How Does Five Days Turn Into One? We Need a Miracle

The following writing was recently sent to the Caritas of Birmingham Field Angels:

March 9, 2011 A.D.

This is it. It is only 11 days from Our Lady’s apparitions. When you receive this, it will be several days closer. Our phones are ringing so much; we’ve had to devote five full time community members to answer phones. Our shipping department, which was temporarily moved into the auditorium because of re-construction of the 2nd floor department, is inundated with so many orders for not only Our Lady’s March 19-23 apparitions, but for Medjugorje materials, It Ain’t Gonna Happen, and many other pieces of information about Our Lady’s Medjugorje apparitions. All the while construction is going on around the clock. Our community children have been such a witness to the volunteers, those who’ve come to help out for a few days, to those who have offered weeks of service. They are amazed at what our children do in their contribution to the anticipated visit of the Queen of Heaven. Our ten, twelve, sixteen, etc., year old school children volunteer to work until 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 a.m. in the morning to help and still are back at school at 8:00 a.m. For youth to do such a thing with no complaints, but rather are happy to do so, impresses and convicts visiting adult volunteers. Our Lady gave the example to the youth through the visionaries of Medjugorje, in the beginning days when She asked them to go to the mountain to pray at 3:00 a.m. on school nights. Medjugorje visionary Marija said they would also spend all night in Adoration, go home to change clothes, and then immediately go to work in the fields all day.

These examples of what Our Lady did with the visionaries is culturized into our community youth and is a beautiful thing to see for those who witness it. Those who have come to help come because they know we are more than busy. When here, and they actually see the activity level of our week and prayer each day, they express amazement of how everything is being done. Last Friday afternoon, on the new fourth floor and the other additions, a crew of finishing and wall/ceiling contractors left after going as far as they could go. They planned skipping the whole next week knowing it would take that long before we finished the electrical work, I-beam fabrication, erecting, removing 60 feet of existing walls and framing out lights, along with a huge debris clean-up. When they left Friday afternoon, we went to our knees asking Our Lady to turn the five days of work into one day with the supernatural help of the angels. We had to have this happen or we would not be ready when Our Lady comes March 19-23. The finishing contractors being delayed a week would make it impossible to finish when Our Lady comes in 1 ½ weeks. Although we were needing as much time as possible to do what was impossible, we were further set back as we would not work on Sundays. Yes, we could say “our ox is in the ditch,” but we were determined not to invoke that excuse. So that left us with a late Friday night and Saturday. By Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. several setbacks made everything look pretty bleak and impossible. We continued, prayed and drove forward. We quit at just about midnight. On a human level, the task was not achievable. We were in over our heads, and there was nothing we could do. Heaven’s angels assisting us was the only way it could be achieved.
 

We had been praying to Our Lady for months that for every one work day, we could achieve two days of work. Here we prayed for five days of work to be achieved through one day of work. The contracting supervisor, who left on Friday, walked in on the following Monday and saw the 60 foot wall removed, I-beams fabricated, light frames cut out and supported, all electrical conduit finished, and a mountain of debris removed! And all was swept clean and tidy, ready for them to go to work. We had our miracle!! Yes, they were more than impressed. Yes, we were very impressed and around 10 p.m., Saturday night, we became very joyful because we began to see 5 for 1 being achieved. We can testify that God wants to show through this 5 to 1 example that miracles can happen in your every day life. Because, it is God who wants…

“…with your love and with His help to do miracles and thus give an example…pray, live my messages and then you will see the miracles of God’s love in your every day life.…” March 25, 1992

We have had many miracles with this visit of Our Lady coming in March. It makes us believe with the 54-Day Rosary Novena prayed in preparation by thousands of people, the 9-day bread and water fast beginning March 9-18, many sacrifices and strong level of persecution against Our Lady coming, that this visit of Our Lady is very important. But we need now another miracle. We literally plead with you for two needs. First, we need prayers. Prayers continually from you, through the day. Prayers when you go to bed. Prayers when you remember that we are working through the night at that moment when you briefly awake during the night.

Why so strong and urgent a need for prayer? The 2nd need is why. We need a 5 day for 1 type miracle. We are out of retooling money to pay contractors, construction materials, and remaining electrical components, among several other essentials. On January 18th, we wrote you that we needed $250,000 to get the construction finished before Marija arrived. You responded very generously and we quickly raised $176,000, leaving $74,000 left of what we asked you for. As is normal with construction, we have had $78,000 of unforeseen costs that had to be added to the $250,000. With what is in front of us, we’ve re-evaluated after speaking with our contractors. In addition, we’ve reviewed the remainder of our own work and added other essentials that will add other costs due to code compliances adding another $45,000.00.

Therefore, the total we need to finish construction of the Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages in the next 1 ½ weeks is $197,000.00 ($74,000 + $78,000 + $45,000 = $197,000). This is why we need your unceasing constant prayers. This is an urgent need. The Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages, in these final weeks, will look as though ants are working throughout it all, in the midst of equipment being installed as well. We ask with your prayers and sacrifices, along with our prayers and sacrifices to win the same grace that turned five days into one by spiritually motivating all to donate in raising this urgent $197,000. This is the most urgent plea we’ve had to ask you for since we launched the retooling project in February, 2008. One of the major things is the consecration of all the Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages and equipment to Our Lady to help transmit Her Medjugorje message to the world. On that Friday afternoon when the finishing contractors planned to delay and skip a week, we knew we could not allow that, and yet we knew we could not humanly achieve the work needed to be accomplished. But just as in that situation, so it is now that we know without $197,000 that must be raised in the next couple of weeks, we cannot achieve this remaining construction. It cannot happen without a miracle. Please do not think someone else will take care of this. We need an all out participation from everyone.

First, we need a miracle through prayer. Second, we need a miracle of your giving. Please immediately donate and whatever you can work out on funding a second time or even weekly, as you can release funds, to work out these very critical donations. Remember, when you give to Caritas, everything we do is paid for. We owe no interest nor pay interest. So every dollar given actually buys something.

Thanks for all you have given. You will see with joy the fruit, March 19-23, when you come to Caritas. If it is impossible for you to come, you will see the results of your donations in more information—more about the implementation of Our Lady’s plans and what will be produced through the retooling to help alter and change the direction of the culture through the inculturalization of the message of Our Lady throughout the world.

Please, this is urgent. We plead with you to mail to call with a donation immediately and to continue to see what else you can financially do. You can call Caritas in the US at 205-672-2000 with your donation. After hours you can dial to extension 383. To mail your donation please write to: Caritas of Birmingham, C/O Retooling, 100 Our Lady Queen of Peace Drive, Sterrett, Alabama 35147 USA.

We thank you. We are praying, as one of our intentions of the 54-Day Rosary Novena, for you who have and will be donating, for what your intentions are. Thank you very, very much.

With Love & the Hope of Miracles in Your Everyday Life,

P.S. To achieve this goal, 5, 10, 25 thousand dollar donations are critical along with $1.00 donations. Thank you.

 

Our miracle day—Saturday Work Day

We have literally saved millions of dollars over the years by doing much of our necessary work ourselves instead of having to hire contractors. There is little the Community of Caritas has not learned to do. This Saturday workday, we saved thousands of dollars through fabricating in our own St. Joseph’s machine shop these structural steel I-beams. Our founder has always been strong in teaching and having community members learn many different skills so to have the ability to do the work ourselves. As Our Lady’s missionaries, our labor is given to Our Lady’s mission, so there are no labor costs. And when we do the work ourselves, the material costs of our Medjugorje message materials are also greatly diminished. The girls get the shorter I-beams. The guys get the 700-pounders. All the same, the holy work gets done. The joy of our work is consolation. Consolation that whether we are lifting I-beams processed ourselves or tearing down walls, we are working directly for Our Lady for greater graces of conversion, March 19-23, 2011.

Our lives working for Our Lady are meaningful and through the years we have witnessed our work bears great fruit for others. When our lives are structured on Our Lady’s messages, motivation is not lacking. Even when one’s work is filled with long hours, the consolation that something will come from our work makes the work easier, desirable and joyful to the heart because our work becomes prayer. Our Lady’s first message given here in the Bedroom in 1988:
 

November 20, 1988

“…May your work be offered as a prayer…”
 

Our work is our prayer. Our prayer fills our work. Thank you for helping Our Lady.

Again, this is urgent. We plead with you to mail to call with a donation immediately and to continue to see what else you can financially do. You can call Caritas in the US at 205-672-2000 with your donation. After hours you can dial to extension 383. To mail your donation please write to: Caritas of Birmingham, C/O Retooling, 100 Our Lady Queen of Peace Drive, Sterrett, Alabama 35147 USA.