The following was taken from a question and answer session with Mirjana on November 11, 2018. These questions were chosen for this month because Holy Thursday is the day we celebrate the institution of the priesthood.
Q: [from a priest] Thank you for saying, "Yes" to Our Lord Jesus to be His messenger through Our Lady, who is His Mother and Our Mother. I know it’s difficult to be a messenger, especially with the history behind it. My question is, "Did Our Lady mention to you about a specific prayer for priests?"
M: First of all, thank you for beautiful words. But as you know, Our Lady teaches me one thing - that I am below everybody else, and when you thank me, I feel uncomfortable because it is going opposite direction to what She taught me… And you did everything. Who would I be speaking to if you guys [priests] had not said, "Yes"? That is why I think we all should thank the Heavenly Father for the love that He gives us. And I’m kindly asking from all of you to pray for me to be able to do everything the way Our Lady desires it, so that I may be Her messenger, but the way the messenger is supposed to be. And I’ve been praying for you since the moment when you came, so that you may comprehend why you are here and what it is that God wants from you.
And talking about priests - the prayer that Our Lady wants to use for them is prayer that we say with our heart. I must not say many things yet, but from the depths of my heart, I’m telling you - pray for priests! Do not judge them. Without our shepherds, we are nothing. We are lost scattered sheep. For me, it should be the way it is here in Medjugorje - that is how it’s supposed to be in the entire world. For example, here in Medjugorje (this entire region, in fact), when [a] priest enters into a family, we all stand up. No one starts to talk or sits down before the priest does that, because we know that through him, Jesus is entering our home. And it isn’t our task to judge whether he truly represents Jesus or not. Dear God will do that. We have to have respect, love, and prayer. It is easy to judge, but it is hard to love…
Painting of Mirjana in her dining room
Let me give you an example. You, in the United States, in your parishes you see a priest who doesn’t do the way you think he should do, but then you judge and you judge and you go around and you talk about it. What did you change? You just wounded yourself and those who were listening to you. But if you took the rosary instead and prayed for him, praying for Jesus to do something and to act - because Jesus changes the world… That is what I always desire to say to pilgrims: love your priests. Without them, you’re lost sheep. Even Our Lady puts priests above Herself. And do not ever forget that Our Lady says, "Only their hands give blessing of My Son." For everything they do, they will respond to God for, same as we will respond to God for everything we have been doing. I will not respond for him [gesturing to priest next to her], but I will respond for myself.
Q: You know in the United States there’s a lot of situations going on with priests… When you say, "Pray for priests and put them above," but when you brought them into your home and loved them and then they have done wrong, how do you get over that?
M: I understand what you are talking about. It is a great pain, but do not forget one thing - the symbol of our faith, the sign of our faith, is [the] cross, so we should know how to carry the cross. And if Jesus puts a cross on you, if He leans on you, you have to say, "Thank you, Jesus, because you saw that I’m capable to [carry it], but do not leave me alone. Remain with me so that we can carry it together." That is the way I look at things. I do suffer when I hear things like that. I have a stomach ache when I hear it, but I do not open my mouth, just for prayer. No, I do not make comments. I think that’s the way Our Lady desires. I think because if we start to make a comment, it will never end, and I will just do the opposite - as if, in a certain way I take in my hands what only dear God is supposed to do. That is why I pray, so that God may do. But I would also like to say one thing - media does such things as well. Through media, you only hear some bad things that are done by priests. You don’t hear anything good. And priests do wonderful, beautiful things daily throughout the world, in missions throughout the world, and media doesn’t write about it. But we should be those who will be speaking exactly about this - their voice.
No comments:
Post a Comment