Saint John

March 17, 1998

Carolyn’s Description:

The Blessed Mother is wearing a slate-gray dress that is tied at the waist by a sash and she has a white veil. She is standing with her hands placed together in prayer. There are pink and white roses, and little red roses, around her feet. She has a coral colored rosary that is very long and does not have just five decades, but all fifteen. On the bottom is a gold crucifix that has little round bulbs at the ends of it.

St. John is standing beside the Blessed Mother. He is a short man. He and the Blessed Mother are about the same height. He is dressed in brown and wearing sandals. He has dark brown hair and is balding a bit on the back of his head. He has a very round face and dark eyes. He is smiling. He is clasping something small and shiny in his hands, but I cannot see what it is. I think it may be a rosary.

The Blessed Mother’s Words:

Dear children, I am overjoyed that you have come here today in such great numbers, for you have heard my call and you have responded with the fullness of your hearts. It is for this very reason that the Father allows me to work many graces upon this earth. He loves His children and He desires all that is good for them. As you who are parents respond to a child who embraces you, who loves you, who desires you, so too does He respond when His children reach out to Him as you do. I have accepted your prayers and I have taken them up and laid them before my son. They are most beautiful roses. Thank you for your prayers. I am overjoyed.

I bring to you this day, John, he who was the most intimate friend of my son and who cared for me so very well after He ascended to glory. Thank God for this gift, for He has made it possible. I thank you for your response, for your great desire to know God’s love and God’s mercy.

St. John’s Words:

Children of God, I greet you in the name of the Word Made Flesh, the one who sits on high, now and forever. It is good to be with you, to be able to teach you what I have known of our Lord, being with Him for so very long. I was greatly blessed. I shared many years with Him. I knew Him as a man and in His glory. This was an awesome thing, one that I was not worthy of. Now I wish to share this experience with you that it might deepen your faith and open your hearts to God in a very special and new way.

Brothers and sisters, before I was blessed to see the Son of Man and walk with Him, I was a simple man. I had very little schooling and lived as many others did in my day. And one day this man who I had heard much about came calling to me. There were so many things that people were saying about Him. Some believed He was the messiah, the promised one, the one that God would send to free us from bondage, the one He had promised to Abraham, to David, to our forefathers, but these were few. They were the ones who followed Him closely and listened to His words and lived His message. And there were others who thought He was a false prophet, one who came to deceive, the “seed of evil,” as He was called. Many of these were devout Jews, those who knew the law, who had studied it as the pharisees and the sadducees had. These were the ones who were set against Him from the very start, who mocked Him, who ridiculed Him, who tried every means to trick Him and deceive Him and those who followed Him. By the grace of God, these too were few.

Most people in my day, they knew not what to think. He was a wise man. Everyone agreed on that, for He could look deep into the soul of those who He encountered and touch them in a way that no man could without the grace of God. He was special. There was something about Him. My own family, even they had heard these rumors. My parents were devoutly Jewish. They believed in the messiah. They knew their scripture well and so they had little difficulty believing that Christ was the messiah, for as Isaiah had written, “The messiah would come and would not be recognized. The shepherd would walk among the lambs and not be seen nor heard, and the lambs would turn upon him and he would suffer.”

I knew not what to think, but I knew I must follow Him, for when He beckoned to me, there was nothing like it. And so I put down my work and set aside my life and I traveled with Him. And soon, He became my master and I knew Him as the Lord.

Jesus, He was what we all must be! He was goodness and mercy . . . love. How many have passed those in need and done nothing? And why? Perhaps because you thought there was nothing you could give, or perhaps you knew that someone else would come along and give assistance to this person. Ah, but Jesus, when He saw those who ailed . . . those who suffered . . . there was nothing else in the world but that person for Him. And when He touched them and looked upon them, the love in His eyes, it was tremendous! Never did He turn any away, but He gathered all who loved Him near. He told stories, magnificent stories! And He taught us without us ever realizing it. He was wise and He was humble. He did not discriminate. He ate among the rich and the poor, the sick and the healthy, those who were noble and those who were lowly, and He loved each the same.

We must all strive to do this, for this is the greatest of God’s laws: love one another. For each of you are made in the image of the Christ, of God the Father, the Spirit Oh Holy. When you serve one another, you serve Him, He who created you. I believe that this is the greatest calling, to be a servant. Truly the richest are the poorest, the meekest are the wisest, and those who would forsake all of themselves for another, even to their very lives, they are the most holy.

Jesus, He was a divine person, the Son of God in body and soul, full of His divinity, and yet He was a man. This is a mystery that is incomprehensible to our minds. He grew tired, as you do, and hungry. He knew pain and joy. He laughed and He wept. He was great fun to be with, for He always had a kind word and perfect compassion in times of trial. I found it to be most amazing that even when He was downtrodden and discouraged, as all people will be, even when He was hungry and tired and weak from travel . . . from speaking . . . still He did not lose that perfect love, that perfect empathy, that perfect compassion and understanding for those who called to Him. He never rested. You know this. Your gospels tell the story. For three years He walked among His followers and He converted and He healed and He ministered and He taught. All these things, they are difficult work. And He relied much on us, those who were His brothers, who were His disciples.

I believe that this too is important, for this is when the Christian has the hardest time living the life . . . the very life . . . of Christ, in times when you are hungry and cold, when you are uncomfortable and tired. You know. You know the times of your weakness. It is easy to be good and holy when things are well and you are well. But ah! How difficult is it to be holy when you feel everything but! This is the challenge that all Christians face and persevere through, to be holy always. Holiness is a way of life. Holiness is the way of God.

If you wish to be truly holy, you must follow Christ’s example. And what is it that Christ taught us to do? Christ taught us to love and He showed us love. He taught us to heal the sick, minister to the lonely, love the poor, the weak, those who are hated. He taught us that we are all children of God and equal in His eyes and, even more so than all of creation, we are beautiful. There is no measure for the dignity of life. We are created in God’s image. We are His children. To show respect and give dignity to life is to emulate Christ who is life itself. Death could not remain where Christ was. Many did He raise from a state of death. Even death could not keep Him! How could death harness life? Life overcomes!

Christ also taught us to be humble. As you know, He was born to a virgin, a holy woman in a very small town, in a stable, a place where animals dwelled. And He lived His whole life simply, the son of a carpenter. And even when He ministered, He ministered simply. He did not ask for material things. He did not worry about His meals, His clothing, His day to day needs. No, He trusted that the Father would provide and He did. He was perfect humility. Never . . . never did He seek to do anything but glorify God and in doing so glorify He Himself that it would glorify the Father.

He was an example of perfect obedience . . . obedience to the Father, obedience even to His creation. Let me ask you, what was it that caused the death of our Lord? Was it His crucifixion and His executioners? The nails that they drove into His body and the spear they drove into His side? No! He is the Lord! He gave His life in obedience to the will of the Father. And the will of the Father was to redeem each one of you. Perfect obedience, even to His executioners.

Christ . . . He was perfect forgiveness, for from the cross He forgave even the penitent sinner and those who inflicted such suffering upon Him. What terrible suffering He endured! Never was there a more inhumane execution, for at that time the evil one sought to destroy His very will and very spirit. The torments He suffered, they are unimaginable. And yet in His heart was only forgiveness and peace and love. From His cross He gave to you one of His greatest gifts, the love of a mother, of His mother, of your mother. The Blessed Mother . . . she is goodness and is the only one who is a perfect example of what God intended for all of us to be. Follow her way, for her way always leads to the Son.

I knew Christ well. Many things did He confide in me, many fears . . . His angst, His love, and His joy. Most miraculous of all things that I witnessed was His compassion and His love and His goodness, and it is for this reason that I have spoken to you on these things. It is essential for you to live in holiness, for in holiness is the very spirit of God. This is well. And yet you might ask, “How is it that I begin to live in holiness, for there is so much?” It is not easy to love when you feel like hating, to give when you feel like holding, to smile when you feel like frowning, to be peaceful when you wish to fight. But you . . . you have a weapon! You have a weapon against the evil, the very evil one who has set himself against you to prevent you from living in holiness. That weapon, it is prayer . . . prayer.

Without prayer you would die. You shrivel and dry up like a seedling without water. There are many who walk, who live, who talk, who are but empty shells. This causes great distress to our Lord. Prayer . . . it is food for the soul. It is drink for the thirst that your soul has for life itself. It is comfort and rest. And so I say to you, how is it that you be joyful in sorrow, patient when you are hungry and thirsty, strong when you are tired and weak, and bold in God’s love? Satisfy your weakness with prayer . . . the perfect, perfect, perfect expression of love! The more that you pray and the more that you commit yourself to prayer, the easier it will be for you to live in holiness and goodness.

So I urge you, pray! Pray frequently and with the heart. God will turn no one away in prayer when they pray with the true love that Christ had for His people. Pray, especially in these times when there is such evil in this world. Prayer is the remedy, the elixir, for the diseases of materialism, the disease of division in family, the disease of isolation from God. No one will truly understand the greatness of prayer until they arrive in our father’s home.

My brothers and sisters, I have spoken to you about many things, many virtues that you should possess and that I am sure you desire to possess. And I have told you that the way to acquire such virtues is prayer, for prayer brings about the graces of God. This is what you must do above all else. For what good is it to do the work of God if you have not made yourself a temple for Him to dwell in, to work through you?

Each person has an altar in the depth of their heart and on these altars are their gods, the gods that they worship and adore. For most, the god is power. For many more, it is pride . . . money. These are idols. These are false gods. These things are passing. Place Jesus on your altar by living a life of holiness and prayer. God will not reject the sacrifice of His son. It opens the very gates of His mercy. Come to the Father in the name of the Son and with gratitude for His sacrifice, and you shall find that you will be blessed abundantly.

All of what I have told you is true and yet there is more. For all that I have said that Christ is, He is still! While on earth He was good and He suffered much for it, and you who are good, you too will suffer. This is inevitable. But Christ . . . He had His day of glory where He ascended to the Father in the company of minions of angels who sang and praised, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to good people on earth!” He now sits at the right hand of the Father and with the Father and the Holy Spirit will rule for all of time and for all of eternity. He, a faithful servant of the Father although God Himself, has been rewarded for His sacrifice.

Live a life of goodness and you too shall know these rewards. For at the hour of your death, when you are called home into the Father’s care, you will know great joy. There is none like it. Have hope then. Have hope in this reward, this great treasure that God desires to give to you. For as Christ was glorified, you shall know His glory. You shall know His true being. I have described to you but a small part of the Christ that you would come to know Him in a deep way. I assure you, when you join the Father and experience Him, all things, all cares, all sorrows, all joys, and all trials will pass away and you will know only perfect joy.

My brothers and sisters, have hope! Children of God, praise Him and thank Him. Live a life of goodness through prayer and you will come to know Christ our Lord as your redeemer, your love, your friend, your brother, and your life. I thank you for having me this day and allowing me to speak to you. Take what I have said to heart and meditate upon it.

The Blessed Mother’s Words:

Dear children, I with my son bless you. I am with you always. Rely on my intercession and my aid and you will never be abandoned. Love God with all of your hearts and you will know His peace. Trust in Him and you will know His joy. Thank you for having responded in such great numbers to this gift from the Father. It is through such responses that graces, the very graces of God, have entered this world and brought light to the darkness.