An Anglican pastor "in Medjugorje I found Mary"
The lesson of an Anglican pastor: In Medjugorje he found Mary and with her the renewal of his church began. Encourage Catholics ... to the rosary: through Mary you will renew the world.
Although Medjugorje is recognized in the world as the spiritual center of Catholics who worship the Queen of Peace, in recent years it has been walking towards Medj. an increasing number of non-Catholic Christians to pray with confidence to Our Lady and to ask for her motherly intercession with God. Among others, the pastor of an Anglican church in London, Mr. Robert Llewelyn, who has stayed and prayed here recently: rather elderly, and yet still all freshness and spirit, of profound spirituality. From each of his words radiate peace and joy that are transfused in those who converse with him. Here is his testimony:
Q. Would you like to start by telling us something about yourself?
My birth is far away in time », in 1909, but my health, thank God, is good. As a young man I was excited about math and I studied in Cambridge, where I was born. For a while I worked in the schools of England, then for twenty-five years in India. I was very interested in the natural sciences, and together I was well attached to my Christian faith. I devoted myself privately to the study of Anglican theology and in 1938 I was ordained a pastor. For 13 years I have been chaplain of the sanctuary of Santa Giuliana.
When I hear about the devastation of churches, other places of prayer and 'ethnic cleansing', the long decades and centuries of clashes between Anglicans and Catholics come to mind. Even then a large number of Catholic churches and convents were torn down, many people were killed in our 'ethnic cleansing'. One cannot understand how much hatred there was against the Catholic Church: Catholic priests were fearfully persecuted, but particularly violent was the hatred and attack on the Madonna, the Mother of Jesus. It also happened that a statue of the Virgin was linked to the tail of a horse, dragged through the streets until it fell apart. Therefore you still hate in the meetings and in the inter-confessional dialogue there is great difficulty when the speech concerns the Madonna.
Q. How many Anglicans are attending religious services?
R. We Anglicans are 40 million. Attendance at the church is very weak. It is certain that we must undertake something for people to return to God: everyone needs him.
Q. How much could be achieved?
R. It is now the third time that I come to Medjugorje, even though I am now 83 years old. Medjugorje is simply a place of prayer for me; here, for example, I can pray much better than in London.
My experience tells me that we Anglicans must bring Mary back to our spiritual environment, giving her the place that suits her in our Church and in our piety. She is our Mother, and we are truly impoverished by not allowing her to be with us. And it seems to me that precisely from this should begin our spiritual renewal. In this sense I started a prayer community that says the rosary with me. This group is one of the few, perhaps the first in our Church, very close to Catholic heritage and prayer. I speak to Mary about my faithful, and I recommend them to pray to her.
What Our Lady says here in Medjugorje is what Jesus says, and what Jesus says is the will of the Father, Here, in this land of yours, Mary is the inspiration itself: in the church there is an authentic Christian atmosphere; many of your families radiate true devotion to Mary; the visionaries spread joy, peace and simplicity.
In the renewal of my community, therefore, I introduce new Marian components of Christian piety, and people make them their own. At the beginning of this change is my new filial relationship with Mother Mary, and it started right in Medjugorje. I live in the clear hope that if this has happened with me, it can also happen with others: renewal is necessary for everyone.
D. Do you still want to tell us something about the meaning of the rosary for you?
A. The crown is a meditation prayer; it brings us closer to Jesus. And since Mary is at the beginning and at the end of the crown, what else could happen to me if not to love Mary, and to convince me that we Anglicans too must bring her back to our life of prayer? She is our mother. Without you we are poor orphans.
Thanks to my love for the rosary, I had the honor in meetings with Catholics to exhort them to this prayer, because I know that many of your faithful have forgotten it or recite it superficially.
Q. Would you like to draw our attention to some of your particular spiritual thoughts?
R. Allow Mary to educate you. The world looks at you, don't get tired! Through Mary you will renew the world and also help us Anglicans to welcome you. We will be brothers. Since I met you, I have prayed for all of you, for the friars, for the visionaries, for the whole parish. Remain spiritually one, as Mary wishes. Only in this way will you be able to present His face brightly to the world, and in this way show the way to God. Pray also for us, because in the end we also know how to overcome obstacles and why we know how to recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters in charity as soon as possible. God, through the intercession of Mary, protect you and look at you in these difficult times. May he, through the intercession of the Queen of Peace, give you peace.
Source: Echo of Medjugorje (reduction from "Nasa Ognjista" - December '92, translation by D. Remigio Carletti)