Hi Father Pat, Just wondering when you plan to take your next trip to Medjugorie. Will there be one this year? And am also curious as to your thoughts on this site: http://www.prourladyofemmitsburg.org/home.html She is a woman claiming to be hearing from the Blessed Mother in Emmitsburg, MD and is sharing the revelations which are partly about end of times as soon as 2012. I'd love it if you could look over her site and share your thoughts on the matter. Thanks a lot!
As far as the woman from Emmitsburg, I am highly skeptical and don't think it is even worth considering. Anytime anything claims to put a time frame on the end it is very suspect and can lead people astray. All that we need for our salvation has been revelaed in Sacred Scripture and in the Sacred Tradition of the Church. I myself don't even keep up with the Medjugorje messages, my main interest in Medjugorje is growing closer to Christ through the Sacraments and the many sacramentals that abound there. If we try and foster an intercessory and loving relationship with Mary then she will of course lead us toward her Son and we will feel her inspirations but it is in the extremest of rare circumstances that she will communicate a message such as she did at Tepeyac Mexico, Lourdes France and Fatima Portugal. Mary's last words in all of Scripture are her great public message for all her children, "Do whatever He tells you" Jn. 2:5. If we all heed these words, anything else she might say is superfluous.
On Thursday, October 8, 2008 the Archbishop of Baltimore’s signed a Pastoral Advisory letter that was inserted in the church bulletin of every Catholic Church in Archdiocese. The letter from Archbishop O’Brien cautioned Gianna Talone-Sullivan, “not to communicate any manner whatsoever, written or spoken, electronic or printed, personally or through another in any church, public oratory, chapel or any other place or locales public or private, within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore any information of any type related to or containing messages or locutions allegedly received from the Virgin Mother of God.”
The letter then went on to caution others not to disseminate her messages because it is harmful to the Church. The archbishop hoped that his letter would stop the confusion of the faithful.
Medjugorje is now an official Marian shrine. The apparitions themselves have not yet been approved but going there with a priest is encouraged!
Living the messages of Medjugorje are very difficult, not easy, especially in a secular world. I try to take baby steps and go forward from there but over all Our Lady gives us "five stones" to help us in our conversion: Eucharist - Mass (daily if at all possible), the rosary: prayer with the heart (all four! every day!) confession (once a month), fasting (twice weekly on bread and water unless sick) , Fr. Pat, for the life of me I can't remember the fifth stone! Can you help me out?
When I get the feeling I need to go back to Medjugorje, I feel like I need to return to Our Lady's school of love. Maybe I have stopped studying, and Our Lady wants me to kick it up a notch!! She ALWAYS brings us ever closer to her Beloved Son, Jesus and then Jesus brings us closer to the Father and the Father brings us to the Holy Spirit and then the cycle begins again. Anyway, that's how I feel about it. God bless you, Tricia from MA
I totally agree with Fr. Pat that Our Lady of Medjugorje points us straight to Jesus. But she also asks everyone of us to read and live the messages. If she called you on the phone, would you say, yeah, yeah, just put Jesus on the line. I hope we all listen to the words she tells us; about how she wants us to put God in the first place. If the Father feels it is necessary that she comes to help us on the right path, who are we to disregard what she is saying? God bless, Tricia