Medjugorje
One
Medjugorje
On September 19th, 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith put out a document entitled “The Queen of Peace” in which it stated that “The time has come to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorje.”
To understand the Church’s current position on Medjugorje you need to know a couple of things: First, according to the new 2024 rules on private revelation, the Vatican or local bishop will no longer declare with certainty the supernatural nature of an event. Instead, they may issue a nihil obstat which means nothing hinders the faithful from devotion to or pilgrimage to a place.
Second, on September 19, 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith gave its conclusion on Medjugorje stating Nihil Obstat, that nothing stands in the way of people appreciating the pastoral value of Medjugorje and nothing stands in the way of promoting its spread. (a. 40)
John Paul II commented to the Archbishop of Slovakia, Pavel Hnilca, “Medjugorje is the continuation of Fatima, it is the completion of Fatima.” (Slovimir Oder, Why He is a Saint p. 169)
Two
The Essence of the Message of Our Lady at Medjugorje is Conversion
The reported apparitions of Mary, the Mother of God, to six visionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina, begin June 24th, 1981 and continue to this very day.
The problem in the world is that we have forgotten God and we are destroying ourselves. So, what does a mother do when she sees her children in grave danger? She comes to rescue them!
On June 16th, 1983, Our Lady said, “I have come to tell the world: God is truth. He exists. In him is true happiness and abundance of life. I present myself here as the Queen of Peace to tell the world that peace is necessary for the salvation of the world. In God is found true joy from which true peace flows.”
June 25th in which she said, “Dear children! I rejoice with you and thank God for permitting me to be with you, to lead you and love you. Little children, peace is in danger and the family is under attack. I am calling you, little children: return to prayer in the family. Put Sacred Scripture in a visible place and read it every day. Love God above all that it may be good for you on earth…”
Our Mother comes begging us to be Converted and Return to God. “Be Converted!” Our Lady tells us, “It will be too late when the sign comes. Beforehand, several warnings will be given to the world. Have people hurry to be converted. I need your prayers and your penance…The only thing that I would want to tell you is be converted. Make that known to all my children as quickly as possible. No pain, no suffering is too great to me to save you…You cannot imagine what is going to happen nor what the Eternal Father will allow to come to earth. That is why you must be converted.”
Three
Mary reminds us of the weapons God has given us against our Goliath – five “stones” to overcome evil in our lives
The first stone is the Holy Mass. Our Lady says, “Let Mass be your life.” And “May the Mass, the most exalted and most powerful act of prayer, be the center of your spiritual life.” (August 2, 2008)
The second stone is Prayer. Our Lady says, “Today I am calling you to be people of prayer. Pray until prayer becomes a joy for you and a meeting with the Most High. He will transform your hearts and you will become people of love and peace. Do not forget, little children, that Satan is strong and wants to draw you away from prayer. Do not forget that prayer is the secret key of meeting with God...Do not give up on prayer.”
She calls us to pray the Rosary every day and to Pray with the Heart, that is, make the Rosary a real meditation on the Word of God. That is the reason for the third stone, to read and meditate on the Word of God, the Bible every day.
The fourth stone is the Sacrament of Confession. “Dear children! In the great love of God, I come to you today to lead you on the way of humility and meekness. The first station on that way, my children, is confession. Reject your pride and kneel down before my Son.” (July 2, 2007)
Monthly confessions will be a remedy for the church in the west… whole sections of the Church could be cured if the believers would go to Confession once a month.
The fifth stone is fasting. Our Lady asks for a bread and water fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. But Our Lady accepts alternatives. I think we need to fast from the two things that keep us from Jesus in daily prayer and more frequent reception of the Eucharist, those two things are busyness that comes from overcommitment that wipes us out and then we think we need to veg out with entertainment. Fast from these, cut them down and cut them out.
Four
The Ten Secrets
At Medjugorje Our Lady is to give each of the visionaries ten secrets to be revealed to the world. Mirjana, Jakov, and Ivanka have received all ten secrets, Marija, Vicka, and Ivan have received nine secrets. Our Lady still appears to them at 6:40pm every day wherever they are.
The first two secrets are warnings that invite conversion before it is too late. The third secret is a sign of hope, a supernatural, permanent, and indestructible sign on Apparition Hill where she first appeared.
Each of the Ten Secrets will be revealed to the world in this way: ten days before the date of the event foretold in the secret, Mirjana is to tell the priest that has already been chosen, what will happen and when. Mirjana and the priest are to pray and fast for seven days. Then, three days before the event, the priest will reveal the secret to the world.
December 15th, 1983, Our Lady said, “I have always said that chastisement will come if the world does not convert. Therefore, I call everyone to conversion. Everything depends on your conversion.”
Five
What is the purpose of the Secrets?
If we consider the ten secrets of Medjugorje in the context of the messages of Our Lady at Fatima, Akita and Kibeho, San Nicolas and others, then the secrets seem to allude to a dramatic world-wide purification.
What is the purpose of the purification and why warn the world ahead of time? The purification is not the punishment of an angry God. God is a perfect Father who gives his children the freedom to do good or evil. Good consequences come from good choices. Bad consequences come from bad choices. Wars, famine, natural disasters, and persecutions are all ultimately the result of sin. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Mary comes to call us to conversion, to turn away from self-destruction and back to God.
The purpose of the message of purification or chastisement is two-fold. It is a call to conversion before it is too late and it is a call to action.
Jesus and Mary ask for our help to rescue souls. The future is not irrevocably set. We can change world events and help save souls if we answer the call of Our Lady by taking up the Five Stones:
Make the Holy Mass the most important thing in your life.
Pray the Rosary every day
Read the Word of God every day
Go to Confession once a month
Fast – especially from those things that keep you from God.