Mary TV Daily Reflection 9/16/2013
Sr. Briege McKenna - Tell the priests, "You have the authority"!
(c)Mary TV 2013
J.M.J.
September 16,
2013
St. Cornelius and Cyprian
Dear Family of Mary!
"...For the sake of Jesus, for the sake of my Son, love those whom He has called and long for the blessing only from the hands which He has consecrated. Do not permit evil to come to reign. Anew I repeat - only alongside your shepherds will my heart triumph. Do not permit evil to separate you from your shepherds. Thank you." (Message to Mirjana, (09/02/13)
Our Lady has been urging us to pray for our
priests, to love them, and stay united to them. In my last reflection I quoted
Sr. Briege McKenna briefly about her experience during an apparition of Our Lady
in Medjugorje. She said that she was given a great pain in her heart, and was
told by Our Lady it was the pain she feels in her heart for priests. We can
imagine this pain is the pain of compassion. Our Lady loves the priests deeply,
and she sees how they suffer and even how they sin, and she prays for them with
great feeling. She knows how very important the priests are in the plan of God
to save His people. And she knows how much her Son, Jesus, is present in the
priests. And so she suffers for them.
As I listened to Sr. Briege's testimony, I realized
how much of what she says has to do with the priests. Her entire life has been
given to serving and praying for priests. She travels all over the world giving
retreats for priests. She, of all people, understands Our Lady's love of the
priests.
So I want to quote a bit more of that testimony. It
is wonderful:
I went to Medjugorje for the first time with a
really good friend of mine, the two of us, and we went with a man from England,
Miles Dempsey, who is quite the character. We christened him "Major Miles"
because he used to be in the army! Well anyway, we went to Medjugorje and the
first day we went to the church. It was packed. And the priest was speaking and
I started to cry. And my friend sitting beside me said, "Do you understand what
he is saying?" And I said, "No I don't." But I had the most beautiful
experience. He was speaking in Croatian and the Lord gave me the interpretation.
He showed me a scene (I went to Father afterwards to find out...). The vision I
had (I can still see it vividly) was a huge black cloud coming, coming. It was
like fog, but it was thick black fog. And as it was creeping in to the cities
and villages I saw many priests. And I wanted to say to them, "Fathers, please
stop it, you have the authority." I knew [the black fog] was the evil taking
over in people's lives. And [in the vision] I was pleading with the priests to
recognize their power against the forces of evil, the God-given power. But the
next thing I saw was that many of them became part of the darkness. And I heard
the Lord say, "You know, you have got to tell these men that the only way to
confront this evil is through holiness of life, and through their consecration,
and through their willingness to allow themselves to be immersed in the Light of
Christ. It was quite a long message.
I went around to Fr. Tomislav afterwards, and he
told me he was speaking on the power of the priesthood and the need for the
people to pray for the priests, and the need to recognize that we were in a time
when there was going to be a great battle over the souls of God's people. And
the clergy were the people who were given God-given power!.... So that was my
first visit. There were many other things...
Jelena was a locutionist. She was just a little
girl at the time. I had this sense, I remember saying to Sr. Janja...I had been
asked to speak at the prayer group for the visionaries...and I remember at that
prayer meeting I got many, many words of knowledge in the room with the
visionaries there. But I remember two things that happened... Sr. Janja came to
me the next day and she said that Jelena wanted to speak to me. I remember I had
this sense when I was in the room of apparition, just as the visionaries were
about to kneel down. I thought I should really be feeling very holy. I should be
feeling that Our Lady is appearing here. What is happening to me? I had this
pain in my heart. I thought I was getting a heart attack. And I thought, O, my
Lord, what a place to die! I thought I was having a heart attack right when Our
Lady was appearing. And I could feel this awful, awful pain in my breast, in my
heart, and I thought, what is happening. And just as they came out of the
vision, the word said, "The pain you are feeling is the pain I have in my heart
for my priests in the heart." And I got the sense I was going to be given a
message.
The next day...I got a message through Jelena...I
was leaving the next day for South America, and I asked Jelena to ask Our Lady
what was the greatest need for the priests. What should I tell the priests...I
was going to South America on my own to work on priest retreats. And I remember
meeting with her and she said that she asked Our Lady, and Our Lady held a cross
and she said to tell the priests that first of all they must be able to gaze at
a crucifix and when they have the love that Jesus had they wouldn't see rich and
poor, they would see children that Jesus redeemed, that He died for. Jesus
doesn't see rich or poor, he sees people that he loves, that he shed his blood
for. Then Our Lady said there were three things I was to talk to them about. One
was how important it was that they be men of humility. They were to be men who
were humble of heart, like a little child, and then they would see the message
of the Gospel. They were to be men of simplicity. The Gospel is simple. It
doesn't need to be added to or subtracted from. They should preach from the
Gospel, and the power of its simple message would penetrate hearts. And the
third was about not being afraid of suffering. I remember preaching this message
in South America, and the effects were extraordinary.
(Fruit of Medjugorje, Episode 30, Sr. Briege
McKenna)
I find Sr. Briege's vision of the dark fog coming
over the world very compelling. She understood that it was the priesthood that
could defeat this black evil. Our Lady has confirmed that only with our
shepherds will we be able to defeat evil. She urges us to stand firm with them,
and to pray for them, so that they will prevail.
"...Every day I pray for the shepherds and I
expect the same of you. Because, my children, without their guidance and
strengthening through their blessing, you cannot do it. Thank you." June 02,
2012
"...I am especially praying and watching over
those whom my Son called to be light-bearers and carriers of hope for you - for
your shepherds. Thank you." March 02, 2013
"...Anew I repeat - only along side your
shepherds will my heart triumph." September 2, 2013
I also love the words of wisdom Our Lady gave for
the priests, through Jelena. Sr. Briege said Our Lady's direction for her
ministry bore great fruit. How wise Sr. Briege was to ask Our Lady to guide her
in her work of love for priests.
May we all draw close to Our Lady in these days, so
that she can guide each of us, leading us into the ways of love and truth. May
she teach us how to pray for our priests, and to sacrifice for them, drawing
down graces upon them. They need our prayers. We need their
ministry!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
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