Finding the Rosary on Death Row

By Jeffrey D. Tiner

   The Blessed Virgin actually brought the Rosary into my life before I became a Christian.  I had a conversion experience on death row that started with a letter from a stranger, a woman in Switzerland.  One of the

things she told me was, "Mama Mary loves you." When I wrote back to her I asked about Mary, wanting to

know more.      

  In her next letter, my new friend in Switzerland told me that nobody is closer to Jesus than His own Mother and that the surest way to petition Our Lord is through His Blessed Mother. She also advised me to make a Rosary prayer each and every day of my life.

   I then noticed that among the items sold on the prison store list was a 95ȼ plastic rosary. I promptly ordered one. Along it came, a poor little plastic rosary, the figure of the Lord barely recognizable in such a

rudimentary form, and the words "Made in China" molded onto the reserve side. So now I had my little rosary beads, but not a clue as to how to use them, or how to pray with them.  Later that day, I was fiddling

around with my radio, down at the lower end of the FM dial trying to locate a blues station, when I stumbled upon KBVM. And there was the evening Rosary! A few days later the Jesuit priest, who was the prison chaplain at that time, came by my cell.  I asked him if he had any information about how to pray the Rosary. The next week he came back with a beautiful little "how to" pamphlet from the Rosary Center in Portland.              

   I began to pray the daily Rosary in earnest. I learned that often when I had spiritual questions, the answer would come to me during Rosary prayers. I even found that in the meditative aspect of the Rosary I could drown out the constant noise of prison, going into the Immaculate Heart of Mary as I ask her to offer my prayers up to Jesus. I found that I could petition Our Mother and offer up a Rosary for my friends and family who were sick or in need, and soon I would have good news of recoveries and good tidings. As well, I found that in times of trouble or danger from the enemy, one heartfelt Rosary will drive away any evil.

   After experiencing all manner of these graces from Heaven during Rosary prayers, and as I advanced in learning about the Catholic faith, something became very clear to me as I studied the lives of the saints. Almost without exception, every saint you might read about had an exceptional devotion to the Mother of God. And since the time of St. Dominic, all the saints relied upon the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a guiding light in their spirituality, the light illuminating the path to their sanctity.

   Perhaps the greatest grace I have received through the Blessed Mother during Rosary prayers is the rebirth in my soul of compassion, humility, and true contrition and sorrow for the crimes I have committed and the wrongs I have done to my neighbors. And when the weight of my sins seemingly combine to crush my heart, Our Sorrowful Mother, in the Rosary, is there to remind me that Christ cleansed me in Holy Baptism, that I can go forward through the Divine Mercy of Jesus, and that I can live the remainder of my life in an honorable fashion, loving Jesus through Mary,

   The Rosary is the centerpiece of our private prayer life, joining our hearts to Our Mother, who allows us a filial nearness to her Crucified Son, through the Mysteries of her Most Holy Rosary.

   As for that little 95ȼ plastic rosary?  I wore it around my neck the day I was baptized in a prison laundry

cart that had been filled with water from a garden hose. From there, I mailed that little Rosary to the

woman in Switzerland, a woman no longer a stranger but now by Baptismal Sponsor, a mentor dear to my

heart. Through her introduction to Mary and through her declared love for the Holy Rosary, I found the

straight path to Jesus.  

   Take Our Mother's hand in one of yours, clasp the Rosary firmly in your other hand, and follow Our Lady's Light to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Post Script to the Rosary Reflection:

   Jeffrey Tiner has given us permission to use anything he writes to us and any artwork he has done. You will notice three samples of his artwork in this issue. The note that accompanied this beautiful reflection on the Rosary said:

   “Peace be with you. I write to thank you for your work in aid of Our Blessed Mother. 

   “I recently wrote to a nun, a great mentor, and asked if she thought it would be OK to pass along Medjugorje prayer cards, etc., given that the Church has not (yet) given an official stamp of recognition, etc. I am a new Catholic (only baptized here on death row five years ago) and am conscious about trying to stay in step with the Church. I have read quite a bit about the apparitions, and a friend visited there a few years ago and confirmed that the peace found there is absolutely, incredibly real.

“The Beautiful Hands of a Priest”

         Artwork by Jeff Tiner

Choose Life!

By Sr. Emmanuel

    Since we made a small human size manger in the forest behind our house, we meet many mothers who come to pray there. Some have lost a child, and they find great comfort in putting this child in the hands of the Mother of God. Many tell us they had one or [more] abortions and how devastated they are for having done so. Caught in the culture of death that surrounds us, they had been convinced that's how they would find their freedom. They tell us that the fruit is quite the contrary, and they carry their suffering in great loneliness. Contemplating the Blessed Mother in the manger, and thinking of their child cuddled in Her arms, helps them regain their identity as a mother, and then they can find a priest to confess that sin with serenity.  

   The Gospa never gave a public message concerning abortion. But in the 80s, She educated the youth of the prayer group on this matter. Here is what I gathered from it: The Blessed Mother recommended to all not to judge these mothers, but to pray so that such mothers would no longer exist. She asked these young to do whatever is in their power to help these mothers to reconcile with God through Confession, and act towards them with much love and discretion. She also told Mirjana, “Abortion is a great sin, for it is killing a human being. God who is good forgives all the sins, but for this sin in particular, He asks a great penance from the father and the mother of the child.”

   It is significant to see how much the Blessed Mother includes the child’s father in this delicate matter. A priest was telling me the other day that many women come to confess an abortion, but that he had never seen a man confess that he had urged a woman to abort. Yet, responsibility is shared.  Many abortions are due to the father’s refusal to allow the child to be born, sometimes under the threat: “It is he (the baby) or me.”  Mothers should then know that a couple’s unity cannot be secure when a child has lost his/her life at their cost! This is a delusion leading to a great disappointment. On the opposite side, resisting such threats can only draw God’s blessing on the mother who chooses life. She will never be sorry for it. It is important to tell this to the young people, who are swamped with so many lies by the media and are entitled to know the truth! By explaining to them, gently and clearly, the truth, they may avoid not only losing the state of grace and the possibility of receiving Holy Communion, but also bearing the heavy consequences of an abortion, like depression, death, or obsessions.  

   The Blessed Mother said to Vicka about these unborn children, “They are with me.”  No more, no less. It’s good that the child receive a name, because he is a human being and part of the family. The parents may call upon him in prayer! They will meet him again one day! Some mothers write him a letter where they pour out their hearts. In the case of an abortion, they ask them for forgiveness and express their love to them. This letter is offered to the Gospa during an apparition. In this way, Mary’s motherly care beautifully accompanies the role of the priest – and that of Christ – in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.                                                                                       

  Advice from Visionary Mirjana

The following is an excerpt from a question and answer session with visionary Mirjana.

Q: How do you deal with a person that you don’t like?  Do you still pray for that person?

A: Continue – go on with the prayers until you don’t get upset with that person anymore. But if you are still angry and upset with that person, start fasting with bread and water. Then you will not be upset anymore, because we simply cannot say that we are faithful if we are not able to see Jesus in every single person that we meet. That is what Our Lady has been teaching us: to see Jesus in everyone. It is easy to see Jesus in a dear person. But we should see Jesus also in those who we don’t like or are upset with.

   Talking about Our Lady’s personality, I would use a simple word, and I would just say, “Our Lady is Mother, the real Mother” – the Mother who loves every one of Her children the way they are, and we are all equally important for Her. I can see during the apparition the way She looks at the people, the way She looks with worry in Her eyes, some with love, some with sadness in Her eyes. But She is looking at every single person, and She is worried about every single one of us. Our Lady is always with us, and, as a Mother, She would like to take us to Her Son Jesus, Who is the only and true Peace with us.

   Because many young people are searching for peace completely in the wrong places, they end up with drugs and alcohol.  But the only and true Peace that you can receive, is the one that Jesus can give you. There is no one who should put Our Lady before Jesus, and that is what Our Lady has been teaching us in all of Her messages. Our Lady never said, “Pray, and I will give you,” but Our Lady always says, “Pray so that I can pray to my Son for you.”  Always Jesus is in the first place. And what Our Lady has been doing is teaching us only how to go to Jesus. It is always Jesus, and Jesus in the first place. But if we take an example of a family on earth, and if you, as a child, want to get something from your father, you always go through your mother, because she knows how to deal with your father — the same with us Catholics.

The Special Rosaries in Medjugorje

By Ana Shawl

    About three months before the start of the apparitions, Medjugorje was really nowhere special. Nothing special happened there. There were probably about 90 families, and everyone pretty much knew one other.

    One day around March of 1981, Vicka's youngest brother, Franjo, was outside, going to get some wood, and he picked up the wheelbarrow. But, as he took it, he found inside of it two rosaries.  He took them out and ran to his mother. He told her where he found them, and she said that she would take them to church with her and ask if somehow someone left them in their wheelbarrow.

  She did that, and nobody knew anything about them. Not too many people passed through Medjugorje, so when Vicka and the rest of the kids heard that they belonged to nobody, they didn't want them in the house and were afraid.

   The apparitions started about three months later, and the rosaries were still a mystery to the family. Vicka, then, one day, asked the Blessed Mother if She knew anything about the rosaries that Franjo found.  Our Lady said, "Yes, they are a gift from me to your family, to your grandmother because she has been so faithful to the Rosary for so many years."

. Vicka's grandmother was married at 21. One day, her husband was taken away by the secret police since it was communist at the time. She never heard from or saw him again. She prayed the Rosary every single day, as she never knew even until the day she died, whatever happened to him. She never remarried. She just died about two years ago, when she was in her 90s.

   So, when I am in Medjugorje and have a group, I get the rosaries out and like to tell this story, and then show everyone what these rosaries look like. One is made from seeds that used to be from a bush that grew in Medjugorje a long time ago, but are no longer there. There was a relic in the Crucifix, but since all these years and people who handled the rosary poorly, that relic and the back of that Crucifix are no longer there.

   The other Crucifix is the kind that the Franciscans used to wear a long time ago. The family thinks it was from a Franciscan – namely the pastor who was in Medjugorje in the 40s, who was shot to death as he was coming down the steps of the rectory.  It was a long, long time before they were able to get the blood stain out of the ground. It would not leave. They think perhaps the rosary might have been from him, and Our Lady then gave it to Vicka's family, namely the grandma.

   That particular rosary has no corpus on it. They used to do this when someone was buried with a rosar, because they say that Jesus was in the grave once and they don't want to put Him in there again. Anyway, this is an old ,old rosary, with no Jesus on it, but the back of the Crucifix has all the Stations of the Cross on it.

   They are two very special rosaries. I only take them out for a bit and put them back for the next time. In the past, someone had actually taken a couple of the beads off and replaced those beads with some other ones. So, after that, they are under close watch.

My Experience in Medjugorje

Composed During Adoration on the Feast of the Assumption

By Ron Lavalliere

   I would like to share with the world my experiences in Medjugorje in October of 2009. I went on a pilgrimage with fourteen other people from New Hampshire – they were all strangers to me. The organizer of our trip asked me, "Are you excited to go to Medjugorje?" I told her I was not, because I spent Saturday nights in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel at St. Marie's Parish from 9-10 p.m. for the last 15.5 years, and most times it was only Jesus and myself; I did not have to go halfway around the world to have a "God experience." But I added that I would keep an open mind.

   The first thing I did was to attend a night-time adoration behind St. James Church, and was awestruck by the experience of approximately 3,000 people from different nations adoring Jesus.

   Friday of that week we were going to Apparition Hill. It was 2:50 p.m., and Father Ray led us in the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. I was taking in the beautiful clear blue skies and the views of Cross Mountain, while praying the Rosary with our group. At exactly 3 p.m. Father was wrapping up the First Mystery and I started praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy by myself as we walked up Apparition Hill to the next plaque depicting the visitation of the Second Mystery. As we arrived, I finished the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Father started the Second Mystery, and that is when I experienced the Miracle of the Sun. What I saw was like a solar eclipse; there was no moon, a clear blue sky, but something came and blocked the sun. It started to pulsate in front of the sun. I was not sure what I was seeing, and thought I was going crazy. Then, what was in front of the sun started drifting away, and the sun started burning my eyes behind my sunglasses. I then requested, "Put the Host back, Lord,” and immediately it blocked the sun again. I watched as we prayed the Rosary, and after four minutes or so, I started doubting what I was seeing, and it started drifting off the sun again. Again I requested, "Put the Host back, Lord," and it immediately went back. I watched until Father finished the Second Joyful Mystery, and we started up the Hill for the Third Joyful Mystery, and the sun was normal. I turned to Jackie, one of the pilgrims in our group, and asked her if she saw the Miracle of the Sun. She said, "No," and I told her, "I did," and to watch as the Third Mystery was being prayed. As Father started, the Miracle of the Sun happened again for me. And I watched for the duration of that mystery. As we started up the Hill for the Fourth Mystery, I then told Father Ray what was going on as we climbed the Hill. I witnessed the Miracle of the Sun four times that day for a duration of about eight minutes each time as we were reciting the Joyful Mysteries. So for thirty-two minutes or so, I watched the Miracle of the Sun. I was not blinded. No one else witnessed anything but me that day. Was it because I recited the Chaplet of Divine Mercy?

   That Friday night, the Spirit led me to collect the water from the knee of the bronze statue of the Risen Savior, behind St. James Church. I collected Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday nights from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. I managed to fill the little vials they sell for holy water. On Wednesday afternoon, I was in my room resting, when one of the pilgrims came to give me back the plastic bag in which I had collected the water from the statue. There was still a small amount of water in it. So not to waste it, I dried the bag by turning it inside out and rubbed the water on an umbilical cord hernia that I had received years ago from an accident cutting a tree. I pleaded to God as I rubbed the area, "Get rid of this, Lord." I was lying down resting, when an unusually sharp pain was on my stomach. I then noticed that the lump I had for ten years or so, was smaller, and it felt partially healed.

   After supper that night, I went back to Apparition Hill by myself to walk and recite the 15 decades of the Rosary over the entire hill. After I finished the Joyful Mysteries, I turned to the sun to witness it being blocked by the Host. I did not have sunglasses this time, as the first four times. I watched the Host spinning in front of the sun and the colors emanating for a while, and turned my back to continue praying the Sorrowful Mysteries and climb the hill. The sun was just about to set and disappear behind the mountains; I turned and kept praying the Sorrowful Mysteries and watched the Miracle of the Sun disappear, as it set in the west behind the mountains.

   Later that night, after going to night-time adoration, I went back to the Risen Savior Statue, and was rubbing the water from the knee on my stomach. I went to sit and say the Rosary, and felt another pain on my stomach. At 2 a.m. that night, we were going home back to the U.S.A.

   My intent on collecting the water was to have scientific documentation of the water. The rumor in Medjugorje was that the Germans had done a test and it was supposedly the consistency of human tears. We have never seen any documentation to prove this. I have been trying to get the hospitals, labs, and colleges in my home state to do the test, but to no avail. So I am asking you, the readers, to help me to get a scientific document done for our knowledge and benefit. We can do this. Thank you. God Bless.

Issue #3 of “The Spirit of Adoration” is available now. There is no subscription to this publication. If you want to distribute copies, please print out the form below and send to the address below.

A Rosary of Healing

By June Klins

   It was one of the most unusual letters I have ever gotten since I began editing this newsletter in 2002.  In the envelope was the front of one of our own envelopes with the stamp of Our Lady that says, “Peace.”  On the envelope was a mixture of printed and cursive words that said, “Please call June Klins if anything happens to me, and tell her to pray for my soul.”  The envelope was originally addressed to a subscriber named Diane. On the back of the envelope was a note from her mother.

   Diane’s mother said that Diane had passed away on July 28 after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer. She told me that she had found this envelope with Diane’s belongings, and she asked me to pray for Diane.  A holy card from the funeral home was also in the envelope. Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was on the front of it.

   I feel that I have a personal relationship with all of our subscribers. I get such nice notes from you and when I talk on the phone to you, it seems as if I have known you all my life. It was no different with Diane. Although we had never met in person, Diane and I had talked on the phone a number of times over the past few years. At one point, she sent me a beautiful gift, two CDs by singer Dana and Fr. Kevin Scallon. The one was called “Mother of Mercy – A Rosary of Healing.”  It included the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. The second CD had the Luminous Mysteries.

    Before Diane sent me this gift, she explained to me that she was in remission of her cancer, and that when she was feeling better she wanted to start a little ministry of taking a portable CD player to hospitals and nursing homes with these CDs and use it to pray the Rosary with people. The Rosary, as recited on these CDs, is very calming and helped her when she was ill.  I told her I loved the idea, and suggested that she write about it sometime.  Unfortunately, Diane had a relapse from which she would not recover, and never got to try out her idea.

   I don’t think it was a coincidence that the same evening that I received the envelope with the note from Diane just happened to be the night my parish has a Mass for the Holy Souls – the night we pray for the souls of our friends and family who have died. Of course, I offered my Mass for Diane. 

   Diane reached out from the other side to ask for prayers, and I think she is reaching out now, asking someone to take up her idea with the Rosary of Healing. I hope someone will help her.