Sister Briege McKenna is blessed with many gifts but I was struck by a prophecy she received from the Lord in 1971 concerning the priesthood and the laity - she brought these to her bishop for discernment. She says God is purifying the Church and that martyrdom is a possibility but the seeds of springtime have been sown and will bear fruit: she actually says that Pope Benedict is a great Pope who is leading us into a new springtime Sister Briege: It actually began not long after my own physical healing. I came to Florida in 1971 as a young nun. I’d grown up in a very devout Catholic culture, and we’d been taught never to criticize priests. I remember my father telling us stories about how we should honor them. And we should, of course, but many of us were doing it in the wrong way, putting them up on a pedestal. Well, in 1971, that was changing, and I found myself, like many, becoming quite critical of priests. One day, I went into the chapel and asked God, “What’s wrong with these priests?” He then revealed two things to me. First, he showed me that a tremendous crisis was coming, a crisis that would lead to a great famine of the Word of God, and that Catholics would turn away from the faith. OSV: And the second thing? Sister Briege: The Lord told me to wash the feet of priests. He showed me Jesus weeping and said: “The time is coming when many bishops and priests will care more about the business of the world than about my wisdom. They will become ashamed of me. I want you to tell them to magnify me.” I was horrified. But I wrote it all down and talked to my bishop. Shortly afterward, I got an overwhelming love for the priesthood, a real sense of what the Sacrament of Holy Orders was. Then God brought Vincentian Father Kevin Scallon and I together. My mother general and his father general gave us their blessing and sent us out to work together. And ever since we’ve been going wherever we’re invited to help priests rediscover the spirit of their priesthood. OSV: Some of the priests with whom you work are priests who have fallen into serious sin. As you’ve gotten to know these priests, what have you discovered about the circumstances that led them to where they are now? Sister Briege: They didn’t get there overnight. Their struggles are generally the fruit of a long and slow neglect of the spiritual life. We all have an inner and an outer life. That inner life starts at baptism, and, in this world, it’s constantly under attack. So we have to protect it. How do we do that? We make our home in Jesus. We nourish it though prayer, sacraments and living the life we’ve promised Jesus to live. If a priest isn’t doing that, if he’s not giving over every area of his life to Jesus, he neglects the inner life, and divorce comes. He begins to care only for his outer life. And he falls. The priesthood is God’s gift. And any gift that is not cherished, that is not received and loved and cared for, dies. A priest can’t lose the gift of his priesthood, but he can lose the love that animates it. And that can cost him everything. SV: From what you’ve seen with the priests with whom you work, do you believe better days are ahead? Sister Briege: I do. God is rectifying what’s happened. He’s cleansing the Church. And we’ve been so blessed to have such holy popes in our lifetime. It hasn’t always been like this. But the Church survived, and now we have a great pope leading us into a new springtime. Before we see the fruit, there has to be purification, and the ground has to be fertilized. But the springtime is coming. The Church has been humiliated, and that’s good. The prestige of the priesthood is no longer an earthly one. We’re looking more closely at who’s forming our priests and how. Some bishops and priests are finding their voices again. They’re less afraid of speaking with authority. We need more of that, though. All bishops and priests must be willing to speak out and defend truth and the Church’s moral teachings. They must not be afraid to confront sin, even if it means martyrdom.
Sister Briege is a true servant of the Lord. A wonderful and inspiring lady... I have had the joy of attending two parish retreats that she has given in the Buffalo, NY area within the past 10 years. Both her and Fr. Scallon are great- they really set people on fire with love for Jesus, the Eucharist, and, of course, the priesthood. Her ministry is very important and we should all remember her in our prayers.
AMEN! O Mary, conceived without sin, embrace Sister Briege and gift her with your maternal blessing that she will be sustained in her service of Christ and his priests!
I don't know if you know this or not but Sister Briege foretold the Apparitions at Medugorje at a large public prayer meeting several years before it happened, she is just full of Charisms. She saw a vision of a church with 2 towers and water was streaming out of it.
Water coming out of it? You know, there is another man, someone local to Medjugorje, that said he thought the entire valley will be underwater one day, he said that he saw boats tied to the foot of Apparition Hiill. It was the wettest summer there this year than anyone remembers, hmmm. Either that or it is symbolic for the river of people flowing out of it every day...
I thought maybe it might mean the Waters of the Holy Spirit. One thing I noticed at the Apparition Site at Knock in Ireland at the little Museum there was that local people thought that the reason why Our Lady visited there was because of the prayers of a very Holy Parish priest who worked there at the time. I also noticed lately that at the Rue Du Bac Our LAdy seems to have appeared there due to the prayers of St Catherine. So I wonder if at Medugorje, perhaps Our Lady came because of the prayers of someone near by? I have never heard anyone mentioned but maybe it was so. For some reason the year 1981 was I suspect a very,very special year indeed, I notice in reports of apparition such as Medugorje and Kibeho in Rwanda that year occurs over and over....
Perhaps it isn't the year 1981 so much, as the other end of the timeline that is important. The number of years after...30 or 33. We know that the number 3 as well as any multiples of 10 (decades) are very important biblically and in Jewish tradition. I have always thought that the apparitions would end or something very significant would happen at least, at 30 or 33 years, one or the other or both. Last year, when everyne was thinking the warning would happen then, I still thought this year made more sense for things to start happening because it was the 30th year. There just wasn't anything significant about the number 29, you know? 2-3 years ago, when I still had no idea how we were going to get there, I told my husband that we needed to get there by or before the spring of 2011, to be sure to see it before it got all crazy. It could still be 3 more years though, going by my silly analogies. As for the reason why Medjugorje, I think, as many others do, that it is because of not one person, but a whole congregation of praying people that she appears there. Because of the Cross...on Mt. Krizevac. The story is amazing. If anyone out there hasn't read about it, I encourage you to do so. Here is what Mary has had to say about the cross: August 30, 1984 “Dear children, the cross was also in God’s plan when you built it. These days especially, go on the mountain and pray before the cross. I need your prayers. Thank you for having responded to my call.” August 31, 1984 “I love the cross which you have providentially erected on Mount Krizevac in a very special way. Go there more often and pray.” Okay back to the numbers: the number 7 is also very important in the Bible and in Jewish tradition (as also is the number 40 -we'll keep that one under our hat for a later time). Ok, get this...construction of the Cross was begun in 1933 (there is that number 33, and the 3's again) and completed in 1934. 2011 (On March 15) marks the 77th anneversary year of the construction of the cross, as well as the 30th anneversary year of the apparitions. I personally think that 30 years is very important to Mary. Jesus began his ministry at age 30, we commorate his death at 3:00, Mary uses multiples of 3 all the time (pray pray pray), three sets of mysteries, and then the rosary is in decades. 7 or 77 is important to God (7 days, forgive them 77 times, or 70 times 7 times, etc.). I am very excited about this year...I really think it is going to be significant. Lee, do what Padraig says, GO! GO NOW! IF you want to experience the peace of Medjugorje. Also, it will make it easier for you to bring people there later if you have already been once while it isn't so kaotic, and become familiar with everything first. :?
I suppose we are in a way like the people, the Faithful People 2,000 years ago that awaited the birth of Chirst with deep hope and longing and we are realy awaiting a kind of Second Coming as Our Lady has mentioned. In 'doing the numbers' you remind me of the three wise men who worked out the path of a star. Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." I read a striking piece in scripture about this longing for the Lord which spoke of Israel , 'Panting like a woman in labour' in expectaion for the Day of the Lord. I think we are like that, its like a Second Advent, we really need for the Lord to come directly and help us all out. In this Our LAdy seems to be sent from heaven as a Second John the Baptist.
OH how I wish I were truly as wise as they...they FOUND Jesus! I am flailing in the dark! Boy, we could sure use the star of David to guide us right now, huh?
I suppose Our Lady is the Star of Davld; sent to guide us. But many do not even see her. No not even in the highest quarters of the Church. Its a bit like the Nativity all over, too many folks are posting up, 'No room here', signs and so the Holy Family have nowhere to rest their heads. But some still travel to the stable to see......
Sr. Briege is my heroine along with Mother Angelica. Isn't wonderful that we can say that about two women here in the United States? We are blessed! I had a miracle happen to me regarding Sr. Briege. I was at the Denver Peace Conference in the early 90's. I had my newborn in a stroller and I was with my mother. I was looking so forward to seeing Sr. Briege and I found out she actually had body guards because people would CUT HER HABIT or do other terrible things thinking they were getting a 'piece' of the saintliness of her like a relic! Well during her talk I intimately told our Lord I wished I could just 'touch' her. Then I took it back and apologized. I felt like a groupie. Since I knew all who were putting on the conference I could have gone in back and asked someone to introduce me to her, but I felt that I would just be one of many and I did not want to be a 'groupie'. At the end of her talk, it was break time. We started out the many doors of the arena and in the crush of thousands of people I got to stand next to Josyp Terelya and visit with him. He went on and through the crowd came sister Briege with her body guards and was 15-20 people away from me. I was standing on my toes looking over the crowd, when she turned around, made a b-line for me, brushed by my mother and put her hands on my shoulders and smiled at me and said, "Hello, I'm glad you came today!" I was absolutely dumbstruck. Seriously mute. I was screaming in my head LORD! THANK YOU! She turned around and was on her way through the crowd and with her body guards. I later told my mother, but she did not believe me, which was fine, our sweet Lord and Sr. Briege knew. A few years later my 12 year old daughter had the same experience with Maria Esperanza in Olympia, WA. Maria went through a crowd, changed directions, walked straight up to her and hugged her and pulled a holy card out of her purse and kissed it and gave it to her and told her to be a good girl. Two hours earlier my daughter had told me she just wanted to hug Maria even though she had never seen her before onstage. God is SO merciful and desires to give us kisses from heaven!
Wow, what great stories! Seems like conferences and gatherings like these are often full of personal miracles for those attending. I never know what to expect when I go to one, and something unexpected always happens!
I love the way Sr Briege is so down toEarth, a sure sign of holiness. Once a rather pompous ABbot was waiting for her outside his monastery, seeking to make a , 'Big thing' of her visit (and his own part in it). But Sr Briege jumped out of the car rushed past the startled Abbot shouting for the toilet... I would love to have seen that. (I have a notion she did this quite deliberatly to deflate the pompous cleric..I knew the guy and believe me he needed it..badly :wink: }.
All bishops and priests must be willing to speak out and defend truth and the Church’s moral teachings. They must not be afraid to confront sin, even if it means martyrdom. (Sister Briege McKenna)
MomsCalling, I never heard this before until a few days ago. I like what you have stated in your last sentence above. It reminded me of the following scripture, Revelation 7:17 (DRA) For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
My husband and I were also at a Marian Conference in Denver in 1992 (my notes say it was Dec. 4-6, 1992) where Sr. Briege spoke, and also Joseph Tereyla - among many others. I don't know if its the same conference you are referring to, but at the Conference I went to, I saw the bleeding Crucifix that came from Fr. Jozo who at that time was traveling to various churches in the U.S. I also saw a statue of Our Blessed Mother crying at this same Conference. There were over 9,000 people there, and when a fire alarm went off (Sr. Briege was speaking at the time), there was such peace in the hall that everyone just walked out very calmly. It was amazing. I still have the article from Mary's Newsroom in Pittsburgh PA that had written about it. I feel so very blessed to have experienced this and it is part of the reason I came into the Church early - Jan.,1993. Is this the same Conference you were referring to?
