See Full Testimony Here
Fr. Danko is one of the Franciscan priests who gives talks regularly in the yellow building located not far behind St. James Parish. During the walk from St. James to the yellow building to hear Fr. Danko give his talk, I must have been handed about 50 prayer petitions to give to Fr. Rookey. The pilgrims just love him! Especially the Irish and the Italians.
As we entered the building to take a seat Sara, one of Fr. Rookey’s secretaries who accompanied Father on this pilgrimage had went ahead to save us some seats near the front so that Fr. Rookey would be able to sit during the talk. The building was packed as I suspect it usually is.. We took our seats as Fr. Danko stood at the front ready to speak. Pilgrims continued to approach Fr. Rookey right up until the talk began. Fr. Danko began first with a prayer and then proceeded to give his talk.. I regret that I was not able to record his talk but I did take notes.. So the following are various words of wisdom I had quoted Fr. Danko saying during his talk about Medjugorje and Our Lady’s message of conversion.. (as to not confuse who’s thoughts are who’s, Fr. Danko’s words appear in red)
Just as many of us were snapping pictures at random of Fr. Danko, Bluecross and I included.. lol.. all of us present and taking pictures suddenly found ourselves humbled by the words, “A tourist is armed with a camera.. A pilgrim is armed with Rosary beads..” Then he began to talk about prayer.. Genuine prayer.. Our continual conversation with God.. The love relationship that we all yearn to have with God.. “We have no problem with God.." He began.. "Our problem is with people.” And how true this is.. I mean, I think about this, if I was the only person in the world and walked daily with God by my side and I by God’s side would I have any problems? Would I have any worries? Would I have any fears?
“The two most difficult things as pilgrims for us to work on when we come to Medjugorje is conversion and forgiveness.. We must say with all our heart, “Jesus, I decide for You.. I cannot live like this any longer.. If the prayer is not changing you, then you have to change the prayer… you must be sincere when you pray.. You cannot lie to God.. God’s will is our salvation… God is not interested in your sins.. He is only interested in you..”
This really hit home for me.. I fell into a spiritual slump a few years ago.. a spiritual darkness, a time when I still believed, and I still prayed, but my life was seeming more and more hopeless.. I wasn’t growing, but instead, it felt as if I was retreating backwards in my journey.. And soon I was beginning to lose a sense of hope.. I did not fall into despair, but for the longest time I felt as if I was on the edge it despairs cliffs.. And I was running into the confessional almost daily seeking forgiveness for my sins and counsel to try to get out of this slump.. But what good was the counsel if I was not making good use of it? In an act of contrition we say “and I firmly resolve to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life..” And it’s this last part ‘amend my life’ that often needs the most effort from us.. Continually amending our defines conversion.. And perhaps, it is for this reason that St. James Parish has about 40 confessionals going at any given moment during the day and some people spend up to an hour waiting in line to go to confession, that Fr. Danko would say.. “Here in Medjugorje is where peace is lived.. No one has ever returned home in the same way that they came to Medjugorje.. Medjugorje has become the confessional capital of the world and of the Church..”
Now Thursday morning I completely missed our pilgrim group’s journey up Apparition Hill. The day before when it was announced by our guide Miki Musa that we would be going up to Apparition Hill at 6:00am I was not present to hear the announcement.. And I had not thought to look at the next day’s agenda posted on the wall in the main dining room at Mirjana’s.. I had been over at the Parish speaking with Alexandra who oversees the various choirs at St. James who provide music during Mass about playing the piano for the 10:00am English Mass when Miki had made the announcement so unfortunately I missed out. I did however make it up Apparition Hill twice on my own to spend quiet time in prayer during this recent pilgrimage, and of course was able to be present with everyone’s prayer petitions on Friday, Sept 11th during Ivan’s Apparition at 10:00pm.. So when I awoke around 7:30am Thursday morning there was no one around and I didn’t know why.. After going for a walk to have a morning coffee at Podboro Café I returned to Mirjana’s a short time later and learned from Jim who had stayed behind that our group was up on Apparition Hill but should be coming back down shortly..
See, my friend Barb noticed that there was currently no piano player for the English morning Mass.. And so she decided it would be a good idea to bring to Alexandra’s attention that there was someone attending the English Mass every morning right now who could play the piano.. So an arrangement had been made for me to meet with Alexandra on Wednesday morning just after Mass which I did in order to get acquainted and feel out if I could actually do this.. You see, I’m not a professional and I can’t read sheet music at all.. I play by ear .. Well, that is until my ears get sore, then I usually use my fingers.. Seriously though, if I sat at the piano and you placed the sheet music to Three Blind Mice in front of me I wouldn’t be able to make any sense of it.. It’s a beautiful gift but it’s also a terrifying challenge at times.. I still need to know what key I’m in and I need to know the chord progression… So generally, I follow guitar chords and ad lib the rest.. And if I’ve never heard the song in my entire life which pretty much happened with most sings or hymns at each Mass it can be like trying to drive an automobile blindfolded.. lol..
So around 9:00am Thursday morning I met with Alexandra again over by the Confessionals to go over the music for the English Mass.. I was very excited about having an opportunity to play piano at St. James Parish, but I was also extremely nervous.. I just didn’t feel ready.. I’m pretty much always nervous about playing in front of large gatherings to begin with but this morning I was exceptionally nervous because in order for everything to go smoothly it would really require a miracle.. I didn’t know any of the hymns at all.. Not a one! Alexandra introduced me to an Irish man named Joe who was currently playing guitar with the choir while he was in Medjugorje at least for the next few days .. Well, as it turned out, everything was pretty much already set for the morning Mass and I wasn’t needed just yet.. I ended up being given the day to prepare for tomorrows Mass instead.. whew!
