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"Dear children! Today I invite you all so that your prayer be prayer with the heart. Let each of you find time for prayer so that in prayer you discover God. I do not desire you to talk about prayer, but to pray. Let your every day be filled with prayer of gratitude to God for life and for all that you have. I do not desire your life to pass by in words but that you glorify God with deeds. I am with you and I am grateful to God for every moment spent with you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Our Lady’s Medjugorje Message, April 25, 1991
I really enjoyed being blessed to be on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje with Fr. Peter Mary Rookey.. I have a lot of gratitude that I could be so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet and get to know a little about this very humble priest so loved by many.. Like many, I just loved listening to him speak! He is so full of wisdom and has an awesome sense of humor to go with it! :D lol.. My first encounter with this holy priest as I’ve already mentioned was at Chicago O’Hare airport waiting to board the plane to Europe.. Once in Germany we had enough time to spare before our next flight and so a few of us including Fr. Rookey were able to visit together over cappuccino at a little café in Frankfurt airport.. Fr. Rookey began to tell us of some of his own experiences throughout his priesthood, being a close friend of St. Padre Pio, and many of the miraculous healings he had witnessed over the years.. I just felt so blessed to be with him on this pilgrimage..
As we were boarding the plane to Split, a priest came out of nowhere, not of our group, who didn’t speak any English but seemed to know who Fr. Rookey was and wanted a blessing from him.. So right there at the boarding gate as people from all over were trying to board this plane, there was this priest kneeling down in front of Fr. Rookey as he gave him a blessing… Smiling the priest stood up afterward and then Fr. Rookey insisted that he give him a blessing as well.. It was just awesome to witness this between these two holy men!
I’ve noticed many physical changes around Medjugorje since my last visit in October 2008. There are more gift shops, more pansions, and even some nice hotels and apartment complexes popping up here and there. Last year, Medjugorje, at least to me anyways, appeared about the size of two or three average size American neighborhoods. This year, it’s more a collage of about a half dozen or so.. Still, for the most part everything is in walking distance if you are someone who enjoys the exercise.. not too many places are more than a 15 or 20 minute walk from St. James Parish which sits at the center of town.. And Medjugorje still has that ‘small town’ and friendly feel to it.. Something I hope it never loses..
I had heard from time to time over the past year that hardly anyone is going to Medjugorje anymore.. To be honest I have no clue where this is coming from.. It seemed busier this time then last year.. Perhaps Our Lady’s birthday had something to do with it, and maybe it did, but I suspect it was not only for this reason.. Our Lady’s birthday fell on the first day of our arrival.. Medjugorje was a happening place the entire time I was there.. Lot’s of miracles.. Lot’s of celebration in the Spirit.. And lot’s of praising God going on!
Well now back to Fr. Rookey.. lol.. Wednesday, September 9th, was our first full day in Medjugorje.. As I mentioned earlier, the morning English Mass is at 10:00am.. So naturally most of us found ourselves at St. James Parish by this time Wednesday morning.. Aside from non-Catholics of course, not too many people skip Mass here in Medjugorje.. and even many non-Catholics attend and often find themselves in awe over the reverence for Christ going on during Mass..
After Mass we exited the Church making our way through the Italian pilgrims eager to take a seat before their Mass began.. I gathered with Barb and Sarah from our group near the benches by the side doors to the Church on the confessionals side.. Barb says, “Where’s Fr. Rookey! We gotta get to him before everyone else does!” Kind of panicked Sarah turned toward me and yelled through the crowd, “John, you head over to the rectory doors and watch for Fr. Rookey.. You need to be his body guard!” ... "Body guard?" I thought.. lol.. that kind of sounds silly.. “Sarah, I’m 140 lbs soaking wet.. But okay, if you insist, I’ll do it..” I chuckled.. “Just get over there John! And make sure you get right by the doors as he comes out!’
So I walked over to the rectory doors and made my way through a gathering crowd of about 50 people that was growing 3, 4, and 5 at a time.. As I went to peek inside to see if he was coming out or at least in sight yet, a lady suddenly yells out, “Hey! You can’t go in there! That is for the priest’s only!” I turned toward her, saw the crowd was now numbering closer to a hundred people and said, “I know.. I know.. I’m just watching for Fr. Rookey, I…” But she interrupts saying, “Well then you’ll just have to go stand at the back of the line cause that’s who we’re all waiting for!” My next thought was, “Oh my! What have I gotten into? Help!” :o lol..
Soon, Fr. Rookey emerged from the rectory and as I tried to get behind him suddenly I got knocked by a pilgrim eager to get in close to Fr. Rookey, everyone was moving in close to him, I lost my balance and fell into the wall of the Church as he continued to walk ahead in the other direction.. I quickly got my balance and tried to get through the crowd to help him but it was becoming increasingly difficult.. there were so many people all wanting to touch him, to ask for his blessing, to have him pray for them, over them.. Whatever it would take to be healed.. Everyone wanted to be healed.. By this time Barb and Sarah had fought their way through the crowd and up to him and were calling out for me walking along the outside of the crowd.. That’s when the same Irish pilgrim who had earlier scolded me about being at the door to the rectory now realized I was supposed to be helping him and started to clear a path for me to get in behind Fr. Rookey.. “What a rock star!” I thought… lol.. Here is this 93 year old priest who had you not known, you would have thought was Jesus Himself trying to make his way through the crowd.. lol..
As we continued to walk towards the yellow building to hear Fr. Danko speak, I now walking directly behind Fr. Rookey, someone in the crowd leans over towards me and says, “How old is he now?” and I responded, “He’s 92.. Can you believe it!” Well, apparently Fr. Rookey overheard me.. He stops, turns to me and says, “Hey! I’m not that old! I’m only 93!” :D lol…. Anyways, mainly because of the amount of people seeking a blessing from him it took us about 15 minutes to walk from the Church to the yellow building about 200 feet away.. Fr. Rookey turned no one away..
