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In June of 2008...

Manuel went to Lourdes. 

After dinner, in the hostel, Manuel recited the Rosary with the Sicilian pilgrims and wanted to offer a decade for blind children. No one understood why he had this intention. On their return, they discovered that a blind child from another group had recovered his sight!

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There were several priests close to Manuel. 

Fr. Ignacio Vazzana was Manuel’s spiritual director from September 2008 onwards, at Jesus’ request. 

He visited him every day in the hospital and at home. 

In March 2009, Manuel asked to go to confession more frequently. 'With great emotion, I remember the great sense of sin he had, so much so that he burst into tears during confession,' the priest said. 

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On July 2nd, 2009... 

Manuel had to undergo a very painful scan and did not want to see anyone, nor answer the phone. He asked the Blessed Virgin for a sign to show that She loved him and was helping him. 

A little before midnight, he started to hear fireworks. 'Mom,' he said, 'today I suffered a lot, but Jesus wanted to reward me.'

Fr. Ignacio relates... 

that from the first moment, Manuel spoke to him about his special friend, Jesus. 

In the chapel, he would lie down on the pew [kerkbank] or floor to pray. If he was in the hospital, he went under the sheets, covered his head, and remained in the same position for ten to twenty minutes in absolute silence. At the most important moment of Communion, he conversed with Jesus as with his closest friend. 

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Fr. Ignacio explained... 

'I asked him, if he saw Jesus face to face, and he answered me by saying that he felt His voice in his heart.'

One day, after Communion, Jesus said to him, 'Manuel, your heart is not your own. It is mine and I live in you.' But Manuel did not quite understand, so he asked Fr. Ignacio, 'What does Jesus mean?' The only words that came to the priest’s mind were those of St. Paul: 'Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me' (Gal 2:20).

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Manuel said to his friends... 

'Jesus gave me suffering, because He needs suffering, united to Him, to save the world. Jesus called me ‘warrior of light’ to conquer the evil and darkness of the world.'

The little boy saw what his mission was with total clarity: 'Mom, are there really people who don’t love Jesus? We should bring the greatest possible number of souls to Him.' 

Love, sacrifice, and gift of self were inseparable realities for Manuel. One day, he candidly explained to his mother: 'To love Jesus, you should pray a lot, work hard, study, and offer sacrifices to Him.'

'Sacrifices?' His mother then asked him for an explanation. 

'For example,' the boy replied, 'you don’t want to eat pasta with zucchini, but you eat it anyway and offer it up out of love for Jesus.'

[bron]