The Medjugorje Washing Machine
(c)Mary TV 2018 – Youth Festival April 29, 2019 St. Catherine of Sienna Dear Family of Mary! We have just lived through the holiest part of our Church Year!! The Paschal Mystery!! And we have so much to ponder. Thanks be to God!! I want to share with you a beautiful homily that was give on April 27, 2019 at English Mass in Medjugorje. It is by Fr. John Egan! Father really describes well what it is like to be on pilgrimage in Medjugorje. I agree entirely! He captures the experience very accurately and humorously! But this is how Our Lady takes care of us in Medjugorje. Enjoy!! Fr. John Egan, Saturday, April 27, 2019 I was just thinking there, coming to Medjugorje only last Monday…I felt I was like a broken-down bike. You know when after maybe a year of being on the bike, and it has maybe been in the shed over the winter, and it is all rusty and maybe the chain is a bit broken and the air has gone out of the tires, maybe the handle bars have gone loose, and the brakes are worn out, it’s just worn out really, and not fit for much!! And I think that was my experience coming to Medjugorje. I knew I was very run down! And worn out! And I knew deep down that I needed to come here. I needed someone who could do a work in me. Someone who would be qualified to fix the parts, tighten up the wires, tighten the handle bar, put new pads on the breaks, maybe fix the chain, maybe get a new chain all together, and put some clean oil on it, and there I am, ready to go again. And I believe this very much so is our Medjugorje experience. The world is difficult, it’s full of hills and valleys and we meet the odd stone in the road, and we get damaged. We feel the effects of it. We are hurt. We may have even fallen off our bikes, and we are bruised and battered. I am thinking of the referendum in Ireland, that we all even from here, suffered from all of that. It is so important that we come here to the Blessed Mother, who really in truth knows everything about us. I was just thinking, our other priest, Fr. Jim, spoke about how Our Lady and Jesus knew each other so well that even at the moment when they met on the road to Calvary, the encounter of their eyes as Jesus carried His Cross, in that moment of suffering there was a complete unity between them, because Mary completely understood her Son. She was immaculate, she could see. That is why at the Wedding at Cana, she knew what was needed. She is always aware of our need. That is why she could say, “They have no wine.” I believe that when we come here, Our Lady knows what is lacking in our lives. And she obediently turns always to her Son and says, “Fr. John, he has no wine. You need to do your miracle in him in these days.” And that has exactly been my experience as I have immersed myself as best I can in the program of what Medjugorje is. I had an image which I shared last year, and it came to me very strongly again last night. You see, I had no homily and I was running out of time. We climbed the Hill yesterday, so my brain was not working. Literally! And all I wanted was Hawaiian Pizza. And I went to sleep, and I said, “Lord you will just have to work it out.” So, at 4 o’clock in the morning I woke up. And I was just thinking of a washing machine. And it came to me that it is like the “Medjugorje washing machine.” When you come here you just open the door and you are just tossed in (to the washing machine). And you are filthy dirty. You have all the mess and the smells and everything inside you, and there is a real work to be done. But it’s not so much that I will do the work, it is rather that I am surrendering myself to a process. It’s the washing machine. And it has all its cycles and different steps. I was thinking of Fr. Leon who says, “At 10 o’clock we will have English Mass, at 11 o’clock I will bless all the medals and holy water. Then I will give a talk. Then the Rosary begins at 5 o’clock with confessions – the priests – available…and at 6 o’clock Holy Mass, 7 o’clock – adoration. There are cycles. Then tomorrow we get up and climb the hills, we pray our Rosaries. There are so many stages of the program. And we have no control over it. It’s like suddenly the motor in the machine starts to turn, and it spins faster and faster, and the next thing all the water comes in!! It is quite overwhelming isn’t it! Even the first few days here can be disorienting. We don’t know what’s going on, especially the first time. Because we are struggling. We can’t understand all of this. And we find that maybe we get in touch with the dirty part of us. The unclean parts of us in which we may struggle and have avoided to face. But we can’t avoid it here. It just shows itself. And I think the water in the washing machine is like the grace of Medjugorje. It’s the cleansing grace. But the real cleaning is that little detergent that you throw in with the mess. It’s the detergent isn’t it, that little ball of stuff. And I think that the discovery of the dirtiness in us is that encounter with Christ. He is the cleaner, He is the cleaner/ healer/ washer/ purifier. He does it all. And He does it really in a kind of a Sacramental form. Through the Eucharist primarily, as we open the Scriptures, as we break the bread. Unknown to ourselves there is a cleansing, healing, delivering, freeing work that is happening unconsciously, as we open up slowly ourselves to the cleansing process. Its hard work isn’t it!! It just goes on day after day, and it’s hard to keep up with it all. Now and again the cycle stops. Between the cyclles the motor has to stop and cool down a bit, and so the engine slows, and you get a breather. There is your Adoration moment, where you just sit back from everything, from the mountains and praying, and you just reflect, you just contemplate the process. I think that is where the real work of healing happens, where you encounter that love, and you are relaxed. And you just rest in the presence of God. It is the most wonderful place to be. For me it has always been after the evening Mass, during the healing prayers and the final Rosary. But then all of a sudden, the next cycle comes, and it speeds up again and off you go again. And you can’t but go with it, so you are climbing the hills and off you go!! No it is not easy, but I can firmly say, my friends, that after these seven days, eventually after the big final spin, the drum slows down, and the door opens and you kind of just flop out! And you are kind of physically wrecked, going “What happened there???” And yet you are so white, you are so clean, you are so fresh, with a fragrance of beauty and purity and freedom and joy that you know had nothing really to do with you but was something given to you. And that is the gift that the Lord wants for each one of us. You know I have spent the week with many, many families. We have come together. And there are so many kids everywhere! And I see that freedom in the way they play and their spontaneity and their creativity and their love and their openness to everything in playfulness. And I really believe that is what God is trying to turn me in to. So, I can have that freedom and playfulness. I probably can’t play soccer with them, but I can just be myself. Be the beautiful thing that God wants me to be, and Our Lady only desires for me. It is called holiness. That is what it is all about. It is our mission. We are that mission. Let it be so in these days. Amen To view the Mass, follow this link:https://marytv.tv/english-mass-in-medjugorje/ Our Lady once said to us: March 18, 2004 “Dear children! Also today, watching you with a heart full of love, I desire to tell you that what you persistently seek, what you long for, my little children, is before you. It is sufficient that, in a cleaned heart, you place my Son in the first place, and then you will be able to see. Listen to me and permit me to lead you to this in a motherly way.” Thank you, Fr. Egan for sharing from your heart about what it is like to be in Our Lady’s hands for a week!! I encourage any of you who have not traveled to Medjugorje yet, please try to come. You will not regret it and you will be changed forever! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan © Mary TV 2019