I SPOKE WITH REV. FATHER SLAVKO, I DIDN'T KNOW HE'S BEEN DEAD FOR SEVEN MONTHS
I have been married for over 20 years to a wonderful man. It was my first marriage, although it was my husband's second (he divorced his first wife).
Since our wedding day we have suffered a lot. We have been banned from our families.
Two years ago, my husband died and I found myself very alone. My sister invited me to go back to church, but every time I tried, I felt something in me that was holding me back.
I was ashamed, and besides, I had been hurt by all those people who had avoided me while at the same time saying they loved God. So, I continued to keep away from the Church.
When my sister asked me to accompany her to Medjugorje, I was not enthusiastic, but I accepted her invitation as an opportunity to get out of my routine a little.
She certainly remembers that I told her that the slightest allusion to "prayer" made me sick.
I wanted to go on a trip, I didn't want to participate in a pilgrimage.
However, I found myself in Medjugorje for the 20th Anniversary of the Apparitions - which I didn't even believe in!
I always tried to avoid participating in the activities that were proposed to us, especially the Holy Mass and the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but she systematically invited me to join the group, if I wanted to.
Disembarking from the ferry in Split, I was seasick and I already hated and hated my sister who had brought me there, but when we arrived in Medjugorje, I felt a very special emotion in my heart.
After talking to her in the bus, something deep inside told me to give myself a chance.
She had said that Our Lady came in particular to take care of her sick children and she had told me about her experience of her conversion. She also told me not to look for signs in the sky, nor in nature, but to look inside myself, to open my heart during the four days that I was going to spend in Medjugorje.
I really wanted to do that.
When she spoke of Apparition Hill (Podbrdo), I felt something in me that was telling me loudly to go up there.
Truth be told, I hate climbing hills, but in the end I went there with our group, praying the Holy Rosary (which I was learning to say again!).
When I got to the top, I felt the desire to be alone and I went to a wooden cross, apart from the place where our group had sat and I stayed there.
I was in deep concentration; I was hoping to know if my husband had gone to Heaven. He was a good man, and I prayed for him. When I was ready to leave, I looked up to look for the others in the group, but they were all gone.
Dismayed, I looked around to see if there was anyone to show me the way back down.
I took a few steps, and that was when I saw a Priest.
I asked him if he spoke Spanish. To my surprise he said yes, and then I asked him where I had to go to go down the hill.
He asked me why I wanted to leave and I replied that I had already seen the place. He then told me that I was not there to see the place, but to pray, because only in that way could I truly "see" with the eyes of my heart.
I felt very comfortable with him and I replied that I had already prayed.
But he told me I needed to pray more.
It was then that I realized I was talking to a priest in Spanish!
I was happy to be able to speak to a priest other than the one in our group, with whom I was ashamed to express my thoughts.
I also remembered that my sister advised me to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, that she would send a holy priest into my life to help me express my feelings and open my heart.
Then I thought: "Our Lady responded quickly to my request!"
I asked that priest if I could talk to him about me, and I started talking to him about my doubts, my life, my husband, my children and my trip to Medjugorje.
I told him about my deep desire to approach the Eucharist and about my fear of committing a sin because I had been married to a divorced man.
I explained to him that I loved my husband.
It was strange because I talked and talked and he listened to me with incredible attention, never interrupting me.
When I finished speaking, he looked me straight in the eye with a look I will never forget, a deep look, full of compassion and full of love, the love of someone who is only there to help you.
Then, he spoke to me about the importance of the sacrament of Reconciliation, which is a magnificent gift for us, and he told me how Jesus stretched out his arms to embrace all our sins and heal our tried hearts.
I asked him if he believed in the apparitions of Our Lady, and he replied that a mother always goes to her children, especially if they are sick.
And that humanity is now sick, having lost faith, but if we begin to pray and fast, and to live according to the Gospel, then we will enter a magnificent world.
He told me that we need to have faith, and that through prayer, our faith will grow strong.
We began to descend the hill, and soon after I thought that I had told him my whole life, and that I needed his blessing and the forgiveness of my sins.
He looked at me and put his hand on my head.
He told me to look for a priest to confess, to receive a sacramental confession.
I asked him if I could not confess to himself, and he told me that we had spoken but that I had to go to confess before Mass, during the recitation of the Rosary.
He told me to look for a priest in the second of the confessionals outside the church.
That afternoon I took the crown she had given me and went straight to the confessional that the priest had indicated to me, hoping to find him there.
But to my surprise, I found there a priest who came from Argentina (at least I think). I received the sacrament of Reconciliation.
It was like a balm in my heart!
I could really feel the healing from all my wounds.
I felt that I belonged to God and Jesus, and I began to cry and cry.
When I stopped crying, it was already time for Communion and for the first time in more than 20 years, I received the Holy Eucharist, the blessed food!
I remember the story of the manna from heaven and, yes, I had walked all that time in the desert without this wonderful food!
That evening, my sister and I were walking together and I was telling her all the wonderful experience I had lived when, in a print, I saw the photo of the priest with whom I had spoken to on the hill.
I showed it to her, telling her that this was the priest I had met.
I remember a strange expression painted on her face, and then, without saying a word, she walked away with the excuse of going to see some tags in a shop.
But I saw that her eyes had filled with tears.
Today I understand that you did not want to tell me who that priest was.
But my sister later told me it was Father Slavko, a holy priest who died in November.
I want to thank you for not saying anything at that moment, because I would not have understood. Now I can go out into the world to talk about this incredible love that I received from my Lord Jesus and about this incredible gift that my Mother gave me for her Anniversary!
Now I pray, fast and go to Mass every day.
For nothing in the world I would give up daily Communion after having neglected it for so many years!
I wish to make up for all the lost time."
🟧 (Medjugorje news)
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