Excerpt
Meetings with Mary
CHAPTER ONE
Queen of Heaven and Earth
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
LUKE 1:45
Rescued Air Force pilot Scott O’Grady looked calm and healthy on Dateline NBC as he reflected on his edge-of-death experiences behind enemy lines after his F-16 was shot down over Bosnia on June 2, 1995, by a Serb SAM-6 missile. Captain O’Grady parachuted safely after his F-16 was shot down, evaded capture by the Serbs for six days, and was rescued by a special team of U.S. Marines in helicopters on June 8. He was honored in ceremonies at the White House and the Pentagon on June 12.
“When they say your whole life flashes before your eyes, it doesn’t just flash before your eyes, but there’s photos that click through your mind throughout the entire time that you just can’t—you thought you’d never remember,” he told Dateline NBC.
“It’s just unbelievable that I didn’t die,” he said emphatically, “whether it would have been from the missile impact, whether it would have been from the seat being able to leave the airplane, to the point where I was on the ground and survived six days.” He attributes his survival to all the prayers that were offered for him, and maybe even a miracle.
Captain O’Grady knew of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Medjugorje, a tiny hamlet hidden in the hills of Bosnia, before his plane was shot down over Bosnia. The Blessed Mother of Jesus has told six visionaries in Medjugorje, four of whom have been seeing her daily since June 24, 1981, that her apparitions in Bosnia are her final apparitions on earth: she is calling from the mountains of Bosnia to all people on earth, of every religion, to turn back to God now. The visionaries announce messages she brings from God for everyone.
During his NBC interview, O’Grady acknowledged that he experienced the presence, or spirit, of the Blessed Virgin Mary while he was trapped behind enemy lines in Bosnia. Though he did not say that he actually had an apparition of the Blessed Mother, he said, “I consider[ed] myself religious before but not to where I believe[d] any of that [apparitions].”
Captain O’Grady had learned of the extraordinary daily apparitions of the Blessed Mother in Medjugorje from a family friend. He said of that friend, “She was right [about the Blessed Mother in Bosnia] because I don’t know what I saw, but I saw something.”
The experiences of Captain Scott O’Grady in Bosnia invite us all to ponder the ongoing presence of the Lord, and His holy ones from the beyond, in the lives of ordinary people engaged in everyday life. Not only the Lord, but also the Blessed Mother, the angels, the saints, the patriarchs and prophets, the souls in purgatory, and even the rebellious spirits from the kingdom of illusion have made and do make themselves known to people on the earth. Every family has its personal stories about loved ones whose lives have been “miraculously saved,” or whose presence is not severed by death.
Veneration of the Blessed Mother of Jesus is deeply rooted in many family traditions. The virtues of Mary, her love and faithfulness to God, have been a guiding light for two thousand years.
My grandparents, and their grandparents before them, taught our family that the Lord Jesus began His miracles by means of His Mother Mary: His Incarnation was the first. Then He sanctified Saint John the Baptist at the Visitation, when His Mother Mary spoke to John’s mother, Elizabeth. The Blessed Mother’s humble words, “They have no wine,” led Jesus to create the finest of wines for wedding guests at Cana in Galilee. For generations, we have learned that the Lord Jesus continues to honor His Blessed Mother by granting miracles through her intercession. After all, through her, with her, and in her, God became man.
My grandmother frequently reminded us that it is impossible to comprehend the mystery of Jesus Christ, who is God made man. “Pray for strong faith and never doubt the Word of God!” was her admonition to all her grandchildren. At Christmastime, Grandmother would look at the manger scene in our living room with great love and sigh, “The Infant Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s mercy upon His people.”
As little children, we learned to ask the Blessed Mother to speak to her Divine Infant about all our needs. We were aware that since Jesus is God, He Himself created the Fourth Commandment and He would always honor His Blessed Mother in the highest possible ways.
Billions of others throughout the history of Christianity have recognized that prayers offered to Jesus, through His Blessed Mother’s intercession, are quite powerful. Pope John Paul II has entrusted his papacy to the Blessed Mother’s care. It is widely reported that he carries the Consecration of Saint Louis de Montfort in his pocket at all times. Totus Tuus (“I am completely yours [O Mary]”) is the motto he chose for his papacy.
Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary? Why is she called the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church, and so many other glorious names? The Mother of Jesus Christ is unlike any other creature God has ever created. She alone is the Eternal Mother of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Who can comprehend with a mere human mind what such an honor means?
The Blessed Virgin Mary always cooperates perfectly with God’s will. Her will is a perfect mirror of the will of God.
God desires that we choose, through Jesus, to become His own children and heirs of His Kingdom forever. Jesus won the grace for us to occupy the thrones in heaven that were abandoned by rebellious angels who vacated them.
Debased spirits of violence, destruction, degradation, and despair reign in their kingdom of eternal death. They prowl about the earth seeking witless human souls as their prey. It is God’s will that we escape their deceptions and live in His Kingdom of peace, joy, and abiding love forever.
Those who choose to become children of God have God the Father for their Father as Jesus taught, the Blessed Mother for their Mother as Jesus announced, and Jesus Christ for their brother.
Since the time of the apostles, people all over the world have come to realize that the surest, the easiest, and the shortest way to Jesus Christ is through the Immaculate Heart of His Blessed Mother. Our Lord Jesus is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. He remains forever the perfect Son of the Eternal Father and His Blessed Mother, Mary. A vast army of people has existed throughout the centuries whose hearts belong to Jesus Christ, and because of Him, to His Blessed Mother.
The Lord promised that those who seek Him find Him. The ones who draw near the Blessed Mother receive her Divine Son Jesus from her as first Saint Joseph and the shepherds learned from angels and the Magi learned by following a star.
Those who approach Jesus through His Blessed Mother are often insignificant in the world’s esteem, just as the shepherds were. Yet great world leaders, too, approach Jesus through His Blessed Mother just as the Magi once did (Matthew 2:1–11).
The Blessed Mother lived and prayed with the apostles and disciples of Jesus after His death and Resurrection. They regarded her as Mother of the Church. The followers of Jesus, as numerous as the sands of the seashore, have continued that tradition throughout the centuries.
Those who have seen the Blessed Mother include the least as well as the most favored members of society. She has appeared to poor children and to founders of great religious orders, to the farmer in the field and the archduchess in her castle, to old people and busy adults in remote regions of the world and the cities of the great nations.
The Mother of Jesus is the Eternal Mother who brings light, strength, hope, and guidance from God to His precious children of the earth. She alone brings Jesus Christ through the divine power of the Holy Spirit, as she did at the Incarnation (Luke 1:34–36). By her cooperation with the will of God, Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. Those who draw near her draw near the Holy Spirit of eternal love.
Never divine herself, the Blessed Mother in her splendor is a clear mirror of God’s splendor. Her bounty is a token of His generosity. Her apparitions, as you shall soon see, are a sign of God’s omnipresence and His divine, unconditional love for each person He has created.
Apparitions of the Blessed Mother of Jesus to ordinary, sinful people of all races, nations, and stations in life are reported all over the world as the twentieth century draws to a close. Many of these Marian apparitions of the twentieth century are fraught with urgency and contain apocalyptic warnings. Three hundred years ago, the prophetic voice of Saint Louis de Montfort explained the times in which we now live:
In the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary has to be made known and revealed by the Holy Spirit in order that, through her, Jesus Christ may be known, loved and served.
The Blessed Mother is presenting messages in these times as never before in history to believers and nonbelievers alike. As at the wedding feast of Cana, her call is filled with love and confidence: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). She announces to these times, to these generations:
“To know Jesus is to love Him. To love Him is to emulate Him. To emulate Him is to find the Kingdom of God forever.”
Messages from the Blessed Mother from the beginning call all people on earth to strong faith in God. She asks for obedience to His commandments, heartfelt prayer, fasting, and daily reading of sacred texts.
The Blessed Mother is filled with love. Visionaries refer to her as pure love. But she is firm. She is decisive and unrelenting as she explains to all people everywhere on earth:
“Each child of God must seek reconciliation with every other person immediately for the love of God.”
