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The radio show discusses the importance of having hope and faith in the upcoming year. It suggests making physical resolutions to help with spiritual resolutions, such as following the teachings of a saint. The host emphasizes the need to turn to prayer and the Eucharist to find peace and overcome pessimism. The show also mentions messages from the Blessed Mother, encouraging listeners to return to prayer, count their blessings, and embrace their identity as children of God. The messages highlight the importance of having faith and giving thanks to God. You're listening to Radio Maria, a Christian voice in your home. We now bring you Marian Apparitions with Mary Piper. Welcome everyone, so good to be back with you. Well, I think it holds a lot of great promise, a lot of hope, and a lot of light. You know, as we keep hearing over and over again in all the readings in the last few weeks is that, you know, the light has come into the world, and it dispels the darkness. So, I'm ready for a great year. I hope that you are too. Last week we talked about how to make it a great year, and that was how to, what kind of resolutions should we make. Physical ones are good. In fact, they help you to be disciplined so that you can also put into practice your spiritual resolutions. And so, I recommend going with a great saint, or maybe even just a saint you don't know much about, but a saint to take their words throughout the year and to really let those guide you. For instance, Andre Pio, pray, hope, and don't worry. And that little, little string of three different things is a great advice. Pray always, hope, even when it doesn't seem like things are hopeless, and then not to worry. And I think he's a great saint, of course, one of the greatest that's ever lived. However, I also think his message is very timely, and he lived in perilous times as well. And he went through lots and lots of suffering, and yet he was always well. He was always praying. He was always hopeful, and he never worried. You know, and he even asked people from around the world to send their guardian angels to him, and he would help them. So, that is kind of a role model for all of us. And today we're going to talk a little bit more about how we can make this a hopeful new year. I've been hearing all these eddies and these pollings that they've been doing, and the words that are coming up, you know, over and over again is, you know, pretty much everybody thinks we're going to have a repeat of 2021, or maybe even worse. And so, there's a lot of pessimism out there. Well, that's the time for our light to shine even brighter. And so, today we're going to talk about how do we make that light shine even brighter? How do we bring hope into the world? He's already come, but so many people have abandoned him. And so, we're going to talk about how we can refresh and live, well, fresh in a full life with our Eucharistic Lord. And that's really the secret of everything, my friends. If you have not returned to the holy sacrifice of the mass, if you have not been able to, that's understandable. But if you are able to return to mass to receive our Lord, well, that changes everything. So many graces for your souls and the souls of all those around you. And so, today I want us to be guided into this new year with a bright light, and that light comes from Medjugorje. These are the messages given by our Blessed Mother, reportedly on December 25th, the Christmas. She comes always on Christmas holding the Christ child. So, she brings the Son of God, the light of the world, into our world in a very real way, and just as the Eucharist does. And here's what she had to say to all of us. Dear children, today I am carrying my son Jesus to you, for him to give you his peace. Little children, without peace, you do not have a future or blessing. Therefore, return to prayer, because the fruit of prayer is joy and faith, without which you cannot live. Today's lesson which we give you, carry to your families and enrich all those whom you meet, that they may feel the grace which you are receiving. Thank you for having responded to my call. So, there's the Blessed Mother. She's talking to Maria, one of the visionaries, who gives us her monthly message on the 25th of every month, and what a beautiful reminder to all of us. You know, when we listen to people complaining and just wondering, when is it all going to stop? Well, it could stop right away. What I mean by that is, as our Blessed Mother says, is that she's bringing her son Jesus to us so that he can give us his peace, not the peace the world gives us, you know. But in the midst of all the confusion and the chaos and the sickness and the ups and downs and just this whole rollercoaster everybody's so tired of being on, and they're so trapped, well, you don't have to be, my friend. That's what she's saying. And not only do we not have to be, but we can help other people to get out of that downward spiral that everybody seems to be caught up in. And how do we do it? We turn to God. We turn to her son Jesus. And when we are focused on Jesus, then everything changes. And the way we see things is more from a Godly perspective. And when we see things from God's perspective, which is eternal, then we see that everything is passing. We don't know how long all this is going to be going on, but we don't have to worry. That's the part that I love in her message. Because if we return to prayer, well, as she tells us and reminds us, the fruit of prayer is joy and faith. So you want joy? You want happiness back in your life? Return to prayer. You want your faith to grow so that you don't have to be afraid? Remember, the opposite of fear is faith. So return to prayer, my friend. So that's what she says. If we don't have the peace of Christ in us, and if we don't pray, then we won't have that joy and that faith. And so that means we can't be blessed by God because we're not allowing him to break through all this darkness. And so she's reminding us that we have control over this. Why? Because we have access to God. And God wants to help us out of that spot that we're stuck in. And he wants to return to our lives the joy and the faith and the hope and the love that we all want, need, and deserve. That's right. We all deserve that. Why? Because we are children of God. And when we do that, my friends, when we turn back to him and we start giving him our problems, giving him our joys, giving him our sorrows, you know, complaining to him if we have to, but, you know, thanking him and blessing him and seeing all the blessings in our lives, well, things start to change. In fact, there was a study done, and everyone was to count their blessings, so to speak. So every day for three months, they were to count their blessings, and they were supposed to write down three things that they were blessed with that day. So something they were thankful for, that they saw was a blessing in their life. It could be small, it could be big, it didn't matter. They were just to write that down and record it in the journal. And just by doing that little thing, three blessings that they saw in their day, then their whole outlook on life lifted. And it became more positive, they became happier, they were easier to be around. It just changed their life. That one little thing, counting our blessings, writing them down. So I suggest, you know, that's a great way to start out this year, is start looking at all the blessings that we have, and, you know, concentrate on three blessings, and be thankful and praise God for those blessings. And then share those blessings with your family. You know, what a great thing to do for each family. Give everybody a little notebook and write down three of your blessings and share it at dinner time or before you go to bed and pray together. You know, what a great way to end the day, blessing God and blessing your children and your families by helping them to be focused on what's important in life. Praying with them, with each other, and lifting our hearts and our minds and our families up to God. Well, the blessings are going to flow from that. You know that to be true, my friends. So that is her first message. And now we're going to look at the second message. Yes, there were two messages given. One was to Maria, who has the monthly message that I just read. And the other one is to Jocko. And he was the youngest little visionary. I think he was 9 or 11 when it all started. And he was the littlest one. And I always loved listening to or reading the interviews with him because he was so little and so young and so excited. And it just had a whole different view of our Blessed Mother. And here's what our Blessed Mother said to him. Dear children, you are and you are called children of God. If all your hearts would feel that immeasurable love which God has for you, your hearts would adore and give thanks to him at every instant of your life. Therefore, little children, today on this day of grace, open your heart and implore the Lord for the gift of faith so that you could truly become worthy of the name children of God who with a pure heart give thanks to and honor their Heavenly Father. I am beside you and I'm blessing you with my motherly blessing. So that's Our Lady's beautiful message to Jocko. And of course, he goes back to being children of God. You know, we see that all the time. We hear it. We, it just kind of becomes, well, just kind of mundane. Like we kind of forget what that means and how important that is. And how privileged we are to be called children of God, you know. And so she's reminding us. In fact, one of her first messages when she came 40 years ago is, Dear children, you have forgotten that you are children of God. She always comes to remind us, call us back to the reality of who we are and who we are in Christ. And so once again, she's going back to the beginning. You are and you are called children of God. So are we acting like children of God? That's the first thing we need to ask ourselves. You know, how does a child of God act? You know, do we pray to God? Are we, if we're his children, are we talking to him? You know, are we thinking of him? Are we doing the things that will please him? You know, just as any child would with their mother and father. We do things that are willful and selfish. Or do we let go of all that and we do what our mom and dad want us to do with great love and tenderness? Why? Because they love us and we love them. And so we have to kind of get back to that so I'll relationship that we have with God that we are his children. And he is always taking care of us. Although sometimes we may have doubts about that because bad things still do happen to us. But remember, he lets things happen to us with his permitting will or his ordained will. And he only does that if it's for the good of our souls. And so we have to always keep that in mind. And so we have to ask when something comes our way, whether it's good or bad, you know, to ask God, you know, why are you allowing this to happen to me? Why are you blessing me so much? You know, you made me feel unworthy for the kind of blessings he's showering on you. Or perhaps things aren't going very well. And you're kind of wondering, you know, are you there? Do you know this is happening? Can you help me out a little here? You know, we need to keep that constant conversation with God. Because when we do that, well, and we start to listen to the answers, then he starts to reveal things. And that, my friend, is what helps to bring about the peace of God in the midst of chaos, in the midst of difficulties. You know, when you start to see things from God's point of view, then you get patience, right, to endure. You get perseverance. You get the fortitude that you need. You need the courage. Whatever it is that you need to handle that situation, to live through that situation and to offer that back up to God. Well, he gives you those graces. And part of those graces are knowing why he's doing it. And if he doesn't reveal why, well, then we just trust him, right? That's the bottom line. I always believe that God will make a greater thing, greater good out of anything that happens. No matter how badly I do screw things up, no matter how off the road I get, you know, or things that I might regret, he can always make the greater good. In fact, I pray for that. And so we have to remember that his ways are not our ways, because sometimes when illnesses come, when hardships come, they open new doors for us. Things that we normally would never have known. Maybe something very tragic helps us to open our eyes to the people who are still around us. Maybe something, you know, a physical handicap or illness that leaves us debilitated, or at least not up to what we used to be. Well, then we start to focus on different things, you know? And sometimes we realize, you know, I was going down the wrong path down here. And so, you know, sometimes we don't understand exactly, or we don't need to endure these things. But in the end, we see that they were for our good, and the good of those around us, and that they helped to make us saints. That's right, saints. And that's what we're all called to do. If we are children of God, we are headed for heaven. And that means that we are on that road to sainthood. And that means, my friends, that old or young, we are bound to act as saints. And the more that we can become saintly here on earth, the more people will follow us. And that's what she's talking about in this message, right? She says, Therefore, little children, today on this day of grace, open your hearts and implore the Lord for the gift of faith. So if we have that faith, then we will grow in our sainthood, right? So that our halos will get more and more apparent, and they'll get a little more light shining to attract other people to follow with us. And sometimes we don't realize the impact that we could have on others. And I want to use as an example, one of my favorite saints who just had her great feast day. We have so many great saints' feast days in January. And Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, she was a great saint. She was not raised as Catholic, but the wonderful example of a Catholic family touched her heart, and she entered into the Catholic Church when she was 30 years old. So it was by the example of how a beautiful Catholic family lived out their faith, that she was so touched by it, that she came to believe, and she wanted to be like that family. And so she became a child of God at the age of 30 in the Catholic Church. And she was especially drawn to the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. So she had a great love for our Lord in the Eucharist. She was so happy to be able to receive Jesus every day. And so Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton started the first three Catholic schools in America. And there were many people who could not in that day have actual schooling because of how poor they were, they needed to work, or they didn't have the money to have their kids go to school. Well, she saw that need, and she was happy to respond to that, and to start the first three Catholic schools in America. And so as the need for teachers arose, she began a religious order of nuns called the Sisters of Charity. They were the first religious community of women founded in the United States. So here's all these groundbreaking things in the United States that this woman did, this saint who was touched by Catholic family and their life of faith. And so do you see how our light can change the world? You know, they were living their Catholic life and their family, and they were, you know, bringing Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton into their family life. And she saw and loved it, and she noticed the goodness and the love and the faith. And that's what led to her conversion. And God had great plans for her, you know, to start the first three Catholic schools in America, to start a religious order of nuns so that they were always great religious teachers to reform and mold our young Catholics. Well, who could have ever thought that? But she just kept saying yes to God and following her heart, which was always in love with Jesus in the Eucharist. And that, my friend, is one of the secrets of many of the great saints, is they had a great, deep love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Because it's really Him. He's really present there. And so when you adore Christ, when you receive Him, when you talk to Him throughout your day, things change. And you'll be doing things you never thought possible. And so, you know, we have Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton to thank for this great religious community and a Catholic school. And her complete dedication to her Catholic faith. So when she became Catholic, she didn't just do her own private Catholic faith. She wanted to spread it to everyone, and especially the children. She knew how important it was for them to get a good, solid Catholic foundation so they can know and live their faith and do the wonderful things God had planned for them. Why? Because they're children of God. He has great things planned for us. In fact, our Blessed Mother in the beginning, once again, said, without you, God's plan cannot be realized. That's how important our mission is for the overall plan of God. And if you think about it, how true that is, right? Because He wants all of His children working together to help the rest of His children who maybe are a little wayward, who are maybe a little rebellious, who maybe don't have that gift of faith yet. Well, it's possible, my friends. You need to help me to make that happen. And in fact, that's what He's calling us to do. And that's why when He calls us children of God, He wants us to truly become worthy of that name. And what does that mean? That we have a pure heart. That we give thanks to and honor our Heavenly Father. Is that what Jesus did? He always had that pure heart and He was always giving thanks to God and He's always honoring Him. You know, everything He did was for His glory, for the glory of God. And so His Heavenly Father, you know, someone said, show us the Father. He says, you see me, you know me. Could people say that about you? They're saying, show me God. You can say, well, you know me. I'm following the heart of God. I have His heart. I follow His commands. I do His work. I pray. I am with Him. He is with me and He wants to be with you. Those are the things we need to point out and connect those thoughts because so many people never hear that. They really have no idea what it means to be a child of God, you know. And these are you people who are very faithful, you know, who just never thought of themselves as a child of God. It's kind of humbling when you think about it, you know, but yes, it's so glorious because when we become true children of God, then all that hope that everybody's looking for, it's there. All that happiness and that joy, it's there. You know, all the things that we long for, to be loved, to be filled, to live a life of purpose and meaning. That is really built into us. And so when we realize our calling is children of God and what that means and we start to fulfill that, we are on our road to sainthood. Not only that, but if we look behind us, we will probably see many, many people following us. That's the impact that we can have and that God intends for us to have. Look at all the people who followed Mother Teresa. I'm thinking of people in our own time, you know, when she started her order, you know, the poorest of the poor, and she, well, it's in unbelievable conditions, right? And yet she was so faithful to God in the call that he put on her life. And she saw all around her children of God, even if they were a people of different faith, they were all children of God who needed his love, who lacked that faith, and who had such deplorable conditions that they lived in, you know, picking them up off the streets full of insects and disease and dying and starving. And there she was. What an angel, correct? Look at all the people around the world who came to know her and love her because of what she did. And what did she always say? It's always one by one by one. It's always that person that's laying over there in the gutter. It's this person here. It's that person here. And she even pointed out in America, yes, in other places where there is more wealth, there is more loneliness and more people in need of God than maybe in the streets of Calcutta. She points us to the fact that God is everywhere and we're all his children and we need to be there for him. We are his hands and feet. And what was it that she did that once again brought her mission to full completion? You know, it's the order of our missionaries of charity spread throughout the world in all places. And what was it? It was adoration of Jesus in the blessed sacrament. She said until she started doing that with a few nuns who started to follow her, the few followers that started her order. Once they had daily adoration, everything happened. Everything grew. They started to get the resources they needed to help the people that needed to be helped. More and more people were attracted to what they were doing and wanting to help either joining as a sister or an associate or funding their operations or even opening doors so that they could get to the people because sometimes that's one of the hardest things to do. And so my friends, it's Jesus in the Eucharist. He is the light of our life. He is the light in this darkness. And if you feel darkness, then run to your nearest tabernacle. He's there waiting for you. And he's lonely. There's so many people busy doing everything and everybody's starting to work out in their gym resolutions to lose weight and to do this and that and take classes and better themselves and all that kind of stuff. And yet the secret is so simple. Run to our Lord in the blessed sacrament. He waits for us. And when we do that, we will receive graces beyond anything we could ever, ever imagine. Why? Because he's just waiting to give them to us. And so many people never ask for them or they never take the time to realize the importance of Jesus in the Eucharist. So when we get back, we'll talk about some of the secrets of the Eucharist and how they can help our life. And maybe if we started to take it to heart and to actually practice some of the things that we think about that we should be doing in our faith life, our whole entire life will change. And maybe with our life, those around us who are experiencing great difficulties will also find that joy, that hope, and that peace. I see we're at the bottom of the hour, so we're going to take our break with some music. We'll be back right after this break. This is Mary Piper with Marian Apparitions. Mary, the mother of Christ, Mary, conceived without sin, Virgin birth, full of grace, born in Christ. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, Mother of mercy and love, Helper of soul and of breath, Friend of youth, woman of strength, Handmaid of love. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, You're listening to Radio Maria, a Christian voice in your home. We now return to Marian Apparitions with Mary Piper. Welcome back everyone. Yes, following Mary, she is the star. She leads us to her son Jesus in a way that no one else can. No one knows Jesus as she does. And no one loves him as greatly as she does. And not only that, she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that when you follow the will of God as she did in every step of her life, then untold graces are flooded into the world and millions and millions of souls are saved. And she's asking us to join her in that mission. Because it's the mission of the two hearts, Jesus and Mary, to save as many souls as possible. We were each created as a child of God. There's a reason that today, this past Christmas, just a week ago, that she said in both of her messages, she brings back the attention that we are children of God. So many times we identify ourselves as political, everybody's going right, left, Democrat, Republican, Catholic, Protestant, different races, black, white, you name it. There's all kinds of different divisions and categories and things like that. And sometimes we forget that we all belong to one category and that is children of God. And with that comes great responsibility. But also with it, my friends, becomes a great source and power of strength, of hope, of love, of peace, of joy, all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And especially when we partake in the Holy Communion and we do it worthily. Which means that if we haven't been to confession in a while, we should go as often as possible. Our Blessed Mother recommends that we go at least once a month. In fact, she says in Medjugorje, the cure for the West will be monthly confessions. So not just rattling off the same sins over and over again, but challenge yourself this year along with your resolution that whatever faults that you find that you keep repeating in those confessions that you are purposefully doing things to counter that. So if you have a propensity for gossip or to talk badly about other people and make that your goal that each time that you do it less and less and less. That is one of the things that a lot of confessors used to do with a lot of the different saints when they do their confessions, they would write about how their fault was speaking badly of someone, let's say. And they found they were doing it all the time. So then they started to track how many times they did that. And so their goal was to decrease that incrementally each and every day until it was gone. And so those are concrete ways that we can work on the faults that we have so that we can have this purity that we need to be one with God. The pure of heart are called the children of God. So our aim is that purity of heart, that purity of intention. And that means that we do everything not with selfish motives or vain in mind, but we do everything with love for God. Right? That's what makes everything that we do fresh and full of life. And when we do it all for His glory and not for our own, it changes the whole dynamic of everything. Just think of Mother Teresa, right? She didn't do that for her own gratification. You know, she saw the need. She actually saw each person as a child of God with great dignity and great worth. And so she would pick them up out of the depths that they had sunk. And even if it was only a few hours before they would die, she would treat them with such dignity and such grace that they felt that they were being cared for by angelic beings. That's the effect that we can have when we turn to God, when we try to purify our hearts, when we try to become more one with Him, especially through the Eucharist. And so there's a recent blessed, new, almost saint, Blessed Carlo Acutis. He's boy of the Holy Eucharist is what they call him. He was a teenager. He died at the young age of 15. But before he did, he had this great He's just amazing. He's a teenager who loves Jesus in the Holy Eucharist with all his heart. And he would talk about it all the time. He actually used the Internet to create a website and a traveling display of miracles of the Holy Eucharist so that more people would come to know and love Jesus in Holy Communion. And so the Mass, of course, was the center of his life. And here's what he had to say. The more we receive Holy Communion, the more we become like Jesus. And that's he said that all the time. And it became true for him and true for so many others that started to listen to him and follow in his ways. So God raises us up in different aspects, in different qualities, different characteristics, different values, different virtues, so that others can be attracted to us and through us to Him. And so, you know, no matter how busy he was as a teenager, he loved soccer and all the other great things. He would always find some time to worship Jesus in the tabernacle, either before or after the Holy Mass. He would also bring his classmates to church whenever he could. So do you see, he went against the culture, right? He was a nice-looking young man. He was very athletic. He was very savvy on the computer. So, you know, he had many friends. And so he would always help to bring them to Jesus in the tabernacle. And you find that with many other great saints, whether they are old or young, that they kept pointing, not just pointing people to Jesus, but actually literally saying, hey, let's go for adoration. And so, what a great idea, right? There's adoration somewhere around you. And even if there's not a Eucharistic exhibition, you can still go to the tabernacle, whether it's in the church or if you have a Blessed Sacrament room. Bring your family. You know, when I was in Medjugorje one time, I asked Maria. We got a chance to see her, just our little group. And I said, I do a lot of things with mom groups back in the States. I said, do you have any advice? And she said, yes. Just remember, the first and most important prayer group is your family. And that shouldn't have been surprising to me. It wasn't, but it was. You know what I mean? Just like the title, Children of God. It's not surprising, but once we stop and start thinking about it, we realize how rich that little thing is, that little title that is given us that is huge. And so, you know, sometimes we forget that the greatest thing that God has given it to us is our family and our friends. And so the more we can worship God together, the more we can grow in holiness together, the more joy we will experience because it will be with the people that we love so much. And then the people that they love, so it just grows and grows exponentially. And so our Lord, He's always waiting for us in that tabernacle. And you know, it's not yet the end of Christmas time. We still have one more day. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Epiphany, even though we celebrated it last Sunday. It actually is on January 6th. So it's the perfect time to come let us adore Him. So take the opportunity tonight on your way home from work, just stop, even if for five minutes, He'll know that you went out of your way to stop, to say hi, to share your day with Him. Maybe your joys, your frustrations, you know, your hopes, your dreams for this coming year, whatever it might be. Just stop and be with Him. You know, it really does take you out of time and out of space. When you're alone with the Lord in the Eucharist, it transports you into a place that I think is probably pretty much like what our Lady, the apparitions and Medjugorje, the seers say that when they are with our Blessed Mother, they're not on earth anymore. They're like in some other place where there's just her and them and that's it. And nothing else is conscious to them around them. And so they could be in the middle of a giant crowd. There could be noise all around. There could be whatever going on. But at that moment that she comes, they are transported away. So it's only the two of them. And that's the way it can be in Eucharistic adoration. It's you and the Lord, and especially after you've received Him in Holy Communion. You know, some people say, well, why is it so important that we concentrate on the Eucharist? That's like saying, well, why is it so important that we concentrate ourselves to Jesus, right? Because we are His and He wants us. And He wants to give us more of His graces, more of His light, more of His love. In fact, the United States Bishops are sponsoring a three-year Eucharistic revival. Because as you know, many people have now kind of said in different polls that they don't believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. So the Bishops really want to bring Eucharistic adoration, the fact that Jesus truly is in the Eucharist. And they want to bring that home and bring that faith back to the birth and sacrament. And so they want everyone to understand that Jesus is the Holy Eucharist. And He needs to be the center of our lives. So there have been lots of Eucharistic miracles around. And some of those miracles, one of the most recent that has been documented properly, because there's been a lot recently. But a recent miracle of the most Holy Eucharist took place in 2001 in a church in India. On May 5th, Fr. Johnson opened the tabernacle in which there was a monstrance containing a sacred host. He immediately noticed that there was an image of a man's face on the host. Could it be an image of the face of Jesus? The priest was deeply moved and asked the faithful to kneel and begin praying. Fr. Johnson thought that he might be the only one to see the miraculous image of Jesus. So he asked the altar server what he noticed in the monstrance. The voice said that he saw the face of a man. The priest then noticed that the rest of the people in the church were looking intently at the monstrance, meaning that they must have seen the miracle too. Fr. Johnson began adoration of Jesus and as the minutes went by, the image became more and more clear. It was indeed the face of Jesus crowned with thorns. The priest did not have the courage to say anything and began to cry. Fr. Johnson could only say a few words at the homily. So overcome at the great miracle. The monstrance with the miraculous host is on display at the church for all to come and have their faith in Jesus and the Holy Eucharist strengthened. So I see a picture of it as I'm reading this to you and it is indeed a beautiful, wonderful, miraculous image of our blessed Lord crowned with thorns. Once again it is a reminder of how much he suffered for us and that he has never left us alone. He is always present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He is always truly present. Body, blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion. This is just one of the many, many different miracles. Most of the Eucharistic miracles that you hear about that are documented have to do with hosts that start to bleed or turn to flesh and blood and how they have been investigated and tested with the most modern technical things that we have and how it is miraculous what they have been able to find and how consistently throughout the ages whenever this has occurred. It is the same blood type. It is the same tissue. It is everything. Just this whole consistency. God is here yesterday, today and tomorrow and he shows that in so many different miraculous ways. Are we listening? Are we paying attention? The Most Holy Eucharist is the greatest sacrament of all and yet many of us have maybe not taken it as seriously as we need to. Especially now with COVID and a lot of people still have not come back to Mass and they say, well I watch it on live streaming and that kind of stuff or I like this priest better and homily. I don't care what you are watching on any device that you might have or TV and homilies. That's great. Go back and do that. I encourage it. I do it myself. But don't miss the real thing. The real thing is the Holy Eucharist. Receiving Jesus in Holy Communion at the Mass. God loves us so much that he wants to be in communion with us. He wants us to be united to him. So as he unites himself to us, we become more and more united to him. He wants to be the center of our lives. Receiving Jesus as Body, Blood and Holy Community is the best way we can unite ourselves with Jesus. He is truly alive within us when we receive him. So that's why Jesus wants us to come to Mass. That's why the Blessed Mother in all her apparitions she tells us build a chapel. Build a church on the site. Why? Because wherever there is a church there will be a tabernacle with her son in. Once again she is bringing her son to different parts of the world each and every time she appears. She asks for that chapel not just for people to pray but so that the Mass, the greatest prayer can be celebrated there and her son in the Blessed Sacrament can live there. So that's why she wants us to attend Mass. That's why Jesus comes over and over into different parts of the world. He comes over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over And I firmly believe that once we restore the kind of reverence and dignity of the Holy Eucharist to its proper degree then all the churches will be filled again. Why? Because people will know and recognize that that truly is the Son of God. Just like the Apostles did, right? Just like little Andrew took his little brother Peter and said, This is the Messiah. This is the Chosen One. Let's follow Him. It's the same thing, my friends. We need to take our family members back to church. We need to bring the Eucharist to them if they are in nursing homes or wherever they might be. Don't neglect. Sometimes we think of the physical things that our loved ones might need when they're ill or something bad happens to them Maybe they're in the hospital or a nursing home or maybe they're at home for a while and they've been quarantined. Well, if you're quarantined with them, you know, there are so many Eucharistic ministers around who are giving out and bringing our Lord to those in need. So if your loved one, especially if it's in the hospital, let the hospital know that your loved one is Catholic and would like to see a priest. The priests are there to serve. I can't tell you how many priests I've talked to lately who have said what a joy it is to be able to be there for everyone in these great times of need, to be able to give them the anointing of the sick, to bring them Holy Communion, to hear their confession, to pray over them and to pray with them. So these are some great ways that we can grow closer and closer to God in this coming year and so maybe this is the year of the Eucharist for you. If you were to make this where you concentrated on really coming to know and love Jesus more in the Holy Eucharist and receiving Him in Holy Communion, adoring Him in exposition or in the tabernacle, all of these kind of things will help you advance on the road to sainthood and that's what it's all about. We all want to be saints and God wants us to be great saints and that's why He's given Himself to us to feed on, to heal us, to comfort us, to bring us the love and the joy that He wants us to experience. And here's a nice little last minute, there's all kinds of different miracles but let me tell you this one of St. John Bosco. I love St. John Bosco. He has so many great dreams and mystical experiences and he had a great love for the Eucharist of course and our Blessed Mother and the Lord and our Blessed Mother, they performed many miracles through His life and why? Because He helped so many young children to grow in holiness and He Himself as well started an order of priests and many of the wayward children, street children of that time that came to be with Him, they also became priests because He helped to lead them on the road to holiness as our Blessed Mother says. So here's one of the many, many miracles that involves the Eucharist and St. John Bosco. One day over 300 children came to Fr. Bosco's Mass. Fr. Bosco only consecrated a few hosts because he was told that there were plenty of consecrated hosts in the tabernacle for all the children. As it turns out there were only a few consecrated hosts in the tabernacle too. The holy priest didn't want any of the children to go without receiving Jesus and the Holy Communion. So he said a quick prayer to the Lord. To everyone's amazement every time Don Bosco gave a host to a child, another host appeared until all 300 children had received our Lord. The holy priest was so grateful to our Lord for this miracle and also knew that there is a miracle of the Eucharist every day when the priest changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. So here we have this priest who has such a heart for these children and is there to give them the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ in Holy Communion during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He's trying to help them to grow, leave their old lives behind of vice and doing all the bad things they were doing and to grow in holiness and virtue and close to our Lord. He knew how important feeding Holy Communion was. So he said a quick prayer to Jesus and everything was multiplied and where have we seen that before right? Well with our Lord of course here on this earth and he's still multiplying himself. Why? Because he wants to feed us not just bread but living bread come down from heaven. That's why he was born in Bethlehem. It's all part of the prophecies that have been fulfilled and the prophecies that are to be fulfilled where the Eucharistic reign of our Lord will come. The triumph of our Immaculate Heart of our Blessed Mother will lead to the Eucharistic reign of Christ. And so not just in our own hearts but in the world. So my friends let the King of all Kings reign in your heart. Let the Eucharistic Lord give yourself completely to him this year and just do whatever it is that he asks you. Why? Because time will start and we need that light. That light that only Christ can give. The more that we come to know and love him and receive him worthily in the Blessed Sacrament the more pure ours will be and the more that those around us will see the light of Christ shining through us. And that my friends is what attracts others to the light of Christ and into the heart of our wonderful amazing Savior. And so my friends I could go on and on about all these different Eucharistic miracles but I just picked a few simple ones. Maybe some ones you haven't heard about. You've probably already heard about talking donkey and how he actually bowed down before the Eucharist because God helped him to recognize that it was his God, his Lord in the holy Eucharist that even the donkey could recognize it. So there's a lot of great different miracle stories and the more that you share these with others the more you will help people to come to believe and to know that Jesus really is there. That he is not just up in heaven and that he is involved in our lives if we let him. So the more that we involve him the more united we become in holy communion. Well the more we will know his will the more we will do it and the more we will live joyfully spreading the gospel of our Lord and bringing about the reign of our Eucharistic Lord. That will do it for this week and I will be back next week and this year we will be delving into some of the lesser known apparitions and seeing how they are even more right for our times than we could possibly have known and that's because our Lady when she comes the messages that she gives are universal and that means that they are for all times for all generations no matter what the circumstances are. Sometimes we forget that and we think well the time of that prophecy was fulfilled but as we see in scripture many times things seem to be fulfilled but not completely fulfilled. So as we are in these final dark times when it seems that so much evil is triumphing God will shine through as never before and he will use us to make that happen. So I look forward to this coming year I hope you are too. This is Mary Piper with Marian Apparitions. I'll be back again next week. Until then God bless. you