Digital Marian Helper Winter_2016-2017

the time, but Joseph didn’t pray it with me. In 2002, Joseph was dying of cancer from smoking, and he was afraid of dying. I would pray the chaplet, and he would listen. I told him Jesus was so kind and loving, and Joseph and I had reconciled with each other. One day, our friends and relatives had just finished praying the chaplet with me by his bedside and the priest arrived just before he died to give him the Anointing of the Sick. He died at 3 o’clock in the afternoon — the hour of Divine Mercy! When one of my neighbors became deathly ill with emphysema, I prayed the chaplet for her, even though she said that there was no God. Still, I remembered in her Diary, St. Faustina records Jesus saying, “When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You” (186-187). I prayed this conversion prayer for her, and she died shortly after. At her funeral I saw rosary beads in her hands, so I’m hoping that something happened! Now, I’m working on another miracle for a young man named Charlie who has three inoperable brain tumors. I have such faith that Charlie can be healed. That’s why I’m driven to visit the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy so often. I venerate the relic of St. Faustina for Charlie. I will accept God’s will if he is not physically healed, but I know I’m heard by God. I’m so obnoxious with my prayers, I know that I’m a hound of Heaven. I pray, and God must say, “Oh, it’s her again!” I pray the chaplet for many people who are sick and dying. Even if a miracle doesn’t happen for some people I pray for, I’m still putting their lives into the right hands. Who do you share the Divine Mercy message with? I tell everyone about the Divine Mercy message and the chaplet, including through a special Facebook page. I give out Divine Mercy materials to those I know and those I happen to meet who are suffering in any way. I also leave booklets on the chaplet in the hospital that Gerri was taken to, with a note on it that says, “It’s not by chance that you found this.” I don’t worry about the reactions I will get when I share the devotion, because Jesus said to St. Faustina, “Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior” (1075). I want to do anything I can to give people hope. — Melanie Williams I N B RIEF Please pray for Michael Bethea, the singer/song- writer best known for “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Song,” which was filmed at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in 2002 and frequently airs on EWTN. Now, he needs our prayers. Michael, who was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure in 2011, needs a kidney transplant. “Michael’s family and young children are desper- ate for him to live,” said his chaplet co-singer, Trish Short. “They are praying to find a match for Michael within the next eight months’ time.” Please lift Michael up in your prayers. Praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy seems most appropriate. To offer further assistance to Michael, visit transplants.org and click on “Find an NFT Patient.” Then enter Michael’s name into the search field. l l l Congratulations to the Most Rev. Martin David Holley , a vir aggregatus (associate member) of the Marian Fathers, who was appointed by Pope Francis as bishop of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee in August. “We are happy because not only is he a beloved shepherd of the Catholic faithful, a man of deep faith, of great love and of tender heart, but also because he has been very close to our community,” said the Very Rev. Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC, provincial superior for the Marian Fathers in the United States and Argentina. Before his new assignment, Bishop Holley served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where he spent a lot of time with the Marian Fathers in the Marian House of Study. Bishop Hol- ley ordained Marian priests Fr. Andy Davy, Fr. Chris Alar, Fr. Angelo Casimiro, Fr. Ken Dos Santos, Fr. Ron McBride, and Fr. John Larson. l l l Safe travels to Jerry Bauman , founder of Divine Mercy for Youth, based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He’s heading up to Stockbridge later this fall to have his new Divine Mercy food trailer blessed by the Mar- ian Fathers. He and his volunteers have been using the trailer to distribute free pizza, drinks, and Divine Mercy images to children in poor neighborhoods. The outside of the trailer has images of Jesus, Mary, St. Faustina, and St. John Paul II. “We call it ‘Operation Mercy Relief,’” Jerry says. We’re looking forward to seeing it in person. C 7H?7D > ;BF;H ǙšǙ W INTER 2016-17 ǙšǙcWh_Wd$eh]Ǚ 5 MH