the words of Our Lady to all Her children through Christina Gallagher(Feb 1988)
"This is my testimony to Our Lady Queen of Peace, as a survivor of suicide. I call it the TESTIMONY OF LIFE because of what Our Lady has obtained for me through Her intercession.
I had known of Our Lady’s House of Prayer since 1993. My parents visited it often and as I was in my early teens I accompanied them. My parents encouraged us to wear a Matrix Medal and I suppose it became a habit for me to wear it as I always did. As the next few years went on I began to experience the temptations and pressures which often accompany us through our teenage years. For me personally a severe form of bullying was one of those pressures. Because of the difficulties peer pressure and this bullying caused in my life, I had to get psychiatric help often as I could not cope with the deep dark temptation to suicide I felt inside of me. It was a very difficult time in my life.
I tried to take my life many times and the last time I attempted it, I believed it was to be the last.
I remember being put into the ambulance and was vaguely conscious of a spiritual battle taking place. I don’t remember anything after that until I experienced myself come out of this dark black tunnel. I jumped up from where I was lying on the hospital bed. It must have been night because I could see all these lights on. On either side at the end of the bed was a nurse and at the same time they said “YOU’RE BACK”. That moment for me was the sign that Our Lady had obtained for me a second chance. I immediately slipped back into unconsciousness.
The next day I woke in the hospital bed with all these wires hanging out of me, hardly able to move a muscle, but I can tell you I will never forget that moment for as long as I live, because I felt like a new born baby. The peace I felt and the happiness of heart I experienced I know now could only have come from God and Our Blessed Mother.
I was discharged from hospital that day and my life began to change for the better. I had to visit the psychiatric nurse, but when I went into the room this time and started talking he could not believe his ears. He nearly fell off his seat in amazement, so much so that he discharged me and told me there was no need to attend again.
I got a job as a night-shift worker in a Texaco Service Station, this job lasted five years. As I was there alone I could pray the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary and I would listen to tapes of Christina and Fr. McGinnity. I would serve customers through a hatch in the window. I used to distribute Matrix Medals to those I felt were open enough to receive them. One case was a man who was married to a Russian lady and when I offered him the Matrix Medal he said he didn’t believe in lucky charms, but little did he know that it was through this medal that Our Lady had obtained for me a second chance of life. So I convinced him to accept it. About a week later he came back to the window and asked to come in the back door. Normally I wouldn’t open this door during the night, but he told me he wanted to tell me something about the medal I gave him. So I let him in and he said that since I gave him the Matrix Medal his whole life had changed for the better – his work, his family – and that if I asked for the medal back he would not give it to me.
Within those five years Our Lady would come to me in dreams as Our Lady Queen of Peace and when I would wake I would have a feeling of deep happiness.Our Lady guided me through one of these dreams to begin to bring a bus regularly to the House of Prayer. Strange enough, the people in the dream were the very same people who travelled on my first bus to the House of Prayer. This bus is to this day still coming to Achill monthly, operated by a Fraternity member. I was also guided by Our Lady to purchase a garden shed and convert it into a prayer room. This shed was to be in my garden for some time, I didn’t use it much at all so that my family were asking why I didn’t make more use of it after going to the trouble of purchasing it.
The words came to me “It’s not time yet”. This shed still stands and every Tuesday for the past nine years Fraternity people come from various places to join in the Fraternity prayers for Christina.
In 2004, I moved to Achill with my brother to be near the House of Prayer. For the last six and a half years I am a helper in Our Lady’s House and I have been praying and waiting for God’s Will to unfold regarding my call to the Priesthood.
I mentioned the above because these are the spiritual fruits brought about through what Our Lady Queen of Peace has obtained for me through Her intercession in my life.
I give eternally Praise and Thanks to Almighty God for His goodness and mercy in drawing me from the darkness into the Light of His Life. And who more than Our Blessed Mother have I to thank for this great blessing.
Thank you, Blessed Mother, Our Lady Queen of Peace. I firmly believe that all these blessings would not have come about if Christina had not surrendered to Our Lady’s Call to fulfil this mission - there would be no Matrix Medal, no buses, no Fraternity Prayer groups and no Houses of Prayer and for myself I wouldn’t be standing here today giving my testimony.
So we have a great deal to be thankful to God in giving us Christina.
In conclusion I would like to say to those here today who lost a loved one through suicide to trust in God’s Infinite Mercy, offer the hurt of your heart for them and pray for them, because God is a loving, merciful Father and He alone knows the depths of the hearts of His children.
To those who are contemplating suicide, know. as I now know, life is a precious gift from God. This you will realize when you find Jesus and Mary. They are the best friends you will ever have. From my personal experience what helped me to draw closer to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary were
Regular Confession. I found this gave me great grace and strength to grow in my spiritual life.
To receive Jesus in Holy Communion as often as was possible;
To pray my Rosary.
To wear my Matrix Medal and visit Our Lady’s House of Prayer most weekends;
This was my recipe for remaining close to Jesus and Mary;
Finally, I drew encouragement from the words of Our Lady to Christina “Take the first step and I will help you the rest of the way.
Testimony of a devotee of Our Lady Queen of Peace and Her House of Prayer in Achill, Co Mayo, Ireland.
