Somethings about Mary in June 2013
Many, many thanks to Alice, Alicia, Sister Anastasia, Andrew, Ann, Annie, Antonia, Arnold, Sister Bernardina, Donna, Edward, Fiona, Gloria, Sister Isabella, Joe, Sister Joyce, Justyna, Leo, Mary, Nafi, Nathan, Patricia, Peggy, Ruth, Ryan, Father Sean Riley, Father Simon Penhaligan, Siobhan, William & Sister Winnie for giving their 'something' about Mary.
This painting of Our Lady of Miracles is in the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Piazza del Popolo, in Rome.
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1st June - Sister Winnie 
"For me Mary is my best friend. Someone who is always there who I can turn to."
Sister Winnie is from Scotland.
2nd June - Corpus Christi Sunday - Nafi
"She is everything ... She’s our mother, the mother of all."
Nafi is from Baghdad, Iraq & gives his response in English & Arabic.
Our Lady's message to Mirjana Soldo, Medjugorje, 2nd June 2013:
"Dear children, in this restless time, anew I am calling you to set out after my Son - to follow Him. I know of the pain, suffering and difficulties, but in my Son you will find rest; in Him you will find peace and salvation. My children, do not forget that my Son redeemed you by His Cross and enabled you, anew, to be children of God; to be able to, anew, call the Heavenly Father, "Father". To be worthy of the Father, love and forgive, because your Father is love and forgiveness. Pray and fast, because that is the way to your purification, it is the way of coming to know and becoming cognizant of the Heavenly Father. When you become cognizant of the Father, you will comprehend that He is all you need. I, as a mother, desire my children to be in a community of one single people where the Word of God is listened to and carried out. Therefore, my children, set out after my Son. Be one with Him. Be God's children. Love your shepherds as my Son loved them when He called them to serve you. Thank you."
3rd June - Mary
"I love Our Lady. What more can I say? Through Our Lady we get to God, through her Son."
Mary is from County Cork in Ireland.
4th June - Ann
"Mary is the Queen of Heaven and she’s so good to all of us. We just have to put our trust in her, call on her name, she is our mother after all."
Ann is from Dominica.
5th June - Feast of Saint Boniface - Fiona
"When I think of Our Lady, I think of someone who was completely pure in heart and so able to just totally love God, open herself to God. And I guess she teaches me how to love."
Fiona is from London.
6th June - William
"I always love Our Lady and it cannot be any other way, not for me anyway."
William is from Ireland.
7th June - Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - Alice
"For me the most beautiful thing about Mary is that she is the embodiment of the response of the Church, she’s the feminine ‘yes’ of the Church to Christ. She embodies the beautiful ‘yes’ of the Church."
Alice is 22 & from London.
8th June - Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - Father Sean
"The first day I celebrated the Holy Mass was the Feast of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. It’s that heart connected with Our Lord’s heart, that heart that loves us so much that it’s pierced, that heart that accompanies us each day of our lives as mother and as sister in the Church. The Blessed Mother, the example that she gives to us as a disciple, as a teacher, as a mother, as a friend, is an example of silence, of prayer, of reflection and of action; seeking to love the Lord, seeking to know him and seeking to bring him to others - that's the Blessed Mother for me."
Father Sean is from Liverpool Archdiocese in England.
9th June - Feast of St Ephrem the Syrian - Gloria
"My belief in Mother Mary starts right from childhood. I was always taught to pray to her from my mother and from my family. .. I believe that she works on us and she keeps us true in faith to our Christian community."
Gloria is from India.
10th June - Ryan
"From childhood, I’ve always believed in Mother Mary. I was taught about Mother Mary being the mother of Jesus, so how she could bring us closer to Jesus and help us in our day to day lives, guide us."
Ryan is from India.
11th June - Feast of St Barnabas, the Apostle - Alicia
"Mary is a very precious person to me. It’s like being with a mother. You can go there with all your problems and sorrows, and you know at the end of the day you'll be comforted. Don't care what your problems, don't care what the trials, don't care what the tribulations, take her all your suffering, she's always there to answer our prayers."
Alicia is from London.
12th June - Peggy
"I owe Our Lady so much, because I lost my daughter last year to breast cancer and I thought I would never ever get over it, but I said the rosary every day to Our Lady and now I can cope. And I know she's with Our Lady, so that means a lot to me. She's done a lot for me, Our Lady, and I could never forget her."
Peggy is from Donegal, Ireland.
13th June - Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua - Annie 
"Another helper came over to me out of the blue (I think she was an Italian lady who I'd never seen or met before) and she said 'You're Anne, aren't you.' and I said yes. I didn't think at the time it was strange that she knew my name. She said to me: ‘I've been directed to you, the Virgin has directed me to you and wants me to give you a message. She says that she knows you've been having a difficult time for some time now and as she stands here now, she's looking at you with all encompassing and unconditional love and you would weep for joy if you knew how much she loves you.' And with that the lady (the helper) gave me a hug and walked away and I then went into the healing waters in Lourdes, was immersed and came out again."
Annie is from London.
14th June - Andrew 
"To me Mary is the living person, is the one to depend on."
Andrew is from Zimbabwe.
15th June - Sister Bernardina 
"Mary is the guide in our life as she said the yes of the Annunciation. That’s the beginning of our Christian belief because if Mary hadn’t said yes, things wouldn’t have been the same. Mary is always a soft spot in everyone's life, I think, because we take her as a mother but not only as an ordinary mother, she's a special mother. God chose Mary for us to guide us to her Son."
Sister Bernardina is a Sister Hospitaller of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from Spain. She gives her algo acerca de María in English & Spanish.
16th June - Evangelium Vitae Day in this Year of Faith - Siobhan 
"Mary is the most tender of mothers as, at the foot of the Cross ,she received us. And she is also a fantastic model of humility as shown at the Annunciation. And as I’m standing here for the Good Counsel Network, a prolife organisation here in London, that's a particularly special mystery for me, the Annunciation, just the acceptance of God's will and how she has demonstrated that in her own life so perfectly. It means that she is not only a mother to me, she's also a role model."
Siobhan is 26 & from Ireland.
On 16 June 2013 the Solemn Act of Consecration of Lebanon and the entire Middle East was carried out by the Cardinal of Lebanon and the entire episcopate of Lebanon, along with the Catholic Patriarchs of the different Middle Eastern countries.
17th June - Antonia 
"On Sunday 16th June (which happened to be the 45th anniversary of my first holy communion) I celebrated the greatest day of my life when the solemn Act of Consecration of Lebanon and the entire Middle East took place in the National Shrine of Our Lady in Harissa to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This solemn Act of Consecration was carried out by the Cardinal of Lebanon and the entire episcopate of Lebanon, along with the Catholic Patriarchs of the different Middle Eastern countries."
Antonia lives and works in Walsingham, the National Shrine of Our Lady in England, Our Lady’s Dowry.
18th June - Justyna 
"I really want to thank Our Lady. She brought me to life, actually. She helped me to actually be myself and to be courageous and strong."
Justyna is from Poland & gives her response in English & Polish.
19th June - Leo 
"I have put my trust in Our Lady for years and years and years. I have been in very troubled spots in the world, I’ve been in desperate situations and I’ve always prayed to her and she’s always helped me."
Leo is from the UK.
20th June - Nathan 
"Jesus Christ died on the Cross for us and Mary was there witnessing it. She was there at the time when he was in the most pain but he did that out of love and she knew that. She gave up her son because of love. If we can't have a devotion to our blessed Mary Mother, who can we have a devotion to?"
Nathan is 18 & from the United States.
21st June - Feast of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga - Joe 
"To me Mother Mary is the mother of the world and all the young people."
Joe is 13 & from England.
22nd June - Feast of St John Fisher & St Thomas More - Edward 
"When I think of Our Lady, I think of her in terms of the Hail Mary: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God’."
Edward is from England.
23rd June - Arnold 
"Our Lady for me is like my mother, the one who I always ask for intercession, whenever I’m up or I’m down, and whenever I try to get close to Christ and to the Father, Our Lord. So I always like to do the rosary every day to obviously get close to her. And every time I've done the rosary I feel that tenderness of a mother and I feel she's always close to me whenever I'm in difficulty or I'm in joy. So she's the link between me and God, and she's like that bridge that I always tend to look towards every day."
"La Vierge Marie pour moi, c'est une mère, elle est ce lien entre moi et le Seigneur. J'aime faire le rosaire chaque jour de ma vie, parce que ça m'aide vraiment dans ma vie spirituelle. ça m'aide sur le point que je sens vraiment cette amour maternelle de la mère et chaque fois que je fais le rosaire c'est comme si je sens cette amour, cette tendresse, et puis comme si c'est une mère qui me berce. Je rends vraiment gloire a Dieu de nous avoir donne Marie, qui est cette mere, qui est vraiment ce pont pour nous. Amen."
Arnold is 26 & from the Ivory Coast. He gives his quelque chose de Marie in English & French.
24th June - Feast of the Birthday of St John the Baptist - 32nd anniversary of the 1st appearance of Our Lady in Medjugorje - Ruth 
"When I think about Our Lady, I think of someone that I’ve always known, I’ve always been lucky enough to have known her, thought about her, loved her, from my earliest memories. When I was a teenager I picked up a book on Fatima and I think that was a bit of a wake up call. I detected the urgency in her messages and I began to think about what she was asking of us all and asking of me, and that was when I began to try and say the rosary fairly faithfully. I think that was a preparation, looking back, for the real turning point which was going to Medjugorje when I was 19 in 1983. That was the moment when I felt Our Lady was inviting me to a deeper commitment to her, a giving of everything really to her which I wanted to do, which I completely wanted to do. Ever since then I have tried and the emphasis is on the word tried because I fail so often, but I've tried to live the messages that she gives us at Medjugorje. Really my life is hers as far as I'm concerned and I've tried to give her everything."
Ruth is a member of the Craig Lodge Community Dalmally in Scotland.
Our Lady of Medjugorje's message to Marija Pavlović, 25 June 2013:
“Dear children! With joy in the heart I love you all and call you to draw closer to my Immaculate Heart so I can draw you still closer to my Son Jesus, and that He can give you His peace and love, which are nourishment for each one of you. Open yourselves, little children, to prayer – open yourselves to my love. I am your mother and cannot leave you alone in wandering and sin. You are called, little children, to be my children, my beloved children, so I can present you all to my Son. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
“¡Queridos hijos! Los amo a todos con alegría en el corazón, y los invito a acercarse a mi Corazón Inmaculado, para que Yo pueda acercarlos aún más a mi Hijo Jesús y para que Él pueda darles su paz y su amor, que son alimento para cada uno de ustedes. Abranse hijitos a la oración, ábranse a mi amor. Yo soy vuestra Madre y no puedo dejarlos solos en el deambular y el pecado. Hijitos, ustedes son llamados a ser mis hijos, mis hijos amados, para poder presentarlos a todos a mi Hijo. Gracias por haber respondido a mi llamado."
"Cari figli! Con la gioia nel cuore vi amo tutti e vi invito ad avvicinarvi al mio cuore Immacolato affinchè Io possa avvicinarvi ancora di più al mio Figlio Gesù perché Lui vi dia la sua pace e il suo amore che sono il nutrimento per ciascuno di voi. Apritevi, figlioli, alla preghiera, apritevi al mio amore. Io sono vostra Madre e non posso lasciarvi soli nel vagare e nel peccato. Figlioli, siete invitati ad essere i miei figli, i miei amati figli perché possa presentarvi tutti al mio Figlio. Grazie per aver risposto alla mia chiamata.”
25th June - anniversary of apparitions in Medjugorje - Sr Joyce 
"I love Our Lady. She went from the birth of Jesus to the Cross, she went and she did not understand everything that Jesus was telling her (it was very difficult to understand). And with faith she went till the Cross and she stood very courageously. So I know that she will walk with us in our life, till the end of our life."
Sister Joyce is from Sri Lanka.
26th June - Feast of St Josemaría Escrivá - Donna 
"Mary is my mother, she’s my inspiration, she’s my joy, she’s my consolation, she’s absolutely everything to me. I couldn't make it through the day without her her, without her love and her support, knowing that she's always interceding for me and she's always there for me. So, yeh, I love Mary."
Donna is from London.
27th June - Feast of St Cyril of Alexandria - Sister Anastasia 
"Mary is everything for me. She is my mother, I take her as my mother and I take consolation in her. Whenever I'm sad, I go to Mary, I say 'Look, when your son was sad, you were with him in his sadness, so be with me in my sadness.' And then Mary shows me the way. She teaches me how to pray, how to go to her son and how to be faithful to her son."
Sister Anastacia is a Sister Hospitaller of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from Ghana.
28th June - Feast of St Irenaeus - Sister Isabella 
"Mary for me is everything, is my mother. I always attribute to her my vocation. Without her I don’t know how I would have got on in this wonderful way, because our mission is to glorify God and to pass on his compassionate love to the sick, especially to the mentally ill. And for us, Mary is our model as Mary at the foot of the Cross. So this is how we imitate her, at the foot of the Cross, at the foot of all those who suffer. "
Sister Isabella, from León in Spain, is a Sister Hospitaller of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She gives her algo acerca de María in English & Spanish.
29th June - Feast of Apostles Peter & Paul - Father Simon 
"My key reflection on Our Lady is something that came to me in prayer two or three years ago. I had just an image of the person of Christ ahead of me, kind of the glow of Christ and I became aware of a hand on my shoulder. And as I thought about that hand in particular, I realised that it was Our Lady just stood behind me on a constant basis, reaching out to me, praying for me and encouraging me each day, each moment really, to take the next step forward towards Christ, towards the light."
Father Simon Penhaligon, from England, is a member of the Sion Community.
30th June - Patricia 
"Each day we offer up everything to Our Lady, who is dearest to her son and nearest to her son."
Patricia is from Ireland.