1)  Mary speaks:  I am the Mediatrix of all graces.  All good things are mine to bestow on whomsoever I will.  This is my Son’s gift to me, and the will of the Father.  Having stood with my Son as He hung upon the Cross, I stand with Him now in glory.  Mine it is to dispense to all souls the fruits of His redemption.  To me, His Heart is ever open, and I draw out from the wound in His side an infinity of graces and mercies for souls.  The Heart of my Son is an inexhaustible treasure and I am its keeper.  Those who desire anything from the Heart of my Son can come to me, and I will obtain it for them and give it to them with my own hands.  (p. 38)

2)  Jesus speaks:   I offered myself to the Father from the altar of My Mother’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.  She accepted, consenting to bear the full weight of My sacrifice, to be the very place from which My holocaust of love blazed up.  She, in turn, offered herself with me to the Father from the altar of My Sacred Heart.  There she immolated herself, becoming one victim with Me for the redemption of the world…  You speak of My Mother as Co-Redemptrix.  Our two hearts formed but a single holocaust of love in the Holy Spirit. (p. 168)

3)  Jesus speaks:  Just as no one can come to the Father except through Me, so too can no one come to Me except through her in whose virginal womb I took flesh.  (p. 127)

4)  Jesus speaks:  My holy Mother is the treasurer and dispenser of all the riches that are laid up for souls within my Sacred Heart.  Souls that appeal to her will not go away empty.  Souls that refuse to acknowledge her unique place in My Father’s plan of mercy for the world will not receive in the same measure as those souls who look to My Mother and call upon her name with confidence.  (pp. 23-4)

I had stayed late at my friend’s place.  We were chatting away.  I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11 p.m.  I said good-bye to her and ran to the train station.  It was not far; first I had to walk through the village streets, and then nearer to the station I had to go through a little forest—a seven minute walk in all.  The moon was young and it was dark, but I refused to be accompanied, and ran off alone.  I was a young woman and afraid of nothing.  I walked fast, then ran through the streets and entered the forest.  It was dark, and of course I was a little afraid, but I was all right—the path was wide, and I had walked it many times before.  I slowed to a walk, since I did not see or hear anybody.  Then I started running, but felt somebody grab me by the arms and throw something over my head.  I tried to break loose and wanted to scream but they bound my mouth with a rag.  I fought, trying to tear myself away, trying to kick my attackers with my feet, but they hit me on the head which kept me quiet for a bit.  They pulled me off the path and removed the jacket they had used to cover my head, but they did not remove the rag that was keeping my mouth shut.  A man’s voice said:  “Lie down, you idiot!  If you cooperate we won’t kill you.”  I looked at the men—one was tall, the other smaller; both smelled of wine.  They took the rag from my mouth and pushed me to the ground.  I whispered, “Take pity on me!  Let me go!” and pushed them away.  The tall one put his knife to my chest and pricked it.  I knew then that nothing could save me.

Here I am and I know that there is no hope for me to be saved.  What can I do?  How can I defend myself?  I thought about God.  “Help me, O God!”  I could not remember any other prayer, only the one that suddenly came back to my mind, a prayer to the Mother of God.  I knew that she was the only one who could save me.  At this moment, the tall one threw me to the ground… but I did not stop praying, repeating the same prayer over and over to the Mother of God.  I was probably praying aloud because the guy asked me, “What are you mumbling?”  I continued to pray and then realized I truly was praying aloud.  The guy repeated, “I ask you, what are you saying?”  He suddenly stood up and looked above me.  He looked attentively, glanced at me again and then angrily kicking me in the side, he picked me up and said, “Let’s get out of here!”  He picked me up, threw his knife away, and led me into the forest.  We walked in silence, I continued to pray and I was no longer surprised by anything.  I just knew that the Mother of God was with me.  We walked for a short while.  I suddenly saw the light of the train station.  He bought me a ticket to Moscow, wet a handkerchief in the drinking fountain, and washed my face where it was bloody because of the blow I had received.  We sat down in the train…  I continued my prayer.  [Finally the man led her to her apartment and departed.]

A year went by.  One day I was at home studying.  The bell rang.  Mother opened the door, and I heard her say, “Come in, yes, she is home!”  I got up, thinking it was one of my friends—a student.  The door opened and I froze.  It was the guy from the forest.  I stood without moving:  he came in, looked around my room and, paying no attention to me, went to the corner where there hung a lithograph of the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir.  He went over to the picture, looked at it and said, “She’s the one!”  After he stood there a minute, he came over to me and said, “Don’t be afraid, I came to ask your forgiveness.  Please forgive me, I am terribly guilty before you, forgive me!”  Then he turned around and left.  [Later, he came again in a Lieutenant’s uniform.]  “Who are you?” I asked.  He didn’t answer but pulled a big bag of food into the room and said, “I’m that guy! Andrei!”—and I knew then that it was him.  He walked over to the cupboard with the icons, venerated them, blessed himself with the sign of the cross, walked up to me, and said again, “Forgive me, in the name of the Lord.  I beg you!  My past obsesses me constantly.  I feel terrible.” 

Andrei literally saved our family.  We didn’t see him for two weeks, but then he started coming regularly, sat with my mother for hours on end and talked.  He always brought us a lot of food.  I started talking to him.  He told me a lot about himself.  He told me how they saw me in that forest and why they attacked me.  He told me how he bent over me and heard me whispering something.  He was surprised and confused, but suddenly he saw a woman next to me.  This woman halted him with a commanding gesture.  When he threw me on the ground again this woman protected me with one arm and he got frightened.  He decided to let me go and brought me to the station.  He saw that I was in shock, so he took me home.  “My conscience did not leave me in peace,” he said.  “I suffered constantly.  I understood that all of this had happened for a reason.  I thought about this woman.  Who was she?  Why did she stop me?  I decided to go to your house to apologize.  I was ashamed, I was afraid, but I went.  When I came into your room, I saw the picture of the Mother of God  and understood that she was the one I had seen then in the forest.  When I left you, I asked everybody I could about the Mother of God; I found out all I could.  I became a believer.  I understood that I had seen a great apparition and that my sin was heavy.  Everything that happened had a big influence on my life; I felt more and more how guilty I was before you.  I knew there was no way I could make up for it…”