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Rev. Robert Ketcham I’ll be leaving in a few hours for Medugorje. I’ve been there before; I was first invited in 2002, the year I entered the Minor Seminary. A gentleman by the name of Jack Radgowski had heard the vocation story of Father Charles Mangano – a story that included a grace-filled experience in Medugorje – and has since offered to send any young men that may be considering the priesthood to Medugorje as well, free of charge.  The trip is sometimes referred to as a Vocation Pilgrimage, although Medugorje is not officially a place of pilgrimage, nor is the local parish of Saint James, in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, considered a shrine. It is not. It is a local parish, belonging to the Franciscans of Herzegovina, within the bishopric of Bishop Ratko Peric.
That being said, the experience of visiting the parish of Saint James with this kind of group has been for me, and for so many of the friends that I have made by way of it, a lasting experience of grace that continues to burgeon over the years. And now, I’m going back, thanks again to the generosity of Jack who continues to annually commend up to 30 young men to the grace of this trip. Admittedly, there has been one outstanding stipulation concerning my own having been able to go over the years: Jack asks me to bring my guitar! “Happily”, I always respond, “happily”. This year, however, I will return for the first time as a priest and I’m sure it will be very different in some ways. I am asking Our Lord and Our Lady for a strong, unaffected faith, but also for the grace of discernment and prudence. My heart is the same, but my responsibilities are different now.
Now, to be clear, I have always loved Our Lady. My mother, a little Italian girl from OLPH in Lindenhurst, prayed every day to Mary for a good Catholic husband. Then, she met my father, a German Methodist! She prayed harder, I’m sure, because shortly before they married, he converted saying, “Something was missing”. Indeed. They moved to East Moriches and my home parish of Saint John the Evangelist, named in honor of the beloved disciple who “took Mary into his home”, and so my parents did as well. I’m not sure I can remember even one midweek evening without hearing the Rosary group praying in the living room. And there, in the midst of the ladies, was my father’s voice along with some other good men from the parish. After college, I prayed the consecration of Saint Louis de Montfort with some friends shortly before entering The Seminary of the Immaculate Conception. I was then sent on pastoral year to the parish of Saint Bernard, that great monastic disciple of Our Lady who wrote The Memorare, a prayer prayed in my home parish after every weekday Mass. Then, after being officially called to Holy Orders and ordained a transitional deacon, I was sent to Our Lady of Victory. And, with all of the subtly of a child unable to hide his heart, I openly rejoice to find myself, having been ordained a priest, sent here at Holy Name of Mary! So, before I leave for Medugorje, allow me to share a word on one particular quality of Our Lady’s intercession. It is that quality upon which I have come to depend, and which has taught my heart to revere her maternity. I am speaking of the union of her heart with the heart of her son, Jesus, and how it enables her to bring us to him when we lose him or simply feel unable to find him on our own. Recall the scene in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ: Jesus has been arrested and tried in the Temple, while those closest to him are seeking the place to which he has been taken and in which he is being detained.
Mary, searching with her immaculate heart, senses his presence. She kneels down, pressing her heart to the ground as the camera pans down slowly through the cross-section of the floor to reveal that she is directly above him. She knows he is there. And Jesus knows that Mary is there. You may remember that as the camera is panning Jesus lifts his head toward Mary just before resting it again on his own arms, the arms he took from Mary. They are her arms, and they are holding him even now. This scene, while it is not Scriptural, is still a notable portrayal of Mary’s intercession for us. When we do not see Jesus with our eyes, and when we are struggling to find him with our hearts, it helps to know that Mary does see him, Mary can find him, and Mary will lead us to him. She knows where he is, and he knows where she is. We, like Saint Joseph, are allowed the honor of witnessing the encounter of these two hearts in their mysterious and inseparable union. However, like Saint Joseph, we remain silent in the face of this love affair. And with Mary, we ponder its meaning in our hearts. in Jesus and Mary,
Father Robert 
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