Special: Just A Peek

It is through the Sacraments of the church that we receive the “Life” of Jesus that Our Lady spoke of in Her most recent second of the month message on October 2, 2011. Baptism is the first sacrament, and all the others cannot be received without first being baptized—the sacrament that makes us members of the Church. The message of Our Lady given on October 2, 2011 had particular meaning for the Caritas Community because of what we did the day before, on Saturday, October 1, 2011. On this day we celebrated the baptism of four community babies—Luke Paul, Bishop Augustine, Jacob Jeremiah, and Lucy Christina. Lucy is the newest of the babies, born just two weeks ago, on September 17, 2011—she is also the only one with pink writing on her blanket. The other three had blue.

Medjugorje visionary Mirjana, once said that many Christians “go to church or places of worship just because it is a tradition, but they are unbelievers because they do not really know and love God. They only go to places of worship as a social custom.” Our Lady has come to change that. She is putting the love of God back into the Faith. She is not only showing us what we have lost, but how to find it again. For more than a week, many of the community were busy planning and preparing for this Day of Baptism. It was to be a beautiful day of celebration for all in the community.

Front and center in the room, at the foot of Our Lady’s statue, were the pictures of our four babies with their names. None of the couples of the community ever let the nurses tell them through a sonogram if the baby is a boy or a girl. For us it cheats us out of joy at the moment of birth. To know ahead of time is like knowing what’s in a Christmas present before it’s opened, its then no big deal. It is a steadfast rule in our community that God chooses the name of each child, not the parents. While the child is still in the womb of his mother, the parents do a 54-day Rosary novena (sometimes more than one) asking God through Our Lady for the grace that He would name their child. Not until the day the baby is born do they discover if they have a new son or daughter. Once they receive through various ways a name(not people suggesting names) , they ask God to confirm it several times. The process of how God the Father does this is always a beautiful unfolding story. It has taken as long as 8 days to discover a name but the way has never failed. The parents confess that sometimes the name takes a little getting used to as it is not one that they would have necessarily chosen, or on occasion, even liked. But there is something so mysterious in this “way” of Our Lady that our founder was led to follow, that the community then embraced. The name of each child reveals something of the unique purpose of their life and even something of their future. Each child grows up having their own special story of how God the Father named them. And because they know He named them, they understand so simply that they belong to Him.

To see the first story of letting God name our children, click to visit here.

Our Lady said on October 2, 2011, “…God the Father is not far away from you…” With one hand holding onto his father, and the other hand reaching to the water that will bring “New Life” at the words of the priest, little Luke Paul becomes a new citizen for Heaven.

May 25, 2009

“…I call you all to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit upon every baptized creature, so that the Holy Spirit may renew you all and lead you on the way of witnessing your faith…”

Luke, along with the other three community babies, have officially become a member of the 2,000 year old Church that was founded by Jesus Christ, Himself—the Church that the Mother of God has come, in this Her time, to purify and resurrect in the name of Her Son.

Young Bridget Christina holds her namesake, Lucy Christina, as she is being baptized by our parish priest. Bridget and brother, Joshua, aunt and uncle of little Lucy were also given the privilege of being named her Godmama and Godpapa. Even at this young age, they understand what it means to be a good “witness” to all the children of the community, not just this newly born baby. This was the call of Our Lady to our founder on October 6, 1986, the foundation message of his life, and the life of the community.

October 6, 1986

“Pray and by your life witness…”

Erin, the mother of Lucy, was a single young consecrated woman in the Caritas community before she married one of the sons of our founder. For many years she served the community as a single consecrated while she learned the way of Our Lady. She is now the mother of three little girls and her life’s purpose is to form her girls also in Our Lady’s way, that their hearts would be “filled with goodness” so that they will come to know and love God, their Father in Heaven. Every birth, every baptism, every life, throughout life, to our own cemetery—everything has meaning and purpose. Our Lady’s way gives meaning to life and the joy of life until the time of one’s final rest.

It was too much for all the little ones to sit still in their seats. At the baptism, they all wanted to be up close and to watch what was happening to their little baby brothers and sister. Standing between our priest on one side and the long baptismal gown of one of the babies on the other, they watched the baptism intensely. Though they did not comprehend what was taking place, they did know it was important and that this was a solemn occasion. They wanted to feel the water on their baby’s forehead, smell the potent chrism oil, hear what the priest was saying, and see how their own baby was going to react to all of this. Seeing that our children wanted to experience this event in whatever way they could, our priest made them feel a part of the whole celebration, sprinkling them with water, lifting the oil to their noses so they could get a good strong whiff of the perfumed aroma, explaining to them in simple language what was going to happen and stepping aside so they could get a better view.

After each baby was baptized, Father asked the parents to come forward and to place them on the altar. Here these babies sat on the very altar in which the Living God, Jesus Christ Himself comes down daily in the form of Bread and Wine.

A Friend of Medjugorje has said that,

“Everything in our daily life is structured into community to build memories. We have history together. Where today are the men who sit around and talk of history, stories, and memories? For the most part, today’s subjects are limited to football and things inconsequential to life. Where is history with each other? A trail of broken families, broken lives, memories in the making cut off before even being fulfilled. We are a fractured society cut off from the joy God wants for us.”

It was a very moving scene, and it was here while they were still on the altar that Father raised his hand and gave a final blessing while little sisters stood on tippy toes to see what would happen next. We celebrate many things today too formally. Ceremonies have become so sterile in many cases that people begin looking at their watches the moment they sit down. Our Lady’s way has informal in the formal events themselves, with beauty interwoven throughout these spiritual events of the community. When finished you never give a thought of the time except where did it fly off to. The baptism was a two day affair, not a two hour event, even longer in preparation. It was something learned through Our Lady’s messages that we incorporate into life, traditions as a little village for the most important events in our lives. What is more important to life then receiving the Sacraments of the Church? Therefore, for every sacrament received in the community, it is a great occasion to be celebrated—and the celebration may last for days, while everything else stops by every community member.

Father asked if these three will be future priests for the church one day. We responded, “Well, maybe two priests and a bishop.”

Pictured left to right: Jacob Jeremiah, Luke Paul and Bishop Augustine.

A Friend of Medjugorje said,

“Names are what remain after we are gone. We will hear our name through life more than any other word that identifies us. After our death, the name we wore in life will still be mentioned. What will be tagged on from life to your name when you are gone? You do not have to have an illustrious life or be great in something to become a great soul. You only have to love. Love is remembered in this life but also through all eternity. The living of Our Lady’s messages imprints in the soul with love a love that history cannot bury, a history of your life that continues not only on earth but forever, into eternity. On a tombstone near our home an etched statement says everything in a few short words:
‘Those who live in the hearts they leave behind never die.’

These are the words of wisdom that should guide every activity of our lives. Our Lady’s words teach us to be a witness. You are called to be what others wish to emulate in witnessing goodness.”

Passing on the baton—First Generation, Papa Tony, the father of our founder, holds Fourth Generation, little Bishop, while wife, Mary, mother of our founder holds little Lucy behind him—their great grandchildren. These little babies come from a rich Catholic heritage rooted in a deep love of faith, family and country. Tony and Mary, just this year, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Multi-generational faithfulness in families is what satan attacked over his century of influence—and unfortunately he was successful. Our Lady has come to restake Her claim on all the families who have consecrated themselves to Her. Our Lady has said three generations under the same roof is pleasing to God.

The social life of the community involves the children of the community being around young and older adults all day. The children love playing with each other, but they also love being with the adults and older youth. They know no matter who they are with, that they are wanted—that everyone is happy that they are there and that they have a contribution to make to the life of the community. As the picture shows, a Rosary is always nearby.

Walking into the Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages after the Baptism. In today’s society children, as well as the elderly, are separated from adult contact much of the day. In community, the inner action of all ages is every moment of the day. Visitors have often been impressed at the social interaction of all ages in the community, unlike society which puts all first graders together, all second graders together, and so on down the line. Training them through 12 years of spending most of their youth only with other children of the same age is a detriment to them, to the community, and society in which they live. It puts limits on youth who grow up into adults always interacting with just those in the same age block. This environment nurtures and creates an estrangement between one generation and another as not understanding each other. Even breeding an “us” versus “them” mentality rather than oneness.

After the Baptism, running up and down the asphalt path in front of the Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages. In a message from the Bedroom of Apparitions in our founder’s home, Our Lady through Marija said November 25, 1988:

“…Watch in vigil so that every encounter in prayer be the joy of your contact with God…”

In what greater way can one encounter God on this earth, than the innocence of children at play? It is through a life of prayer and sacrifice, that God grants these graces of joy, pure joy. In these three different pictures above, these little girls have one thing in common. Besides the white dresses, they are all carrying their shoes in their hands. It’s easier to run with no shoes on. All three pictures capture separately the joy of being raised with innocence where conversation is guarded, where certain subjects are never mentioned, an environment where kids are not subject to vileness, an environment which contradicts what schools are teaching kids today. Every event becomes an event of joy, not only for the children, but also for the adults that witness this youthful and innocent joy, in a way of life of truly a “contact with God.”

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.”

We did not write that quote, but we agree with it. We believe Our Lady is leading to a happy future—a future full of hope. But it is hope not as the world gives it—for the world has accepted a culture of death. Our Lady’s way is life. Babies bring life, joy, and future—but within the context in which God created them to be—within the family, a father as its king, a mother as its queen. Families together make community. Communities together make societies. Families, communities and societies—with Him, in Him, and through Him. This is what Our Lady has come to teach us.

A Friend of Medjugorje in a retreat once said:

“This is where She is leading us, along with giving a new way of life, a life closer to creation, closer to subsistence living, where one’s needs are met more directly by one’s own effort, less dependent on man with more dependence on God. For it is God who gives the water for man who plants the seed. Subsistence living where man asks for God’s help, replacing man’s way today of man’s dependence is upon man only.”