The Spirit of Medjugorje

"Dear children, At this time, when you are celebrating the day of All Saints, seek their intercession and prayers so that in union with them, you may find peace. May the Saints be your intercessors and example, that you imitate them and live holily. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.“ (With Ecclesiastical approval)"

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Featured article from May 2002's Spirit of Medjugorje

The Swap

By June Klins

     "Keep making the swap with Our Lady. She'll take care of everything. I made the swap about my job last week. Today I got a promotion. Wahooooooooo! It works!" After reading this note from my friend Christine, I wrote back to her and asked, "Did I miss something? What is "the swap?" Christine wrote back and told me that the "swap" is giving your troubles, worries and intentions to our Heavenly Mother, while you pray for Her intentions - the conversion of unbelievers, peace in the world, priests, youth, healing of the sick, etc. Christine told me that she had 3 "swaps" taken care of in 2 days. "I can't believe how fast She handles things," Christine said. "Sister Emmanuel taught this to me. It's so easy and it works!"
     Christine gave me permission to share another of the "swaps" she made with Our Lady that week. This one involved her husband, who she said had been displaying a grouchy and mean temperament at the time. She said, "Thankfully he has a spiritual life and that is what kept me from digging a hole out back and throwing him into it. I gave him to Mary and really wished Her the best of luck!" Not long after she made the swap, Christine and her husband went to a talk about Blessed Padre Pio and had the opportunity to have religious items blessed with Padre Pio's glove. Christine's husband surprised her by taking off his wedding ring and laying it on the glove. Then he asked the priest to give their marriage a special blessing. He was transformed!
     I was intrigued. I wanted to know more. So I wrote to "Children of Medjugorje," the organization with which Sister Emmanuel is affiliated, and asked how I could learn more about the "swap." I was informed that I could learn more about it on one of Sister's audio tapes, "True Consecration to Mary." I immediately ordered the tape.
     Sister Emmanuel reveals on the tape how the idea of the "swap" originated. She was with Ivan's prayer group on the mountain one night when Our Lady's message was, " Dear children, give me all your worries, all your problems. Then your heart will be free to pray. And pray for My intentions." As Sister reflected on this message, she thought Our Lady was suggesting that we make a trade with Her. We give Her our worries and we pick up Her worries. A similar message was given to Mirjana in March of 1991 when Our Lady said to her, "Help Me, and I will pray to My Son for you." The idea of a "swap" is hardly a new one though. Over 600 years ago, Jesus said to St. Catherine of Sienna, "You take care of My business; I'll handle yours."
     Sister Emmanuel tried the swap herself and said it worked perfectly. Soon after, Sister met a man named Albert who came to Medjugorje and had a conversion. On his last day there he was very dejected and Sister asked him why. He said that he was sad because he would not be able to live the message Our Lady gave about praying in the family. His wife, at home in France, was an atheist, and had even threatened him when he left for Medjugorje. He also had hoped to return to Medjugorje but said he would have to save for many years for that. Sister Emmanuel suggested to Albert, " Let's make a deal with Our Lady." So Albert did. He said, "I give You my wife, and I wish You all the best. And I will pray for Your intentions instead of worrying about my wife." Three months later Albert was back in Medjugorje, but this time his wife was with him! He said, "She forced me to come to Medjugorje. That deal works tremendously." Albert said that now he had a new problem though – his wife prays so much that he can't keep up with her!
     In a later note, Christine told me that there was also a reference to the "swap" in Sister Emmanuel's book, "Medjugorje in the 90's, which my son had bought in Medjugorje last summer. It was easy to find the story because it was titled, "Theresa's Swap." This story was about a woman named Theresa who was worried about her daughter Vera's family. Her son-in-law, an atheist, was constantly fighting with and criticizing Vera. On the same day that Theresa left for Medjugorje, Vera made an appointment to file for divorce. In Medjugorje, Theresa heard about the "swap," and decided to try it. She went to the Blue Cross and prayed for unbelievers, young people, families, priests, those without peace in their hearts, etc. On that very night she found out that Vera canceled her meeting with the lawyer. Theresa returned each night to the Blue Cross to pray. When she returned home she found that her son-in-law was a totally changed man. Vera and her husband have converted and with their daughter Harmony ( No coincidence in that name!), the family began to pray together every day.
     In further explaining the "swap," Sister Emmanuel said that Mary, in the role of our Heavenly Mother, wants to help you, to make your life peaceful and joyful. She wants to take all the pressures and crosses in your life. She wants to pick up your problems, all those things that prevent you from being peaceful with God and peaceful with other people. She wants you to give the problems to Her so that She can take care of them. She knows much better than you do how to take care of your problems. After all, She has been a Mother for a very long time! So once She picks up that problem, you will be free of it. Instead of your heart being focused on a problem which will obsess you all the time, you will be able to open up your heart to the whole world. For instance, if you are praying for the conversion of one of your children, and make the "swap" with Her, then instead of your heart being focused on your child alone, your heart will become like Her Motherly heart, taking care of all the children of God. You enlarge your heart to the dimensions of God's heart! But it is not as if you have stopped praying for your own intention either, because your intention will be included in Our Lady's intentions. If you think about it, almost every intention that you pray for can be included in any one of Our Lady's intentions. Perhaps you are praying for a friend who is very ill. Our Lady's intentions include prayers for the sick. So when you pray for Her intentions of the sick, you are praying for your friend as well. Maybe you are praying for your teen-agers. Our Lady's intentions include prayers for young people. Maybe you are praying for a job situation. Chances are that the people causing you grief at your job are unbelievers, so when you pray for unbelievers, you are in essence, praying for your own job situation. The list goes on.
     In my Medjugorje prayer group, when we state our intentions before we start our Rosaries, one of our members always says, "I pray for Mary’s intentions, which covers every good thing." And she is right. Sister Emmanuel says that when you enlarge your heart to the dimensions of God's heart, you feel the love of God penetrate you in a new way, a deep and strong way. You become like Mother Teresa whose heart was open to the whole world. Everybody you meet becomes very dear to you because you have God's heart in your heart instead of being focused on your own problems. Not only does this freedom alleviate you of your worries, but it also frees you up for deeper prayer of adoration, contrition and thanksgiving. It frees you up to listen to what God wants to say to you too. That is an important part of prayer often overlooked.
     A few months ago I decided to try a "swap." This may seem like a trivial intention, but I was having trouble with my computer. It looked like it was a lost cause, so I told Our Lady, "You get my computer fixed so I can continue to do Your work, and I will pray for Your intentions." Every time I would start to think about my problem with the computer, I would say a "Hail Mary" for Our Lady's intentions. That night, my husband worked diligently on the computer and was able to fix it. As of this writing, it is working better than it has ever worked before! Our Lady is a powerful intercessor! So you can bet I will be giving Her some more challenging projects in the future.
     An added benefit of the "swap" that Sister Emmanuel did not mention is that you become more youthful looking and also healthier. Think about it. It makes sense. It is no secret that stress causes lines in your face and causes damage to your body. So if you give your problems to our Heavenly Mother, it's OK because Her glorified body can handle it. The visionaries say that She is so beautiful because She loves, and She would love to have your problem. Don't be surprised if your problem is solved in a way different than what you had planned though, because She and Her Son always know what is best.
     As my friend Christine says, "Imagine if we were all praying for Blessed Mother's intentions instead of worrying about our own problems! Imagine what could be accomplished!" We could change the world!