Friday, September 11, 2009

A Revelation on Criticism of Priests

Dr. Gloria Polo is a dentist from Columbia, South America. In an interview with Radio Maria (Columbia) she relates the true story of how she and her nephew were struck by lightening. Her nephew died and she was burnt inside and out. She suffered cardiac arrest and came out of her body, experiencing initially what many others have lived to tell about--the tunnel, joy and peace, white light at the end of the tunnel, etc., but then she went back into her body and experienced the pain associated with her medical condition.
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The second time Dr. Polo came out of her body she saw demons coming for her. She was not able to return into her body as it lay in the operating room. She ran from the demons but found herself in tunnels heading downward and ending in pitch darkness. The worst torment was the absence of God.
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In the midst of her screams to be taken out of there because she was a good Catholic and was there by mistake, she heard a sweet voice. It was revealed to her all the ways in which she had not been a good Catholic. The one example that I want to draw attention to in this post is her attitude toward priests. She said,
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"...I would criticize priests constantly. You should have seen what a hard time I had on that one! Ever since we were little, I remember criticism against priests being present in my family. My dad used to say that those guys were womanizers and much better off than we were. And we would repeat that. And my Lord told me:
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"Who did you think you were making yourself God and judging my anointed? They are human, and the holiness of a priest is built by his community, that prays, loves, and supports him. When a priest sins his community is questioned not him."
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"The Lord showed me that each time I criticized priests, the demons would get attached to me. Besides that, at some point I accused a priest of homosexuality and the whole community found out. You can't imagine how much harm I did."
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In an inspiring example of the power of intercession, Dr. Polo was given a second chance at life because of the prayers of people unknown to her--especially the prayers of a poor peasant man and his promise of sacrifice for her if she was saved. About him our Lord told her:
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"That is love for your fellowman...You will go back, but you won't repeat this 1000 times. You will repeat it 1000 times 1000. And woe to those who don't change their ways despite having heard you, because they will be judged much more severely... because the worst deafness is that of a man who refuses to hear."
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Dr. Gloria Polo's bishop has given her permission to tell about her experience. At the time of this interview it had been more than ten years since our Lord gave her a second chance. (I don't know the year of the interview).
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Read another excerpt here.
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Read the complete interview here.
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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

2 comments:

NECatholic said...

What a wonderful blog you have! Thank you very much! You should check a blog written by a priest about priestly holiness. It is mostly written for priests, but it is good for others, too! The priest author writes it semi-anonymously and posts almost every day. The title is provocative, but the subject matter is really, really good!

http://clericalreform.blogspot.com

one grateful heart said...

Thank you for the kind words and for the tip about Father's blog.