Christmas 2002

Dear friend of Bayside,

          Bull’s-eye, Isaias! As you celebrate the Birthday of Our Savior, here are two brilliant examples of the prospering Word of Jesus and Mary that will brighten your Christmas and lift your spirits.

          Interestingly, the two stories are linked. In early June, I traveled to Nebraska with my twin sister, Mary Bauer, Cape Cod, Mass. organizer, and her two oldest children, Susanna, 17, and Elizabeth, 15. We were visiting a Carmelite monastery in the Lincoln Diocese that Susanna was seriously considering.

          This young devotee, who is also my godchild, heard the call of her Divine Spouse and now she was ready to answer it. The graces received at Bayside were in operation. And I’m sure St. Theresa was guiding her new daughter and bride of Christ, too. After all, she was a Carmelite nun and launched the whole Bayside Mission in 1968.

HILE I WAS IN NEBRASKA, I did a Bayside presentation in Omaha in which about 50 people attended, including Norma Fosdick and her daughter. I remember speaking with Norma after the presentation and she was obviously struck with Our Lady’s Word.

Norma (c.) with Betty McElligott, Omaha organizer, and Michael. Two days after Sr. Susanna’s entry into Carmel, Michael interviewed Norma in her home for St. Michael’s Radio Program (order show No. 250).		For Sr. Susanna's inspiring radio interviews, and for more on the life of a Carmelite, order show Nos. 253/254.

          So much so, that a mere 11 days after the meeting, Norma, who is 70 years old, went to confession for the first time since 1952! That’s 50 years ago! Wow, that’s way back when Pius XII was Pope, Harry Truman was President and Elvis Presley wasn’t even in his prime.

          Anyway, after her general confession with a kind and understanding priest, Norma relates: "I was just relieved when I left there. I felt so good. It really was a good feeling. It’s something you just can’t--the feeling--you can’t explain it."

          Norma now receives the Eucharist weekly, prays the Rosary daily and is dying to make a pilgrimage to Bayside. Providentially, her big day of liberation occurred within the octave of the glorious June 18th feast of Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers.

          Welcome back, Norma, and surely your brave example will give courage for many others to reclaim--like you did--the gift of their Catholic Faith.

Ahhh, the prospering Word of Bayside!

EANWHILE THE CARMELITE MONASTERY checked out very nicely. It’s rule is traditional (and austere), has the blessing of the local Ordinary, Bishop Bruskewitz, and the Latin Tridentine Mass is celebrated daily for the nuns, usually by the Vicar General of the diocese, but often by the priests from the Fraternity of St. Peter whose new seminary is nearby.

          We had a few friendly and informative meetings with the Mother Superior and even a visit from the entire community--of course, all through the wrought-iron grille (see below). A lot of questions were asked and the good Mother and nuns were very gracious and joyful. In their full deep-brown habit with cream mantle that they sew themselves, you are immediately reminded of the Little Flower. Needless to say, Susanna was very impressed and so were her mother and godfather.

FTER RETURNING HOME AND PRAYING and discerning a little more, Susanna eventually applied and was accepted in August as a postulant. She entered on October 13, the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima (and Uncle Michael’s 24th anniversary of his entrance into the lay Order of St. Michael.) The Bauer family and I were present on this momentous day.

          But as Sr. Susanna (as she is now called) and her mother will tell you, it’s Bayside that they credit for this beautiful vocation and countless graces received.

          In her radio interviews that she gave a few days before her entrance, Sr. Susanna explains: "Well, I wouldn’t be who I am, period, without Our Lady of the Roses and the formation that I received here. Of course, a vocation is a divine seed planted in the soul. If Our Lady of the Roses hadn’t kept the ground broken and soft enough for God to go in there and plant that seed, I’d be nowhere. I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am now.

          "Jesus said to Veronica, you will remain within your 'cloisters' (July 17, 1995). And so my mother always says that to us when any of these different things come up: 'No, we are a family, this is our cloister.' It won’t be that big of a switch in the monastery. It’s almost the same, you know."

          Sr. Susanna has been going to Bayside since her mother’s womb: "When I was little we used to come to many vigils. It would be drive-down, then drive-back the same night. My dad would have to go to work the next morning. So my mother and father are really devoted. It’s really the graces of actually coming to the Shrine, I think, is a big part of how our family came to be. If you can, just believe the messages by reading them. But it’s not the same as actually coming--it’s like you have to step into the shower of graces at the actual grounds."

ARY, HOME-SCHOOLING MOTHER of five (4 girls and a boy), expounds on the wisdom of the Bayside Word: "The influence of Our Lady of the Roses is for our family 99 percent spiritual formation. I know that a lot of people when they think of Our Lady of the Roses they tend to focus on the prophetic or the apocalyptic note. But Our Lady being Mother first, is always our teacher. So we would read the messages quite literally to find out how to raise our children.

          "And Our Lady said on September 13, 1974: 'You shall not win souls by socializing. Better that you pray, for silence is often golden. . . . Learn to communicate by the spirit, My child. Think your way to Us. Pray interiorly.' Well, if we teach this message to our children, we’re not bringing them up in fear with a doomsday message. We’re bringing them up to learn how to love and how to sacrifice. And this is all Carmelite spirituality which is Our Lady of the Roses.

          "Another thing Our Lady taught us from the beginning was how to raise the girls. You didn’t need to dress them up and send them off to the world. St. Theresa said to teach them the arts, the music, and the domestic skills. And when Susanna was interviewed by this particular superior--the questions she asked were, 'Can you play an instrument? Do you have art? Do you know music?' And how many parents are being told in this day and age something so specific, something so minute, but Our Lady being Mother of all didn’t skip a beat."

          And Sr. Susanna closes with a request to all: "I’m coming to Bayside for my own miracle. Like St. Alphonsus Ligouri said, perseverance is a miracle in and of itself that can only happen by God’s grace. So I beg all of your prayers to help me please persevere."

Ahhh, the prospering Word of Bayside!

ND SPEAKING ABOUT THE WORD, you are sure to enjoy the enclosed Pearls from Heaven. We know that a couple from Ireland did, because Ciaran and Annette Patchell of Co. Meath emailed us with these comments: "I am reading Pearls from Heaven. I am finding it very peaceful. It states that a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary is available. Please send this to my wife and I because there is no greater love in the world than that between husband and wife. I feel that Mary has helped me in this direction and this petal would be a pure symbol to guide us forever more."

          We urge you to promote this powerful booklet far and wide. That’s why we have a special offer until March 15, 2003: only 25¢ each for a 20-page booklet. That’s incredible! But they are priced to move, so souls can be moved! So let’s hear from you today!

          Keep going, keep praying, and keep smiling in 2003. As you can see, the Word is indeed prospering but there is still a lot of work to be done.

          Thank God for beloved Bayside!

          Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and holy New Year,

          Michael

P.S. We heard that a Dominican priest in Rome is reporting that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the Pope some 12 times in late July/early August warning him that the crisis in the Church is going to get worse. (Cardinal Law recently resigned, what next!) The apparitions are said to be of common knowledge to the Vatican Curia, but no one is saying anything.

          Also interesting is that the Pope, it seems, suddenly announced this special "Year of the Rosary." It appears like the apparitions prompted this. In any event, Our Lady told us that She appeared to the Pope before and that he would tell us "in due time" (Sept. 27, 1986). These recently-reported appearances certainly sounds plausible to us. And timely. We’ll see.