American Catholics – Is now the time to take a second look at Medjugorje?

American Catholics – Is now the time to take a second look at Medjugorje?
By Stephen k Ryan

A spaceship has landed in a remote village in Bosnia and a “being” from another dimension – a dimension six witnesses’ claim is the afterlife - has stepped out from the craft and rather than saying “take me to your leader” the pilot has unequivocally said to the world – “I have come to tell the world that God exists.”

This "pilot- being” claims to be the Mother of Jesus Christ and importantly millions of Catholics from around the world are finally beginning to accept the message. The Virgin Mary, for thirty years, from a small town called Medjugorje, has been telling the world that God exists and She has been bringing with her special messages of peace. Her messages are a “mosaic” which taken together, overtime, have carefully constructed a sure path to eternity and paradise. Many, devoted to the events of Medjugorje, call the town “Mary’s School”. The Blessed Mother is calling us back to God and like at Cana, She is pointing the way to Her son Jesus. The fruits of Her message have been unprecedented in modern times.

Medjugorje is now the third most popular Catholic shrine in the world only behind Guadalupe and Lourdes. Medjugorje is an important spiritual phenomenon in many parts of the world but interestingly Medjugojre has suddenly put down deep roots in Italy. Medjugorje, some claim, is nearly laying siege to the Vatican. This is a particularly significant marvel in that the Vatican has formed a special investigative committee to determine the truth behind the alleged Marian apparitions. As the investigation moves its way to some kind of conclusion, millions of Italians read Our Lady's special messages that come from Medjugorje each month. As each day passes and as more Italians come to know Medjugorje the stakes for the Vatican, almost by definition, seem to rise with each passing day as well.

Italy is not alone with its strong attachment to the alleged Marian occurrences. The great friend of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Christophe Schonborn of Austria - the Archbishop of Vienna - has invited the “seers’ of Medjugorje into his Cathedral to experience a close encounter with the Blessed Mother. It is quite extraordinary to think that a man, who is talked about as a serious candidate to be the next Pope, is unabashedly telling those who are open minded that indeed the Blessed Mother is here on earth engaged in an active ministry encouraging the world through special messages to seek peace in their hearts and to put God in the first place in their lives.

But here in the United States there seems to be a resistance to this fascinating spiritual, perhaps supernatural, occurrence.

Many reasons are given for this force against Medjugorje, but two stand above the rest - a dominant secular bullying press and a strong and active Protestant and evangelical Christian church that often sets the tone for Christian culture here in the United States. This "protestant tone" often forces Catholic Bishops, for ecumenical reasons, to down play the Virgin Mary's role as an Advocate for mankind. Many Catholic pundits often echo the secular press when it comes to writing about miraculous and supernatural events - there is basically a blackout on the subject - which keeps Medjugorje fenced in. Many Catholics bloggers and news organization are also quick to point out that “private revelations” are not a part of the body of the faith and therefore of little value to a practicing Catholic. They state that all revelations of Christ ended with the death of the last apostle and that veneration of the Blessed Mother interferes with the singular aspect to worship which is celebrating the Eucharist at Mass.

However, there seems to be a great paradox to ignoring the Blessed Mother's important presence in the Catholic Church If we minimize Her role than we must downplay Her enormous pastoral contribution to the Church throughout the ages that has led to the conversion of millions. Think of the Catholic faith without Guadalupe, Fatima and Lourdes - the fruits of the Blessed Mother our immeasurable.

The need for every Catholic is not to “believe” in Medjugorje but rather, it seems to us, every Catholic should understand that millions of devout Catholics have discovered something special with Medjugorje and importantly it should be understood that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with discerning the events taking place there. There is nothing wrong with taking a moment to ask what is going on in Medjugorje. What is wrong is to block the door.
Source  http://www.ministryvalues.com/