"Dear children! In this time of grace, pray with me for the good to win in you and around you. In a special way, little children, pray united with Jesus on His Way of the Cross. Into your prayers put this humanity which wanders without God and without His love. Be prayer, be light, and be witnesses to all those whom you meet, little children, so that the merciful God may have mercy toward you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Time to Let Go
By Fr. Ray Donohue
What a wild roller-coaster ride
this year has been for all of us!
Who would have thought at the
beginning of the year that this
would have happened? How
could all this happen?
These words could have been
spoken 2000 years ago when Jesus
was arrested, scourged, stripped
and crucified. (With the exception
of the roller-coaster ride analogy).
🙂
Things happen. Where is God?
God is with you, every step of the
way. He never leaves you, not for a second. It is hard to see
Him at times, because we see and focus on the troubles, the
difficulties, the inconveniences, the unknown. But ALL is
known to God. He knows. He understands. God loves You.
Things are opening up. Churches are now having Holy
Masses again, some at full capacity, some still at 25%, or 50%
or so, but things are beginning to happen. I can actually get
a haircut now, not that I have that much to cut, but what I do
have grows and I look like a fuzzy peach
gone wild!
And yet the riots and evil of looting,
killing, hurting and destroying
property have turned into tearing down
statues, first of historical leaders and
trailblazers, but now holy and religious
statues attacking Saints, our dear
Blessed Mother, and Jesus Himself on the
Holy Cross of salvation! We need to ask
the questions: "Why do people do what
they do?" "Why do we lash out?" "Why
do we hurt one another?" The answer is
very clear: Because we have misplaced
God in our lives and substituted the
Almighty for "our" way, "our" justice.
We forget the 10 Commandments, we
forget we are all Sisters and Brothers,
fellow travelers on this earth trying to
make our way and are called by God to
LOVE one another as He loves us. We
forget to pray and ask for help, patience,
and to do God's Will. Where God guides, He provides!
Bad things happen. But good things happen too. The good
far, far exceeds the bad. If we look for trouble, darkness,
arguments, we will find them quickly. If we look for the
light, the joy, the peace, it is just a prayer away. Why open
the door to darkness, when we can open that same door and
find light and a peace that the world cannot give? We know
that God is more than generous to give us Graces when we
ask. So, ASK! God is so pleased when we ask Him.
Last year in Medjugorje, Sister Briege McKenna, OSC was
there at the same time we were there. I have been on retreats
with Sister Briege and have met her there many times, and
we have spoken and prayed many times together. When
I first met her back in the 1990s, I was on retreat with her
with many priests in central New York state. She and Father
Kevin Scallon gave a retreat for us priests. We certainly miss
Father Kevin, God rest his holy soul. She had just recently
given a retreat to Pope Saint John Paul II. Can you imagine
giving a retreat to the Pope, who was a living Saint and is
now a canonized Saint in Heaven? (If anyone could do it,
Sister Briege certainly could!) There were about 20 or so of
us priests from all over, and Sister wanted to just pray with
us individually for a few moments before the retreat began.
When it was my turn to go into the little room where Sister
was sitting, there were two chairs. Sister was in one, and the
other was near Sister for the priest to sit in. When I went in,
I greeted Sister and she asked me to please sit down. What
happened next changed my life.
Fr. Ray with Sr. Briege in Medjugorje
Sister Briege, at that time, had never met me or seen me.
She took my hand and began praying, "Oh Heavenly Father,
Loving Jesus and Most Holy Spirit, I pray for this priest who
was called by You to serve You and the needs of others..."
Suddenly she stopped. Sister held my hand very tightly
and in a totally different tone of voice, with her eyes closed,
and now my eyes were closed, Sister continued: "I see that
you are in a boat, Father, and a terrible storm is all around
you. You are rowing as hard as you can, but the storm is
too great! Water is coming over the
boat and you are so tired but you keep
rowing and the storm is getting greater.
As you are rowing, I see the Lord Jesus!
He is calling to you: 'Raymond, give Me
the oars!' You continue to row, and the
boat is taking on more water, the storm
is overwhelming, and the Lord once
again is calling to you: 'Raymond, give
Me the oars.' You are so exhausted and
now I see that Jesus is in the boat with
you! He is there behind you and calls to
you: 'Raymond,' and He gently calls to
you slowly and lovingly: 'Give Me the
oars.'" Sister paused and her eyes were
closed tightly, but her grip on my hands
was even tighter. Her voice got quieter,
gentler, and she said to me: "Jesus
is holding on to you tightly behind
you, and He says quietly and gently:
'Raymond, let go. Give Me the oars.'"
Sister said: "I see that you let go of the
oars, and that you fall back into the Arms of Jesus, Who is
holding you, as you are exhausted, and you rest in His arms
as He hugs you tightly."
There was complete silence now. Sister Briege then said
to me, in a quiet voice, "Father, you are in a very difficult
situation in your ministry, and evil is besetting you from all
sides! The devil is there trying to trip you up at every corner,
and Jesus is here and is telling you to let go, and allow Him
now to direct the ship, as you have done all that you can and
you have stayed the course."
I never have had an experience like that before. Sister
Briege, as I said, had never seen me before, we never talked
and she did NOT know my name, and yet in her "vision" she
called me by my name "Raymond". That was God speaking
through her. I won't go into the rest of the retreat, just to say
it was amazing and I heard God speak to my heart, and both
Father Kevin and Sister Briege were strong instruments of
God's Hand and Heart! I felt totally energized and on fire
with love for God and my priesthood!
You see, I was Director of a Newman Center at a prominent
college. The students were amazing and wonderful. Sunday
evenings, I would celebrate Holy Mass for them at 10:00 pm.
I had a Vigil Mass on Saturday, mostly adults who came
to the Newman Center, and I had a morning Mass, again,
mostly adults who came to the Center. The students were
typical young adults and NOT morning people. At the
10:00 pm Mass, we would have well over 200 students
and more! I had to start an RCIA for those wanting
to become Catholic! I ate all my meals at the college
with them, and got to know so many by name. They
all knew me and called out all over campus, "Hi,
Father Ray!" I had my 3-legged dog "Lucky", who was
super loved by everyone, and who loved everyone!
They came to me day and night for counseling, or
just to talk, to ask questions about the Catholic faith
and their Church, and to bring troubled friends to
help them find their way. They once brought, in
the middle of the night, a young man who tried to
commit suicide, and we stayed up all night talking
on my kitchen floor until dawn, and I drove him
and his friends to a mental health facility, and thank
God, he worked it all out. His father, I found out
when I called him, worked at the College as a policeman,
and until he passed away many years later, he sent me a
Christmas card each year thanking us for "saving his son's
life". We know that God did that! I had the honor to do his
son's wedding 5 years later and baptize his first child!
Fr. Ray when he was younger
Most of the adults were fantastic and associated with
the college in one way or another, but a small group of the
adults were those who left their parishes, or were asked to
leave their parishes, and they came there to make it "their
own" parish. By this I mean, not in any good way, and
certainly not Catholic in any way at all! The priest who was
there before me begged me NOT to take the position as
director, as they were terrible to him. Again, this was a small
group of maybe 15 or 20. But they were powerful and very
intimidating. I can get along with anyone, or so I thought!
They used their own "Scriptures", where every reference of
God was neutered. No longer was God called the "Father",
because they said that was sexist. They took away the most
beautiful image of God as a personal loving "Father" and
referred to Him in a generic role of "Creator". They got rid
of all the holy water and the fonts, took away the Crucifix,
and at times, against their own "rules", they referred to God
in a feminine gender, even to call Him a "goddess". The first
thing I did was burn that book, and get the Holy Scriptures
back! They hated me for that.
I worried leaving on my day off to visit my mother and
take her shopping and mow her lawn, etc., because when I
would come back to the Newman Center, ALL the holy water
would be gone, the fonts hidden, the Crucifix I put up was
missing, my vestments were missing, and worst of all, the
Blessed Sacrament was missing from the Tabernacle! They
would take the Most Blessed Sacrament when I was gone
and, I agonize when I remember all this, they would throw
the Blessed Sacrament out for the birds to eat! They said that
Christ Jesus was only Present when the people were there,
and when the people left, Jesus was not present and it was
just bread. I had to hide the Blessed Sacrament from them!
They would come up to Holy Communion with one hand
out for the Blessed Sacrament, while the other hand held a
cup of coffee!!!! This was at Holy Mass! I told them I would
refuse them and they need to fast at least 1 hour before the
reception of Communion. This is all true, and I faced this
every week! I told them they were NOT to have any coffee
at Holy Mass. They hated me for this. Can you even imagine
this? I had to deal with this for 3 years, and got no support
from my diocese. They didn't believe all that was going on.
But, who would?? I had a hard time believing
any of this was going on. It was evil and un-
Godly.
Now you can see what I was facing and
how it was revealed to Sister Briege that after
3 years there, trying to make it Catholic and
doing the same things, I could do no more,
and I did all that I could. By the will of God, I
was offered two beautiful parishes that I just
loved–very holy and Catholic people–and we
all thanked God, for He put a Religious Order
priest in at the Newman Center. When the
adults called to complain and get the priest in
trouble, as they did weekly with me, he would
tell them to call his Order's Provincial, and as
he was in another state, the Provincial would
tell them if they didn't like it, to leave. God knows what to
do and when to do it. Give Him the oars!
We have to want God's way and not our way! We have to
pray and ask for guidance from God. Pray to your Guardian
Angel. I said before that all we have been going through is
a Test from God, and an opportunity! Jesus did things His
Father's way. "Not my will, but Your Will be done," Jesus
prayed. Can we pray like Jesus did? Will we pray like Jesus
did?
Christians are called such because they are "Christ-Like".
To be Christ-Like we have to bear crosses in this life, but
they are not punishments, they are pillars to strengthen us.
They show us what we really and truly are made of, and
what is truly in our hearts. They show us God is with us,
and we can undergo every sort of trial in this life, and come
out stronger, happier and holier!
I couldn't even begin to tell you all the students who asked
me to perform their weddings, baptize their children, from
near and far. I keep in touch with so many of them. They
are all regular church-goers and live good Catholic lives.
The students saw, as the disciples saw in Jesus, the beauty of
God and His ways!
We all go through dark times. But God is there to lead us
into His light of holiness and goodness and peace. Don't
walk in anyone else's darkness, but let them walk in your
light! God calls you to be a light for others, and others to be
a light for you! Remember, when bad times come, sometimes
God calms the storm, and sometimes God lets the storm
rage and calms His child in the storm. Let go of the oars.
Give God the oars. I love you all and pray for you each day
in all my Holy Prayers and in all my daily Holy Masses. I
surround you and all you love in Holy Prayer.
In Jesus and Mary, our Mother,
~Father Ray 🙂