Father Sudac
By Michael K. Jones (webmaster Medjugorje USA.)

Ordained June 29, 1998, Father Zlatko Sudac is quickly becoming known as a mystic. Suffering with the wounds of Christ this 30-year-old priest has also displayed other supernatural gifts such as bi-location, prophecy and healings.

A priest from the Diocese of Croatia, where the Medjugorje apparitions have been taking place, Father Sudac recalls having been to Medjugorje as a child. Receiving the stigmata (wounds of Christ), on May 1999, Father Sudac accounts the events: "When I speak about all of those events which took place then, I speak with a tremendous fear of the Lord because I myself experienced how it all surpasses my very self. When the people ask me, what I think of all of these happenings, I tell them that I do not know what is happening with me. It is the work of the Lord which I have not fully discovered. The word of God states that we will be known by our fruits. When the people attend my Mass or seminars they experience God. This experience changes their lives and brings them closer to God. If those in conflict reconcile with one another, throw out all their filth before God, and seek His face, then this becomes the fruit to which we must turn our attention. Don't put your eyes on me, but if you fix your eyes on Jesus then you will be blessed. Our focus is on the giver, not on the gift. I walk in Jesus' shoes and it is up to Him to do what He wants to do. God always comes to those people who are sincerely seeking His Face. My only desire is to serve Him to the best of my ability and if the individuals are healed, they are healed because God healed them, not I. I may be an instrument, but He is the healer. The Cross on my forehead is painful especially when I pray. On certain days such as first Fridays of the month it begins to bleed. Before the phenomenon of stigmatization, I had gifts of languages (speaking in tongues), the gift of healing, the gift of counsel and slowly the gift of knowledge came also. After the stigmatization I receive many other gifts. Some of these gifts overwhelmed me very much. And so I needed some time to get accustomed to what was happening. By this, I refer especially to the gift of levitation, bi-location, illumination and the knowledge of upcoming events - the knowledge about the near future and especially about future dangers".

The gifts of stigmata, healing, bi-location, prophecy, etc. are a curious happening, the likes of which we have heard about throughout History. There is no humanistic explanation to understand it. The famed Padre Pio was also known to have some of these gifts. It was said that the blood that flowed from Padre Pio's Christ like wounds smelled like roses.

In the Church approved apparition in Betania, Venezuela, November 21, 1987, visionary Maria Esperanza also has many of these gifts. Among stigmata, bi-location, prophecy and levitation, a most unusual phenomena reveals itself on the body of Maria Esperanza in the appearance of a rose which spontaneously bursts out from her chest.

St. Francis of Assisi, 1182, is the first known religious to suffer the wounds of Christ. The few special people listed here are just a few of the saintly people who have accepted the invitations of God throughout History. They are all without question as Father Sudac said himself, "Seeking the face of God", as should we all.

The above article is from www.medjugorjeusa.org/sudac.htm