Grace and Healing
Confession: the Grace of Healing and Deliverance
By June Klins
When I was in Medjugorje last November, my roommate was not feeling well one day, so she stayed in the room and watched MaryTV on her phone. She told me about a powerful episode of Fruit of Medjugorje (#335) that I needed to see. When I finally watched it at home, I was convinced it needed to be shared with our readers. This is the testimony of Fr. Ray Donohue. It was long and I will not be able to do it justice, but I hope this will inspire you to go to MaryTV and watch the testimony in its entirety.
Fr. Ray first heard about Medjugorje while in the seminary. Later as a young priest, a Croatian priest did a presentation about Medjugorje at his parish. Father was interested, but never dreamed he would be able to go. Some parishioners got together and paid for his way, and the adventure began…
On that first of 29 pilgrimages, Fr. Ray said there were 200 people and they had to stay in Dubrovnik and drive back and forth every day. One of the things that really impressed Father was the heartfelt prayer of Fr. Slavko Barbaric. "He spoke from his heart…and I said, ‘I want to be like this man. I want to be a holy priest.' That changed my whole priesthood."
When Fr. Ray returned, he began Marian and other devotions in his parish, which continue to this day. Father was able to return to Medjugorje the following years, except for two years when they were told it was too dangerous to travel because of the war. He continued to spread Our Lady's messages by doing presentations and distributing rosaries and medals, especially to school children.
As he waved his cane, Fr. Ray said that he has rheumatoid arthritis and was told he would be in a wheelchair by the age of 50. He said he is now 60, and although he had to retire early because of the arthritis, he has been blessed to be able to climb Apparition Hill and Mt. Krizevac. He said he calls himself an "old goat," but pilgrims call him a "billy goat" because he gets to the top before they do! Father said it takes him a long time to get down the mountains because he stops to bless everyone who asks for a blessing. "It's what a priest does, what a priest should be doing – blessing, bringing people to Jesus."
Fr. Ray with a little friend in Medjugorje
Father then related an experience he had one May when he went to Medjugorje. He said that he had a remarkable encounter with an Italian Byzantine Rite priest. They both spoke in their own languages but could understand each other perfectly! The Byzantine priest asked Father if he was an exorcist because he was wearing a St. Benedict cross, and Father said he was not. The priest handed him a St. Benedict rosary, which had all St. Benedict medals as beads. After Fr. Ray kissed it, he handed it back, but the priest said, "No. Father, you are going to be doing exorcisms… Pope Benedict has sent our order here, where there is very, very good and there will also be very evil…The Pope sent us here to look for exorcisms, and you will be doing them." Fr. Ray knew he needed permission to do exorcisms, so he asked one of the priests there about it, and the priest responded, "You just have to ask yourself at this point, 'What would Jesus do if there was a need?' How would you respond?" Father said he would respond in prayer.
Two days later, the Mass had been moved to the Yellow Building, but Fr. Ray assumed they would still vest in the church sacristy, so he went there, but no one was there. He said at the time there were usually 50 or 60 priests. As he began vesting, all of a sudden, the door opened and three young people were "thrown" through the door. One of them, a little girl, landed on her face. They were Italian, but Father heard the girl say, "Father, please help me." He thought she was sick, so he pointed to the restroom. She said, "No, Father. No, please." So Father went over and lifted up her head to see what was wrong, and saw that she had no eyes at all and it was all black. "She started hissing at me. It was a horrible, horrible sound." Then she pushed Father and he went flying back. He threw his cane down, put his hand on her head and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you, evil spirit, you come out of her, you don't enter anyone else, and go to the throne of God to be judged by Him." Again, she threw herself down on the ground and started making a dreadful noise. Father said the only way he could think to describe the noise was the slaughtering of a giant pig he had witnessed at a farm when he was young. But he said this noise was "a million times worse". "It was ungodly, unearthly." He said that although she probably weighed no more than 70 pounds, she threw him and he went flying. In the meantime, a nun entered the sacristy, so he gestured for her to pray.
Father continued to pray that same prayer, but she got stronger and stronger. But as he prayed, he also felt himself getting stronger. Then he remembered the St. Benedict rosary, so he pulled it out and put it on her. "She screamed as if I had just put acid on her." Father prayed the prayer again, but added, "In the name of Mary." He began to feel her getting weaker. Then she started slithering along the floor like a snake. Father was on her back, praying as hard as he could, and she was trying to throw him off, but she was getting weaker. He told the other two young people to pray hard. Just then, a little Italian priest came into the sacristy. Fr. Ray asked him to pray, so the priest began praying in Italian and she weakened more and more. Finally there was one last push, and she fell like she was dead. Father motioned to the other two, a boy about 18 and a girl about 17, to help him up. The little girl put her head at Father's shoulder and started crying. He looked down at her and saw a beautiful Italian girl with big brown eyes. Father consoled her, "It's OK. He's gone. He's never coming back."
By now the Italian priest was gone, and they were alone, so Fr. Ray asked what happened. The teens said they had been to Mirjana's apparition at the Blue Cross and that at the moment when everything got silent, they heard a dog bark, and then the girl started screaming. They looked at her eyes, and then decided they needed to get to the church. They said they took a few steps among the thousands of people there, and the next thing they knew, they were pushed into the sacristy. Father asked if they had been to Confession. The two older ones said they had been, but the little girl (about 14 or 15) had not. Father asked her if there was anything she could have done that offended God, and she replied that a few days before, she and her friends were playing with a ouija board and they had a séance.
When Fr. Ray got home, he told his experience to the bishop, who gave him faculties to perform exorcisms to assist the diocesan exorcist. Father has been doing exorcisms ever since. He has linked 100% of the exorcisms he has done in his area to a certain very evil place that is nearby. He warned to stay away from ouija boards, séances, readings, tarot cards, etc. "These are instruments of evil…that opens a door, a portal." He said that the evil one is going after young people today in droves.
Fr. Ray praying on Cross Mountain
Father told another incident that happened on Mt. Krizevac about five years ago. There were three Italian ladies who were screaming, so the people gathered them into an opening at the base of the big cross. One was making more noise than the other two, so Father went to her. She had broken loose from the two big men who were holding her. She threw Father quite a distance. Father got up and went back over to her and began the prayers of exorcism. She began laughing at Father in a terrible masculine voice. Father told everyone there to pray. He said he usually does not do this, but he asked the demon his name. When he looked again, the woman had no eyes, but there were circles there. Father told her she would not be laughing long because God would triumph. A horrible voice came out saying, "She's mine and you can't have her." Father said, "She's not yours. She belongs to Jesus." This went back and forth, and finally the demon said, "My name is Riches and Wealth and people love me." Father said that the sad part is that many people do love riches and wealth rather than putting God first, but if people could see what riches and wealth do, they would hate it.
Father continued to do the prayers of exorcism and she began biting him, so he had to hold her mouth down. Father told everyone there (about 200 people) to pray the Litany of the Saints, since demons hate that prayer. One of those saints must have touched the demon and it began getting weaker and weaker. Father prayed, "I command you, Riches and Wealth, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are to go directly into hell, never come upon the face of this earth again. Never come into this person or anyone else. You are damned to hell for all eternity." Finally it let out a big scream and she lay flat. Father told her to say, "Mary" and she said, "Maria" and he told her to say "Mary loves me," and then "Jesus" and then "Ave Maria gratia plena." Father told the people nearby to help her up, and when they did, he saw her beautiful brown eyes. Father said that the other two were also possessed by Riches and Wealth, that this was a powerful demon because it possessed all three of them. They all prayed together, and then Father told them he wanted them to go to Confession. He told them they needed to go once a week for the grace, preferably to the same priest, for spiritual help.
After everyone left, Father stayed at the cross to pray. Soon an elderly lady tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to pray for her granddaughter who was about 14 years old and looked sickly. Father began praying and the girl put her arms around him. He thought she was hugging him, but soon it became like a death grip and she started laughing in a horrible laugh. He started praying the prayers of exorcism and she fell. She got up and put her arms around him again like a death grip, as he kept praying. She did this three times until the demon left. Father could tell this was a lesser demon. Father said there are demons and damned souls and that sometimes the demons get the damned souls, which aren't as strong, to possess people or attach to them. "Sometimes it isn't a possession…it's an attachment. They attach themselves to some people…But you have to open a portal. It doesn't just happen where a demon is going to jump into you. If you're praying and you're keeping up your spiritual life and you're going to Confession on a regular basis…and you love God, the demon can't possess you. We're possessed, in a sense, by God and His love."
Fr. Ray summed up his testimony by saying, "Medjugorje literally changed my life. I always wanted to be a priest. Our Lady opened the door for that. There's so much more that has happened in my life through our Blessed Mother, through Her guiding me, through Her leading me, through these Medjugorje pilgrimages. So many people have come back to the faith – confessions I hear here – [after] 40 years, 50 years."
Father pleaded, "I would just ask people to pray – pray for their priests, pray for their parishes. Priests are human. We make mistakes. But at the same time, we want to be good priests, and the more you pray for your priests, the better your priests will become, the holier your priests will become."
Father concluded, "If we have the eyes of faith, we can see how God works in our lives. And what I find in Medjugorje – our Blessed Mother gives us the eyes of faith. She lets us see from our hearts and then everything becomes a joy. Even our sufferings become a joy. And I thank God because I had to retire because of my rheumatoid arthritis. I'm busier now than I ever was! And I'm doing things that Our Lord and our Blessed Mother have asked me to do that I never dreamed I can do. And I know it's through my feeble state as a human being. It's what Our Lady is telling all of us: ‘Turn to me and I will work through you, and nothing is impossible with God.'"
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