Apparitions of Mary, Part I, Medjugorje
Why investigate Mary?
I want to look at the
phenomenon from all sides, pro and con, but first I want to emphasize that
these events, which have taken place since the sixteenth century, are Earth
shaking, global, and, for better or worse, paranormal/spiritual in nature. I do
not believe for a second that they are hoaxes. The apparitions are possibly cunning
deceptions with victims maybe, but not hoaxes. I do not intend to attack or
deprecate the Catholic Church in these posts. The Church has done its best to
examine these wonders and substantiate or dismiss them.
Furthermore, it’s very easy
for everyone on Earth who is not a Catholic to compartmentalize away these
apparitions and just pretend they never happened. Don’t read about them. Don’t
think about them. We do that with things that are beyond all possibility of our
comprehension. Understanding the Mary phenomenon, or at least noting its
influential and mysterious existence, is important. And I have to admit that
with all my study, I don’t have all the answers. I only have questions and
suspicions.
Many books have been
written about each of the apparitions. Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico swept thousands
of Native Mexican Indians into the Catholic Church and also rebuked the hubris
and vanity of the oppressive church officials from Europe. After reading a book
about the event, I stomped around for an hour telling God that if He didn’t
arrange that situation, He should have. Just a few years after the onset of the
Protestant Reformation (1517), the apparition at Guadalupe (1531) firmly
established Catholicism in the southern Americas. It was something that the
Earth was crying out for. It was a huge slap in the face to all that was going
wrong in the European culture and the Catholic Church. Did Your enemy one-up
You on that one, Lord? I queried.
And yet, glancing at wikipedia on the messages of Guadalupe, I can
see that Mary has offered Mexico so much grace and protection that the
worshipers hardly needed any member of the Christian Trinity. As usual in her
apparitions, Mary covered it all. All the devotion that the Natives might have
given to Jesus as Savior would now go to the sweet, beautiful Mother of all,
substantiated by miraculous wonders and communicated perfectly in the native
language rather than Spanish. Nicely done, Mary.
I also understand from my
reading and personal discussions, that aliens, especially reptilian aliens, and
demons specialize in morphing into beautiful women that can be touched and
kissed. But that's another blog post.
A rather ecumenical Mary
In this post, I want to
address the more recent apparition which began in the Croatian city of Medjugorje.
In 1981, Mary and the infant Jesus appeared on Podbrdo Hill (pod-berdo,
Apparition Hill) to several teenagers of the rural village. Six of them became
regular visionaries. Word spread quickly, changing the city’s destiny, and
later appearance, forever.
Mary’s messages were fairly
simple. Pray, pray, pray. Pray the rosary, pray at home with your kids, pray
for peace. Prayer and fasting can stop wars and suspend laws of nature. The way
to conversion is through prayer, fasting, suffering, and penance. Confess your
sins. Give yourselves wholly to God, to Jesus her son, and to her Immaculate
Heart and her message.
She seemed to understand
that a bloody, tragic war was on the horizon (the Balkan wars of the 1990s) and
seemed to have a plan to mitigate it or stop it altogether. But of course, her
nemesis Satan was always on the prowl and was trying to thwart her, so that
aspect of her plan was not successful. From the Balkans to the Soviet Union to
the Middle East, war was lurking at the gates and hasn’t ceased even today.
She had some things to say
that I found really surprising. (I use the word “she” with a grain of salt
because in the spirit realm, what you see is not always what you get.) She
verified that she cannot heal. Only God heals. Evangelicals would agree with
that. People should pray to Jesus rather than to her. (Then why the emphasis on
the Rosary? Why the basilica? Why the statues?) Hell is only for people who are
exceeding wicked and really don’t want anything to do with God. Their rejection
of Him is total. Most people go to Purgatory. Many are released from there on
All Saints Day or on Christmas. Some people in Purgatory who pray a lot are
allowed to communicate with the living.
To get to heaven, just live
a simple and good life. No one has to do great penance or have a great amount
of faith. And yet when a mother, the lapsed wife of an atheist communist, who
was blind and had seizures begged Mary in prayer to heal her 5 yr. old son, the
virgin surprised her by answering. She refused to heal the boy, saying that his
suffering will be the salvation and conversion of many people. But healing was
promised to Mira the mother if she would get to Medjugorje. And of course, she
was. She and her husband were both converted. (Message, 233-236)
Although Mary didn’t say
you have to be Catholic to be saved, she wanted every home to have one sacred
object. Homes should be blessed regularly. (Any Christian who studies UFOs or paranormal
activity could understand why ‘she’ might encourage that. So-called sacred
objects can be attractors for demonic entities or lost spirits.)
She commanded to respect
all faiths. You are not really a Christian if you make fun of other religions.
Not all are equal, but “people of all religions are accepted by her son.”
Basically, religions are similar. This is a crucial statement in a region where
Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslims kill each other on a regular
basis (See Medjugorje
the Message, Chapter 7). It's all so undogmatic and ecumenical,
I was frankly amazed. It's the total opposite of a contemporary apparition in Bayside, NY. It's also a thing of wonder how multi-lingual Mary is. She speaks every language on the planet fluently. Wow.
The end of the world as we know it?
She also seemed to be hinting
at a future apocalypse of some kind. She had 10 secrets to give to each of the
6 visionaries. The first ones were personal. The seventh was quickly
resolved through prayer and penance of the people. The last 3 were serious
global judgments that would occur close together. They could not be prayed
away, but could be lessened. Each visionary was to select a priest to share
these last secrets with when the time came for them to occur. I assume that the
purpose of the sharing is to verify that the event is God’s prophesied judgment
rather than just a natural occurrence. As the secrets come to pass, people of
the earth will have to convert quickly or perish. It sounds as if more will die
than be left alive. (Message, 43, 44)
Prophecies of doom always seem
to accompany paranormal encounters, whether it's a famous psychic, a person abducted
by aliens, or a false Christian seer. The interlocutor dare not dismiss the
assignment because the planet is at stake with millions of lives hanging in the
balance. The message is seldom taken seriously by the public, which is
fortunate, because the prophesied destruction doesn't come to pass. Mary told
the seers that there would be warnings before the chastisement so that sinners
and unbelievers have time to repent and get their hearts right. Those that have
repented will be saved. Those who do not repent after the third warning will
have little time to prepare.
"Father Vlasic gave a
little additional information about the secrets during a taped interview in
August, 1983: 'They (the seers) say that with the realization of the secrets
entrusted to them by Our Lady, life in the world will change. Afterwards, men
(mankind) will believe like in ancient times. What will change and how it will
change, we will not know until the secrets are revealed.'" (The Message,
44)
Medjugorje and today’s charismatic movement
With Marian apparitions,
there are always miracles. Silver rosary chains would turn to gold, sometimes
while in the pocket, sometimes while the rosary was being used, the sun would
dance and spin as it did in Fatima, people would be miraculously converted,
some were healed of dread conditions, the ethnically diverse and scrappy city
quit growing tobacco as a main crop, ethnic clashes diminished, people called
into Mary's service would sometimes hear a gentle, guiding voice that corrected
them like a mother corrects a child, and obstructive difficulties were dealt
with in miraculous ways.
Many of the priests
favoring the Medjugorje over the Bayside, NY apparitions are charismatic,
promoting the gifts mentioned in the Bible such as healing, prophecy, speaking
in tongues. They are full of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
etc. So the Medjugorje tree has produced lots of good spiritual fruit. Many
Catholics have been renewed in their faith and are living better lives.
Silver chains turning to
gold is not much different than some very convincing Evangelical claims that
gold crowns appear in the mouths of the needy. Gold dust appears on this
speaker, that one finds manna in his Bible, feathers fall from the ceiling, and
gems are found on the floor. And of course, there are exorcisms
and healings in the Pentecostal world. Everyone agrees that the
greatest miracle is when lives are changed. Forgiveness replaces hatred,
violence turns to peace. These things happen all across Christendom.
The nagging concerns
I would rather cut my hand
off than speak a word against something that God really approved of. I would
feel awful if I dismissed this whole affair as satanic, then got to heaven and
found out that in my narrow, doctrinaire viewpoint I had trashed an important
work of the Holy Spirit on Earth. After all, Mary made it clear that she cannot
just make her own plans. She cooperates with the will of God.
But there are questions.
Nagging concerns. Biblical passages to look at. Connections with Fatima. The
Part II post will deal with those concerns, but gently, because
the Medjugorje apparitions have born much good fruit and have not
belabored the people with a load of dogma and superstition. Mary did not exalt
herself to goddess status. In that sense, Medjugorje Mary stands unique in all
of the appearances that I know of.
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