FROM THE ECHO OF MEDJUGORJE: MARY, OUR 'SHEPHERDESS' FOR THE LAST 28 YEARS
[The Echo of Medjugorje in Italy]
[The Echo of Medjugorje in Italy]
Every year thousands of priests fill the presbytery of the Parish of Medjugorje to directly draw from the grace that is abundantly flowing forth from that blessed site. Many bear witness to how their priesthood is constantly renewed by their meeting with Gospa, the Mother of the Church and the mediatrix of grace. With the approach of the twenty-eighth anniversary of the apparitions, we interviewed a priest from Italy’s Marche region, Father Manlio, who is an assiduous visitor to the Shrine.
1. What is Medjugorje for you?
Beginning from what I have read and from the readings and reflections made, Medjugorje is the final point and the completion of the message of Fatima. John Paul II even went so far as to say that today Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world, although he did not officially speak about this, in order to avoid compromising himself and to avoid compromising a phenomenon that is still ongoing.
Our Lady appeared a total of three times in Fatima; in Medjugorje Our Lady has been coming down from Heaven every day for 28 years!
2. Why such prolonged apparitions?
Because the situation of Christianity is very critical and Our Lady is working to change it.People still do not want to accept conversion of the heart. Mary prays for this and she urges people to pray; she wants to save the Church, the family, couples, young people, she wants to save the whole world! She has been appearing for such a long time because she wants to create a model of a Christian community that might know how to welcome her messages and transform them into life!
*3. Why does Medjugorje continue to encounter opposition?
Because so many bishops and priests are not informed, they have failed to take an interest in this phenomenon from the beginning and therefore they are indifferent and apathetic, as though it were a fact of devotionism.
4. What is most surprising about Medjugorje?
The rediscovery of faith, conversion. Those who confess, personally touch this reawakening. There people touch the miracle in various moments, under various forms. Many people who pray and convert, countless prayer groups and charitable associations that were founded there, the expansion of the message everywhere. It is a continuous miracle! The Church will have to deal with this miracle. Medjugorje is the last step in the work that Mary is doing in order to prepare the coming of Jesus; because the triumph of Mary will be the conclusion and it will come about through the preparation of the Kingdom of Christ.
5. Is it right to return often to that place?
Yes, it is right, because we need to recharge ourselves and enrich ourselves spiritually. Nowadays life is rife with problems and if we do not refuel with graces that come to us from Mar, it will be difficult for us to face up to the burdens of everyday life. It is known that the Church is currently undergoing a serious crisis from the point of view of vocations, while many vocations come about in Medjugorje from a living meeting with the Lord.
6. Do you think that this is meaningful?
Certainly! After the conversion of hearts, vocations vocations represent one of the best fruits. One of the criticisms that these apparitions often come up against is that Our Lady speaks too much.
7. In the Gospel Mary limited herself to contemplation, saying very few words, how can weexplain so many messages today?
I have my own opinion on this point. I had also prepared an article in reference to the synod of bishops which took place last October on the Word of God. I compared the theme of the Word of God with the word of Mary.
8. Why does Our Lady speak so much?
In all the latest apparitions,Our Lady has done nothing other than represent the Gospel to us. This insistence has a precise significance: Mary’s intention is to bring us back to the essential, she wants to re-evangelize the Church of today and I believe that She is the personbest suited for the job! This is why the Word of God is not understood and accepted today; it is as though people have become accustomed to it: people think they already know everything! I am convinced that Our Lady, as our Mother, wanted to say to us that the Word as it is communicated to us, is monotonous, cold, stale, a Word that no longer touches our hearts. We need a warmer Word, a Word that comes from our Mother’s heart. Our Lady wants to be today’s catechist. First of all, she listened, she assimilated, as saint Luke wrote. Mary listened, observed and kept…This is because the moment was to come when she would unveil the casket in which she concealed God’s Word. Within the family the father has one role and the mother has another: she is more affectionate, she is more capable of being understood and of sensing the needs of her children. Our Lady wants to give this help to the Church of today.
There is a title that Our Lady attributes to herself during these times: she defines herself as the Divine Shepherdess. If Christ is the Shepherd, Mary is She who continues Christ’s work. Our Lady has many titles!
9. How do Mary’s monthly messages enrich your life as a priest?
I believe that we need to read them, meditate on them, screen them better and make them an exegesis to come to an understanding of the logic that connects them. They would appear to be the same, almost monotonous. But there is something deeper that cannot always be understood, like for example the concept that it is only though prayer that we can come to know God and His Will as regards us. I refuse to say that they are simply repetitive; they are as repetitive as the extent to which we are unable to welcome them and experience them!
I hope that the day will come when all these messages that Our Lady gave in Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje are welcomed and become the object of a more in-depth study; I hope that an international committee might be established on these messages, because Our Lady cannot speak heedlessly, and up to now she has not been given the attention she deserves.
10. Jesus was "a sign of contradiction so that the secrets of many hearts might be unveiled." Is this the case for Mary today?
This goes without saying, there is no need to be surprised about this! It is good that nowadays there are some generous souls who diffuse her messages and who have welcomed the invitation to be Mary’s witnesses.
11. What is the future of Medjugorje?
The time will come in which the Church will have to make a stance…
1. What is Medjugorje for you?
Beginning from what I have read and from the readings and reflections made, Medjugorje is the final point and the completion of the message of Fatima. John Paul II even went so far as to say that today Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world, although he did not officially speak about this, in order to avoid compromising himself and to avoid compromising a phenomenon that is still ongoing.
Our Lady appeared a total of three times in Fatima; in Medjugorje Our Lady has been coming down from Heaven every day for 28 years!
2. Why such prolonged apparitions?
Because the situation of Christianity is very critical and Our Lady is working to change it.People still do not want to accept conversion of the heart. Mary prays for this and she urges people to pray; she wants to save the Church, the family, couples, young people, she wants to save the whole world! She has been appearing for such a long time because she wants to create a model of a Christian community that might know how to welcome her messages and transform them into life!
*3. Why does Medjugorje continue to encounter opposition?
Because so many bishops and priests are not informed, they have failed to take an interest in this phenomenon from the beginning and therefore they are indifferent and apathetic, as though it were a fact of devotionism.
4. What is most surprising about Medjugorje?
The rediscovery of faith, conversion. Those who confess, personally touch this reawakening. There people touch the miracle in various moments, under various forms. Many people who pray and convert, countless prayer groups and charitable associations that were founded there, the expansion of the message everywhere. It is a continuous miracle! The Church will have to deal with this miracle. Medjugorje is the last step in the work that Mary is doing in order to prepare the coming of Jesus; because the triumph of Mary will be the conclusion and it will come about through the preparation of the Kingdom of Christ.
5. Is it right to return often to that place?
Yes, it is right, because we need to recharge ourselves and enrich ourselves spiritually. Nowadays life is rife with problems and if we do not refuel with graces that come to us from Mar, it will be difficult for us to face up to the burdens of everyday life. It is known that the Church is currently undergoing a serious crisis from the point of view of vocations, while many vocations come about in Medjugorje from a living meeting with the Lord.
6. Do you think that this is meaningful?
Certainly! After the conversion of hearts, vocations vocations represent one of the best fruits. One of the criticisms that these apparitions often come up against is that Our Lady speaks too much.
7. In the Gospel Mary limited herself to contemplation, saying very few words, how can weexplain so many messages today?
I have my own opinion on this point. I had also prepared an article in reference to the synod of bishops which took place last October on the Word of God. I compared the theme of the Word of God with the word of Mary.
8. Why does Our Lady speak so much?
In all the latest apparitions,Our Lady has done nothing other than represent the Gospel to us. This insistence has a precise significance: Mary’s intention is to bring us back to the essential, she wants to re-evangelize the Church of today and I believe that She is the personbest suited for the job! This is why the Word of God is not understood and accepted today; it is as though people have become accustomed to it: people think they already know everything! I am convinced that Our Lady, as our Mother, wanted to say to us that the Word as it is communicated to us, is monotonous, cold, stale, a Word that no longer touches our hearts. We need a warmer Word, a Word that comes from our Mother’s heart. Our Lady wants to be today’s catechist. First of all, she listened, she assimilated, as saint Luke wrote. Mary listened, observed and kept…This is because the moment was to come when she would unveil the casket in which she concealed God’s Word. Within the family the father has one role and the mother has another: she is more affectionate, she is more capable of being understood and of sensing the needs of her children. Our Lady wants to give this help to the Church of today.
There is a title that Our Lady attributes to herself during these times: she defines herself as the Divine Shepherdess. If Christ is the Shepherd, Mary is She who continues Christ’s work. Our Lady has many titles!
9. How do Mary’s monthly messages enrich your life as a priest?
I believe that we need to read them, meditate on them, screen them better and make them an exegesis to come to an understanding of the logic that connects them. They would appear to be the same, almost monotonous. But there is something deeper that cannot always be understood, like for example the concept that it is only though prayer that we can come to know God and His Will as regards us. I refuse to say that they are simply repetitive; they are as repetitive as the extent to which we are unable to welcome them and experience them!
I hope that the day will come when all these messages that Our Lady gave in Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje are welcomed and become the object of a more in-depth study; I hope that an international committee might be established on these messages, because Our Lady cannot speak heedlessly, and up to now she has not been given the attention she deserves.
10. Jesus was "a sign of contradiction so that the secrets of many hearts might be unveiled." Is this the case for Mary today?
This goes without saying, there is no need to be surprised about this! It is good that nowadays there are some generous souls who diffuse her messages and who have welcomed the invitation to be Mary’s witnesses.
11. What is the future of Medjugorje?
The time will come in which the Church will have to make a stance…
1 comment:
"Every year thousands of priests fill the presbytery of the Parish of Medjugorje"
Many of my friends go to Medjugorje every year and I do not question their sincerity but I am surprised that no one has asked the question why would one of the seers say that she saw and spoke to her dead mother when according to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Scripture this is impossible.
Post a Comment