"Jesus asks you
to go to Bayside"
The Testimonial of Father Robert
Skurla
|
This most remarkable sermon on the Bayside Apparitions, delivered at a Holy Hour on Palm Sunday, April 4, 1982 in St. Peter's Cathedral, Scranton, Pennsylvania by Father Robert Skurla, an Eastern rite priest serving at the time in the area, forced some mainstream U.S. Catholic newspapers to take notice of Bayside. An article in the Our Sunday Visitor characterized Fr. Skurla "as a priest of certain stature . . . who later became the chaplain and custodian of the Blue Army Chapel in Fatima, Portugal, the chapel which housed the world famous icon of Our Lady of Kazan, national Patroness of Russia. The added authority of his position, in fact, gave his words an impact that carried them far beyond the reach of that diocese." |
Father Skurla's Testimonial
On this Palm Sunday, let us think about the Sixth Station of the Cross,
the Way of the Cross, where Our Lord meets Veronica. According to the text
of St. Alphonsus, it says in our typical books: "Consider now the holy
woman, Veronica, seeing Jesus so afflicted and His face bathed in sweat
and blood, presented Him with a towel with which she wiped His adorable
face, leaving on it the impression of His Holy Countenance." My friends,
let us place ourselves mentally at this scene. Most of the crowd has been
in a wild frenzy, and most of them are reacting against Jesus. Those people
who are out to get Him, and those people who normally follow the crowd,
we have them even today. Together they proceed with the greatest sacrilege
of all time. Oh, but wait a minute; wait a minute! Not everyone is against
Jesus. We can see one brave soul--someone who dared to be different --who
wipes His afflicted face with a towel. Because of this charitable act, she
will be in the Heart of Jesus for all eternity.
Would you believe, children and grownups, would you
believe that in the year 1982, Jesus is sentenced to be crucified again--this
time through His Mystical Body, the Church--my friends, of which Church
you and I are members of. But cancer(you know what cancer is; we hear the
word so much)--cancer has set into the Church through Satan, who has entered
the Church. Satan has entered the Church! Through the instrumentality of
modernism, secular humanism and communism, the devil has influenced many
of the changes in our One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Now here we are at the Sixth Station once again. Here
comes Jesus! Here comes Jesus down that road carrying that cross once more,
with His face bathed in sweat and blood. In the actual events portrayed
in the Gospels, at the sixth Station, where we saw Veronica express her
innermost feelings, we must keep in mind that the religion of that day,
for Veronica, was the Jewish religion, to which Veronica belonged. She belonged
to that religion. Veronica's church leaders, the priests and the high priests,
had already decided and judged to crucify Jesus; and by helping Jesus, and
by wiping His face with a towel, she had to defy what her priests were doing.
Most of us, or too many of us, follow the leader. You and I both, we have been correctly trained--to a point, correctly trained to obey our priests and bishops. And we should, and definitely we should. The Blessed Mother has been begging, with tears in her eyes, for you people to pray for us priests and bishops, and the cardinals. It's because we have failed that they have so much difficulty. Today, we have been caught up in the modes of modernism, with the mainstream of Catholics going along with the changes. As I talk to Catholics like yourselves, I find that, like myself, they are very confused. Is there anywhere we can turn to with some kind of certainty to find the answers to today's dilemma?
Fr. Robert Skurla officiating at the prayer service at the burial of
the seer Veronica Lueken, August 1995.
Some of the changes are causing serious damage to the
Catholic Church. In the name of progress, bishops and priests and laymen
go along with changes which are harmful to Jesus Christ's Mystical Body,
the Church. In these times, is there anyone among us in our area, in this
country, the good old U.S.A.--is there anyone among us brave enough to speak
out? One of your priests should be here telling you about this, but I'm
afraid they might be afraid to get a smaller parish. And am I not a subject
of your bishop. The Blessed Mother, I feel, has urged, not only asked me,
to give this message to you.
If Veronica of the Gospels had not wiped the face of
Jesus with the towel, He would have been crucified anyway, because Jesus
was destined by Divine will to be so crucified for our sins--yours and mine.
But Veronica changed her own destiny by her free will. God doesn't interfere
with free will. She changed her own destiny, not Jesus'. And by her little
act of kindness by stepping out, being different from the crowd . . . she
stepped out from the crowd and went over and wiped the face of Jesus. And
the Mystical Body, who is our Lord, He needs people like you to come out
of the crowd and wipe His face. The beautiful act of love on the part of
Veronica! And no matter what you and I will do now in these days, 1982,
the damage in the Church, which is permitted by God and foretold in the
Bible, will happen. But you and I, we can change our own destiny by becoming
another Veronica.
It must be very difficult for you lay people, because
I have been a priest over twenty-five years and many things have happened
[recently] that threaten what I was taught about the Church, and what I
believed in my heart about the Church to be the truth about it. And I, too,
like you, look around and ask myself: "I wonder what Jesus and Mary
are thinking about all of these changes?"
Well, as fate would have it, Divine Providence has supplied
us with solutions. These solutions come from a very concerned Jesus and
Mary. But, remember, the devil would do anything to keep this information
from you. History has recognized another Veronica --Veronica Lueken, a simple
housewife like many of you, to whom Jesus and Mary have appeared for over
ten years. For the most part, the devil has kept this information from most
of us. Ah, but wouldn't the devil like to prevent me from going on, and
keep my mouth shut!
Jesus and Mary have appeared to Veronica on the evening
of all major feasts of the Catholic Church. Going against the popular opinion
of Church leaders and the mainstream, Veronica of Long Island has been willing
to accept all the crosses involved in being the voice-box, the transmitter
of the messages from Jesus and Mary to Her children. Now, if there are divine
chastisements and punishments coming to the earth and the people in it,
do you think that Jesus and Mary would sit back and let these things happen
without warning us?
I myself--and I speak for myself and no one else--I
myself have studied these messages for almost ten years, and I found in
them the peace and the light and the information that a twentieth century
Catholic needs in these troubled times. In these most difficult times, Jesus
and Our Heavenly Mother have warned us of the days ahead. She is giving
us all the information that we need to help us pull through the coming chastisement--which
has already been sanctioned by the Heavenly Father, and is on its way.
So I think, children, there is nothing to be giggling
and laughing about. These things are serious, and they should be looked
into. Our Mother Mary has spoken out on this issue. And you say: "Why
Father? Why are these things going to happen to young people and old people?
What did we do wrong?". Mainly, without going into a long discourse,
abortions! The terrible crime of abortion!
Our Mother Mary has spoken out on this issue in a message
of December 28, 1974. She appeared to Veronica and showed her a scene where
babies were dumped in the garbage. There was a mixture of little tiny heads
and little tiny arms and little tiny legs; and Mary said: "Yes. My
child, murder; this is not a pretty sight! All who even share in a slight
measure of responsibility for the murder of the unborn shall send themselves
into the abyss. Repent now for your murders. "
For Her apparitions in the Unlted States at Bayside,
Our Lady wants to be known as Our Lady of the Roses, Mary, Help of Mothers.
And you, mothers, know that there's no better title for American mothers:
Our Lady of the Roses, Mary, Help of Mothers. Mary and Jesus have spoken
out on the very issues that seem to confuse most of us: Abortion is murder.
Men will not dress as women, and women will not dress as men. Women should
not wear slacks or jeans. You should not laugh in Church. Jesus has said
that no woman will enter the ministry and will not minister in any way.
Now I couldn't say that, and you couldn't say it, but Jesus said it; and
He had a right to say it. On homosexuality, He said: "All who take
part in it or condone it shall be destroyed." Rock music has been consecrated
to Satan.
Padre Pio--my very good friend, whom I pray to all the
time--Padre Pio appeared on April 5, 1975 at Bayside, New York, and said:
"The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being celebrated in a manner that
is not approved and pleasing to Almighty God." Not that it's not valid,
but it is not pleasing to Almighty God. Kneel for Communion. We say in the
Scriptures: "At the Name of Jesus every knee should bend," then
why do we stand for Holy Communion, when we have Jesus in person? Do not
accept Holy Communion in the hand! Do not lose faith in the Mass. However,
whether your priest is a saint or whether your priest is a sinner, Jesus
will come to you. The Mass is valid. Why? Because Jesus says it is! But,
even more important than all these things, and the reason why I'm talking
the way I am, is that Mary says: People, Pray the Rosary! Pray the Rosary!
The hand of the Blessed Mother--She's having a difficult time holding the
hand of God back: "My Son's hand has now been withdrawn, and the tribulation
is coming upon mankind." She can't stop it anymore.
And Jesus has also said: "My Mother has set Herself
to hold off a just chastisement upon mankind for many years, but very few
listened to Her." And Jesus says: "Your time has run out. Her
warnings have gone by unaccepted, unnoticed and rejected, even by My clergy.
Do not speculate on dates. If you are not ready now you'll never be. The
tribulation is at hand. My voice cries out to you all now to be prepared."
Prayer now is the only means, with actions, for saving
souls in our country, the U.S.A., and your fellow citizens where Jesus is
saying: "Prayer is the only means to save souls in your country and
your fellow citizens, for destruction is about to come upon you. Pray, My
children. for strength. It will take great courage to remain in the Catholic
Church in the days ahead, but your courage shall be the cross and the knowledge
of the truth. Remember, do not become a worshipper of the creature. but
of the Creator; for the creature is the world and the world is Satan. The
Creator is your God, and His world is the Kingdom of Paradise. This choice
will be yours." Each and everyone of us--man, woman or child--will
have to make his decision. No man shall be lost unless he is lost of his
own free will.
Jesus said: "My children, you will read and reread
the messages from Heaven given through My Mother to you. Read them well.
You will receive great knowledge, and you will be able to know the day,
the hour of the tribulation." The end of my quote for Jesus.
People today are confused. People need somewhere to
turn. Our leaders have been led astray, and here we are obliged to obey
them; but not when what our leaders ask contradicts what God has said. We
should rather fear God and not man. God has given us another Veronica, but
the devil stepped in and caused enormous confusion about the measages; and,
as of yet the Church has not approved the apparitions that I'm talking about.
I don't ask you to go there, but Jesus has asked you to go in the messages.
I'm asking you to read the messages and pray over them.
All my confusion as a priest, a Catholic priest, and
all my doubts were eliminated when I read the instructions of Jesus and
Mary. Fatima has been called a reaffirmation of the Gospels. I say that
the messages of Jesus and Mary on Long Island do not, nor could they ever
contradict what is contained in the Gospels. The messages are in perfect
harmony with all the things that I believe in and was taught about the Catholic
Church.
I was in communion with your priests all along, and
we always agreed on everything. I went to be a priest twenty-five years
ago because I was impressed with the beauties of the Catholic Church; but
Satan has entered into the Church and changed it so much [that] it has lost
much of its beauty. It is no longer attracting our young men into the priesthood.
And If I was living [as a youngster] today, I doubt if I would go. It's
not the same Church.
The messages of Bayside restored my confidence in the
Church once more, and once again I am proud to be . . . because things haven't
that much changed; we're trying to change, but Christ never changes.
The messages of Bayside restored my confidence in the
Catholic Church once more. I will stake my reputation, if that means anything,
on the doctrine contained in the mesaages. The doctrine is the same as I
was trained in over the years.
I want to go on record as personally accepting the messages
until proven otherwise by our good, kind, loving Holy Father. But to accept
the messages today, on Palm Sunday 1982, it requires an exceptional amount
of grace, similar to the amount of grace that it took in courage for Veronica
to step out of the crowd and wipe the face of Jesus. I don't expect everybody
to have that kind of grace, but I know that when the Warning comes, more
people will believe In these things. Similar to that given to Veronica in
the Gospels, you have to be strong in the faith, deep in your convictions,
and brave.
So I say, yes, we're told traditionally to meditate
on the Passion as portrayed by the four Evangelists. Yes, read the Passion;
but I ask you with all the love in my heart, read the messages. And if you
read messages that purport to be messages from Jesus and Mary, don't you
have a right to know what They are saying, especially when They are saying
very serious things about what's coming?
May the Blessed Mother and Our Lord inspire you to have
a very good Holy Week. And don't just sit passively by, but place yourselves
on the road to Calvary, right next to Jesus and say: "Jesus, what can
I do in 1982 to help?" Meditate on the Passion of Our Lord. The Blessed
Mother says we don't meditate on the Passion enough.
Stick with your Church, your pastor and your priest,
because the Blessed Mother is telling you in these messages:"Stay with
your Church." Don't give up. You may disagree with the priest, or one
of the priests, if you have more; but She says that when the priest makes
the Consecration, Our Lord will not hold that against you: that bread and
wine will change into the Body and Blood of Jesus, and Our Lord will come
to you. And you need that strength you will get from the Holy Eucharist.
So, pray for your bishops, cardinals and priests--really
pray! And may Our Blessed Lord be with all of us, and may God bless us;
and the Blessed Mother bless us that we have the grace to do God's will
in this life, and that we may be found worthy of His Heavenly Kingdom.