40 Years of Medjugorje: REPENT – Fr. Mark Goring, CC

 

Many see visionary Vicka’s cheerful facial expression as perhaps a harbinger of how life on earth will be in the new era prophesied by the Virgin Mary.

One day the 10 secrets will belong to the past. By that time the world will be very much different, to the better. The secrets mark the end of an era and the dawn of a new.

 

This new era will be an era of peace, and so it will be much more widely understood why the Virgin Mary called herself the Queen of Peace when she first appeared in Medjugorje.

In this new era mankind will live in a new-found harmony with God. Jesus will live and reign in all hearts.

But in its present sinful state humanity is not ready for this. And so the ultimate purpose of the entire sequence of secrets is cleansing, purifying, and humbling mankind, bringing mankind back to its senses,and restoring the true proportions to the relationship between God and man.

Butwhen the secrets pass, we are given hope. In 1988,Visionary Maria Pavlovic said: “I have an optimistic view of the future. If we all begin to live the Virgin Mary’s messages, a new world will be born.”

And so the secrets also signify the end to Satan’s current iron grip on mankind.

Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic in 1982 was told this by the Virgin Mary: “This century is under the power of the devil, but when the secrets confided to you come to pass, his power will be destroyed.”

Itis important to remember that only one of the Virgin Mary’s prophecies from Fatima still remains to be fulfilled: and what is yet to be fulfilled is the promise from Fatima that:“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” This prophecy was given to the Fatima visionaries on July 13th 1917.

Little more than 74 years later, on August 25th 1991, in Medjugorje, the Virgin Mary revealed that the time of her triumph is near: “I invite you to renunciation for nine days so that with your help everything I wanted to realize through the secrets I began in Fatima may be fulfilled.” The
protector
of the visionaries, Fr. Zovko prophesied, more specific contents of the Triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Fr. Zovko, who is at times referred to as “the seventh visionary”, on April 23rd 1992 told the French nun Sister Emmanuel Maillard: “Here where communism ended, Fatima’s error, and this is where the triumph has begun.”

The Virgin Mary is appearing here now and what is taking place is going to be unique. It will be the victory, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the downfall of human errors, the change of the human heart, the creation of a new mentality, the beginning of a better world.”

But before the triumph, the secrets will begin and this has alarmed many people. While her knowledge of some of the secrets gives visionary Mirjana a heavy Cross to carry, she also carries the joy of knowing details about the Triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Visionary Mirjana answers these concerns in this way : She says, Don’t be afraid of the secrets. Don’t be afraid to have children. You should rather fear not to have any! The more children you have, the better!”.

Because the visionaries know about the secrets and the future, many people were excited to see if they would marry and have children.

There was some relief when Ivanka, the first to see the Virgin Mary, became the first to have a child, too. Today all the visionaries have children, a total of 17. In a conversation with Sister Emmanuel, Mirjana said: “When the secrets are revealed, people will understand why it was so important for them to have many children. We are all waiting for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Jesus will reign in all hearts and the historical mission of the Virgin Mary is bringing Jesus into the world. From Jesus she receives all things and all her strength, and with this strength and the love that they share, she leads everyone who permits her to Jesus. To everything she does Jesus is the measure as well as the means.

Therefore the Virgin Mary’s heart cannot be said to have triumphed until every human heart is resting in the love and peace of Jesus. This is is why her expressed goal of the apparitions in Medjugorje is no less than the conversion of the world. And why she has specifically linked her coming triumph to the presence of Jesus in all human hearts.”

The triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart will bring on an era of peace. It will not come about through politicians, but from mankind having come to peace with God. The uniquely peaceful atmosphere of Medjugorje is an open window into the era to come.

This peace, experienced by millions of pilgrims, is meant to be “internalized” and “exported” back home through the personal conversion, witnessing and prayer of those who come to Medjugorje: Our Lady emphasized this point in a message given on June 25th 1995.

She said: “Dear children! Today I am happy to see you in such great numbers, that you have responded and have come to live my messages. I invite you, little children, to be my joyful carriers of peace in this troubled world. Pray for peace so that as soon as possible a time of peace, which my heart waits impatiently for, may reign.” Thank you for responding to my call.