You can leave now, You are cured ..a medjugorje story from Sicily

I am the twelfth of 14 children. My father used to curse God and beat my mother and us children. We were often hungry and had to sleep 3 to a bed. When I was 9 years old, I received the call to become a nun, but my father would not allow it because he wanted me to work in order to help the family. Later I got married and became lukewarm in my faith. My husband didn't believe much, but we went to Mass on Sundays.

In 1998, I had to have an hysterectomy due to cancer of the uterus, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. A few months later: breast cancer, another operation, followed by radiation. Then my husband became very ill and I had to take care of him, until his death two years ago. 

Completely exhausted, I had to have further tests. This time, I was diagnosed with liver cancer. My whole body was suffering and I was vomiting constantly. I decided to go on a retreat at San Giovanni Rotondo, in the former parish of Padre Pio, to put my life in order for the months that I had left to live. I was suffocating under so many hardships. The doctors wanted to do a third operation, and I had to make a decision. The first night at San Giovanni, June 21, 2000, I had a strange experience, which I thought was a dream, but I wasnt sure. 

I found myself in the waiting room at the hospital, waiting my turn to be called for the operation. The door opened and a young woman entered. It was a nurse wearing a white uniform. She had her brown hair in a pony tail. She came straight towards me saying, You can leave now, you're cured. Shocked and surprised, I stuttered that I couldn't leave because I had come to have an operation. She repeated: Yes! You can leave, you've been cured. Again, I told her: There must be a mistake, because I'm scheduled to have an operation. Then with an authoritative voice, she told me: But I've told you that you are cured !

The next morning, this experience still had hold of me. I spoke about it to a priest who told me: We'll see with time if it's true or not. Meanwhile, you yourself have to make the choice to have the operation or not. I decided to not have the operation. In fact, during that same night the pain had completely disappeared. 

I was able to start eating normally again, I gained weight, I was able to sleep, to walk, just like someone in good health. An enormous strength had come into my whole body. And I forgot to say that my first thought upon awakening from the dream was Medjugorje : I must go to Medjugorje I was seized with an intense desire to go there, and yet I didn't really know anything about Medjugorje:

Once I arrived in Medjugorje, I was impressed by the grace of the site, even on the first day while praying the Stations of the Cross on Mount Krizevac. The next day we went to listen to Vicka. When I saw her, I said to myself, I've already seen her face somewhere, but where?'Then it came back to me in a flash, the scene of the night at San Giovanni and I exclaimed, It's her That's the young woman in white who came to tell me, you can leave, you are cured! I was amazed and I looked at the light radiating from her eyes, the rays of love coming from her face. 

Later I had the opportunity to tell her about that night when she came to visit me, and she only said to me, smiling: Thanks be to God !My life is now taken up with an apostolate in Sicily and prayer retreats in Medjugorje. I know that the Gospa has a plan for me through the healing and the freedom that was given to me. My joy is to be her instrument for whatever she has in store for me.

Fire in the throat..a story from Italy

Our friends at Vocepiu in Milan (Italy) have been putting out cassettes and CDs to spread the Word of God since the 70s. We collaborate a lot with them for Medjugorje, so we like to share the many amazing testimonies we find. It's so good to touch the power of God together! Recently they told us the story of a very surprising event that took place in 1997.

Their fraternity visited Israel on a pilgrimage. On the last day, while they were praying in front of the Cross at the Holy Sepulcher, Maria Luisa clearly heard a voice in her heart saying, 'Do something for my Passion!' These words deeply touched her and upon returning to Milan, she decided to make a musical CD on the Passion of Christ. Extremely gifted in music, she decided to mix excerpts from the Bible with orthodox chants, messianic Jewish hymns and Gregorian chant. For the speaker who read the Biblical passages, her attention turned to her uncle who had a voice that resounded the love of God. She reserved a half hour to perform the recording at Miro-Productions Studio in Milan, but that morning her uncle fell ill and could not do the job. Maria Luisa determined not to give up the project. The studio time was pre-paid so each minute counted; and it wasn't very cheap! She had to find another speaker immediately! She decided to check out the business right next to Miro Studios called Mediaset Studio and ask for a voice. 

As she walked into the reception area where there was an information desk, Maria Luisa knew that she was in a different world, an altogether different class. The couches dripped with luxury, the paintings on the wall were refined and perfectly hung. There were glass tables and fancy desks and she thought, What am I doing here, this is not at all the type of place where I'll find what I need! In the immediacy of her problem, she saw no other option, so she proceeded to the elegant looking woman behind the polished marble desk: I am looking for a man who has half an hour free to record the reading of a text... At that instant a very sophisticated man came down the stairs of the agency. He looked like a perfect ladies man, used to charming others and obviously quite satisfied with himself. He drew near to Maria Luisa to find out more about her need that he overheard. He said he had 20 minutes before dubbing a voice for Television and for a Coca Cola advertisement. He seemed proud to say that he worked for such prestigious names. He introduced himself as Alfio. When Maria Luisa made clear that the recording was not for commercial purposes and he couldn't earn any money from it, to her surprise Alfio still agreed to do the recording. Maria Luisa remained deeply perplexed, wondering how this man could possibly enter the spirit of the Passion and get the right intonation to read the Word of God! She tried to tell him about this question, but Alfio, assured of his professional talents, simply raised his hand to calm her fears.

They went to the recording studio. Alfio took the text and adjusted the micro in front of him. The first verse chosen by Maria Luisa was on the Suffering Servant: There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. (Isaiah, 53:2-3)

Alfio read the first 3 words and stalled. He asked for a glass of water because, he said, he had something in his throat. He started again and had the same problem! Three times in a row he had to stop, helpless, and his eyes slowly filled with tears. Maria Luisa realized that there was something going on: Alfio could not read because he was having an overwhelming experience! On the third try, Alfio burst into tears, his sobs became uncontrollable.But who is this man? Alfio asked with a broken voice. Who was treated in such a way? It's Jesus, Maria Luisa answered! Who is Jesus?

The recording stopped. Alfio could not calm down. He wanted to know everything about this man. So Maria Luisa began to tell him about Jesus and Alfio bombarded her with more questions. He picked up his mobile phone and cancelled all his appointments for the day. He stayed more than four hours reading all the texts and listening to Maria Luisa's explanations. Overwhelmed and in a state of shock, he concentrated on each word, and asked Maria Luisa to repeat everything to him. He wanted the story of Jesus from the beginning. The Word of God had seized him completely!

At the end Alfio asked our friend, How about you, why are you doing this work? Who do you think will be interested? Maria Luisa answered, Well When I began this work, I told the Lord that if only one person would be converted thanks to this CD, it would be enough for me. Alfio then declared, I am that person!

The following days, at the office, Alfio started telling everyone about Jesus. He just could not help it. How could he keep quiet? He could not find anything else to talk about. But very soon people around him thought he was mentally disturbed. Alfio was fired! He remained jobless for 6 months before finding something in his specialty again. Immediately after his conversion, Alfio returned to his wife and daughter and resumed living with them. Since then, 10 years ago, they attend Mass together every morning.

Who knows the unbelievable power of the Word of God! Jesus visits us even at moments we do not expect Him. A single Biblical verse was enough to change this heart radically!

Fruits of Medjugorje...

 
Battistina is definitely an Italian woman of our time. She is a 47-year old internet-based accountant. When her partner invited her to go to Medjugorje, she was not very interested. Then, one morning, on her car radio, she heard the song, often played by Radio Maria that had irritated her so much for years when she was looking for a program. Unexpectedly that song moved her deeply; her tears flowed continuously, without any apparent reason. She understood that the Blessed Mother was calling her. But I will let her tell her own story ...

"Since a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in July 2012, everything has changed in my life, nothing is like before! My conversion happened during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There were thousands of us outside around the Rotunda. Suddenly I found myself on my knees and I had the feeling that I was holding my living heart in my hands. I saw my entire life scroll down before my eyes. I clearly saw the good and the bad, and everything that seemed good at the time was becoming bad. I started to feel a great pain about my divorce.

How could I have broken a promise made in front of God? These words echoed in my mind, 'let no one split apart what God has joined together'. I then understood that my serenity was only in my mind because my heart was ice-cold. I had always felt I was on the side of the "righteous" and that I was a victim. Suddenly I saw how hard my heart was, I saw the suffering of my 4 children, what my father and my in-laws had endured, and I especially saw that I was not at all a victim.  Actually I had never forgiven anyone. When my oldest daughter, 9 year-old and in 4th grade, had insisted on doing her first Holy Communion, I had told her it made no sense; and my last child had not even been baptized! I saw all the New Age books that I had bought over the past 20 years. How could I have spent all that time reading and taking courses on self-development, things that only ended up pushing me away from God and my family?

The pain was getting stronger and stronger and little by little I found myself with my face to the ground.  I told myself, 'Lord, let me die here, because I am not worthy of even lifting my head from the ground'. At that moment I felt something like a huge hug filled with love, and a joy that is not of this world. And I told myself, 'During 18 years I thought I had given my children everything, but actually I had not given them anything because I had not given them this. So if I stay here to pray for them for the rest of my life, would that not be better than anything that I could do if I went back home? If I, as a mother, the soul of the household, had cultivated prayer instead of cultivating useless things, my children would still have a united family today!'

I understood that when you make the decision to shrug off the cross of marriage, you are actually putting it on your children's shoulders.

Then I felt that I had to keep the promise of faithfulness in marriage, so I decided to make a vow of chastity. I offered this to God so that a thousand families would not separate. My life partner felt the same way. He also told me that we should consecrate ourselves completely. Some priests told me that the vow of chastity was not necessary, others that it was just something we had made up, but I was quite certain and determined because it seemed so little in comparison with the infinite mercy that I had received.

My children thought I had become crazy because I was going to church and hung up a crucifix in the living-room. My eldest daughter was very irritated by my enthusiasm, and she told me, 'So what about all the things you've been telling us for the past 18 years?' 'I am sorry,' I told her. 'I was mistaken!'

In November I went back to Medjugorje with my 4 children so that they too would have an understanding and wisdom. I was very hopeful that they would meet the Lord. I was watching them from a distance, and waiting I thought, 'But if I, their mother, with the little love I am capable of, am so happy to see my children pray, how much happier must our Heavenly Mother be? And how unhappy will she be for her children who get lost!

During the pilgrimage all of my children's hearts were touched. We started studying the Catechism together. Nine months later, the youngest, 10 years old, was baptized, and all my children received Holy Communion during the same celebration. This was the most beautiful day of my life! It was as if I could see them all being reborn at the same time. My partner and I stayed together for a year, living like brother and sister. But every day I was asking God to be able to understand what His will was, whether we should stay close to support one another, or be separated completely. I kept that doubt in my heart for a long time but little by little the Lord led our paths to grow apart because of work.

After my conversion, I contacted my ex-husband again. For nine years every telephone call had ended with yelling on both sides; so for a year we did not talk to each other, and he would communicate with me through the children. When I recognized my mistakes,I looked at his faults as the consequences of my own, and then my resentment disappeared. I was the one who should ask for forgiveness! Little by little I started to feel the deep bond of marriage, sealed by God, and to feel once again a spouse. Yet I did not understand it. I asked a priest if it was all right to feel that I was a spouse, even though my husband was bonded to another person and had a son. The priest answered that the sacrament of marriage was indissoluble before God.  

Now the love that I thought had been cancelled or even had never existed, I found it once again intact in the depths of my heart. I keep it in its purity and I pray every day for the conversion of my ex-husband and for all the families. I thank Jesus and Mary for the infinite grace that my family receives every day and I continue onward on this path of conversion."