The Spirit of Medjugorje

"Dear children, At this time, when you are celebrating the day of All Saints, seek their intercession and prayers so that in union with them, you may find peace. May the Saints be your intercessors and example, that you imitate them and live holily. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.“ (With Ecclesiastical approval)"

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Which way do we go? There is only ONE Way!

By Fr. Ray Donohue

     Today, I find myself in a little pain, as I dislocated a disk in my back. Years ago, I dislocated 3 disks and on top of my rheumatoid arthritis, it was very difficult, and I never experienced such pain. I was pastor, at that time, of three parishes and a jail. I prayed for strength to be able to do all my priestly duties and Graces, and God and Our Lady listened to my prayers. I was able to, very slowly and carefully, celebrate Holy Mass and do my priestly Graces for the parishes. Some parishioners told me it was the devil trying to keep me away from doing what I loved more than anything in this world, and I had to remind them, the devil cannot keep me or anyone away from what we love and doing God's work and putting our Catholic love into action, only we can keep us from doing that! We have a power over evil!
     The devil is pure evil. There is no good in him at all. He hates himself, he hates the other demons, he hates and there is no light or love in him. In hell, it is darkness and hate, the complete absence of love. They chose that! It is horrible; can you imagine an eternity of this?
     I have heard many times from people that the devil made them sin. This is completely false! The devil cannot MAKE us do anything against our will. He will tempt us, ply us, and do everything in his power to trip us up, but he CANNOT make us sin. We sin! We sin of our own free will.
     If you are old like me, you may remember Flip Wilson, the comedian. He would dress up as a character named Geraldine, and every time something went wrong, she would say: "The devil made me do it!" I used to see T-shirts with this character on it, that read: "The devil made me do it."
     But truth be known, we do it. Why? Why do we let the devil get to us? Why do WE do it? As I said, the devil tempts, but we have free will. We have Prayer. We have the Holy Sacraments, and we have the "Five Stones" Our Lady gave us against the "Goliaths" in our lives. The problem is, we don't use them, or we do not use them correctly! The devil is tricky, oh yes he is, but we have so much power over him that most of us either don't know about, or that we have forgotten.

     Last week, I saw a post from a priest who posted on Facebook that: "Prayer, the Holy Rosary and the Sacraments are NOT weapons, as God does not use weapons and it would be heresy to say so." I reprimanded, in fraternal correction, this priest. These ARE indeed weapons! Remember, Jesus Himself made a whip out of cords and drove out the money changers and those abusing God's Holy Temple. Our Lady gives us the weapons against our Goliaths. These are the most powerful weapons. USE THESE WEAPONS! Our Mother would never have given them to us unless She knew they would work! Our Lady chooses Her words very carefully and lovingly to protect Her children. She is our Mother. She loves us, and to do what our Mother asks us to do, is to show Her we love Her, too, and Her Son!
     The Five Stones of Our Lady are the nourishment our soul needs, such as praying from our Heart and not just saying words - praying the Holy Rosary and meditating on the life of Jesus and Mary as we also pray gently, slowly, prayerfully the Hail Mary, the Our Father, the Glory Be and the Fatima prayer. Don't rattle off a Rosary like you are an auctioneer, as fast as you can, with no feeling or thought behind it. PRAY the Holy Rosary slowly, deliberately, and prayerfully! Meditate on the mysteries. Put your mind, soul and heart into all your prayers! If you wander, bring yourself back and focus again. God and Our Lady love it when we pray from our hearts!
     Fasting, as I have said so many times, is a very high and holy prayer. Fasting is so holy; the devil runs away when we are fasting. Fast with your heart and soul. I have talked about that in previous articles. You have no idea how powerful fasting is! Jesus fasted constantly and was able to withstand the devil and his evil works, temptations of all sorts. Fasting brings us closer to God and gives us so much strength against the evil one!
     Come to the Holy Eucharist as it truly is - coming to receive the precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Come prayerfully up to the Holy Altar. Focus on Who you are receiving. I actually see people chewing gum as they come forward to receive Jesus, or talking to others on the way to the Altar, patting people on their backs as they go by this pew and that pew. This is NOT the time for that! FOCUS! You are about to receive the Greatest Gift in the Universe! You are about to receive the Lord Jesus - the very same Jesus, Son of God, Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity! Come humbly and lovingly, focused to receive the Lord Jesus in awe! You, the living Tabernacle of the Lord Himself! Go back to your pew and thank God. Prayerfully, open your heart to Him, and feel the joy and peace and Graces!
     Read the Holy Bible, and if you have a Mass Missal or the Magnificat, look at the readings ahead of time of Holy Mass. If you don't understand a passage of Holy Scripture, either look it up on your computer or in books, or ask your priest after Holy Mass. Your priest will be more than happy to assist you! That is what the priest is there for! Speaking for all priests, we love to help you and assist you in all your needs at any time! We love you, and we are here to serve you; and in serving you, we are serving God!
     Monthly Confession is a MUST! DO IT! Make the effort and clean your soul. I love going to monthly confession and receiving cleansing and strength. The devil can't stand a clean house; he loves it all stained with darkness and sin, but you have the power given to you by God in His Holy Church to clean your house at any time! I cannot tell you enough - get to monthly Confession. No one is too good not to go to Confession. If you say you didn't do anything wrong, now you can go and confess that you have lied, for we are all sinners, but with Holy Confession, we receive countless Graces and indulgences and peace. We are cleansed and renewed! We are strong in Grace and can fight against the evil one. God loves this; we feel it, and the devil runs from us.
     We are in the beautiful season of Autumn. The trees change colors, they shed their leaves, they prepare for another season. We, in the state of Grace are beautiful. We shed what we don't need and prepare for another season of our lives - to be good and holy and remind ourselves we belong to God. We are the most beautiful thing we can present to God! Do we want to give him a dirty soul and a body filled with sin? Cleanse the inside and the outside of the cup!
     Holy Mother Church is a moral compass in our world. It shows us what is holy and what is evil. In a month, there are elections. Many are proven pro-life candidates and do all they can to protect ALL life: the babies in the womb of their mothers, the babies just about to be born, and the babies who are newly born. These are holy and come right from God, precious and beautiful, just like Jesus was in the womb of Mary and on His birthday.
     Many candidates promise that they will make sure these babies in the womb will be murdered and their body parts sold. They state that even up to the birth and even after they are born, they will be horribly murdered. This is a moral issue. I hate politics. But I love God and His teachings, and I made a promise on my Ordination Day to do all I can to uphold Catholic teachings, which are Christ's Teaching! Our Lady told Mirjana, "Abortion is a great sin, for it is killing a human being." And in a talk given in Ireland in January of 2013, Ivan reinforced the dignity of all human life. He said the large number of abortions in the world gives the Virgin Mary tears in her eyes, and that She calls us to respect life from the moment of conception to natural death. Please pray and fast that people, especially Catholics, will vote for candidates who support life.
     Also please pray and fast that people do not vote for candidates who promote socialism. I was in Medjugorje in the early years and saw what communism and socialism are like. I talked to the young people there and saw and heard directly from them the turmoil and sadness. It is evil and the work of the devil. In the 1950s, Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, in his famous TV show, "Life is Worth Living," warned viewers of the dangers of communism. He said that communism, socialism, and other secular atheistic ideologies are a threat to Christian freedom and to the unalienable rights endowed by God - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that we must vigilantly defend our freedoms, particularly our freedom of religion. He said that it is not a political issue, but a moral issue.

"5 stones card" from Medjugorje

      Use the Five Stones our Mother gave us to use. She gave us these for a reason; they are needed now more than ever. Listen to our Mother, and act upon Her requests and wishes.
     God bless you. I pray you have a blessed October, which is Respect Life Month. We honor Our Lady so much in October; may we all do our best to please Her by our actions, our love, and our hearts. May we all be converted in heart, mind, soul and spirit. May others see in us a strong moral compass to guide us in the correct direction by what we say and do, especially by what we do. We need to give example to the whole world of the Graces of God to those who follow Him through Mary.
     I love you, and I want what is best for you always. I will suffer for you and if I had to, I would die for you. You are in all my daily prayers, all my daily Masses, and in my heart. God, deliver us from evil, now, and at the hour of our death! Amen. In Jesus and Mary,
     ~Father Ray, and my little beloved dog Dublin, and my reindeer Sleigh Belle