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!

A personal testimony .. a true story from the Philippines

On Good Friday, on a TV show a young Filipino man told his story. He had been a practicing homosexual for some years, going to parties at houses of others of the same persuasion and sleeping around, it was not clear whether he was paid to take part in orgies or whether it was entirely voluntary but he led a promiscous life. Soon he was HIV positive and later became sick. Maybe the story is familiar, but his response to it is less so.

Now , some years later, his life has been transformed. His work is in communicating the dangers of his former lifestyle to his peers and helping them. He now says that gettings AIDS was a 'gift from God' to him because his life changed and he is forgiven and redeemed and now able to use what is left of his life to help others, praise God ! What an example to others !

Our Lady's message from Medjugorje (May 2nd 2011)

"Dear children; God the Father is sending me to show you the way of salvation, because He, my children, desires to save you and not to condemn you. That is why I, as a mother, am gathering you around me, because with my motherly love I desire to help you to be free of the dirtiness of the past and to begin to live anew and differently. I am calling you to resurrect in my Son. Along with confession of sins renounce everything that has distanced you from my Son and that has made your life empty and unsuccessful. Say 'yes' to the Father with the heart and set out on the way of salvation to which He is calling you through the Holy Spirit. Thank you. I am especially praying for the shepherds, for God to help them to be alongside you with a fullness of heart."