Medjugorje - true or false

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn

The final result of the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will certainly be advantageous, says Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna who openly expresses his conviction that the Virgin Mary does appear in Medjugorje.


Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna not only believes that the appartions in Medjugorje are real. He also believes that the final conclusions of the Vatican Commission assigned to investigate the events at Medjugorje will end up serving Medjugorje very well.
This he says in an interview that forms part of the new book “Misterij Medugorja”. Published by the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List, the paper has marked the publication by printing excerpts from the interview with the Austrian Cardinal who also served as the director of the current Catechism of the Catholic Church.
By New Year 2009-10 Cardinal Schönborn’s visit to Medjugorje aroused some controversy and letters back and forth between the Cardinal and Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar. This controversy makes up the necessary background for understand the Cardinal’s answer to a question presented to him by reporter Zarko Ivkovic of Vecernji List:
- You are known to have a close friend in Pope Benedict XVI. Have you ever talked to him about Medjugorje?

Friends since Cardinal Schönborn's time as a student: The Cardinal with Pope Benedict XVI in 2010

“It is unusual to talk about the (papal) audience , but I can say this. Medjugorje is really a topic in Rome because of the public attention that my pilgrimage aroused. In Rome I was informed about his impressions. I am confident that the Commission, founded by The Holy Father to examine the events of Medjugorje, will do very well and responsibly, and that the result will certainly be advantageous. I am convinced that the phenomenon that has attracted 30 million pilgrims and has brought lots of good fruits, will be processed very carefully, including any open issues”, Cardinal Schönbon replies.
- You were personally in Medjugorje. What inspired you to go there?
“I wanted to personally see the place from which so many good fruits have emerged. It is essential that the phenomenon of Medjugorje ceases to dramatize.”

Having previously hosted the Medjugorje visionaries Ivan Dragicevic and Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti for public apparitions in St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna, the exact date has now been scheduled for the next such visit, opened for by Cardinal Schönborn during an interview in May. The event will take place on November 17th.

 

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn



Pope Benedict VI has great plans for this year of faith, I can most feel his enthusiasm, now do you see what I´m seeing?

Two of the Synod fathers that are part of the Medjugorje Commission and Cardinal Schonborn were appointed for the General Assembly of Bishops to discuss The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Faith.

Pope to synod: Foster 'missionary dynamism' and 'pastoral creativity'

Written by Francis X. Rocca, Catholic News Service Monday, 29 October 2012 14:06
Pope Benedict XVI underscored "three pastoral themes" to a group of bishops and other church leaders from around the world. - CNS photo/Paul Haring
VATICAN CITY - Winning converts to the church, ministering better to practicing Catholics and bringing lapsed members back into the fold are all parts of the multifaceted effort known as the "new evangelization," Pope Benedict XVI told a group of bishops and other church leaders from around the world.
The pope made his remarks Oct. 28 during his homily at a Mass marking the end of the world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization. The three-week gathering, which brought more than 260 bishops and religious superiors to the Vatican, along with dozens of official observers and experts, discussed how the church can revive and spread the faith in increasingly secular societies.

Pope Benedict underscored "three pastoral themes" that he said had emerged from the talks.
"Ordinary pastoral ministry ... must be more animated by the fire of the Spirit, so as to inflame the hearts of the faithful," he said, stressing the importance of the sacrament of confession, and the necessity of "appropriate catechesis" in preparation for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist.

The pope also called for a "new missionary dynamism" to "proclaim the message of salvation to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ."

"There are still many regions in Africa, Asia and Oceania whose inhabitants await with lively expectation, sometimes without being fully aware of it, the first proclamation of the Gospel," the pope said. And as a result of migration driven by globalization, he added, the "first proclamation is needed even in countries that were evangelized long ago."
Finally, the pope spoke of the need to persuade lapsed Catholics, "especially in the most secular countries," to "encounter Jesus Christ anew, rediscover the joy of faith and return to religious practice in the community of the faithful."
This effort, in particular, calls for "pastoral creativity" and use of a "new language attuned to the different world cultures," he said. As an example of such innovation, the pope mentioned the Vatican's "Courtyard of the Gentiles" project, which promotes dialogue between religious believers and agnostics.

Referring to the day's reading from the Gospel of St. Mark, the pope invoked Bartimaeus -- the blind man who miraculously received his sight back from Jesus and then joined him as one of the disciples -- as a model for Christians in countries "where the light of faith has grown dim."

"New evangelizers are like that," Pope Benedict said, "people who have had the experience of being healed by God, through Jesus Christ."

The day before the closing Mass, at the synod's last working session Oct. 27, Pope Benedict thanked the participants for their work, including the final propositions that will eventually serve as the basis for a document of the pope's own reflections on the new evangelization.

At that same meeting, the pope said that he had decided to make two administrative changes relevant to the new evangelization. Responsibility for seminaries will shift from the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education to the Congregation for the Clergy, he said; and responsibility for catechesis will shift from the latter office to the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

The pope also congratulated the six bishops, four of them members of the synod, whom he will induct into the College of Cardinals Nov. 24. He said he had named the new cardinals-designate, none of whom hails from Europe, as a sign of "the universality of the church, showing that the church is a church of all peoples, (and) speaks in all languages ... not a church of one continent, but a universal church."

One of the cardinals-designate, Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle of Manila, was also one of 15 new members of the ordinary council of the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops announced Oct. 26.

The new council members, who will oversee the international gatherings of bishops periodically held at the Vatican, include two U.S. bishops: Cardinals Donald W. Wuerl of Washington and Timothy M. Dolan of New York. Others included Cardinals Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, Austria; Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and George Pell of Sydney.




http://www.catholicregister.org/new...r-missionary-dynamism-and-pastoral-creativity

 

Fatima Visionary Saw and Confirmed the Apparitions of Our Lady of Medjugorje






The three seers at Fatima: Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta
As the Vatican continues its international Commission investigating the ongoing apparitions of Medjugorje, under the leadership of Cardinal Camillo Ruini and the CDF, the Holy See should not ignore an important, but little known, fact about these Marian apparitions. They were confirmed as being authentic by the main visionary of Fatima, Sister Lucia dos Santos, who not only confirmed but also reported experiencing apparitions of Our Lady of Medjugorje in the convent.
According to Sister Lucia’s own nephew, Father Salinho — a Salesian priest who lives in Portugal — Sister Lucia continued receiving visions of the Virgin Mary long after 1917, and some of these apparitions of the Virgin spoke to Sister Lucia of the Madonna’s continued work in Medjugorje. This report of Father Salinho’s was documented by the French author Sister Emmanuel Maillard in her book Medjugorje, Triumph of the Heart! (Queenship, 2004), a revised edition of Sister Emmanuel’s earlier popular work, Medjugorje: the 90s. Pope John Paul II met with Sister Emmanuel, was given a copy of her earlier book, and therefore this knowledge – between Fatima’s main visionary and the apparitions in Medjugorje – may not have been foreign to the Vatican.


This is a very important revelation, for one of the things that the Church looks for, in evaluating apparitions, is coherence between Mary’s apparitions. Fatima and Medjugorje already have an immense amount in common; from the miracle of the dancing sun that has been recorded at each location – once in Fatima and numerous times in Medjugorje – to references to Mary’s Immaculate Heart in the devotion of both Fatima and Medjugorje, to the spiritual program of daily prayer – especially the Rosary – Mass, fasting, and penance for the salvation of sinners at each site; to incredibly similar depictions of visions of the afterlife, particularly of hell, which were given to both the Fatima and Medjugorje seers by their apparition. The coherence is evident. Now there is even a report from a Catholic priest and a family member of Fatima’s main visionary, that Sister Lucia herself experienced apparitions of Our Lady speaking about her work in Medjugorje; and, therefore, Sister Lucia reportedly confirmed the apparitions of Medjugorje through her own private revelations of the Virgin.


This revelation also places doubt onto many theories that Medjugorje critics have advocated, perhaps most notoriously Donal Anthony Foley, the British author who – in his book, Understanding Medjugorje – lionizes the apparitions of Fatima while (quite literally) demonizing the apparitions of Medjugorje, portraying the two apparition sites as having nothing in common. Well, if Foley and likeminded critics believe in the authenticity of Sister Lucia’s visions, then it becomes difficult to doubt that the Madonna is not appearing in Medjugorje since Sister Lucia herself confirmed this very fact, after being told so by her apparitional experience of the Virgin Mary. This report by Sister Lucia’s nephew has, unfortunately, not been circulated widely. But it shows that Pope John Paul II was not alone in the conviction that Medjugorje completes Fatima, and that the two sites share the same spiritual source: the Mother of God.
Interestingly, from Monsignor Slawomir Oder’s recent book on Pope John Paul II, Why He Is a Saint, we received confirmation that the Pope considered Medjugorje the fulfillment of Fatima, explaining in 1984: “Medjugorje is the continuation of Fatima, it’s the completion of Fatima.” Now we see that this conviction of the Pope’s was not simply a personal opinion, for even Fatima’s own visionary, Lucia dos Santos, proclaimed the same, that the same Virgin who appeared to her in Fatima continued appearing to her in the convent, and told Sister Lucia of her – the Virgin’s – continual work in Medjugorje.


It is noteworthy, in stressing this connection, that Sister Lucia and Pope John Paul II maintained a lifelong friendship. One wonders whether they ever discussed together Our Lady’s presence in Medjugorje, as both held the conviction that the Virgin of Fatima continued her work in the Bosnian village. Though we could never know for sure, since both parties have passed away, this would not be an impossibility, since John Paul II proclaimed that Medjugorje is the continuation and completion of Fatima in 1984, while he met with Sister Lucia only two years earlier, when the pope was in Fatima on May 13, 1982, to thank the Virgin for saving his life from an assassination attempt. This was the same day that Our Lady of Medjugorje told the visionaries in Yugoslavia: “His enemies tried to kill him, but I have protected him.”
What is interesting about Lucia’s visionary experiences of the Madonna is the fact that they did not end while she was a little girl. It is true that the last apparition in the Cova da Iria fields nearby Fatima, resulting in the miracle of the dancing sun that was witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people, did conclude on October 13, 1917. However, even after the conclusion of these public apparitions, Sister Lucia continued receiving private revelations of the Virgin Mary as a nun in her cell. The same Virgin Mary that came to her as a little girl in Fatima continued appearing to Lucia as a grown woman in the convent. The apparitions lasted late into Lucia’s life, even after the Madonna reportedly began appearing in Medjugorje to six Croatian youths in 1981.


Lucia dos Santos was the only remaining visionary of Fatima who lived through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Shortly after the apparitions of Fatima began to three shepherd children in 1917, two of the children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto – brother and sister – passed away. Francisco died of bronchial pneumonia in 1919, while Jacinta developed a serious case of pleurisy and died in a Lisbon hospital a year later. Francisco was two months away from turning eleven, and Jacinta was only a month away from celebrating her tenth birthday. It was Lucia who lived onto old age.
She became a cloistered nun, making her perpetual vows on October 3, 1934 under the name Sister Maria das Dores – Mary of Sorrows – at the Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in the convent of Tuy, Spain. Later Lucia would return to Portugal and become a Discalced Carmelite on May 31, 1949, taking the name Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart at the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra. Sister Lucia died in the convent at the age of 97 on February 13, 2005.






http://www.medjugorjemiracles.com/2...ed-the-apparitions-of-our-lady-of-medjugorje/

 

Top Exorcist Laments Apathy to Medjugorje

by admin on November 2, 2011

Fr. Gabriele Amorth (born 1925) was ordained a priest in 1954 and became an official exorcist in 1986. For about 20 years he served as chief exorcist for the Diocese of Rome. In 1990 he founded the International Association of Exorcists whose president he was until his retirement in 2000, now being honorary president for life. Throughout the years Fr. Amorth has embraced Medjugorje, and he has called the place “a great fortress against Satan”

Ignoring the apparitions in Medjugorje is unforgivable for Christians, says Rome’s leading exorcist who shakes his head at those who wait until the Church has ruled. Speaking of “betrayal” Fr. Gabriele Amorth also lashes out at bishops and priests for being indifferent to the fruits of Medjugorje.

By willingly failing to pay attention to the Virgin Mary’s apparitions in Medjugorje, a great number of Christians have proven to be no different from pagans. Within this great number, both bishops and priests are included, the leading Catholic exorcist of the past 20 years said in a September 15 interview given to Radio Maria.

Fr. Gabriele Amorth was speaking at the backdrop of the Virgin Mary’s message of August 25 when she said:
“Dear children! Today I call you to pray and fast for my intentions, because Satan wants to destroy my plan. Here I began with this parish and invited the entire world. Many have responded, but there is an enormous number of those who do not want to hear or accept my call. Therefore, you who have said ‘yes’, be strong and resolute. Thank you for having responded to my call.”


“How bitter, how bitter was the last message of Our Lady of Medjugorje, on August 25: ”Many have responded, but there is an enormous number of those who do not want to hear or accept my call’, Fr. Gabriele Amorth first commented.
“Now look here; it is very sour, this balance. After more than thirty years! More than thirty years! Now if it is the pagans who don’t listen to Our Lady’s words, then that I can understand. But be you a Christian, it is not forgivable. Be you a Christian!”.
However, according to Fr. Amorth’s experience, the indifference to Medjugorje goes further that that:

“Even priests and bishops don’t even want to hear about it. It is not that they went there and then made their decision fairly after seeing things for themselves, no! They don’t even want to hear it being spoken about!”

“The Gospel is so clear, it tells us how to discern! By the fruits you will know the tree! It has been 30 years when Medjugorje has given us fruits that are ultimately exquisite! Confession, conversion, vocations, graces of every kind! For more than 30 years!” the exorcist reminded on Radio Maria.

“In the Old Testament God sent prophets to warn of the betrayals of the Jewish people. Now, here, to warn of the betrayal of the Christian people, also the priests, God sends us His Mother! It has been 30 years! Is it possible that people still do not hear? And as for those people who believe themselves to be intelligent by saying they wait until the Church approves? They are fools!” said Fr. Gabriele Amorth.

 

35,000 people are expected when Medjugorje visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti will talk and have a public apparition on Sicily’s largest stadium on Saturday, April 21. Among the crowd will be a leading Mariologist and member of the Vatican Commission to investigate the Medjugorje events.

Father Salvatore Perrella
On April 21, a member of the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will have a first-hand experience of an apparition when Father Salvatore Perrella joins an expected 35,000 people for visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti’s appearance in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, the regional newspaper Il Fatto Nisseno reports.
The event will take place at La Favorita, the biggest football stadium on the south Italian island where a full house is expected on Saturday.

Usually the home ground of Italian top football club U.S. Citta di Palermo, the city's municipal stadium has a capacity of 35,000 spectators. No vacant seats are expected when visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti visits on April 21
Father Perrella, who turned 60 on April 16, is a Mariologist and so an expert on the life, role and theology of the Virgin Mary. Since 2011, he has served as Dean of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum in Rome. He is also a professor of dogmatic theology and has taught at several leading Catholic universities in Italy.
As an unusual component of the Palermo event, Marija will be interviewed by Riccardo Caniato, editor of the magazine Studi Cattolici. Marija’s three-day Sicilian tour begins in Catania on Friday.






PASTOR: ROME COULD NOT IGNORE MEDJUGORJE

The Vatican had to react to millions of people gathering in Medjugorje, and the current Commission works seriously because the members believe Medjugorje is already deeply integrated within the Church, says Medjugorje’s pastor who calls it “irresponsible” to claim the seers lie.

Fr. Petar Vlasic with Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar


Rome had no choice but to take up a thorough investigation of the events in Medjugorje, and the result was the March 17th 2010 announcement of the current Commission led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, says Medjugorje’s parish priest.
“Neither the Pope, nor responsible Roman offices could overlook the phenomenon gathering millions of pilgrims in Medjugorje. Therefore, an advisable approach was carefully considered, and the Commission was established to thoroughly investigate” Fr. Petar Vlasic tells the Croatian daily Vecernji List.
“They do their job seriously and are committed, because they believe that Medjugorje is deeply merged within the contemporary life of the Catholic Church” he further says of the Commission.
“We can not talk about satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their work. These are all serious religious people who care about truth and the good of the Church” says Fr. Petar Vlasic.
“Irresponsible” to claim the seers lie

In defending the six Medjugorje visionaries, Fr. Petar Vlasic says it is “impossible to declare them liars”. Therefore, it is “irresponsible” to claim the seers are lying, or that their apparitions should be due to a diabolical influence, Fr. Petar Vlasic says, upon revisiting the visionaries’ life history:

“I think they played a vital role in everything from the very beginning. Since the beginning of their intrepid witnesses, they were not in any way embarrassed or intimidated by threats, or militia, or imprisonment, or harassment in school. They stood firm and upheld their original claims” Fr. Petar Vlasic says.


Fr. Petar Vlasic was appointed parish priest of Medjugorje in 2007

“Claims of apparitions can not be verified, and science comes to its limits, but we can see the effects of their claim. Today they are adults in their forties, and it is impossible to declare them liars.”
“We recognize the fruits of their claims on a daily basis, and they are serious people with their families and children. And it is irresponsible to call them liars, or to attribute to them all the diabolical influence as some still do, even among the clergy” Medjugorje’s parish priest tells Vecernji List.

 

​

During the International Youth Festival in August 2002, there were about 260 priests in Medjugorje. One of them was Fr. Leo Maasburg, a priest of the Diocese of Vienna, presently in Rome, the former collaborator of the “Radio Maria” on the international level, who was working this year on the case of beatification of Mother Teresa (as the only member of the team that is not a member of her Congregation).

​

After having studied law, political sciences and theology, he began to work on the evangelisation of Eastern European Countries. In 1982, when Pope John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fr. Leo, together with a bishop, secretly celebrated Holy Mass in the Kremlin in Moscow and made the same consecration in the heart of the Soviet Union. For many years, he accompanied Mother Teresa on her travels and also was with her while she was opening her houses on the different continents. Fr. Leo has given retreats to Mother Teresa’s sisters all over the world. In 1988, when Mother Teresa opened her first houses in Moscow and Armenia, Fr. Leo was their spiritual father for many months and therefore the first “official” catholic priest in the Soviet Union.
Fr. Mario Knezovic spoke with him.

What are your impressions about the work in a media that announces Christ and Our Lady?

The experience on radio taught me a very important thing: by nature, generally, the mass media have a role of education. If men are responsible for their destiny, then radio is one of the pillars of this responsibility. It seems, unfortunately, that at our time the mass media, instead of being an instrument of education, are becoming an instrument of seduction. This is why the Catholic mass media have a great responsibility. I think that radio has a privileged place among the Catholic mass media. We live in a time of consumerism, and radio distinguishes itself from television mostly by the following: television produces image that is outside of us and we “swallow” it, and radio produces image inside the person, inside her imagination. This is why, probably, when Jesus speaks about evangelisation, he speaks about the WORD that has to be brought. It does not mean that Jesus does not speak about vision: when he speaks about the glory of the Father, he says that we will see it.
Does the Church of today know how to make use of the media and are we sufficiently open for such a way of transmitting the Good News?

I think that Jesus was very courageous when he confided his mission to men! As always, some are faithful and some less faithful. I believe that the same happens to the Church in the matter of using the media. If we believe that there is really question of struggle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, and that we are all involved in this struggle, then we understand that mass media, power, money and publicity today are the weapons in that struggle. We are all submitted to these temptations. Some fall, some win. It is important that the Church seeks victory, that it makes no compromises with the world. I will give you a simple example: today, radio stations and televisions are being financed almost exclusively either by publicity or by political support, and precisely these are two temptations! If the Church abandons itself into the hands of the publicity or the political power, the evangelisation will evaporate. You cannot touch the heart with the Word of God and at the same time sell stockings! Media are certainly a gift of God for the evangelisation and let us hope that the Church will make a good use of them!
You are working actually on the preparation for the beatification of Mother Teresa. Can you tell us something about it?

As you know, the Holy Father has exempted this case from the time of waiting which takes regularly five years. The diocesan process was immediately opened in India, and then transferred to Rome. At the end of last summer, all the documents of the diocesan process were transferred from India to Rome. In the week after Easter this year, the collaborators of the Congregation for the causes of saints finished to treat the 83,000 pages of witnesses and gave the document called “Positio” to the Congregation for the causes of saints. This document is very abundant and contains about 5,400 pages. It contains all the elements of the life of this Servant of God. Her life, her virtues… now, we wait for the recognition of the miracle. A group of theologians who are in charge of examining this document have already examined and accepted the “Positio”, and the team of doctors who have to examine the miracle has already recognised it. The recognition of the results is now in the hands of the College of Cardinals and the Pope who, after this, can fix the date of the beatification. (NB: On October 1st, 2002, the Church recognised the miracle and Mother Teresa may be beatified in spring 2003.)
Father Leo, you come often to Medjugorje. Which is your attitude towards Medjugorje and the devotion being developed here?

I came to Medjugorje for the first time in 1983. I believe that I have been here about seven or eight times. Each visit is always a great grace. I have heard hundreds of witnesses of people who have found conversion and faith in Medjugorje. As a priest, what impresses me most is that, here, you have no problem with the confessionals not being used! In Vienna, in some parishes, we have one or two confession per month, and here, a priest has to be careful not to begin hearing confessions too early in the morning, because he will not be able to get out of the confessional until the evening! The Grace is tangible and visible even for the blind.
What is your personal attitude towards the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary here in Medjugorje? Do you think that we can say today: “Our Lady is present here”?

I have not seen Our Lady, but I have felt here a really exceptional concentration of grace. I know two visionaries and I can say that I have the best impression about them, concerning their normality and their serious desire for holiness.
One can feel the fruits in Medjugorje. How much can these fruits can be useful for the universal Church and the Christianity?

I am convinced that every grace that God gives is always new. The collaboration between Mother Teresa and the grace of Medjugorje is visible. Many sisters of Mother Teresa have received their vocation in Medjugorje. Priests who are touched by Medjugorje or received their vocation in Medjugorje are close to the spirituality of the sisters of Mother Teresa.
You took part in the International Youth Meeting here in Medjugorje. Our Lady calls us to Christ, and the Pope does this unceasingly. Are the priests working sufficiently to bring the Christ closer to young people who are thirsty for the real truth?

No, I believe that we do not do enough, because you can never do enough! I hope that we will grow in all that on what love urges us! I believe that, one day, we will see all the possibilities that God has offered to us through different sources of grace, and I believe that our sadness, or in other words our purgatory, will be in the fact that we will see all that we could have done and we have not done!
When you come to Medjugorje, you probably have your expectations and when you go back, you carry with you the fruits. When you go back to your service, what remains after a pilgrimage to Medjugorje?

I don’t know about the experience of other priests, of other pilgrims, but I come to Medjugorje just as I used to go back home once or twice a year, hoping that mum would wash my clothes and mend my stockings. She always did it. Often it happened that, when I was already far away, on a journey, I find in my luggage a packet of peanuts or a chocolate. I believe that Medjugorje means that to me today. Although here we may not have felt anything, later on we discover gifts. Our Lady is similar to all other mothers.
You can feel Medjugorje from near. What would you advice to pilgrims who come here?

I have learned one thing from Mother Teresa: it is not important what we expect and what we desire. The only important is to confide oneself to the guidance of Jesus and of Mary. There are surely people who come with some big problem, but the biggest problem is always lack of holiness! We surely bring with us people who entrust themselves into our prayer, but we should not limit the Lord and Our Lady to the gifts they give us. This is maybe precisely one of the characteristics of Medjugorje, because, when one goes to Lourdes, he hopes for a physical or spiritual healing, and when you come to Medjugorje, you hope that Our Lady will bring you closer to her Son. I like to compare Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje: it is, in fact, Our Lady’s pedagogy. In Lourdes, the symbol is water, which means purification and baptism, which signifies the Immaculate. In Fatima, the mission is oriented towards others: to pray, to believe, to sacrifice oneself for others. In Medjugorje, everything is concentrated around the Eucharist and the Holy Confession as preparation for the Eucharist. I believe that this is Our Lady’s pedagogy.

 

Outside The Church There Is No Salvation
The doctrine that "Outside the Church there is no salvation" is one that is constantly misinterpreted by those who won't submit to the Magisterium of the Church. Faith does not depend upon our ability to reason to the truth but on our humility before the Truth presented to us by those to whom Christ entrusted that task. This is why the First Vatican Council taught that it is the task of the Magisterium ALONE to determine and expound the meaning of the Tradition - including "outside the Church no salvation."
Concerning this doctrine the Pope of Vatican I, Pius IX, spoke on two different occasions. In an allocution (address to an audience) on December 9th, 1854 he said:

We must hold as of the faith, that out of the Apostolic Roman Church there is no salvation; that she is the only ark of safety, and whosoever is not in her perishes in the deluge; we must also, on the other hand, recognize with certainty that those who are invincible in ignorance of the true religion are not guilty for this in the eyes of the Lord. And who would presume to mark out the limits of this ignorance according to the character and diversity of peoples, countries, minds and the rest?​

Again, in his encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore of 10 August, 1863 addressed to the Italian bishops, he said:

It is known to us and to you that those who are in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion, but who observe carefully the natural law, and the precepts graven by God upon the hearts of all men, and who being disposed to obey God lead an honest and upright life, may, aided by the light of divine grace, attain to eternal life; for God who sees clearly, searches and knows the heart, the disposition, the thoughts and intentions of each, in His supreme mercy and goodness by no means permits that anyone suffer eternal punishment, who has not of his own free will fallen into sin.​

 

Pope Benedict XVI greets pilgrims from Medjugorje

Vatican City (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, as part of the greeting groups of pilgrims in different languages, the Pope addressed the Croatian crowd of pilgrims: "I greet all Croatian pilgrims, and especially those from the parish of St James, Medjugorje! Your pilgrimage to Rome is part of the way of preparation for the coming of the Lord. Therefore, in hope, be evangelisers of God's love in your nation. May God bless you."

 

Marino Restrepo also believes in Medjugorje ( videos of Marino talking about Medjugorje are available in youtube)

(I posted a link to his testimony in the video blog)

http://www.marinorestrepo.com/en/history-and-spirituality

founded the Catholic Mission Pilgrims of Love in 1999 in Bogota, Colombia. Ever since, with the blessing of his bishop in Colombia, he has embarked on an ongoing worldwide evangelization activity, based on the mystical experience he had with the Lord, during the kidnapping by the guerrillas in Colombia, that radically changed his life.

The spirituality of this apostolate is centered on Eucharist Adoration and the devotion to the Divine Infant of Prague. Also the mission is focus strictly on the Catholic Church teachings, inviting catholics to embrace faithfully the sacred traditions, the sane doctrine and to emphasize the importance of obedience to church hierarchy, specially to the Holy Father.
The mission also involves a youth movement known as Young Missionaries of the Holy Father who are a support to the holy father for World Youth Days and a force of evangelization in the local parishes making catholics aware of the role of the Vatican and its papacy in the Universal Church.

Pilgrims of Love Foundation has ecclesiastical approval under decree 0.86 of the Archdiocese of Bogota, dated June 16th-2011.

 

There is more, but I think is enough to connect the dots, I didn't believe in Medjugorje, I used to say to my Mom that Medjugorje didn't seem right to me, that I was sure it was False, good that she didn't listen to me...

My mother was in Europe on her way to her first pilgrim to Medjugorge when my brother died, you can imagine how she felt when hearing this horrible news, on top of that she had to stay in an airport for more than 16 hours waiting for a ticket to take her back home.

Me on the other side was trying to get back to God,sadly I wasn't aware that a conversion comes with a lot of pain and ignorance, because when you decide to change for good, to take Jesus´s road, yes you get all the strength and love from God, you are washed off free, however the scars of your sin will not completely disappear until some time, I was pride and I didn't see, now I´m fighting like everybody else to stay on the road, still fighting to be humble but God has lifted the veil a little to see.

This is my own humble story about Medjugorje, I say Yes it´s true and she needs us, are we ready to help?


OCT 2 2012
"Dear children; I am calling you and am coming among you because I need you. I need apostles with a pure heart. I am praying, and you should also pray, that the Holy Spirit may enable and lead you, that He may illuminate you and fill you with love and humility. Pray that He may fill you with grace and mercy. Only then will you understand me, my children. Only then will you understand my pain because of those who have not come to know the love of God. Then you will be able to help me. You will be my light-bearers of God’s love. You will illuminate the way for those who have been given eyes but do not want to see. I desire for all of my children to see my Son. I desire for all of my children to experience His Kingdom. Again I call you and implore you to pray for those whom my Son has called. Thank you."

 

Patty, you are an absolute darling for doing all this work. Thank you so much.

 

Well, it's not possible to use Sister Lucia regarding Medjugorje, we must be aware of any rumors as the Bishop of Fatima confirmed it below, this information is completely false and dangerous :

http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/unapprov/medjugor/fatimasesdi.pdf

Aviso

 

I think for now, we should leave this thread well alone, and leave it up to the Church. I for my part will continue to listen to these messages and act on them whilst they are in accordance with Our True faith.

Aviso, you said a priest's view on Garabandal (a priest who broke away from the flock) was of importance. This is very wrong. Your arguments are very poor, especially after that statement.

I think, in obedience to Mother Church we should wait for the declaration. And the fact that Medjugorje has not been condemned in all these years speaks for itself. The Vatican would have put a stop to it very quickly if they had found error or cause for concern. The last thing that they would want or condone would be the faithful to be duped in such very large numbers. This is common sense! I have more faith in my pope that that!

You quote that the seers/Franciscans are not obedient to their bishop, then in another post you hold the opinion of one who has broke away as important..

 

Oh, and for the record. I absolutely, categorically believe that my beautiful Heavenly Mother is appearing at Medjugorje and is leading all her children back to God and their traditional faith.

Have you ever been to Medjugorje Aviso? Or listened to the sermons of these priests who haven't broken away??

 

God doesn't want ABORTION. (The killing of the Innocents) God doesn't want EUTHANEISA. God doesn't want CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, or woman being kidnapped off the streets and thrown into prostitution

The Earth is falling under the weight of it's sin. Mothe Mary is doing all she can through the Mercy of God to gather all her children and to bring them back to the fold and to re-educate them on their faith.

Zechariah 8:1-9

Yahweh, Sabaoth says this.
"I am burning with jealousy for Zion,
with great anger for her sake.

Yahweh, Sabaoth says this,
I am coming back to Zion
and shall dwell in the middle of Jerusalem
Jerusalem with be called Faithful City
and the mountain of Yahweh Sabaoth,
the Holy Mountain.

Yahweh, Sabaoth says this,
Old men and old women will again sit down
in the squares of Jerusalem;
every one of them staff in hand
because of their great age.
And the squares of the city will be full
of boys and girls
playing in the squares.

Yahweh, Sabaoth says this,
If this seems a miracle
to the remnant of this people (in those days)
will it seem one to me?
It is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks.
Now I am going to save my people
from the countries of the East
and from the countries of the West.
I will bring them back to live inside Jerusalem (my understanding the catholic church)
They shall be my people
and I will be their God
in faithfulness and integrity.

 

Read Zephaniah. The prophecies fit these times.

Joel 3:1-5

"After this,
I will pour out my spirit on all mankind
You sons and daughters shall prophecy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men see visions.
Even on the slaves, men and women
will I pour out my spirit in those days.
I will display portents in heaven and on earth,
blood and fire and columns of smoke."

The sun will be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood,
before the day of Yahweh dawns,
that great and terrible day.
All who call on the name of Yahweh will be saved,
for on Mount Zion there iwll be some who have escaped,
as Yahweh has said,
and in Jerusalem some survivors whom God will call.


Does it not stand to reason that God in His mercy would send us Mother Mary for these times? God has so much compassion for this generation because of all that we have inherited, and that includes not being taught to live the faith as we should and homes without prayer. There are many who through no fault of their own were not baptized and whose parents simply walked away from the faith. It stands to reason that Mother Mary will come again to call all her children.

We need her more now than we did in the 60s. Then was a warning of how the world will be if people still carry on in their sins, and look at the product of those sins! Childen growing up without fathers or values, Children in Care, all sorts of awful sexual perversions. Look at how much we allow now.

Do you know that Governments are even thinking about reducing the age of sexual consent to 14? And so de-criminalizing child abuse for anyone this age and over? This world is sick and we are so far gone that we needed to be saved from ourselves.

God in His mercy is sending Mother Mary everywhere and she is only too happy to gather up all her children. It is also another proof of God's mercy to mankind, something we all need to know of in a world that is full of unforgiveness and bitterness and brother killing brother.

God is in the business of saving souls.

Mother Mary said she would appear in every home all over the world if that is what it took.
And to me, this is the mark of a true mother. One who never gives up on her children, and is constantly trying to keep them on the right track and who is by their side when they need her the most.

And believe me, we do need Mother Mary the most in these times. Never in the whole of history have we had mothers killing their own children and people being happy to throw nan and grand dad into a home or even kill them off too!.. What have we become..

This above post would be so depressing and so desolate if it wasn't for Our Beautiful God and His mercy in giving His lovely mother as a gift to us.

Mother Mary, thank you so much for coming to us. We so need you..

 

http://www.medjugorjetoday.tv/5377/marija-do-not-confess-to-psychologists/

Please read, this message would absolutely NOT come from the devil. The devil isn't at work here. The devil is most definitely at work where there is division being created in the church through false seers saying that this pope is the anti-christ (and they are out there) and also saying that they do not need spiritual directors etc. This is a complete lack of humility and is causing a huge crack in the Church.

Medjugorje is not causing a crack in the foundations of the faith, but calling people to return with their whole hearts to the foundations of the faith.

 

Sister Lucia died in 2005, she lived the Fatima message every day of her life, if she really believed that Medjugorge was false, she had plenty of time to speak her truth and defend her brothers and sister form getting deceived by the devil , we are talking about millions of pilgrims and thousands of conversions because of Medjugorje.

Aviso,

I respect you, I like you and I also believe in Garabandal





As a side note, our lady encourages to pray the rosary, in fact the rosary is prayed before each apparition.

I hardly believe that the devil will encourage confession, in Medjugorje there is always people waiting in line for confession, let´s meditate what confession really is, do you think the devil will encourage confession.

As I said before I didn’t believe in Medjugorge a few years ago and I spoke freely against it, when I started my conversion I just kept Medjugorje on the back of my mind, I still wasn’t sure but on the other hand I didn’t want to say anything bad about it because I felt ashamed of myself, because God allowed me to see little by little all the damage left in my soul , a poor pride sinner that thought I knew it all.

Somewhere along my conversion I began to see things clearly regarding Medjugorje, I have never been there, also would love to go to Garbandal ,I have family in Spain so it’s easier for me , maybe next year or the year after..
I will happily wait for the church authorities to decide on Medjurge, there is so little time left, and no time for errors, at the end the immaculate heart of Mary will triumph, I can feel it’s at hand.

 

You say Lucia's nephew said these things. NOT Lucia.

I have a quote that Lucia says "Do not go there, it is not The Virgin appearing there."

It is fair how you posted about priests and Cardinals approving Medjugore.

It I knew how to post things up I would, but to type everything takes all day.

So I can just put a flip side to your posts by saying.....

34 out of 35 BISHOPS wanted to have it CONDEMNED.

It won't happen though. Satan is winning this race with flying colours.
There is someone in the Vatican who is dictating to who will run this inquiry.
The smoke of satan is in the Vatican.

God Bless our POPE.

 

Unbelievable !!!