Liam Prendergast, Chairman of the National Medjugorje Council
of Ireland, has brought thousands of pilgrims to Medjugorje.
He told us: "On July 22, 1987, Archbishop Gaetano Allibrandi,
the Papal Nuncio in Dublin, joined our pilgrimage. He very
greatly enjoyed those five days in Medjugorje. He was able
to celebrate Mass in St. James and met all the visionaries
personally. What most impressed him were the evening celebrations,
the fervor of the faithful, their singing, and the prayer
of the visionaries after the apparitions. "The following
September, Archbishop Allibrandi paid one of his normal visits
to Rome and was surprised to find a message from the Pope
waiting for him at the Papal Secretariat of State: the Holy
Father wanted to speak to him! This kind of message was quite
unusual. When he met the Pope, the Pope said straight away:
"I hear you have been to Medjugorje, tell me all about
it!" The Nuncio described how he had found Medjugorje,
the graces he had received there, and his visit with the visionaries.
As the meeting was ending, the Holy Father took six rosaries
and blessed them; then he asked the Nuncio to make sure that
these rosaries were given to each of the visionaries on his
behalf. Upon his return to Dublin, the Nuncio phoned me, as
he knew that I was going to Medjugorje. I went to the Nunciate,
and he gave me the six rosaries, insisting that I carefully
give them personally to
the visionaries. At the time, Fr. Tomislav Pervan was the
Pastor of the parish, and he was kind enough to arrange a
private visit for me with each of the visionaries so that
I could give them a rosary. "I felt that this was a very
positive sign and possibly the only one which the Pope could
give with regards to Medjugorje." Chairman Prendergast's
testimony is significant at this time when, in spite of evidence,
some want to deny what is in the heart of Pope John Paul II
regarding Medjugorje. Whenever private conversations are concerned,
it is important to mention the name of witnesses, the dates,
places, and
circumstances. This permits any who are concerned to check
each case, one by one, for authenticity. Those who deny the
truth of these quotations usually do so without specifying
either names or circumstances!
During my mission in Romania, I had the unexpected grace of
meeting Cardinal Alexandru Todea, a true martyr for the faith,
who spent years in communist prisons! He tells a story of
how he was left to starve to death in a squalid cell. Finding
no human help, he had a healthy reaction, not acting as if
he were an orphan, but instead appealing to Our Lady's motherly
feelings and he 'threatened' her in this way, "Mother,
can't you see, I'm starving to death! Doesn't it bother you?
If one day I preach again, I will not be able to hold you
up as an example of a mother, since you are leaving me, your
child, to die of hunger!"
Later on that morning, he heard the hatch in the door open.
This hadn't happened for a long time. And, miraculously, his
plate contained meat! There was so much of it that his lunch
was provided for and also the evening meal, and even that
of the next day! However, in the evening the plates had to
be handed back and Alexandru couldn't eat it all. Really down-hearted
he handed the remains of his precious meat back to the prison
officer who, (second miracle), kindly gave it back to him
and told him he could keep it for the next day! What a wonderful
example for us all! It is never too late to start a mother
and child type of relationship with Our Lady and cry out towards
her from the depth of our being. Even before hearing of Our
Lady's intentions in Medjugorje and her concern for unbelievers,
the Cardinal had included a special intention for them in
his daily Eucharistic Prayer (cardinals are allowed to do
such a thing). Later upon hearing the Medjugorje messages,
he realized that they were already deeply engraved in his
heart. And we saw him weep for joy over the wonderful impact
that the Mother of God now has throughout the world through
Medjugorje.
Monseigneur Andr?Lecocq, Prelate of Honour of His Holiness
Pope John Paul II and rector of Montligeon shrine in France
(dedicated to the souls of Purgatory), had just had an unusual
experience. As he was given a ticket to go to Medjugorje,
he made up his mind to go there, keeping an open mind. Passing
through Slovenia, he was welcomed by the Archbishop of Ljubljana
who encouraged him. "Medjugorje? It is God's work! Medjugorje
won't be stopped! Today nobody can deny the good fruits. Don't
we recognize a tree by its fruits? Medjugorje is God's work
and it will last."
He met Vicka privately for 15 minutes and he who had worked
so much for the souls in Purgatory, was very impressed at
hearing this simple person speak so accurately about heavenly
realities. This meeting convinced him of the geniuses of Vicka?
experience. Back home, he witnessed positively about his pilgrimage.
For him, the number and the depth of the confessions he had
heard testified to the radiance and the vitality of the shrine.
He said in the cathedral of Ljubljana: "It's Mary who
set us in motion, as she herself had set off to visit Elisabeth;
it's Mary who invites us personally to her home in Medjugorje!"
(These words were related by his spiritual sons who accompanied
him.)
But the Lord had a secret plan. In Medjugorje, did he want
to prepare his priest for the next stage of his journey? Yes!
Mons. Lecocq had arrived in Medjugorje on June 24, 1999. On
July 24th, one month later, he was killed in a car accident
in France. May his intercession help us leave this world with
Mary, after having lived in this world with her.
In order to enter a deeper understanding of Confession before
Easter, here is one of many incredible stories that Fr. Tim
Deeter shared with me from when he was in the States:
"Every day I would go and visit the Catholic patients
in the hospital behind my parish, and there was one woman
who was always on the list, because she was in a coma. Well,
one day I had this huge list of patients, and I looked at
it and I said, 'Oh, I've got to cut a couple of these people
out. Maybe the woman in the coma, she doesn't need to see
me. She can't talk to me anyhow, and so I'll just cut her
off the list.' But as I went around and visited everybody
I felt guilty, and thought I'd better go and see her. So I
went and sat by her bed and went through the whole routine,
'It's Fr. Tim. It's Tuesday' And at the end I sat there and
I said to myself, 'This is really stupid. She can't respond
to me, I'm wasting my time. I'm not going to come anymore.
I'm going to cross her off my list.'
"And all of a sudden a thought came to me which was
not my own: 'This woman needs absolution from her sins.' And
I thought to myself, 'You're right. This woman hasn't been
able to go to Confession, she's in a coma.' And so I leaned
forward again and I said to her, 'Any sin that you've committed,
that you've not had forgiven, present it now to the Lord in
your mind. Give your sins to the Lord, and then I'll say an
Act of Contrition with you.' And so I waited, then I said
the Act of Contrition, then I gave her absolution. I sat back
in my chair, and the woman sat up immediately from her bed.
She didn't look at me, she looked right past me at the Cross
that was on the wall. She held out her arms wide, and with
a beautiful smile on her face she said, 'Jesus!' and fell
back and died. I whipped around to see if Jesus was there,
and He was, but not for me to see. He had come for her, at
my command, through the sacrament of Penance, and the woman
went with him in great joy!
"So these sacraments are important things. If God is
calling you to the sacraments, don't put them off for other
things, because you might not be alive the next day!"
