A Clear Sign

Having just retired to Ireland after many years overseas, I wondered what good advice I would give to others. Years ago, following a disagreement with another priest, I picked up a book on the visions of Mary to the visionaries in Medjugorje and asked Mary to please give me a message to help me heal the rift with my colleague. I opened the book at random and this was what I read:

The visionaries had been through a lot of suffering on account of the visions, and they didn’t know how to deal with the suffering. So they asked Mary for advice, and here is what she told them. “I want you to accept this suffering with great love, and unite it with the sufferings of Christ and with the members of the mystical body.”

I decided to commit the prayer to memory and went to bed, repeating it over and over in my mind. I had no recollection of falling asleep, but I woke up refreshed the following morning, went down for Mass and had breakfast. Imagine my joy and gladness when the priest with whom I’d had the disagreement came to sit beside me and the whole incident was history.

Although I was set to go on vacation a few short days later, the thought came to me to visit Medjugorje when I returned to Ireland. I put it out of my mind several times and made a firm resolution that I was going home to Ireland, putting my feet up and not travelling further. The thought became more persistent, and finally I said, “Mary, if you want me to go to Medjugorje, you must give me a clear sign. Now if the sign is fuzzy, forget it. It has to be clear, very clear.”

On the first leg of my vacation, I flew to Chicago where I had spent many happy years on vocation work. One night I was invited to offer Mass with good friends, Tom and Peggy. Towards the end of the Mass, I had a custom of inviting people to really listen to the Lord after receiving the Eucharist, and then to tell the others what good advice the Lord had shared with them. Imagine my surprise when Tom said, “I think Fr. Colm should visit Medjugorje when he returns to Ireland.”

I very deftly changed the subject and talked about something far removed that Medjugorje. I patted myself on the back on the way home for being so clever. However, the following day a courier arrived at the house I was staying to give me an envelope. I opened it and out fell a check in the amount of five hundred dollars and a message in large handwriting “We would like you to go to Medjugorie, Tom & Peggy.” I said, “Mary, I asked for a sign, but I didn’t expect one that clear.”

I returned to Ireland and did what they told me. It was one of the best visits of my life and I learned so much from the experience. Since that time I have told the story often and people have asked for a copy of the prayer. I am very sure it has helped many others to deal with the problem of suffering in their lives.

Suffering is a great mystery. Very few people understand the significance and meaning of suffering. Mary told the visionaries when they had suffered terribly and had accepted the suffering with great love, and united it with the sufferings of Christ, and with the members of the Mystical Body, that they had no idea how much good they had done by accepting their crosses in this way. I have used the prayer often since that time and while the pain and sufferings are still difficult to accept, it does help to know that the suffering is not worthless or useless, but really precious in God’s sight.

Columban Fr. Colm Rafferty recently retired to Ireland after many years of mission work and continues to reach out to others via this blog.