? But Our Lady is ready to work miracles as soon as her Son’s affairs and her children’s salvation are at stake! That’s why, for 30 years in Medjugorje, she has been trying so hard to make us fall on our knees!