J.M.J.
Father Gruner’s stamina was a frequent topic of discussion among Fatima Center staff, especially among those who travelled with him.
Though he was older than most of the staff, his endurance was absolutely incredible. On one of our apostolate-led pilgrimages to Italy in 2002, the bus that was carrying us up a mountain toward a monastery at the top of the hill, was unable to climb to the top. So we had to walk a considerable distance.
It was a steep uphill climb and there was Father, not only at the head of the group, but quite a bit further ahead of anyone else.
While the pilgrims were commenting on how fast he was able to walk up that hill without slowing down or stopping, I can remember thinking how amazing it was to see this 60-year-old priest walking at a fast pace uphill seemingly without effort.
The source of my amazement wasn’t just because of his age, but also because of awareness that the requirements of his priestly life, and the long hours spent running the apostolate, plus writing and speaking on the Fatima Message – meant there was no time in his schedule for activities that would bolster his physical fitness. In fact, quite the opposite, his lifestyle was quite sedentary.
Yet there he was running ahead of a group of pilgrims of all ages, some of them quite young by comparison, and no one seemingly able to keep up with him.
At Rosary Rallies – which up until about 2012 were held in various locations throughout North America five or more times a year – his stamina was once again quite noticeable, at least to the staff traveling with him.
Though not part of the Rosary Rally, Father still had to offer daily Mass, which was often planned for about 2-3 hours before the advertised start of the rally. But people would call ahead and ask if Father was having Mass and many would come early (rallies were often on a Sunday) to attend Mass before the rally.
Once Father entered the room where both the Mass and then the rally were scheduled – he was virtually held captive for the rest of the day. At a Sunday rally, Father would begin preparing for Mass around 10:30 a.m. (the rally was to start at 1:00). Mass with sermon and his routine public prayers before leaving the altar after Mass, took about ninety minutes.
As soon as he removed his vestments, many of those who came to the rally approached him in order to meet him and ask questions, discuss problems, ask for special blessings, etc. Father was literally hemmed in and even if he had wanted to leave the conference hall, he would have had difficulty doing so. The attendees lined up to speak with him.
He met and spoke with all who came up to him, until it was time to start the rally. The rally was scheduled for four hours and included praying the Rosary, singing the Fatima Ave, speaking on the Message of Fatima, enrolling people in the Brown Scapular, and a question and answer session.
Even at the two 10-minute breaks, Father had no reprieve – people lined up to speak with him. The rally never ended at the scheduled time of 5:00. People often stayed waiting to discuss personal things with him and ask for advice.
The bottom line – Father was in that room from the time he arrived in the morning to vest for Mass at about 10:30 until sometimes as late as 9:00 in the evening – never having left the conference hall at all for all those hours, not having eaten anything all day, etc.
And he never complained. He seemed to enjoy the whole event, especially meeting supporters and others and being able to help them with their concerns and answer their questions. It was like a substitute for the parish he never had because of the work Heaven gave him of spreading the Fatima Message.
Despite the incredibly long day without a break, he seemed to thrive on it, while we pathetic staff members stood around giving him pleading looks – having long since packed up all our supplies and equipment – because we were hungry and wanted to find some place to get dinner.
But Father’s considerable stamina wasn’t apparent just when traveling. As Sister Frances used to say, “I came to help this young priest, just for a short while, with his work, and I’ve been running ever since just trying to keep up with him.” (Her “short while” ended up being more than 30 years.)
Father was a powerhouse in the office. He came to the office at different hours of the day – having worked or prayed late into the night – or sometimes choosing to work at home before coming to the office.
But we didn’t need to see him to know when he arrived in the office building. The entire atmosphere changed and became charged with the energy he projected.
His plans and ideas for ways to reach out to souls around the world with Our Lady’s Message, and ways to get the Pope to release the Third Secret and heed Our Lady’s request for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart were so numerous, as was the amount of work required to accomplish these goals, that in meetings his speech couldn’t keep up with the extensive content and ideas in his brain. He would move from discussing one project to the next project without completing sentences.
Those of us who worked closely with him for years eventually learned to fill in the blanks. We didn’t need him to complete his sentences; we understood what he wanted and what he was saying.
But to the occasional visitor who offered to help and was invited to attend a meeting, the puzzlement on their faces was clear. They didn’t understand why we weren’t asking Father for clarification and how we knew what he expected because of the words that weren’t said.
Yes, keeping up with Father Gruner (RIP) was a challenge – but one which we very much miss!