Pilgrim peace manifested at Medjugorje

by Peter Finney Jr.

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Among the 1 million people who annually travel to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most go with no expectation of a physical healing or witnessing a supernatural experience that can’t be explained.

Most pilgrims go for inner peace, manifested by the silence that shrouds Apparition Hill several evenings each week as thousands fall to their knees in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

It was in Medjugorje where in 1981 six local children reported seeing visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and since then, there have been numerous accounts by faithful Catholics of seeing the sun seem to spin or change colors or of other inexplicable experiences.

Sissy Templet, the wife of Deacon Eugene Templet at St. John of the Cross Parish in Lacombe, said she was drawn to Medjugorje last month with three dozen of her fellow parishioners by a desire, ignited by the rousing spiritual insights of the late Baton Rouge priest, Father Mark Beard, to go deeper into the meaning of redemptive suffering.

For more than 30 years, Templet, 65, has suffered from the effects of colon cancer, a disease with a genetic component that has affected several members of her immediate family.
Since 1990, Templet has had five surgeries. The most debilitating side effect, which occurs three or four times a year, is intense abdominal pain that begins without warning and lasts unabated for three days to a week.

“I’m a five-time colon cancer survivor, and I’m doing absolutely wonderfully, but it’s left me with episodes where my intestines just stop working,” Templet said. “And then, it’s just excruciating pain. I literally can’t walk. I can’t put one foot in front of the other.”

Whenever Templet used to get a major flare-up, she would have to be taken to the hospital for pain medication and IV fluids to keep her from dehydrating.

“That’s the only thing they can do for me – except for emergency surgery – which I won’t let them do anymore,” Templet said.

When the St. John of the Cross pilgrims reached Medjugorje last month, out of nowhere, Templet’s body went into attack mode.

“I had one of my blockages, and I was in excruciating pain,” she said. “My husband was on the phone to try to extend the trip because he knew I wasn’t going to be able to do anything (for a few days). It was just awful.”

While Templet stayed in her bed “eating” her pain pills, the pilgrims went to Mass. Her only prayer was that since she had traveled thousands of miles to Medjugorje, that she would be able to climb Apparition Hill.

“I said, ‘Dear Jesus, please just let me be able to do this,’ and, I’m telling you, the pain left and I was perfectly fine,” Templet said. “This never happens. Never, ever, does it happen. I mean, never. It’s a continuous thing. And, I climbed that mountain with no problem.”

Templet found out later that Lynn Suprean, the wife of Deacon Ricky Suprean, had introduced herself after Mass to the priest who had just finished the liturgy.

“She asked him, ‘Would you pray over me for my friend Sissy?’” Templet said, “And this priest said, ‘I’ve already prayed for Sissy this morning.’ He didn’t know me from Adam. We’ve never met. Lynn and Ricky were third in line to get prayed over, and the other two people said they did not ask the priest to pray for me. That’s the second miracle.”

On the final day of the trip, the pilgrims had to split into two buses for the drive to the airport. They stopped at a passport checkpoint, staying on the bus while the tour director took their passports to the security desk.

The pilgrims were saying the rosary.

“We were on the fifth decade, and I looked out at the sun, and the sun was spinning like a million miles an hour,” Templet said. “The edges of it were turning colors – from pink to blue to turquoise, And, I’m telling myself, ‘Wait, we’re in the middle of the rosary. I can’t say anything.’ But then I thought, if this stops before I tell my husband, he might be very angry with me!’ I kind of gave him a nudge, and I said, ‘Look at the sun.’”

Then, Deacon Templet turned to Deacon Suprean, who was sitting right behind him.

“Ricky, look at the sun!” Deacon Templet said.

Deacon Suprean is known for letting the Holy Spirit flow from his heart.

“He was like, ‘God! Oh, thank you, Jesus!” Templet said.

Now, all the passengers rushed to the side of the bus to look through the window.
“They were looking out and they were all seeing it,” Templet said. “Everyone is saying what they’re seeing, and everyone is seeing something different. They were saying they were seeing the Eucharist in it, they were seeing the cross, they were seeing the monstrance. I was looking at the windows to see if there was something different with the windows. There was nothing.”

Now that she is back home, Templet is feeling fine.

“I’m not going to tell you that I had a healing and that I’m never going to get this again,” she said. “But, I’m hoping this was a healing.”

Templet says she will continue to use her suffering as an offering for the “Holy Souls” in purgatory.

“You’re praying because you’re in so much pain, but I’m not praying for the pain to go away,” Templet said. “I’m praying for the pain to help – wherever it needs to help.”

Templet already is making plans to return to Medjugorje. About 20 parishioners have signed up to go on a pilgrimage next April. She advises people not to be chasing miracles or apparitions of the Blessed Mother.

“I don’t think it’s anything about ‘seeing’ anything,” Templet said. “I didn’t have to see anything. It’s about the peace. It’s about when you’re there, you know she’s there. I’m just asking God to take care of me. I put myself in God’s hands. His will be done. I don’t pray for a longer life. I know he’s not finished with me yet. He’s working on me, and, believe me, I need a lot of work.”

[email protected]