"You called me, so I came" (I)

In Russia, Mary came to support her sons in the face of violent persecution. Josyp Terelya was arrested at the age of 19 for his anti-communist resistance in Ukraine. During the repression unleashed by Khrushchev in 1959, he was interned in several prison camps. 

On February 12, 1970, he was incarcerated 165 kilometers northeast of Moscow. He was in Vladimir Prison when he had his first apparition of Mary: "It was in the night, when I was kneeling in prayer." He felt "an unusual warmth" flowing through his body. As the prison was freezing, he knew he wasn’t hallucinating. "You must learn to forget those who persecuted you most. I'll always be with you ... Peace comes only where there is justice. Pray for your enemies (...) no harm will come to you."

Fr. Jacques Ravanel,  Marie de cœur à cœur, published by Renaissance Press (excerpt)