![Sr. Briege McKenna]()
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
PS. Tonight another "Fruit of Medjugorje" Episode will air at www.marytv.tv- 8:00 pm EDT! Don't miss it!!
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
Blessed John Paul II -
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(Vatican Radio) The Christian knows to guard his heart in order to distinguish what comes from God and what comes from the false prophets. That was the message of Pope Francis in the morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, the first after the holiday season. The Pope said the way of Jesus is that of service and humility, a path that all Christians are called to follow.