The Private Apparition of Our Lady Of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.)

Monday, October 8, 2012

Dear Friends,
I have decided to share with you my experience during my thirty-day retreat in Jerusalem. It was the greatest retreat I ever lived. During half of the retreat I lived the Passion and Death of Our Lord in a very special way. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Father Melvin

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My Thirty-day Retreat – Part 1

          I made a thirty day retreat in Jerusalem from 18th April till 18th May 1990. This was an extraordinary time of grace for me as I spent half of the retreat on the passion and death of Our Lord. I experienced to a limited degree the suffering, the agony and death of Jesus for us. I kept a diary of these days as Jesus directed me, and here it is.

          18^th April 1990 – The Holy Eucharist was celebrated at 17:00 for all participants (about 40) to begin this month-long encounter with the Lord. In the homily Fr. Luc Lefief M.Afr., my spiritual director, asked us all to climb the mountain to be with God. He said that God was waiting for us and that he had something special to tell us. “Open your heart and listen to Him,” he said. This Eucharist was a time to prostrate oneself before the Lord in adoration and to acknowledge our littleness and our great need of God. After the liturgy we had a half hour conference on the disposition we should have in order to begin the retreat.

          19^th April 1990 – A full day of retreat is coming to an end. It is done in complete silence–we only talk to our spiritual director. I saw Fr. Luc at 10:45 for 45 minutes. He explained how he wants the retreat to proceed. A timetable was agreed upon: I will do four meditations of one hour each day. I explained to him that a certain darkness has come over me since last night and I don’t know what it means. “We will speak about that tomorrow,” he said. I had my four meditations of one hour today. I especially asked the Lord to guide me during the course of this retreat so that it be for me an important step in my life and in my journey towards Him.
The weather is very nice, sunny all day and the temperature is just right.
By the way the local people who live right around us are mostly Moslem and they accompany us on our retreat as they are in Ramadan, the famous month-long fast. They will finish next week after 28 days only as they follow the lunar month. I prayed for them today.

          20^th April 1990 – I saw my spiritual director again and we spoke about this darkness which is still with me. I also told him that I seemed absorbed in the passion and death of Our Lord and I cannot concentrate on anything else. He said that this is not normal and I should try to mediate on other subjects and he gave me Jesus’ Transfiguration to mediate upon. I tried for one hour but it was impossible to focus on this scene. What a struggle this was for me.
Now that I am on retreat I don’t go out any more visiting the holy places in the city of Jerusalem. Yet, I am very much aware that I am in this most holy city so famous because it is considered central for the three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I feel that it is very important for me to be here because Jesus walked its streets, prayed in its temple, cured the sick, some right in the yard of our house where we are staying (St. Anne’s). It is in this city that he gave us the “Our Father” and established the Eucharist when he ate the Last Supper with his apostles. It is here that Jesus suffered his passion. The Agony he underwent in the Garden of Gethsemane, just across the street from here. His trial before Pontius Pilate was held only a few meters from our house and the Way of the Cross started at the gate of the house. His crucifixion, death and resurrection took place about ten minutes walk from here and the Ascension happened on Mount of Olives which is up the hill from the Garden of Gethsemane. Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, was experienced by the apostles only 15 minutes walk from St. Anne’s. It is good indeed to be here.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Dear Friends,
In the past I spent three months in Israel and most of the time I was in Jerusalem where I attended a month-long course on the New Testament and where I made a 30 day retreat. However, during my stay, I was able to go with the group to Nazareth for five days. Here below is what I wrote about my stay in this religious city:

Five days in Nazareth

On 2nd April 1990, at 7:30 a.m., our group set out by bus from Jerusalem to Nazareth in Israel. As we were piling into our bus to leave, large snowflakes were falling, a rather unfamiliar scene in this part of the world. It snowed all the way.

We made our first stop on the Mediterranean Sea at Caesarea Maritima, at 9:15. There, preserved in the amphitheater, I saw the ancient slab of stone on which is written the name of Pontius Pilatus, who had his headquarters in this town in his day.

We continued to the summit of Mount Carmel where the Prophet Elijah defeated the 450 priests of Baal. We visited the chapel there. It is here on Mount Carmel that we had our picnic which we did not enjoy because of the cold weather. After visiting some ruins in the valley we made our way to Nazareth, passing through the modern town of Afula.

Nazareth is a town of 60,000 people, nestled in the hills of Galilee. However, in the time of Jesus it was much smaller, less than 1,000 people. About 30% of the population today is Christian while the majority are Moslems. We drove through town and up a hill to the place that would be our home for the next five days.

It was a large building owned by a French group of priests called the Berthram Fathers. After unpacking, we made our way down the hill to the beautiful modern church called the Basilica of the Annunciation. This is the building that makes this town so famous.

The Church of the Annunciation is built over the earthly home of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family. Not much is left of the house except a part of the wall and the foundations. The Church commemorates the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary when He announced to her that God had chosen her to be the Mother of God. The Bible records that she gave her consent in these words, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38. At that moment Mary conceived and the “Word became flesh.” (John 1:14)

Nazareth is the town where Jesus grew up. As I walked the streets in the old part of town, I was conscious that Jesus had walked there. I went to the spring and drank water there, the place where Mary came every day to draw water. Jesus must have drunk from that very spring too, when He was thirsty.

I entered the small synagogue beautifully restored to the way it was at the time of Jesus. I looked around at the seats facing each other and I wondered where Jesus sat when he came to pray each Sabbath. Here, in this synagogue, we read Luke 4:16-30. It was a strange feeling to know that the passage had been read by Jesus Himself in the very building I was in. Jesus had proclaimed to the people that He was the Messiah, the anointed one. He had come to proclaim liberty to captives, to give sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. The people, however, had not believed him. They turned against him and drove him out of town and wanted to kill him. However, they were not able to touch him.

I walked down the “suk” (the open marketplace), and I saw all the delicious fruit and vegetables everywhere. They say it has hardly changed since the time of Jesus. I looked at the faces of the people of Nazareth and there I saw reflected the face of Jesus. These, I thought, are His relatives, His descendants, and He must have looked like them. Most of them dressed simply as humble people, and were of dark complexion with black hair, and of medium height. Some were just sitting around while others were rushing to their work.

There were always many people at the “suk” looking for a bargain or just admiring the display.

I spent much time in the Church of the Annunciation praying and reading Luke’s account of what happened here. I was struck at the realization of how Christianity has such a geographical and historical aspect to it. This is understandable as Jesus lived on earth, had a family, walked its roads, and all His actions and teachings took place in time and space. I was amazed and deeply aware that it was here in Nazareth that the drama of our salvation began with the Incarnation of the Son of God. God stooped down to become one of us. He became a human being because he loves you and me. I knelt there in this beautiful church to thank Jesus for being the Saviour of the world and my Saviour. I prayed that all the people of the world would come to know and believe in Him. I asked Him for the grace that all may commit themselves to Him especially the people of Prince Edward Island. Lord, give us your hand that we may follow You always.

One day Fr. Mathias from Ghana, and I, took a walk through the “suk” and along a street with many garages where we met a Moslem man who had been in the last war with the British. He spoke English well. We asked him about life in Nazareth. He told us he was happy living there and that the Christians and Moslems got along well together. We also visited the Anglican Church in Nazareth. We went to the office and greeted the priest, an Arab, and asked him if we could visit his church. He was very kind and was delighted to show us around.

My stay in Nazareth left me with great joy. I lived five days in the town where Jesus spent most of his life on earth. On the last day I composed a poem, which I want to share with you.

O little Nazareth, well nestled in the hills,
Give praise and thanks to God. Your salvation he fulfills.

With Mary, my heavenly mother, I come to Jesus, her only Son,
Please guide us all I pray, until life’s prize is won.

Father Melvin

Wonderful healings that occurred on the first year of the Little Shrine

          You will find below a list of wonderful healings that occurred in 2004,the first year of the Little Shrine (then called the “Prayer Room”). These testimonies were reported to Father Melvin Doucette by Jean-Claude Papin,who then organized pilgrimages to Prince Edward Island for people from the province of Québec.

Healing of an inflamed big toe (bunion)

          I attended a Healing Mass in the afternoon of July 8, in the Prayer Room of Our Lady of Prince Edward Island. The next day, I felt better. I had a big onion on the right foot which caused me pain and throbbing, and also I had pain under the right foot. The onion hurt a lot. Pain in my right foot made me limp at times.
Once back home, I waited a week before telling my husband that I washealed and that I had no pain anymore. It’s been two weeks now that I am well. Already during the return trip, I had realized that I had less troublegetting off the bus at stops. Healing was progressive and very quickly Irealized that I was completely healed. Thank you, Our Lady.
Berthe P., July 26, 2004

Healing of chronic pain in coccyx

          15 years ago, I was hurt in the tailbone because I had fallen on the icy steps of stairs at my workplace. Since then, I always had some pain (for example, when I laid in my lazy-boy and tried to get up, I felt acute pain). Since my pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island two months ago, the pain has disappeared. I did not realize immediately the healing, but now I must say it is obvious: I have no pain anymore. Thank you, Mother Mary.
Claire B., July 26, 2004

Healing of back pain

          A week before leaving for a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Prince Edward Island in Tignish (PEI), organized by Jean-Claude Papin, I began to have a real back pain, which radiated into the left shoulder and was burning like fire, night and day, even if I took sedatives and painkillers. It was so painful I was afraid of not being able to make the trip. Fortunately a few days before departure, the pain began to decline (but it did not stop completely throughout the pilgrimage). I also suffered from high blood pressure. For three months, a doctor had tried three kinds of medications without good results, because of side effects (palpitations, muscle pain, leg cramps, severe fatigue).
The day after the trip, or rather the “pilgrimage”, I returned to my doctor because I felt extreme fatigue. He prescribed a fourth medication, but back home, I decided that I had enough, that all this made me really sick and I had to stop these medications. I went to the pharmacy and, instead, I took natural products to compensate for all the minerals I lost in urine. The next day, I started to feel better.
I phoned my son and his wife to tell them that I believe the Holy Virgin of Prince Edward Island really played a role in all this. Since my pilgrimage, in fact, I recovered my strength, cramps and pains are gone and I feel better, as my blood pressure has dropped.
I also think that the Blessed Virgin gave me a sign of that healing, by this coincidence: after calling the good Father Melvin Doucette (who has apparitions of Our Lady of Prince Edward Island), five minutes later it was Jean-Claude Papin who phoned me to hear from me. Of course I told him of my healing! As a holy Jesuit priest has said: “There are no coincidences: only moments where God goes incognito!”
In the meantime, I thank with all my heart Our Lady of Prince Edward Island, the always good and holy Virgin Mary, and our dedicated Jean-Claude Papin and his team, who organize pilgrimages with so much patience, kindness, honesty and piety. I wish wholeheartedly that the Blessed Virgin Mary bless them and give them a good health to continue these pilgrimages that give courage to walk the path of life.
Angéline (Evangéline Duguay), July 26, 2004

Emotional healing, with a vision

          During his talk about Our Lady of Prince Edward Island, Father Melvinspoke of Mary holding in her arms the Child Jesus, who is about 2 years old.I had an inner healing from the cradle to the age of 2 years. When I was anointed with Holy Oil blessed by Mary, I fell right away into the rest of the Spirit. My heart was throbbing, and I had a long, progressive healing […] I amin the process of emotional healing. Since then, every emotion I experience, Ifeel it in my heart and I offer it to Jesus who now lives with his presence andis always there with me.
During his talk about the art of contemplative prayer, Father Melvinexplained the nature of that prayer, which lasts half an hour. When he saidthat we can see three rivers before us, I saw the central river, and in that riverI saw a beautiful red heart and a light white veil that Jesus wore on his shoulders. It is a vision I saw in my heart. Thank you for everything, my good Mother.
Louise L.

Cure of a problem of water retention

Bécancour, July 20, 2004

Dear Father Melvin,
I give you news concerning my problem of water retention. Usuallyevery night my feet, ankles, legs were very swollen. The swelling spreadeverywhere and I had difficulty urinating. Now I urinate easily, and my feet, ankles, legs present almost no swelling. I think that this problem will disappear completely. I thank the Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin – and you too for your good prayers – because healing will be complete soon.Through your hands, these are the hands of Jesus that heal. I thank Jesus and Mary for the gifts and the great graces they gave you, and we pray for allyour intentions.
My husband Bruno has prostate cancer, but we believe in his healing.This will confirmed by the blood test he will have on his next appointment,August 19 (2004) 10:00. We pray that your mission is fulfilled as soon as possible for your community and we thank you.
Jeannine Fréchette

Editing and translation: RF
Sunday, October 7, 2012