EMMAUS' JOURNEY
 

June 2004 

Hello dear friends,

The month of June brings with it many important feast days for us to celebrate. You see, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ on the 13^th, then, the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, on the 18^th, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the 19^th, followed by Father’s Day on the 20^th. These are just some of the important feast days in June. In looking at these events, I see an interesting connection between them. Here, let me explain the connection for you.starting with the last one:

Father’s Day - Before we think about all the love and sacrifices our earthly dad had given us, we should first reflect on our heavenly Father and his Love for each one of us. God the Father "so loved the world that He sent his only Son into the world" to save us and to show us what the Father’s Love is all about. Jesus, therefore, is the image of the Father’s Love. Through the willingness and obedience of a young maiden named Mary, who by God’s grace, was conceived without sin, the Savior was born.

Immaculate Heart of Mary - In Mary’s most pure and immaculate heart, we see the reflection of her Son, Jesus Christ. Those who seek Jesus should come to His Mother, she will point the way to her Son. Those who want to imitate Jesus, should offer themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, from there, one will find the beauty of Jesus. Coming forth from Mary’s womb, Jesus really is "blood of her blood, and heart of her heart". Jesus’ humble birth, his healing ministry, his passionate life, his cruel death, and his glorious resurrection, are powerful expressions of how much He loves each one of us. Such tremendous love, presents itself in the:

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - It is through Jesus’ Love that our wounds are healed, our hearts made whole again. Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we will learn to love the way God loves. Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we will learn to appreciate the great extent of God’s love for us, such love manifest itself completely in the Eucharist.

The Body and Blood of Christ - When we receive the Eucharist, Jesus gives us the greatest gift of all - the Body, Soul and Divinity of God! Jesus loves us so much that he freely gives us his all, nothing hold back! Could any gift be greater than this? Could anyone possibly love any more than this? Unfortunately, many of us receive communion without really preparing our heart & soul to welcome Jesus. Do we even realize what immense treasure we beheld on our tongue every time we receive the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus? Have we consciously allowed Christ to transform us into his likeness? Let’s make a conscious effort to recognize his Presence and to truly worship Jesus, our God, who chose to come and dwell within us, so that we may have life, and life to the fullest. May we always hold dear the priceless treasure of the Eucharist in our hearts.

There is also a very special story from a friend that I would like to share with you. She recently made a trip to Medjugorje and had a wonderful experience there. This is the story of her faith journey. On behalf of all our readers, I’d like to thank her for sharing it with us. As you read her story, be attentive to the feelings that stirred up in you. What is God saying to you through this person’s experience? How is God drawing you closer to Him?

Peace & Love of Christ be with you!

Tess Nguyen

A Pilgrimage of the Heart

A few months ago, I went to Medjugorje, where Our Lady Mary has been said to appear for over 20 years. It is a small village located in Bosnia Herzegovina, and it was said to be the last time and place Our Lady will be appearing to mankind. She declares herself as the Queen of Peace, and urges us to reconcile with God as our time is drawing near. Although mankind has made much modern "progress" throughout the centuries, we must never forget the root of our foundation in God.

I had heard about Medjugorje vaguely from a priest at UCLA a few years ago, but never thought much of it, since time and money were out of the question - college is tough you know! Then after getting my job in Georgia, it didn’t seem so impossible after all. I felt like something was calling me to go, but that I wouldn’t know until I got there. Well, in January of this year, I got into a bad car accident, that looked a lot worse for the car initially than it did for me.so much for the trip! I thought God was punishing me for all the terrible things I had done in my life. It was a very confusing time, to say the least. I kept trying to pray about it, to no avail. I guess my prayers were starting to be answered, though, because I slowly learned that it was his mercy, not his justice, which allowed me to have this accident and re-evaluate my life. One of the tour groups for Medjugorje Pilgrimage also happened to be having a sale for March, so I could afford to go after all.

The trip started out as more of a tourist / sightseeing expedition than anything else. There was a lot to see just from the flying - Atlanta to Washington D.C. - to Vienna - to Sarajevo - to Medjugorje - phew! Even when I got there, the first few days felt like any other retreat. We would pray and go to Mass every day. We even were able to witness the signs of the liquid coming from the statue of the Risen Christ and the Miracle of the Sun spinning and radiating colors as it set. As spectacular and miraculous as these events were, they had more of a "Woah, cool" reaction than a deepening inspiration into the soul. It was almost as though I had been expecting these "signs." I did begin to realize, though, that God was not a large Presence up above, but rather right among us as The Living God. I guess I was brought up being scared of this omnipotent almighty God more than anything else, and now I had come to see that He is more love above all.

A few days into the pilgrimage we went to hear Mirjana (one of the visionary who sees and talks with Our Blessed Mother). She gave very profound advices from Our Lady, some of which are as followed:

- Pray with the heart - which also includes praying the rosary. "I do not need a hundred or two hundred ‘Our Fathers.’ It is better to pray one, but with the desire to encounter God." - Our Lady, 7/31/86

- Acknowledge that God is your Father and Mary is your Mother.

"I am your Mother and I have come to the earth to teach you how to listen out of love, how to pray out of love." - 11/29/84

- Go to Confession at least once a month

"Monthly Confession will be a remedy for the Church in the West. Whole sections of the Church could be cured, if the believers would go to Confession once a month." - 12/83

- Families should pray together. "A family that prays together, stays together."

- The best blessing is by a priest, because that is where you get to meet Jesus. Our Lady’s blessing is a motherly blessing, as she intercedes for us. "You do not go to Church to judge the Priest, to examine his personal life. You go to Church to pray and hear the Word of God from the Priest." - 1/10/83

Mirjana also noted that in the U.S., people do not respect priests as much as they do there. For example, over there, when a priest walks into a room, they all stand up to greet him. Mirjana did not go into detail regarding the ten secrets, and noted that if we were truly with God we should not worry about them anyhow. Our Lady once said, "The only attitude of the Christian toward the future is the hope of salvation." Most importantly, whenever we are frustrated or angry with another person, we should not argue or yell at them, but pray for them. Then God will show us the right time and way. God and Our Lady will take care of the rest, if only we would abandon ourselves to them in trust. "Do not be anxious or worried. God Himself will help you and show you the way" - 5/25/88.

I always thought, "Oh, all I can do is pray, I guess." Little did I realize that this is actually the most powerful gift that we have - in conjunction with love of course. The Red Cross with their manpower alone can feed many hungry people. But only through prayer and how we live our lives, though, can we help them feel the love of God. Furthermore, conversion is not just having people who do not believe in God simply believe. It is a change of one’s heart, and their way of life, rather than just repeating prayers and going to Church every week because they feel obligated to. If you just follow these standard rules, Father Jozo in Medjugorje says, you are being an atheist yourself.

On the sixth day of this seven-day trip, we went to Father Jozo’s parish to hear him speak to the pilgrims. Father Jozo was the presiding priest at St. James Parish when the apparitions began in 1981. Since the nation was then under Communism, he was put into prison, but soon released because he was more dangerous there. Why? He started to convert the guards! He reiterated the messages of prayer, fasting, confession, Mass, reconciliation and overall peace as we had been hearing throughout the week. At the end of this talk he performed a healing service, where all the priests pray over each pilgrim. Many experienced what is known as being ‘slain in the Spirit’, where you just fall down in peace and lay there for some time. As people began to fall, I didn’t think I had the faith to experience this. When it came my turn, I found myself feeling very cold. Then the priest started his usual praying, and suddenly I just felt myself being pushed back - but the priest wasn’t touching me! Soon enough I was laying on the ground, but my heart was beating very fast. When I got up, I went to a pew and found myself crying for a good 10-15 minutes. Finally, I heard a voice in my heart saying "It’s going to be tougher from now on, but it’s going to be alright. It’s going to be alright." That was when I realized what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus. That was when I realized why many good people suffer in the world. That is when I changed from a tourist of God’s amazement to a witness of His love, feeling the "peace that the world cannot give"."not as the world gives but as I give you."

Medjugorje isn’t just a place, it’s a state of being. If Heaven and Earth were to meet, I believe it would be in this humble village. When I first arrived, I thought I would never want to go home again. Then I realized that if I did so, no one back home would know of these messages. This didn’t mean just going back to my job in Georgia, this meant going home. I left home because I wanted to "see the world" and get out of Los Angeles for a while. Now I saw that if people kept going away to be on their own, then those places where they left would never become any better. I had to go back and help fix that. This is not to say that I regret moving across the country for a while; it has allowed me to grow more as an individual, and spiritually than had I stayed in the same place. Undoubtedly, it has not been easy, but I feel a peace in my heart that makes each challenge more inviting than dooming. I used to worry about what I was going to do with my life, but now it’s all in God’s hands. In fact, everything is always in God’s hands, we just have to surrender ourselves to Him, and he will take care of the rest. I also used to see problems in everything around me, only now, I find that it was I that had all the problems. Even then, I trust that God and Mary, with their unimaginable love, will take care of us.

This is not to say that I’ve become a saint or anything. There are times when I still feel like I am going backward instead of forward spiritually. I still worry about little useless things, and get frustrated with people now and then. What is different, though, is the peace. Being a Christian isn’t just about saying "I believe in God." When you make everything you think, say, and do a prayer, then praying itself doesn’t become just a repetition of words either. It’s not only a way of life, it is the way to Life. This is not an easy way, but definitely the most rewarding as a result. I hope that in sharing this experience, at least one person will search deeper for this peace as well. I will then be thankful for being able to give back. We are given so much every day, we just haven’t made ourselves aware of all the gifts God has showered on us. Really, all you have to do is ask. Then just listen and watch, and you will find God has been with you all along.