“I am a Medjugorje miracle”: Drug addict was about to commit suicide when God unexpectedly intervened

When Emilio Ferrando was 13 years old, the death of his father was traumatic for the whole family. He precociously entered "in hell" in which the drug took over his life for decades to come. One day, he was going to jump out the window when his dog stopped him. He soon learned that God and Mary wanted to bring him back to life.

He tells in the portal dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Rosary at 11, that he had a happy childhood, marked by a deeply Catholic paternal family.

He was 13 years old and his father, a prestigious architect , had just opened the Obra Social de la Caixa in Madrid. It was Christmas, and he was returning to his family in Valencia when he had a fatal traffic accident .

"My life changed in a matter of 1 second. My mother went from being a housewife with 42 years and 8 children to directing a company with more than 70 workers. Her death was traumatic, I did not understand anything, and what I did was deny God and stop going to mass," he explains.

At school, joints instead of snacks

The fact that his school was Catholic didn't stop a real drug stash from being one of the main distractions at break time. "When I was 14 years old I began to have my first flirtations with drugs, I had a 15-year-old companion who, instead of having 'the typical sandwich', smoked two joints in half an hour."

Emilio was not long in following his companion. He started smoking joints with her, "he went to class stoned" and everything started to get complicated. It was the 80's, times of the "bakalao route" and the scene, and Emilio was still in school when he began to experiment with chemical drugs , mescaline and acids "to be able to stay up to 72 hours without stopping".

When he traveled to New York, his "particular Sodom and Gomorrah", the young man was immersed "in a maelstrom of sexual promiscuity" and drugs in which LSD, heroin and other psychedelic drugs were part of his daily life. "At first I used them for fun but eventually they took over my life ," he says.

But Emilio was always able to maintain "a double life" with his family and a successful job without being affected. "I had a position of responsibility in an American multinational , I earned a lot of money and bought the most expensive things," he explains.

Locked up at home, he only lived for the drug

That position allowed him to have an "absolutely superficial" life . He could go to Ibiza and spend 6,000 euros in a weekend , going to parties "with very important people from Madrid where everyone used to drink, no matter what political party they were."

But the drug had consequences. "I began to have communication problems, I stopped going out and interacting, a drug dealer would bring me home the drug and I would get 'up to my eyebrows,'" he admits.

Money also began to be a problem, since "if the first thing you do when you wake up is get a line and consume 2 or 3 grams a day, the economic consequences are enormous."

Emilio was still able to combine his addiction with a good standard of living when he began to have serious health problems, he contracted hepatitis C and had to be admitted successively to many hospitals.

In 2008, Emilio was close to hitting rock bottom. "It was the crisis, I had left the multinational and it was difficult for me to find a job," he explains.

For a time he was able to undertake and start his own projects, but the costs of his addiction began to be unsustainable: "I began to have economic problems, non-payment of the mortgage, the bank jumped on me and I lost the house. I was ruined ".

God used his dog to save him

Emilio says that at that time his life had no meaning , he had "everyone on top" and his relationship with his family was practically broken. With the last money he had left, he bought 5 grams of cocaine and began "snorting line after line." He had to be very high for what he was going to do.

Emilio opened the window of his balcony, prepared to take a run and the only thing he could think about was the time it would take to untie his pet. " When he was going to throw me, my dog ​​started barking, he got in front of me and pushed me back on his two legs. I hugged him and understood that God had used him so I wouldn't do it ," he explains.

On the same day, Emilio recounts years later, his brother -in-law dreamed that he should take him to Medjugorje and to achieve this, he offered him a position in his company on the condition that he accompany him.

Mary, his last hope

"I always said it was a family plot where everyone knew where I was going except me, and as my family's last hope, they decided to send me to Medjugorje ," he says.

As soon as he arrived, Emilio just wanted to turn back, go back to his house and leave "that cold and dark town, but he only had 1 euro in his pocket and he depended completely on my brother-in-law".

After 25 years involved in drugs, hostile to the faith from groups of the extreme left and abortionists and with "a precocious life in everything", Emilio began his trip thinking that "it was the worst case to go to Medjugorje" .

However, what happened upon arrival showed him how wrong he was. "The Lord arranged everything for me to enter the church of Santiago Apóstol. When I did, after more than 20 years addicted, my problem with drugs ended suddenly : I never had a withdrawal syndrome and the Lord freed me from drugs at that very moment," he says.

Over time, Emilio says that if he had not confessed, his life would not have been the same. But then he didn't know it, and at first he refused to get down on his knees after 35 years of darkness and sin.

"`La Gospa´ has made me a new man"

" I met a Croatian priest who spoke Spanish and I ended up going to confession with him," he explains. " It was my resurrection : the first thing I did when I came back was make peace with my family, tell them my problem and I confessed that the only thing I thought about was going back: I had to go back alone", he explains.

But this time he would return alone and without a time limit, and the first thing he did when he returned was to visit the white statue of the Virgin. "I got down on my knees and told her: ` I've been told you're a mother. If you're everyone's mother , you're also my mother. I don't know how to find meaning in my life or how to reach out to your son, but if you're a mother you have to help you reach out to your son and get to know him .

His words were heard. Emilio began to work in the Medjugorje Radio Maria delegation and Our Lady helped him "to meet her son. I asked her, she has done it and she has made me a new man ", he affirms. the.

Over time, Emilio began to organize pilgrimages to visit the apparition center, and one of his acquaintances confessed to him that he always used his example when asked about Medjugorje. "When I try to explain what it is, I show a photo of you from the first day you came and another with your smiling face and your different eyes from the last few days: that is Medjugorje."

Article originally published on the website of the Cari Filii Foundation, based on the video testimony in El Rosario de las 11