Our Lady saved my life and the life of my family

Medjugorje is the greatness of the love of God, which he has poured out on his people for more than 25 years through Mary, the heavenly Mother. Whoever would like to limit the work of God to a time, a space or a people is wrong, because God is immeasurable love, immeasurable grace, a source that never ends. Therefore every grace and every blessing that comes from Heaven is truly an undeserved gift to the men of today. He who understands and welcomes this gift can rightly testify that nothing of all that he has received from above belongs to him, but only to God, who is the source of all graces. The family of Patrick and Nancy Tin from Canada testifies to this undeserved gift of God's grace. In Canada they sold everything and came to Medjugorje to live here and, as they say, "live near the Madonna". In the following interview you will learn more about their testimony.

Patrick and Nancy, can you tell us something about your life before Medjugorje?
PATRICK: My life before Medjugorje was completely different. I was an auto dealer. I had many employees and all my life I sold cars. In the work I was very successful and I became very rich. In my life I did not know God. In fact in business there is no God, or rather, the two things do not reconcile. Before I got to know Medjugorje, I didn't enter a church for years. My life was a ruin, with marriages and divorces. I have four children, who had never been to church before.

The change in my life began the day I read the Medjugorje messages sent to me by my wife's brother Nancy. The first message of Our Lady that I read at that time said: "Dear children, I invite you for the last time to conversion". These words deeply affected me and had the effect of a shock on me.

The second message I read was the following: "Dear children, I have come to tell you that God exists." I was worried with my wife Nancy because she hadn't told me before that these messages were true and that there, somewhere far from America, the Madonna appeared. I continued reading the messages in the book. After reading all the messages, I saw my life like in a movie. I saw all my sins. I began to reflect at length on the first and second messages I had read. That evening I felt that those two messages were addressed to me. I cried all night like a baby. I understood that the messages were true and believed it.

This was the beginning of my conversion to God. From that moment I accepted the messages and began to live them, not only to read them, and I lived them exactly and literally as Our Lady wishes. It was not easy, but I did not give in since everything began to change from that day on in my family. One of my children was a drug addict, the second was playing rugby and was an alcoholic. My daughter had married and divorced twice before turning 24. Of the fourth child, a boy, I didn't even know where he lived. This was my life before knowing the messages of Medjugorje.

When my wife and I started going regularly to Mass, to confess, to give us communion and to recite the Rosary together every day, everything began to change. But I experienced the biggest change myself. I had never said the Rosary before in my life, nor did I know how it went. And suddenly I began to experience all this. In a message, Our Lady says that prayer will work miracles in our families. So by means of the prayer of the Rosary and a life in conformity with the messages, everything changed in our life. Our youngest son, who was a drug addict, got rid of the drugs. The second son, who was an alcoholic, completely abandoned alcohol. He stopped playing and rugby and became a fireman. He too started a completely new life. After two divorces, our daughter married a wonderful man who writes songs for Jesus. I am sorry that she did not marry in church, but it is not her fault, but mine. When I look back now, I see that it all started the day I started praying like a father. The biggest change happened in me and my wife. First of all, we got married in church and our wedding became wonderful. The words "divorce", "go away, I no longer need you", no longer existed. Because when the couple prays together, these words can no longer be said. In the sacrament of marriage, Our Lady showed us a love that I didn't even know existed.

Our Lady tells us all that we must go back to her Son. I know I was one of those who had most strayed from His Son. In all my weddings I had lived without prayer and without God. At every wedding I had arrived with my personal helicopter, as befits a rich person. I got married civilly and it all ended there.

How did your conversion journey continue?
Living according to the messages, I saw the fruits in my life and in the life of my family. I couldn't deny it. This fact was present in me every day and it stimulated me more and more to come here to Medjugorje to meet the Madonna, who called me continually. So I decided to abandon everything and come. I sold everything I had in Canada and came to Medjugorje in 1993, just during the war period. I had never been to Medjugorje before, nor did I know this place. I didn't even know what work I would do, but I simply entrusted myself to Our Lady and God to guide me. Nancy often said to me: "Why do you want to go to Medjugorje, that you don't even know where it is?" But I remained obstinate and replied: "Our Lady lives in Medjugorje and I want to live near her". I fell in love with the Madonna and there was nothing I would not have done for her. Everything you see here was built only for the Madonna, not for me. Consider that we live here where we are sitting now. These 20 m2 are enough. We don't need everything else you see. It will remain here, if God grants it, even after our death, since it is a gift to Our Lady, who brought us here. All of this is a commemoration for Our Lady, a thank you from that sinner who otherwise would have ended up in hell. Our Lady saved my life and that of my family. He saved us from drugs, alcohol and divorces. All this no longer exists in my own family, because Our Lady said that miracles occur through the Rosary. We started to pray and we saw the fruits of prayer with our own eyes. The children have not become perfect, but they are a thousand times better than before. I am convinced that Our Lady did this for us, for me, for my wife, for our family. And all that Our Lady has given me I would like to give it back and you and God. Our hope is that all that will belong to the mother church here, whatever community there will be, will serve to renew the priests, nuns and young people who wish to donate everything. to God. Throughout the year hundreds of young people visit us and stop by us. Therefore we are grateful to Our Lady and to God, because we can serve them through all the people who send us. We have given what you see here to Our Lady through the most holy heart of Jesus.

It is no coincidence that as a position you are exactly halfway between the hill of the apparitions and the hill of the cross. Did you plan it?
We too are surprised that it all started here. We attribute it to Our Lady, because we know that she guides us. All the pieces combined as the Madonna wanted, not us. We never looked for engineers or builders through advertisements. No, people came spontaneously to tell us: "I am an architect and I would like to help you". Every person who worked and contributed here was truly pushed and given by the Madonna. Even all the workers who worked here. They built their own lives, because what they did they did it for the love of Our Lady. By means of the work they have changed completely. Everything that was built here comes from the money I had earned in business and from what I sold in Canada. I really wanted it to be my gift to the Madonna here on earth. To the Madonna who guided me on the right path.

When you came to Medjugorje, were you surprised by the landscape in which Our Lady appears? Stones, burning, a lonely place ...
I didn't know what awaited me. We came in the 1993 war period. I collaborated on many humanitarian projects. I have dealt with sustenance and have been to many parish offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time I was not looking for building land to buy it at all, however a man came to me and told me that there was building land and asked me if I wanted to see it and buy it. I never asked or looked for anything from anyone, everyone came to me and asked me if I needed anything. At first I thought I would start with only a small building, but in the end it became something much bigger. One day Father Jozo Zovko came to see us and we told him that this was too big for us. Father Jozo smiled and said, “Patrick, don't be afraid. One day it won't be big enough. " Everything that has arisen is not so important to me personally. It is much more important for me to see in my family the miracles that happened through the Madonna and God. I thank God especially for our youngest son, who works in Innsbruck, Austria, with the Don Bosco nuns. He wrote a book entitled "My dad". For me this is the greatest miracle, because for him I wasn't even a father. Instead he is a good father to his children and in the book he writes what a father should be like. This book about what a father should be like was written not only for his children, but also for his parents.

You were a great friend of Father Slavko. He was your personal confessor. Can you tell us something about him?
It is always difficult for me to talk about Father Slavko because he was our best friend. Before starting this project, I asked Father Slavko for advice on this initiative and showed him the first projects. Then Father Slavko said to me: "Start and don't be distracted, no matter what happens!". Whenever he had some time, Father Slavko came to see how the project proceeded. He especially admired the fact that we built everything in stone, because he liked stone very much. On November 24, 2000, on Friday, we were as always with him doing the via crucis. It was a normal day, with some rain and mud. We finished the via crucis and reached the top of the Krizevac. We all stayed there in prayer for a while. I saw Father Slavko walk past me and slowly begin the descent. After a while I heard Rita, the secretary, who shouted: "Patrick, Patrick, Patrick, run!". As I ran down, I saw Rita next to Father Slavko who was sitting on the ground. I thought to myself, "Why is he sitting on the stone?" When I got closer I saw that he was having difficulty breathing. I immediately took a cloak and put it on the ground, so that it wouldn't sit on the stones. I saw that he had stopped breathing and I began to give him artificial respiration. I realized that the heart had stopped beating. He practically died in my arms. I remember there was also a doctor on the hill. He arrived, put a hand on his back and said "dead". everything happened so quickly, it only took a few seconds. All in all it was somehow extraordinary and in the end I closed his eyes. We loved him very much and you cannot imagine how difficult it was to bring him down the dead hill. Our best friend and confessor, with whom I had only spoken a few minutes earlier. Nancy ran down to the parish office and informed the priests that Father Slavko had died. When we took Father Slavko down, an ambulance arrived and so we took him to the rectory floor and at first we placed his body on the dining room table. I stayed with Father Slavko until midnight and it was the saddest day of my life. On November 24th everyone was shocked when they heard the sad news of Father Slavko's death. During the apparition, the visionary Marija asked Our Lady what we should do. Our Lady only said: "Go ahead!". The following day, November 25, 2000, the message arrived: "Dear children, I rejoice with you and I want to tell you that your brother Slavko was born in Heaven and who intercedes for you". It was a consolation for all of us because we knew that Father Slavko was now with God. Difficult to lose a great friend. From him we have been able to learn what holiness is. He had a good character and always thought positively. He loved life and joy. I am happy that he is in Heaven, but here we miss him very much.

You are now here in Medjugorje and have lived in this parish for 13 years. To conclude I would like to ask you one last question: what purpose do you have in life?
My purpose in life is to witness the messages of the Madonna and all that she has done in our life, so that we can see and understand that all this is the work of the Madonna and of God. I know well that the Madonna does not come for those who follow the His way, but precisely for those who are as I once was. Our Lady comes for those who are hopeless, without faith and without love.

Therefore, to us, members of the parish, he assigns this task: "Love all those who send you, all those who come here, since many of them are far from the Lord". an affectionate mother and saved my life. To conclude, I would just like to say again: thank you, Mother!

Source: An invitation to prayer Maria? Queen of Peace No. 71