Introduction

God sees each person and loves that person as if he or she was the only person on earth. His call is an on-going invitation to live

• With Him
• Through Him
• In Him

And, in that way, live in complete happiness.

That was what I felt and learnt, when I “heard” God's word in my heart.

God speaks

I was not baptised in the traditional way of the Church. My baptism came from a desire that grew and developed in my heart until one day I was talking with a priest who did not know me. After a few minutes he said to me:

“Nuno, God needs you!”

I kept these words in my heart although I did not fully understand them at the time. Later on it was as if a light went up inside me that called my attention and could not be ignored:

“God is calling me to be a Christian!”

That was how I interpreted those words.

Until then I had been thinking of God as some Supreme Being and nothing more. I had heard the story of Jesus and I knew of various apparitions of Our Lady.

Also, I am naturally curious and I wonder about things and ask questions. It was thanks to my grandmother that I learnt to pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Thus I started slowly, advancing very superficially in the faith.

But … that call from God … through the Church, made me say a decisive “yes”. It was a conscious decision, one that I thought about a lot. Today I give thanks to God for having directed me in such a special way. Everything was a bit of a novelty for me and led to a radical change in my life. Soon I was learning new things and I came to understand that it was not enough to just know things, but that it was essential to live the experience of God. I always wanted to go further and that is why today I am studying theology.

However, I do not see theology as a way to increase my faith, I see it rather as a fountain where I can still my thirst for wisdom.

A young people's movement for Christian action

I always lived with and liked being with young people, and because I wanted them to find God in their lives, as I had found him in mine, I tried to find ways to take God to others. With the approval of my parish priest, I started a movement for young people. To start with it was not well understood, nor was it well received. However, today I can say that there are twenty of us who come together. We meet to reflect, to have days of retreat. We talk about theology, about philosophy, about the problems which affect us in today's society, we practice sport, we sing and we play music. Our group is growing and we are making contact with other parishes. New members keep on turning up.

Mary, mediatrix

I was also touched by Mary Immaculate, through the Miraculous Medal, which I had been wearing without knowing anything about its origins.

One day I was invited to a formation event in AMM, and that is when I learnt more about the message of the medal. From that time on I became part of AMM, I became an adviser on training. I also felt that our movement of young people should be part of AMM, and that is why we are now joined to the Association.

I believe that, as young people, we can attract other young people, because God wants all his children joining hands:

• With Him
• Through Him
• In Him

I am convinced that AMM is a privileged means of formation and spiritual growth, and that it is will of Mary as we join her in the Eucharist.

Young people and AMM

AMM is not a restricted or restricting association:

• It is not only for young people
• It is not only for older people
• It is not private, but rather it is universal.

Therefore, it does pretend to reach only one group or one type of persons. On the other hand, the young people who are part of AMM must not simply walk next to the older ones, but they must mix with them, and become one single movement. It is by the will of God and Our Mother in Heaven that the Miraculous Medal exists. It is through Our Lady's intercession that the medal exists today and that it reaches all four corners of the world, thanks to AMM. The Miraculous Medal is not a talisman or a piece of jewellery. It is rather a visible and life-giving sign of the intimate union between ourselves and Mary as we join her in the Eucharist. Because it is through Her and it is led by her hand that we go to Jesus.

It is always touching to see the miracles that are worked through the Faith that the medal transmits and helps to consolidate. I would like to share with you one of the miracles that happened to a priest, a friend of mine, who was diagnosed with a very serious and very dangerous illness that required urgent surgical intervention. When I heard about this, I went to him and, in faith, gave him the medal I was carrying on my breast, and I stayed to pray for him. One week later he went to the doctor and the latter told him that the problem had, inexplicably, disappeared.

I think it is very important that we focus totally on Mary and on God's gifts, and that we leave Him work His will in us.

It is also up to us, Marian Christians, to help Mary bring about God's wishes:

“Come to the foot of this altar, here abundant graces will be granted”

“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”

These were words spoken by Mary at Fatima and in other places in the world, when she speaks with simple people.

This heart of Mary is Jesus-Christ himself. He wants to reign in the world, but in the sense of reigning in people's hearts.

Let us be instruments of God and humble workers in the Lord's vineyard!

Like St Vincent de Paul, young people, with their inner strength, with their faith, with the possibilities given to them by their age, these young people are called to be ever more active, dynamic and creative.

Love is infinitely inventive - (S. Vincent de Paul)

Sent to do God's work

This is the time we are sent to go and show and shout to the world that God exists, that he calls all of us.

Try some day to visit a sick person, someone who is very ill, and give him or her the medal, you will help that person to “put” his or her soul in God's hand. You cannot imagine the happiness and the peace that person will reflect. The happiness and peace which we also will feel. Let us be like St. Dominic: it is said of him that the always spoke, either with God, or about God.

Let us meet God in everything around us, He is there.

I want to share with you a saying that I learnt, that I think and practice every day when I wake up:

I am going to live this day as if it was the first day of my life;

I am going to live this day as if it was the last day of my life;

I am going to live this day as if it was the only day of my life.

That way I know, every day, that if God were to call me to my eternal home, I am ready to go. What I want most of all is to come to the end of my life, to look back and to see that everything was worthwhile.

If being a Christian is a sign of madness, then I want to be the maddest person in the world.

If to be young is a sign of being restless, then I want to be restless and insatiable.

We, Christian young people, we can do everything other young people do, only with one difference: that what we do, be always in another spirit, seen through other eyes, with out heart and our arms totally given to God!

AMM has a very important mission, a mission that is open to all people without exception, because all are included in this invitation: to make know AMM.

We know it is Our Lady's wish that all should go to her, in order to be led to Jesus.

Mary is not our end, she is a way to reach the Supreme End.

We, young people, expect help from older people. We need them to share with us their experience of living in communion with God and Our Lady. More than words, we need their witnessing. We can believe in their testimonies and, following their example, we can go on, to the end.

I feel that this is a great experience for me, to have the opportunity to be united to the world and, all together, to be united for one single cause – that of God, our Father.

“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided.”

This first sentence of a prayer by St Bernard is:

• A clearly visible reality;
• An act of Faith;
• A sign of Hope when wearing the medal.

In heaven, Mary reigns over the angels and saints. May she also reign in the hearts of all those who are present her and, in that way, may we take her to meet our neighbourgs.

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