From Former Marine to Mary’s Evangelist – Always Faithful

What We Need to Know

Our Lady wants everyone to know about this Image, for it is a healing Image, and because She is our Mother, She wants what is best for us, her children. That is why She repeatedly tells us what we must do, so we do not lose our way, lest we forget or get distracted.

What We Are to Know

She wants this Image of Her to be called “Our Lady of the Tear of Joy.”  If you look at Her left eye, you will see a single “Tear,” and Our Lady has said this is a “Tear of Joy,” for it gives Her great Joy when we go to Her.

We “Heal Her Heart” when we pray to Our Lady, when we call out to Her in prayer. This gives her great Joy (hence her Tear of Joy). Our Lady has said that all those who pray to Her, asking Her to intercede on their behalf, she will lead to Her Son.

“It gives me tears of joy when my children flee to me and call upon me. When you look at this Image of “Our Lady of the Tear of Joy,” I want the Memorare prayer, for in this prayer you are fleeing to me and calling upon me, and I will intercede for you and lead you to my son.”

This Image is a healing Image; it will bring Spiritual healing to people who are touched with the Image—and Physical healing if it is Her Son’s will. You are to pray to Our Lady when you do, and she will lead you to her Son.

(Note: There are numerous accounts of people experiencing physical and spiritual healings. A sampling of them is given on page 9. Visit the website’s Testaments page for healing reports from all over the world: tearofjoy.org/testaments)

Our Lady desires this message to be spread throughout the world. She recently said: “They are to know. They are to get my Image into their homes, and I will take care of the rest.” Meaning, just the Image of Our Lady of the Tear of Joy in a home will bring about spiritual healings just by people looking upon her.

The mission of Our Lady of the Tear of Joy is under the spiritual direction of a Catholic priest.

Our Lady of the Tear of Joy: The Background Story

Describing his life growing up in Waterville, Ohio, Arrow Osborne recounts, “I fought my way through school—it prepared me for what I’d face in life.” As a former Marine and retired Police Officer, Arrow has had to face many challenges in his life, not the typical profile of a Visionary of Our Lady. But, Our Lord and Our Lady choose who they will, and Arrow, faithful to his mission, devotes his life to spreading the beautiful Image and message of Our Lady of the Tear of Joy.

He recounts his story, beginning with a “chance” encounter with then-Pope John Paul II, who bestowed his Apostolic Blessing on him in 1984 when Arrow, serving as a U.S. Marine overseas at the time, visited the Vatican while in Italy during some R&R from Active Duty in the Middle East (see sidebar). “Pope John Paul II held my hand that day and gave me a special blessing that I would use later in life.”

The seed of Arrow’s faith life, planted in childhood and nourished by the Papal blessing, has since blossomed and flourished; since 1993, Arrow has traveled to many apparition sites in the U.S. and Medjugorje. 

Fast forward to August-September of 2017, when Arrow attended a series of healing services by a visionary from the Philippines, whose healing ministry involves the use of rose petals. These were held at different parishes in the greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area.

During this time period, on Saturday, September 2, while at St. Patrick Church in northern Kentucky, a man named Neil, who is very close to this visionary, came up to Arrow and asked, “What are you doing next Friday?” (which happened to be September 8, the day we celebrate Our Blessed Mother’s Birthday). Neil then invited Arrow to a Birthday Celebration for the Blessed Virgin Mary, held every year at the home of a very holy woman from the Cincinnati area. The visionary from the Philippines also attends, as well as a very large group of people from all over.

“I arrived at the home on September 8, 2017, and when I walked inside, there were several statues of Our Lord Jesus and Our Blessed Mother, and they were covered in gold dust. One of the statues would actually pulsate gold dust on to you if you stood near it.” 

When Arrow looked up towards the living room ceiling, he saw many large blue and white helium balloons tied together in the perfect shape of a Rosary—with blue balloons for the Our Father beads, and white for the Hail Mary beads. 

On a table were small pieces of paper with strings attached to them, on which everyone could write out their petition to Our Blessed Mother and then tie it to one of the balloons.

Arrow then walked to the backyard, where there were large tents set up with chairs for everyone. The visionary arrived, as well as five priests, some from other countries.

“There had to be over 200 people at this event, some coming from all over the U.S. and Canada,” said Arrow. “Holy Mass was said, and then the visionary held his healing service using the rose petals.”

Afterwards, the group moved to the front yard where they released the balloons, singing “Happy Birthday” to Our Blessed Mother. Arrow recalls facing the street with his back towards the house, and as the balloons were going up, “There was a rainbow that shot out across the sky like a shooting star with rainbow trails behind it. Overhead, we saw the sun spinning, and people exclaimed, ‘Look at the Sun!!’

“I knew that this was Divine.” 

Arrow recounts with wonder what happened next: “Then, inwardly, I clearly heard, ‘Turn around.’ As I did, I saw Neil (the one who invited me to the party), in the upstairs window of the house – literally hanging out of the window – taking pictures of the balloons ascending skyward. I inwardly heard a voice telling me to “Get up there.” So, I went into the house, up the stairs, and walked into the bedroom where Neil was taking pictures of the balloons going up using a Polaroid Instamatic camera.”

Arrow learned later that the reason for the use of a Polaroid camera is that Our Lady has said she won’t allow miracle photos to be taken with digital equipment to prevent the possibility of manipulation/tampering with the photo.

“He (Neil) just took a picture, turned around and gave it to me, saying, ‘This is yours.’ As it developed, I watched the Image appear of Our Blessed Mother’s face,” said Arrow. “There was no doubt who She was when I saw Her face appear in the photo.”

As Arrow attests, “There were NO Images or photos of Our Blessed Mother on any of the balloons, nor the trees, nor anywhere!”

He took the Image home to place in an envelope for safe keeping, so the Image would not get scratched or damaged. Approximately two weeks later, Arrow went to a prayer group meeting in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It was there that evening that Our Lady gave Her first message: “This Image of My tear is a Tear of Joy” (hence Tear of Joy), for all those who were present at the birthday party” held in Her honor that September 8th day. 

And in the days that followed, Our Lady kept repeating the same message that it gives Her Joy, “Tears of Joy,” when we pray to Her, and that we heal Her heart when we pray to Her. She wants Her Image known as “Our Lady of the Tear of Joy.” 

Our Lady said, “Any copies made of My Image must be Blessed by one of My Son’s priests, and it will be a healing Image,” meaning that a Blessed copy placed upon somebody will bring a physical healing (if it is Her Son’s Will) and spiritual conversion to anybody having Her Image.

Choosing a Spiritual Director for this Mission

“Over the days that followed, I knew this beautiful Image of Our Lady had to be under the direction of a Catholic Priest,” said Arrow, who then prayed fervently to Our Blessed Mother to guide him in choosing the priest She wanted. “I was praying for one of three priests whom I knew possessed special gifts and graces. Everything in my path came back to a very Holy Priest who has been on Catholic TV and radio, and is the author of several books. In fact, he had prayed over me in October of 2013, healing me of a condition I’d had for several years. He does not want his name posted on Our Lady’s website, because he knows it is not about him, nor myself, but about Our Lady.” 

When Arrow met with him, he learned that the priest had heard about the Image of Our Lady and everything that was occurring. The priest prayed at his desk, with his head bowed down for a long while, praying for discernment about this mission. When he raised up his head, he said to Arrow, “I will be the spiritual director for this mission, and your spiritual director.”

The Mission Begins

Arrow began having copies made of Our Lady’s Image, having them blessed, and then mailing them off to different people and prayer groups around the U.S. and Canada. 

Then an interesting thing happened. “It got back to me that Our Lady was giving messages to other visionaries/locutionists who had a Blessed Image of Our Lady and are under the spiritual direction of a Catholic priest,” said Arrow. “The messages Our Lady gave said, ‘When they look at My Image (photo), they are to recite the Memorare prayer, and when they do, they are fleeing to Me, causing Me Joy (hence Tears of Joy), and I will heal and intercede for them and lead them to My Son.’” (See sidebar for a few other messages. Please note: There is a page on the website that records these messages, which are too numerous to include in this article. All the messages posted on the website have been approved to be posted by the spiritual director of Our Lady of the Tear of Joy.)

Our Lady said to Arrow, “When they look into my eyes, I will look back into their eyes to tell them that I love them, and I will start to work on their hearts.”

Things got even more interesting as Arrow took Our Lady’s original Image to other prayer groups. He explains, “The actual Image started coming alive to some people who held Her while they were saying the Holy Rosary,” said Arrow. Others could feel the very strong presence of Our Lady as they held the original Image in their hands.

Then over the course of a few weeks, Arrow was contacted by people from all over, who had a blessed copy of Our Lady’s Image and were being healed of illnesses or experiencing a deep spiritual conversion when they held Our Lady’s Image.

The rest of this article can be found in Signs and Wonders Summer 2021, available soon! Become a member today to receive this issue!