Mary, Queen of the Solar System

By Wendy Ripple

   I am certain that all of you recall learning the planets of our solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.  If your teachers were like mine, you also learned an acronym to help memorize not only the names of the planets, but also the order in which they are aligned from nearest to the sun to the farthest away.  Ironically, I can remember the planets, in order, but not the helpful acronym I learned many moons ago….

   Thank goodness for creative third grade teachers!  An assignment my son received last year put a new spin on the old exercise of memorizing the planets; I now have a new tool to help me in the future.  His inspiration was the Blessed Mother and Medjugorje:

Mary’s Voice Enters Medjugorje Just So Unbelievers Never Perish !!!

 

Mother of Sorrows

By Dolores J. Justka, SOSM

 

   Under no other title is the role of motherhood, wife and homemaker more exemplified than in our Blessed Mother’s title, “Mother of Sorrows.”  A new mother has all of the normal fears for her baby; perhaps it will have a debilitating illness or a severe handicap, not to mention the fear of today’s violence, abnormal life-styles and extreme poverty.  While the real joy of motherhood is there in all its splendor, the underlying fear of danger still lurks beneath all of the happy preparations of the loved one’s arrival.

   By all outward appearance and public image, Mary was an ordinary young girl, and yet it was the way in which She accepted graciously all the mystery and pain that was to fill Her life that made Her extraordinary.   

   Though God bestowed on Her at the beginning of time the privilege of being the Mother of Jesus, which gave Her deep joy and happiness, Mary led a life of suffering so great that the Church chose seven incidents in Her life to commemorate and to emphasize the magnitude of Her suffering.

   It was revealed to Berthe Petit, a longtime visionary, that Jesus wishes His mother to be referred to as “Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart,” stressing the “Sorrowful.”  He said that She was given Her “Immaculate” state, but earned Her “Sorrowful” life.  Therefore, it was more precious to Him.

   It would seem that She revealed this truth, as She did Her Immaculate Conception to St. Bernadette, to the seven holy men She chose to follow Her instructions to establish a religious order in honor of Her sorrows.  This is the only order of the five Mendicant (orders who beg alms) Orders to be directly founded by the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It is called “Order of Servants of Mary.” In everything the Servite friars do, Mary is used as their model.  Before saying Mass and all services, they begin by praying the “Hail Mary.”  They wear black robes as She instructed them. They designed the Servite black scapular, sometimes called the “Silent Devotion.”  They created the Seven-Dolor Rosary, highly indulgenced, as a means for friars and lay persons alike to meditate on Her selected seven sorrows.

   In the Servite churches, the parishioners are privileged to participate in a novena called the “Via Matris Dolorosae” or “The Way of the Sorrowful Mother.”  These are special prayers focusing on Her seven sorrows while looking at the appropriate paintings, much like the Stations of the Cross.

   During World War II, a young priest at our Cathedral in Erie, PA, led this Novena for all the faithful whose loved ones were serving in the Armed Forces.  It was held every Friday to overflowing crowds.  So great was the attendance, that two services were needed to accommodate the people.

   It wasn’t until 1972 that this devotion was brought back to Erie in the form of the Black Scapular Investitures.  From that time until the present, hundreds upon hundreds of black scapulars and seven-dolor rosaries have been mailed to people who requested them.  Those who have been invested in the black scapular and pray the seven-dolor rosary are considered “Senarians,” after Mount Senario in Italy where the Order originated, and named by Fr. Conrad, priest and archivist, of the Servite Order in Chicago.

   With the approval of the Friars at the Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows in Chicago, the National Shrine, we now have the “Traveling Via Matris.”  These are seven wooden plaques on which are depicted Mary’s sorrows.  They are identical to the paintings on the walls of the Servite churches.  They are blessed and highly indulgenced as is the rosary, then placed in homes where the “host” family prays from the special booklet for seven days, thus completing a septenary.  They are then ready for the next host family.

   During the war years, this devotion helped countless people to endure the agony of losing their loved one or the fear of it.  We are in another war today, but we are also battling a different kind of enemy --- drugs, perversions.  The abnormal has become the normal.  Mothers, like Mary, stand helpless and powerless to combat these forces.  The elderly feel trapped, horrified to leave the safety of their homes, and even there are not entirely safe.  No one is safe from the rampant and random shootings.   We are being terrorized.  Does this sound familiar?  Did the enemies of Jesus hound Him?  Did Our Blessed Mother stand by and watch in panic and fright while the thugs ripped the clothes from Jesus and beat him mercilessly!

   Our Mother of Sorrows knows the fear in your hearts; She has been there!  She knows what it is like to awake in the wee hours of the night, fearing for the safety of your children.  Call on Her, invite Her into your innermost being, and She will stand by you as She stood beside the cross of Jesus, giving courage and fortitude.  When things become unbearable, She will strengthen and console you.  Most importantly, She will lead you to the Tabernacle where Jesus is waiting there to give you His peace!

  Editor’s note: Dolores is from Erie, PA.  If you would like to meditate on the sorrows of Our Blessed Mother by praying the  seven-dolor rosary, contact us for Dolores’ phone number.

 

 

Fr. Peter Mary Rookey

    Probably one of the most well-known priests of the  Servite order is Fr. Peter Mary Rookey.  Although a number of interesting books have been written about Fr. Rookey and his charism of healing, when asked about his gift, Father simply says, “It is God’s work, not mine - He does all the healing, I just pray.”

      In 1948, after having been healed miraculously from blindness, Fr. Peter Mary Rookey formed the Servite Order in Ireland. Father has traveled the world using his charism, including many trips to Medjugorje.  Although Father does not travel as much now, in 2006 at the age of 90, Fr. Rookey made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. In Medjugorje, Father was asked to bless a young boy in a wheelchair, and after having blessed the young boy, Father ordered the boy to stand up.  The boy stood up and walked to Fr. Rookey and fell sobbing with joy into his arms!

   Perhaps one of the most well known healings through Fr. Rookey was the physical and spiritual healing of David Parkes. (His story is below.)  You can send a prayer request to him via his website, www.smcenter.org/frrookey.htm.

   Fr. Rookey shares what he calls a Miracle Prayer and tells us that if we mean each word fully with all of our heart, that we will experience something spiritually good. 

 

THE MIRACLE PRAYER
   Lord Jesus, l come before You, just as I am. I am sorry for my sins, I repent of my sins, please forgive me. In Your name, I forgive all others for what they have done against me. I renounce Satan, the evil spirits and all their works. l give You my entire self, Lord Jesus, now and forever. I invite You into my life, Jesus. I accept You as my Lord, God and Saviour. Heal me, change me, strengthen me in body, soul and spirit.

   Come Lord Jesus, cover me with Your precious blood, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I love You, Lord Jesus. I praise You, Jesus. I thank You, Jesus. I shall follow You every day of my life. Amen.

   Mary my mother, Queen of Peace, St. Peregrine, the cancer saint, all you angels and Saints please help me. Amen.

Say this prayer faithfully, no matter how you feel. When you come to the point where you sincerely mean each word, with all your heart, something good spiritually will happen to you. You will experience Jesus, and He will change your whole life in a very special way. You will see.

 

 

The Physical and Spiritual Healing of David Parkes

By June Klins

   In 1998, Irish singer David Parkes spoke at a retreat sponsored by Gospa Missions of Evans Cit, PA.

   “It’s funny how God works through your life. In spite of all we do against Him, in spite of how much we kick Him, He’s just waiting for us to come back, standing there with open arms.” David Parkes continued,” The story I want to share with you is a very human story. It is one of anger, hurt, guilt, but most all compassion.”

   David related that his story began in 1977, when he was 27. David was playing soccer professionally in Dublin, Ireland,  and he and his wife Ann had two children. The little boy, Ken, was born with cystic fibrosis. In January of 1977 David won a major talent contest and a bright future in show business faced him. But in April of 1977, his whole world came tumbling down when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, described by David as “one of the most debilitating illnesses the medical community has to deal with.” In the first 6 weeks after his diagnosis, David went from 220 pounds to 99 pounds. Over the next decade he had 8 major surgeries for this illness.

   On Christmas Eve of 1988 he had his 9^th surgery and it was unsuccessful, so it had to be repeated 2 weeks later. After an 11 hour surgery, the surgeon admitted that there was nothing else he could do and David had about 12 to 14 weeks left to live. Eight weeks after this surgery, his band held a benefit concert for him. The tickets said that the benefit was for David’s “funeral expenses.”

   At this concert, a man who was a travel agent specializing in pilgrimages to Medjugorje, offered a free trip for David and Ann. David knew a little about Medjugorje because he and Ann had spent their honeymoon in Dubrovnik, and every time Ann would hear things about Medjugorje she would share it with David. But David was not interested in hearing about anything religious. “I didn’t want any part of it, “ he said. “ Because in 1982, you see, God and I parted company. There were two main reasons for this. The first one had to do with Ken. I couldn’t understand how this loving God could inflict such an illness on a newborn baby.”  The second reason had to do with himself. As he was getting progressively worse from the Crohn’s, he wondered why God was giving him so many crosses. So David decided to put God totally out of his life. He told Ann and the kids not to go to Mass, and not even to pray in the house. He also told Ann to get rid of the statues and crucifixes in the house.

   Although a religious pilgrimage did not appeal to him at all, he had always wanted to go back to Yugoslavia, so he accepted the trip as a “holiday,” not as a “pilgrimage.” In April of 1989, he and Ann set out for Yugoslavia. David had a few rules for Ann on this trip: She was not to mention religion and was not to pray in his company.

   As David shuffled to the departure gate, he became very conscious of a man sitting in the front row. The man had a hood up over his head. The travel agent introduced David to the hooded man, Fr. Peter Mary Rookey. As they shook hands, David felt threatened because, in his words, “an aura of love came from Father at me. The last thing you want if you’re away from the Church is an aura of love to come at you, especially from a priest.”  So David insulted Fr. Rookey. It was so bad that the travel agent considered leaving David behind!

   David was in terrible pain, and the 3 hour ride from Dubrovnik was very hard for him. After a rest stop on the way from Dubrovnik, the tour director got on the microphone and announced, “We are approximately one hour from Medjugorje, and I would like us all to recite the Rosary.” David went berserk! Ann told him to be quiet as he was making a spectacle of himself. The real surprise, though, came when they arrived in Medjugorje and he found out that there are no hotels there and that you stay in people’s homes. The house he was staying in was not even fully built. There was no roof. As he protested that the house did not have a roof, the tour director said, “Oh, it will next year when you come back.”

   David was so weak at this point that he could not even carry any of the suitcases. As they were led into their room, David thought this was the smallest room he had ever been in, and what was worse was that there were only 2 bathrooms for the house, and 16 people staying there.”I need a bathroom to myself,” David protested. “I’ve two weeks to live.” He was so angry that he told Ann that in the morning he was packing up and going to Dubrovnik.

   The next morning, Ann talked David into going to Mass, which was to be celebrated by Fr. Rookey. David ended up giving his seat to some elderly ladies and had to stand in agony for 1 ½ hours. He said his only interest in Mass was counting the pieces in the stained glass windows. He also counted 16 candles and 14 priests, but Fr. Rookey was not amongst them! He felt he had been conned into going to Mass.

   After Mass, Ann told David that Fr. Rookey was having a healing service in the graveyard. David did not want any part of it, but Ann promised him that if he went, then when it was over, she would pack up with him and they would go to Dubrovnik together. So David reluctantly agreed.

   As he approached the little graveyard behind St. James, he could see about 600 people on 3 sides and Fr. Rookey and 3 other Irish priests in the middle. David watched as the first person got blessed. Fr. Rookey anointed him with oil, traced the Sign of the Cross on the person’s forehead and then placed his hands on the person’s head. Immediately that person fell to the ground. The same thing happened with the next person, and the next five people. David wondered what was going on.

   He left for a bit, and when he came back he described the area as looking like a battlefield, with bodies lying all over.

“Ann, this is hypocrisy,” he said. “Those Franciscan priests should not allow this to happen.” Ann asked him to have a blessing. He said, “Remember, Ann, I am an atheist. I don’t believe in God.” But Ann retorted,“ It would do you good.”

David left and came back 20 minutes later and Ann pleaded with him for 2 hours before he finally submitted to having a blessing.

   As Fr. Rookey approached David he said, “David, there’s something you want to tell me.” David looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Father, I don’t wish to speak with you. I’m very ill and the doctors say I’ve maybe two weeks to live.”

Fr. Rookey reached into his pocket and pulled out a black crucifix containing 7 relics of the 7 founders of the Servite order, the Servants of Mary. He placed the crucifix in David’s right hand and anointed him with oil on his forehead and then he placed his hands on David’s head and began to pray. The next thing David remembered was that he was lying flat on his back. When he opened his eyes a famous politician from Dublin was standing over him. Embarrassed to be in that position, David said, “Who hit me?” The man said, “ Parkes, the Spirit is with you very strongly. You’ve been out for 20 minutes.”

   David felt an intense burning heat from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. “I’ve never, ever had that sensation before, prior to Medjugorje or since Medjugorje, but from that day, all the pains and aches associated with Crohn’s Disease have disappeared.”

   Two days after returning from Medjugorje David had an appointment with the surgeon, who got the surprise of his life.

The David Parkes walking into his office was not  bent over in pain, but now walked upright and was 4 pounds heavier.

The surgeon said, “David, whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.” The surgeon sent him for a week’s worth of intensive testing which confirmed that there was no sign of Crohn’s anywhere in David’s body.

   “I also had an incredible spiritual healing,” David declared. “At this time in my life I was very troubled.”  Ken’s disease weighed heavily on his shoulders and caused tension in their marriage. In August of 1987, David left Ann and the kids and got involved with another woman. He went home, but in January of 1988, he left again. He had even contemplated suicide. In June of that year he went back home.

   After the physical healing, the desire to leave Medjugorje was gone. “All of a sudden this little village began to take on something very special,” he said. Ann helped him climb Apparition Hill. As he sat there looking at the twin towers of St. James, he had the urge to pray, but he couldn’t remember the words of the prayers. He was agitated that he could not remember the words, and Ann sensed something was wrong. They embraced and he began to apologize for all the hurt he caused Ann, their children and their parents. Ann started to cry and then David began to cry. They cried in each others’ arms for about 10 minutes. When they stopped, David said, “ I had the most incredible peace, an inner peace that seemed to allow me to live with myself, and I honestly feel that if we don’t have that inner peace within us, it is impossible to converse with anyone else.”

   David continued, “The graces that I received in Medjugorje have stayed with me till this very day and you know, if Jesus came in beside me and said, ‘I want to put you to the test. I’ll put you back in the mental state you were in in 1989, and I would inflict a physical ailment on you, and I will offer you one healing, which one is it to be?’ There would be no hesitation. I would jump in and say to Jesus, ‘ I will have the spiritual healing.’ I could accept any form of physical ailment You want to give me, because I would accept it as a form of penance – penance for the wrongs I’ve done in my life. But I could not be without the love of Jesus. It’s given me a whole new meaning to life, a whole new will to love life, but most important of all, a will to live life the way that Jesus would want me to live life, not for David Parkes to live in David Parkes’ old form of religion.”

   “That’s my story. From that day on, my whole life changed. In September of 1993, I gave up my secure job with the band, a band I had played with for 14 years…I decided I wanted to do the work of the Lord. I am the most surprised person in the world to be standing here before you talking about God, talking about His Mercy, talking about His love.”

   David is now an international Catholic recording artist. Since his healing, he has traveled extensively telling his story and giving concerts. At the present time, David is working in Medjugorje as Pilgrimage Director for Marian Pilgrimages which is based in Dublin, Ireland. If you are ever in Medjugorje, try to find out which day he is giving a free concert in the yellow building behind St. James. You won’t regret it!   

The Crucified Love

September 14 is the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. The following is an excerpt  from Fr. Jozo’s Reflection on the Message of September  25, 2007.

 

   A person is created to love and is happy only when he loves. A person is created to pray and is happy only when he prays. So many are unhappy because they did not return love for love, and they did not repay goodness with prayer and thanksgiving. That is why man fails to realize himself and feels frustrated, a failure, unnecessary, and dispensable - because he has done nothing in his life that remains forever – he has not loved. We have to get on our knees and pray, so that love comes to dwell in us and that we may be its’ witnesses. How are we to ignite the fire? How are we to set the fire ablaze? It is possible only from the Eternal Flame, which is the Cross.

   I remember it was Sunday morning when I set out from the parish house to the Church in Medjugorje. It was an unforgettable scene. Everyone was kneeling, facing the cross on Cross Mountain. I also fell to my knees. Tears flowed. I watched the Cross Mountain covered with a white veil of light, before which the Queen of Peace stood and said: “Dear children, contemplate the Cross of my Son, His passion and His wounds, and pray before the cross. Learn from Him.” Then the cross on Cross Mountain became visible again and from it the message ‘MIR’, meaning ‘peace’, flowed. That gift of peace is the fruit of the Cross and of God’s love. Man is reconciled to God. He can go to the Father again because the Cross is a bridge by which we come to the Father. In meditating on the Cross we hear Yahweh’s word powerfully: “I have redeemed you, you are Mine. By name I have called you and you belong to Me. You are precious in My sight and I love you…I have carved your name in the palm of My hand.”(Is. 43)

   As of that event, we started Veneration of the Cross every Friday with prayer before the Cross. Millions have learned this, but our love has grown cold. Our flame is in danger of being extinguished in the winds and storms of the time in which we live. We cannot be without this gift and sign. It is easier for a sailor to enter into a harbor without a lighthouse or a pilot to land without a watchtower than it is for a Christian to live with an extinguished love for the Crucified. No, that love – that gift and sign of grace: the Crucified Lord - must not be extinguished or uprooted from the hearts of men, from the hearts of parents and families.

   The Mother again calls us for our hearts to blaze with love for that Divine Crucified Love. There is no greater sign under the Heavens than the Cross and there is no greater love than to give one’s life for others. As we meditate on this message our hearts say to us: “The Cross strengthens and draws me. I love my crucified Lord. When I pray I am certain that my God loves me. I am no longer unhappy or a prodigal son imprisoned by so much slavery. My God frees me and I am grateful to Him. I feel happy and am grateful for such a great love and sacrifice for me. Only my Jesus tells me that He died for me on the Cross because He loves me.

   My heart recognizes this spiritual dimension and love and responds to love. All of our martyrs and saints have done this. They put God in the first place – before themselves and their selfishness.” In prayer, all chains of slavery dissolve along with all attachments to what He is not. I cannot succeed without prayer and meditation and I have an irresistible need to succeed. I desire to respond to the greatest Love with love, purifying it through meditation and by listening of God’s Word everyday.

We have written in prior issues that the Medjugorje Peace Center in Uganda is requesting rosaries. In addition, they also need scapulars. You can send them to Stephen Sematiko, P.O. Box 33698,

Kampala, Uganda. Please do not send checks as they cannot cash them. Thanks!

 

 

We thank Chris Maxwell, Barb Sirianni, Vickie DeCoursey, Diane Yochim, Cindy Bielanin, Ryan McCandless, and  Pat Berrier for help with the August mailing. We thank Frances Slezak for making us more prayer cloths to distribute. And we thank Helen Bell, Dick Spaeder, and  Louise Lotze for their photos in this issue.